Rainbow Sun Dress

Rainbow dress, originally uploaded by fmirela.

Congratulations to BurdaStyle Pattern competition winner, JJ! She created a pretty shirt in eggplant purple which I love! I can’t wait for the pattern to be released and sew it.

This is what I’ve secretly been working on for this contest: The sun dress!
Nevermind the crazy fabric colors! I got it cheaper then muslin from JoAnn and it had almost the same drape as taffeta. Yes, It is supposed to be used as windows drapes.

Inspiration

I have started to see the beauty in this swamp called the Everglades.
These hot summer days inspired me to create this simple dress. The idea of the darts came from the warm rays of the sun. The darts create the illusion of a corset for a fun radiant summer dress, perfect for pool parties. The round shape of the heat ball inspired the top corset line and the volume of the circle hem.
For lots of volume, I picture this dress sewn in taffeta, very shiny like the sun. A light yellow or ivory would work best for an elegant dress. It may be worn with a tulle underskirt.
A medium weight natural linen would totally change the look into a more modern romantic day look, with a wavy ruffle sewn onto a shorter hem line.
To enhance the cut of this dress, use a solid color for the fabric and contrasting top-stitching, sew the darts inside out, or add piping or narrow ruffles in the center of the darts.

Construction
I’ve started to drape paper over the dress form. I pinned down the center line vertically, placed a pin on the waist line and pinned into the apexes. The first dart is placed in the middle of the front left half, with the tip of the dart pointing to the apex, the center of the dart close to the center line and the other tip pointing outward. Then I started pinning more darts, closer to the center and to then to the lateral. I’ve made the center darts longer then the other; their ends further apart and the centers closer together, at the waist line to create an hour glass shape. I made sure the bust is nicely framed by the darts and the neckline is rounded, higher in the center and lower under the arms.

For a tighter fit and a narrow waist line, I added a few darts in the back as well.

The round line of the neckline continues as an S shape that become concave in the back, going down under the bra line.
After all the pinning on the dress form, I have matched that the front and back meet underarm and at the hem lines. I have double checked the fit and transferred this first version onto new paper for cleaner lines.
Here it is on my phatter dummy:

Hurray for BurdaStyle and may there be many contests as challenging and fun as this!

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