Look #3

Happy New Year, dear ones! I've recently emerged from Christmas-yarncraft-gift-and-decoration-making-induced coma and I can't wait to show you everything my loved ones received, but before I do, let's continue with the new collection!

Warning: Many pictures and indecisiveness ahead.

During the process of figuring out the crochet piece for the first look, I rested the piece on the form to free up my hands for a second, and...

...a cap sleeve was born.

I really liked how the natural shape of the piece draped on the shoulder, so I decided to add this to a tiered dress for look #3.

Dude, get off my chair. As I was saying, a tiered dress. When a dress has a ton of pieces to keep track of, I use a rather unattractive method to keep them all straight.

Hot, right? Yeah, not so much, but it helps me keep track as I start sewing it all together.

The base.

The base with the bottom layer.

Bottom and middle layers.

All layers with the cap sleeve.

And, Ta Da, I hate it. The top layer is too short and it looks like a $10 dress from Dots or something. And no, I'm not hating on Dots, I got a pair of shoes there once. But still. Not the aesthetic I'm going for. Start over.

Ruching. I'm down with it.

The skirt of the dress in its final fabric, a brown, tweedy-looking slinky knit.

I couldn't decide if I liked the free flowing bodice piece over the ruched skirt or not. What do you think?

Yeah, I think not. I like the gathered top better. More refined. Also, note to self: ruched skirt, if not stabilized when sewn, will keep getting longer and longer and less and less ruched. That's what's happening here. I had to completely tear it apart and sew a ribbon into the seam when I sewed it up the second time to keep the gathers from falling out. I make mistakes, we all learn. Everybody wins, right?

Ahh, very nice. I'm pleased. Dots-B-Gone. Now to add the sleeve:

Hmm. No, that looks too dainty. Too much like the doily shoulders of yore.

Hmm, I still don't know. Too heavy or droopy or something. Let's look closer.

Yeah, that is just not working out for me...is it the color combination? The yellow yarn on the pallid skin of my dress form? The length of the sleeve? The fact that it's not really a sleeve at all, but a decorative strap?

These questions baffled me for a few weeks, and I had total designer's block. I took a break and tackled it again, much later, closer to the photo shoot date. Check back tomorrow for the conclusion of The Case of the Befuddling Pseudo-Sleeve. The final result is exciting!