I Dream a Dress

The initial sketch after the dream

Now, that may not be so bold a statement as ‘I have a dream’, but for me, dreaming of dresses is a sure sign that this is the right hobby for me. One night, months and months ago, I was sound asleep and I dreamt up this creation. Right down to the exact pattern of the fabric, the colour of the contrast, the shape of the skirt, the button detail – everything. Apparently, if you see colour in your dreams, it’s supposed to be symbolic so I looked up the meaning of dreaming about a prussian blue dress.

Dress – To see or wear a dress in your dream represents a feminine outlook or feminine perspective on a situation. You are freely expressing your femininity. If the dress is another color, look up the specific color for additional significance. (So I did)…Blue represents truth, wisdom, heaven, eternity, devotion, tranquility, loyalty and openness. Perhaps you are expressing a desire to get away. The presence of this color in your dream, may symbolize your spiritual guide and your optimism of the future. You have clarity of mind. Alternatively, the color blue may also be a metaphor for “being blue” and feeling sad. If you are wearing light blue in your dream, then it symbolizes your creativity. You like to pace yourself in whatever you are doing.

Oo deep stuff. I’m not sure how much faith I have in dream interpretation. I could either take it as a sign that creativity and femininity should be the right path for my future. OR I can do my own interpretation and think ‘I like blue, I like dresses – I dreamt of a blue dress.’

Anyway, I wanted a new dress to wear to the Birmingham meet – up on Saturday, so I cut this out on Sunday evening and then spent maybe half an hour on it a couple of evenings in the week. It was quite a relaxed way to do it and actually felt like I achieved a lot in a short space of time, rather than cramming it all into a day or 2. Or it would have been a very relaxed way to do it if I didn’t leave the zip and the hem until the morning of said meet-up. I foolishly thought that it would be a quick task to finish everything off. How wrong I was. I woke up at 6.30am and started to put in the zip. That was fine, until I realised that the bodice was far too big – so I unpicked the zip and took in both sides – redoing the french seams in the process. Then I resewed the zip using my seamless method. It looks very nice, but I have to be very careful that the fabric doesn’t get caught in the teeth. Finally I could sew up the last side seam and move on to the hem. I’m not sure what went wrong with the hem – it slopes rather unevenly all over the shop, but after MUCH hacking and trimming, I think it at least slopes symmetrically. As I’d taken off so much of the length of the skirt I didn’t want a deep hem, so instead I used bias binding and I think it looks rather nice. However, all these little tweaks meant that I was left with 20 minutes to get ready and catch my train. Which luckily I did and you can read all about that here.

It probably also helped that it’s a VERY simple dress. I used my bodice block and altered the neckline with my french curve. I wanted to create a light summer dress, so I didn’t even line it, I just finished any exposed seams neatly with a combination of bias binding, french seams and overlocking. I added the contrast with some blue fabric I had in my stash. It’s attached as an inside out facing – one more edge finished! The skirt is becoming my standard half circle, gathered skirt (23inches before hemming – or should have been but I’m not sure what happened to make it hang unevenly). I think I might try gathering 2 of these skirts at some point to give it a really full, but not too rectangular shape.

About the fabric – as I said I literally dreamt of this dress ages ago and ever since I’ve been keeping an eye out for the right kind of fabric. Something with the right drape, colour and pattern. It’s been impossible. And then suddenly, a miracle occurred (my this is a very deep and fate inspired post). One of the pupils in my class brought in a bag of fabric that her Grandma was throwing out, it was just going to be stuffed in the back of a closet and she didn’t mind what happened to it…so of course, I offered it a better home. There’s about 3 metres of the lovely stuff and it’s practically perfect! Plus, even though it’s not from my stash, I am helping de-clutter someone else’s.

I love the vintage style. I really want to make / buy a petticoat to wear with it. Any tips on where or how? I can see it being worn on many occasions and a petticoat would give it even more versatility. I’m not sure whether to make my own or buy one – has anyone ever made a big petticoat and if so – any tips?