I Love LA Dress

By now you should have figured out that I love Los Angeles.   Recently I was downtown in the garment district showing a friend around. There was the obligatory stop at Michael Levine. I really have to control myself – it’s like being a kid in a candy store. I was at the cutting table when along comes one of those cute, young, almost a fashion designer guys. He had the wild hair, the interesting clothes. Of course we got to talking, I asked if the is a student at FIDM (my alma Mater), no he goes to  LA Trade Tech. An amazing  community college that really teaches hands-on trades. I congratulated him on his choice of school – he will be prepared for the garment industry both professionally and simply because he isn’t in an ivory tower.

Well one of the fabrics he was buying is from a line called Urban Toile, there is one for NY and one for LA, it is more of a canvas, bottom weight fabric. This kid was going to make himself a shirt, before you know it, I had bought enough for a dress for me.Many of LA’s landmarks, right here on the fabric.From downtown, the Biltmore hotel.Yes, I am often at that part of the 101 freeway. Also, the wonderful Theme restaurant at LAX and a food truck.I’m thinking of this pattern, my one concern is that the fabric is heavier than is needed for this dress, but I don’t want to make pants or a bag. The dress is fully lined, that would add to the weight so I need to come up with creative solutions.So far so good, I like the way the fabric is holding the pleats.The heaviness of the fabric is working to my advantage, the skirt has good volume.

One reason to line a sleeveless dress is the clean finish at the neckline and the armholes.  I decided to use silk organza.  A while ago I bought about 5 yards of the stuff. It is one of those staple fabrics that is good to have around.  It is super thin and won’t add any weight. Being silk and not polyester, it is  strong enough to line the bodice.  No, there  is no need to line the skirt.  Here I am pinning and inserting the lining. Yes, I had some problems, I stretched it too tight  on one side, so the dress didn’t lie flat. Since I’m not a perfectionist, I simply slashed the organza open and inserted a patch. Sorry no image. Luckily, because the dress fabric is thick and the organza is thin, no one can see the patch.More proof of my not being a perfectionist.  It is very easy to see that the Bodice line does not match up on the back. I could have been more careful, I could have removed the zipper and started over. I did neither,  maybe because I don’t see the back of the dress, maybe because sometimes, good enough is simply just that.A final touch, this black grosgrain ribbon with cutouts. I had bought this last year for another project that I never made. This is how stash is built up, you think you are buying for a specific project, but you aren’t. I love these kind of special touches, they really make the dress my own.Looking good!Not sure how long the exposed zipper will be fashionable, I still like it.Modeling dress with centerpiece flowers.