Friday 2 June 2017

A tic tac toe dress in shweshwe


Here is my second version of Sewpony's wonderful Tic Tac Toe dress (you can see the first one here). This time I opted for the long sleeves, plain bodice, piped collar and piped pockets. It's not obvious at first glance, but the fabric has patches of bright blue in it, and I thought piping the collar in blue would bring that out nicely.

As I didn't make the pieced bodice this time, the dress should have been quite quick and easy to sew, but I made a monumental stuff-up: I cut the front neckline too high due to a late-night pattern-tracing error. Tragically, I didn't notice this until I tried the finished-except-for-hems dress on R and realised something was wrong. There was nothing for it but to unpick the sleeves, lining and collar so I could trim down the neckline and reassemble the bodice and sleeves. I can't begin to express how frustrating this was... and how disappointing, just when I thought I'd finished the dress! But it was all worth it, because with the correct neckline the dress looked so much better. So let my mistake be a lesson to anyone tracing off patterns in dim light, while watching a subtitled television series and being harassed relentlessly by a tissue-paper-loving cat: multitasking does not go with pattern tracing, and neither do cats.





The fabric is shweshwe, a traditional South African cotton fabric. A couple of years ago I asked my dad to bring me some Three Cats brand shweshwe from Cape Town and instead of the usual shades of indigo and brown, I received this green one. I must confess that initially I wasn't that excited about it, but the colour and pattern have really grown on me and I'll be looking out for more greens next time I put in an order.  This particular shade has a lovely autumnal quality and goes beautifully with the fallen leaves in our garden.

The lovely deep pockets are one of the best features of this dress, and I love the centre gathers on the skirt. R and I are both really happy with this one.

To finish up, here are a couple of photos featuring a feline guest star - and it's NOT the one who mucked up my pattern tracing!







10 comments:

  1. Oh man, that is so frustrating! Good for you for finishing it; it's lovely!

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    1. Thank you Masha, it was quite a relief to get it done!

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  2. Gorgeous!! Our Rosie loves walking all over PDF patterns when I am assembling them... must be something about the crunching of paws on paper!

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    1. Thanks Suz. If Rosie's anything like my cat, she probably also likes sitting on the fabric when you spread it out to cut it...

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  3. I don't know how people with pet cats ever get anything done at all!
    That is a gorgeous dress. Good on you for persevering. If it's any consolation I just closed, and very neatly topstitched the neckline of a collar and then tried my darndest to attach what should have been the outer edge of the collar to the neckline of the garment. Thankfully it was so far from fitting I figured I must have made a mistake. Grrr.
    I love blue and green together and this dress really is delightful.

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    1. Thanks Shelley! Cats are a real impediment to spreading things out on floors... but then, dogs and small children probably are, too. And yes, it is some consolation to know I'm not the only person who's been using the unpicker :)

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  4. Oh here is the finished dress :) I am glad you did so much unpicking to save it, it turned out gorgeous! The colours are so lovely! I keep on meaning to make another TTT. Man, I need more time in a day!

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    1. Don't we all, Jenya! Or in my case, more time in an evening :) Thanks for your comments - this one has already been worn a few times so I'm calling it a success!

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  5. This is absolutely stunning! This might be my favorite version of this dress ever! I definitely want to make one like it in the fall! Good for you for persevering! I have made similar mistakes and it is so so frustrating! You are exactly right on that! I am so glad you didn't give up. Your effort was worth it!

    Also, I love these photos so much! <3

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    1. Thanks for your lovely comments, Rachel. Giving up wasn't an option, because I loved the fabric too much to waste it!

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