slow fashion october :: 04 :: one more try

When it comes to the wearability of my makes, there is sometimes an issue. Like I wrote recently, when we shop we can just leave a piece behind in the dressing room if it is not quite right. When I make, I don't get to see the finished product until the investments of resources + money + time have already been made.

I struggle with wasting fabric on what I had hoped would be a successful garment. I struggle to find wearable fabric. I struggle to end up with a shape that flatters. I don't want my efforts to just end up becoming trash... not necessarily because they are my efforts (that time can be considered learning or skill building), but because I don't want to unnecessarily use resources or create waste.

So that brings me to this dress. I wrote about it here a few weeks ago, but it just wasn't getting worn. The tapered shape was tiny bit too narrow at the knees. There was enough room at the hip, but I knew I'd like it more if it were a bit easier there too. The buttons looked good, but I was a bit apprehensive about gaping and remaining covered. I liked it, but I was considering letting it go...thinking of it as a muslin that needed some improvements in its next iteration, if ever there was one.

But then I considered that it might have all the same drawbacks to others in the fitting room at the thrift shop. It might never get chosen or worn. It might just end up as waste. So I decided to spend a little more time on it. I laid out all the remaining scraps of leftover fabric and pieced together some inserts to widen the tapered side seams. The side vents were reconstructed. Pieced together pockets were added along with an additional set of buttons between each of the originals. I think that it probably took me as long to make these changes as it did to sew the original dress.

This was slow fashion, and I didn't really mind it at all.

I can't always make changes to a piece in order to make it wearable, but sometimes I can. This fun dress was worn all day yesterday... and I really enjoyed wearing it...all day.  :)

Sewing pattern:  The Makers Atelier Oversized Shirtdress
Fabric:  Keiko Goke Yuwa cotton (shirting weight)

Love,
Jane