Once more, with feeling.

I hear you saying "isn't she tired of that dress yet?" and I answer, no, no I am not. Look at this one, will you? Indulge me once again? The fabric is not all that great -- I'm not a huge fan of hand-painted silk, which is what this is. (Give me a nice machine-stamped geometric print every day, that's plenty wabi-sabi enough for me.) No, what I'm looking at is the front band, which seems to be cut in one! No, really, look at it closely and tell me where the seams are. It is probably seamed on at least one side of the waist (because that's where the zipper is) and maybe, maybe, the back of the neck. But that's it. The vee of the neck is part of the waist. Isn't that great? And so wasteful of fabric, which is probably why this dress, on sale, costs almost $700 at Net-a-porter. Oh well.

I wonder how you draft that, especially if it *doesn't* have a seam at the back of the neck. I bet you have to drape it. Hmmmm. I've never tried draping, but now I see new and even more alluring vistas of sewing foolhardiness ahead.

Comments

[Anonymous]

The style of this type of dress is oddly appealing to me, as I have never been much into 'boho' - and now I must do penance for using the term. I don't care much for the coloration in this particular example, though. The price tag almost cause a spit-take with my morning tea.Amy

[Sue]

I love this dress, even the print. I do love this style, but I'm not conviced of your assertions that it will look good on bigger people. But I'm weakneing. Dammit Erin, you're talking my little mind into getting one of these dresses, even though it will probably jsut prompt "How far are you along?" questions from strangers and have my co-workers, who should know better, trying to guess the sex, as they plan a surprise baby shower.

[Anonymous]

My guess is that seams in the collar are on the shoulders. I'd like to thank you for posting these dresses. I've just found out I'm expecting and have been looking for somewhat flattering maternity summer dresses since the baby is due in August. Any other ideas on good maternity fashions?-M (name withheld because my Mom doesn't know yet about the baby and I don't know which blogs she reads!)

[Rose]

I saw two of these lovely dress in the Conde Nast building today -- I have *got* to get sewing! I'm pretty sure one of them was the Anthropologie dress you featured a while back.

[styleconcierge]

Hi ErinI LOVE THIS DRESS......except not crazy for the print..but the cutting is very interesting.....would love to know how they did this pattern....did you use the other images on net-a-porter? As this will enable you to view the back of the dress .Since I am crazy for these BOHO dresses....I would like to make more of them....variations of the DURO OLOWU's dress....Caroline from HK...also known as styleconcierge

[Erin]

M. -- congrats!This dress isn't supposed to be a maternity dress, although for a first baby I bet you could get away with it until month five or so, if you bought it one size bigger than you normally wear. Although I don't think I'd spend $700 on a maternity dress!I'll try to dig out the one maternity dress I made and post a link to the pattern. It was very nice and easy to put together and wear. For some reason I had to go to a lot of weddings the winter I was pregnant.As for maternity clothes: consignment stores are your friend! Maternity clothes are too expensive and too limited to buy new. Try eBay, too. I loved Japanese Weekend clothes and the maternity line at Target -- Target has fun stuff and cheap, too -- great for when you are so tired of your three stretchy skirts and two stretchy pairs of pants ... Of course, when I was pregnant I decided to wear even brighter colors than I normally do, so I mostly looked like an enormous technicolor blimp. But I enjoyed myself!Congrats again and best wishes for a pleasant pregnancy and an easy labor!

[Anonymous]

You know how you can overlap the seam allowances of the back neck facing pattern piece and the bodice front facing pattern piece to avoid the bulk of a seam at the shoulder?I think it's the same principle at work here, but the back facing, neck facing and midriff are all butted together into one pattern piece, cut on the fold, and the big monster facing is folded to the outside of the bodice. Their is probably a side seam which joins it to the back midriff.k