I’m still wiping the sweat from my brow after submitting my design for PR’s Advanced Beginner’s Contest. I keep asking myself, “What was I thinking?”This was one tough assignmemt! But, isn’t that how we grow? By stretching ourselves beyond that which we’re comfortable? I heard someone comment recently that “if we don’t know that something is difficult, what’s to keep us from trying? I couldn ‘t agree more.
I set out to learn how to add godets to a garment but ended up learning so much more. My garment was no where near complete in 
my mind, and I’m not quite sure where I went wrong, but it was still worth the effort! As far as the godets are concerned, I think they turned out fairly well for a first attempt. I did learn the following that I’ll be carrying with me the next time I set out to design an outfit from scratch:
1. If using a slash to insert your godet (as opposed to a seam), reinforce your godet for stability. If not ,the fabric will pull significantly at the point of insertion and possibly tear the delicate threads at the top of your slash. This happend to me and I ended up having to hand sew the point of the godet to repair the damage.
2. I mentioned this before, but it’s so important for the final design: Allow the godet to hang from its point of insertion for about 24 hours before sewing in completely. Since the godet’s sides are cut on the bias, they need to stretch out before attaching to the garment. I didn’t have a difficult time with this because my dress fell on the bias so both fabrics (linen blends) had the same amount of stretch.
3. Improvise! Improvise! Improvise! Some design elements just don’t translate well. I experienced this with the back of my dress. Initially I made my own straps (4) and placed them asymmetrically so that they mirrored the outline of the front of the dress (If that makes sense). Unfortunately, the linen fabric was too soft for the straps and didn’t have the support that I was looking for. So, I opted for dark brown single fold bias tape instead. It didn’t blend as well as I’d wanted color wise, but it did provide the support that I was looking for. The lattice design just kind of came as I searched for something visually interesting. Since I’d dropped the idea of godets on the back of the dress, I figured the lattice design could provide some interest.
4. The assymetrical style of the dress made it nearly impossible to get in and out of it – even with the 20 inch zipper. Instead of sewing the upper portion of the dress together at the shoulder, I opted to place a button at the end. The challenge was encasing the lattice portion of the back so that I could add a button. Here’s the design that I came up with: 
(Not very stylish, but functional)
All in all, I think the biggest lesson I learned is that if I’m going to take an “organic” approach to designing, then I have to allow myself plenty of room for mistakes, improvisation, and fun. It’s impossible to sqoosh 20 hours of work into 5 or 6 (Ha!)
Keep sewing!
Calandra (Rebija)
1 Comment
September 21, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I love the back of this dress. Great job and good luck with the contest!