Drape Drape no.3 Drop-Waist Gather Drape Dress

And my love for Drape Drape books continue. This is Dress no.3 out of the first Drape Drape book.

The most amazing part about this pattern is that there is only one pattern piece! ONE! How insane is that? The pattern piece is all sorts of crazy shaped. The shoulders and the waist are gathered. The back has a centre seam from neck to hem. In a stiffer fabric you could insert a zipper but with my choice of a cotton lycra knit it would be superfluous.

This dress was fun to cut out and even more fun to serge together. The book is easy to follow and made construction simple for me. I'm glad because I had difficulty visualizing how the paper pattern resulted in such a lovely dress. But once I gathered the shoulders and attached them to the front, the rest of the dress was simple to visualize.

Once again, the pattern sizing is very tiny with the size large only having finished bust measurement of 90cm (36"). I didn't make any alterations besides adding extra width to the gathered waist pieces, expanding it to the full length of the fabric. I was hoping this would help the gathers cover my rear end without pulling. With the accommodation of the stretch fabric I just hoped it wouldn't be too tiny.

And guess what? It worked out. This dress fits me perfectly. Although it is extremely short, my short legs still make the dress a comfortable length for me. The waist gathers aren't perfectly symmetrical on each side. I guess I didn't cut perfectly straight at the left waist seam angles more down than the right side gather. And although the dress is supposed to be a drop-waist dress, it actually hits me at my natural waist. I have never once had a pattern bodice be on the short side for me but that is fine by me as I love where the dress hits on my waist as I think it is more flatting.

I LOVE this colour. The army green is one of my favourite colours. The photos make the green look browner than it is but I couldn't manage to capture the true colour. It goes well with my skin tone and helps my eyes to pop. Every girl likes a colour that makes their eyes sparkle. And although I don't look exuberant in some of the photos, that would be the fact that the weather is still not agreeing with me. It is also a great fabric. It is 96% cotton and 4% elastane. It has the characteristics of a heavy t-shirt; the perfect material for a casual, everyday dress. Comfortable with extremely unique details.

Details

Pattern: Drape Drape no.3 Drop-Waist Gather Drape Dress
Size: Large
Fabric: Cotton Lycra Knit
Cost: $12 for Fabric
Alterations:

• Removed 1" from the back neck reducing to the regular seam line 5" down