conquering heights

if i look self satisfied, IT IS BECAUSE I AM.  the reasons are twofold:

1.  i conquered this cotton.

2.  i conquered myself.

I CONQUER, YO.  I AM A CONQUISTADOR OF COTTON.  (that may not mean what i think it means, but i’m going with it.  i have a sazerac in hand and no desire to use my dictionary widget.)

last month, i decided to try my hand at what most of my fellow mood sewing network bloggers are old hat at: ordering online from mood.  within a minute, i stumbled upon this thakoon cotton, and these decorative coconut shells.  (update! it's sold out at the moment...but check this one out.  YUM.  don't grab too much though, leave some for me!)  it is almost certain that i would not have paired these two up had i been in the store– if only because the coconut shells are placed about 5 feet in the air above my head, and i rarely look up that high.  nothing of note is taller than my 5’3 frame, you see.

erm, except these rooftop shoots….

THOSE are taller.  the images don’t do the edge of the building  justice.  that’s a steep ramp right up to a free fall on a windy day.  FUN.  and, quite dangerous.  i thought the location fitting, considering the vicious way i started this garment.  one breezy saturday afternoon, ruggy caught me chopping– literally chopping-- into four yards of this luscious stuff.  oona, he said, don’t cut angry.   although i had to laugh in appreciation of his deductive skillz, i WAS angry– irate, in fact, for reasons which are boring and not worthy of telling.  suffice it to say the sound of my shears gave my mood away.

and he was right:  Don’t.  Cut.  Angry.  the reasons for this are twofold:

1.  you might hack off a finger.

2.  you will most definitely cut into what was an ample amount of designer cotton, forgetting that you needed six panels instead of four for the sweeping and carefully drafted maxi skirt.  you will instead insanely and wantonly cut three on the bias.  you will then spend the next five days trying every possible combination to make the five unmatched panels you eked out work in some strange jigsaw puzzle configuration.

but then of course you’ll be totally full of yourself when you DO... which is a bonus.

it was pretty windy up there, and impossible to get a shot of the hem.  it's curvy!  the side seams lift, the front and back dive.  i lurve it.

and hey didja notice those bust darts?  ME NEITHER!  i would say i planned it that way, but i don’t like to lie.  more truth telling: i have 7 extra coconut shells languishing on my table.  they were meant to be a statement necklace for this dress.  however, the statement ended up being: we'd make better earrings.

more truth be told, i’m even okay with the slightly wonky back, which was where the real jigsaw came in.  the bodice is vintage vogue 2970, and the six-come-four gored skirt is of my own drafting.   i used two bias cut panels for the center front and back, and two regular joes for the side panels.  however, the center back panel was sliced up the middle to accommodate the invisible zip.  in hindsight i should’ve done a slash zip opening, since there was no seam allowance down the center back.  but, i was still a little peeved and not thinking correctly…one might even say, still angry…

i am nothing if not hard headed.  was counting on that fact, in case of a skyscraper fall.  by the way, does my dress remind you of anything?  any new yorkers out there care to hazard a guess on thakoon’s inspiration?  i don’t know for sure if my hunch is right, but let’s just say i found the city view… appropriate…

this maxi dress was made using my monthly fabric "allowance" as part of the Mood Sewing Network.