A dress for the end of the world

I have tried numerous times over the past few months, to write a post that reflects my thoughts on how broken every thing feels.

I’m not generally a doom-monger or melodramatic but I honestly feel that the world is imploding; a devastating pandemic leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead; massive civil unrest; cellphone video after cellphone video of Black people being purposely and violently killed by supposed law enforcers; uncontrollable wild fires; chronic misinformation perpetuating so much confusion and hatred; and if the wrong result happens in November, democracy in the US will literally be hanging by a thread.

This is all real and all utterly terrifying.

Every time I’ve tried to write something, particularly about whiteness and privilege and racism, I’ve failed. I can’t find the words, the knowledge, the meaning. So rather than fill this space with incomplete, potentially off kilter, navel gazing, I chose to just not. Instead, to turn my attention to learning from those who know better than I, to understand how I may not be racist but that doesn’t mean I’m anti-racist and it doesn’t mean I am not part of the problem.

All I will say, if you’re in the US you MUST vote to oust the ‘Mango Menace’ this fall. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like Joe Biden/ Kamala Harris, vote for them. Any non-vote, or vote for an independent, is essentially a vote for Trump. It is the only way we can avoid that monster from turning his office into a dictatorship.

Some sewing suppliers across the globe have struggled to step up when it comes to addressing racism within their organisations. Consequently I have chosen recently not to spend my dollars with them. I haven’t honestly sewn that much as it all feels so futile. But, when I have, I have focused on vintage and smaller indie patterns with fabric I either already have, thrift or know comes from sources that have committed to supporting Black Lives Matter.

To that end, here is a dress I made a few weeks ago and love. It is a vintage Simplicity pattern, number 7454, which I think I got from eBay a couple of years ago. A gigantic muu muu style dress, made less enveloping by the fitted bust. It is such a lovely pattern.

The linen is from The Fabric Store in New Zealand, who work with ethical organisations in Asia to manufacture their own linen fabric responsibly - both in terms of impact on the environment and in working practices. TFS has also committed to active measures to address systemic racism within their organisation.

I originally bought the linen last summer to make a Paper Theory Zadie jumpsuit. But having made a very similar jumpsuit by heavily hacking a vintage pattern a couple of years before, and not loving the result on me, decided against it.

My mum always says red is my colour and I should wear it more often. I clearly don’t listen to her. I think because it’s so bold and draws so much attention. Yet this is long and voluminous and unashamedly RED. And I love it. And I wear it all the time and have had so many people compliment it!

One of the things I love about vintage patterns, are the little construction details that you just don’t see in modern patterns. The ties on the back of this are not fixed, but contained within the facing so you can pull them tighter to adjust the fit. And the facing is flipped to the outside not the inside.

The straps are attached with buttons inside the back to allow you to wear it with straight straps as well as crossed. I’ll probably only wear it with crossed straps so I’m going to remove the buttons and stitch the straps in place as the bunching up due to the lack of a permanent seam isn’t great.

This may be controversial and sacrilege to say but I’m not always inspired by indie patterns. The vast majority are geared towards new sewers, which is great in terms of giving new sewing crusaders confidence and experience and helping grow their craft. However, for that reason the patterns are often simple in their construction and don’t offer the challenge or new techniques that a more experienced sewer may want.

Sewing for me isn’t just about making basics as quickly as I can, it is more of an experiential, meditative, process-driven thing where I like the intricacies and the challenge.

(That said I just had my ass whooped by a relatively simple pattern, so who am I to comment! Mainly, in my defense because the instructions and markings were diabolical.)

That isn’t meant as a criticism of the incredible independent sewing pattern designers out there and everything they contribute to this community, and I for sure sew their patterns, but sometimes a different, tricky technique and challenge is fun but can be hard to find.

Anyway.

This dress was not difficult but was really fun and interesting to sew, and is so comfortable to wear. I love the contrast of the close-fitting top with the volume in the skirt, the incredibly good-looking cross over straps and the pockets which are stitched to the outside.

I would say, if you can find and make this, it comes up pretty large and I had to make the facing a lot shorter to get a better fit - which meant removing it, taking the dress in at the sideseams and then cutting and reattaching a whole new facing.

If you can’t get hold of it - Peppermint Magazine has a similar pattern with straight straps and an elasticated back. It could certainly be adapted to emulate this - in fact the side slits I added on this were inspired by the Peppermint design.

So that’s this dress, which gives me a glimpse of joy when the world is falling around us.

If you “don’t come here for politics” please remember this is my space and this is something that affects us all. It can’t be ignored on any platform even if it makes us feel uncomfortable.

In fact that is exactly why it should be discussed.

With love

See you soon

Charlie x