A stretch velvet Joni dress

Chickpea always has to get in on the action.

I’ve had Tilly Walnes’s Stretch book for a while now, and I’ve had my eye on the Joni dress for months. When I saw a lavender stretch velvet in the L.A. Fashion District, I knew exactly what it was destined for. Bonus: the fabric was super-cheap! I think it was $5 or $6 a yard.

I did do some thinking about the Joni dress before plunging in. I wasn’t 100% sure how it would work on the Full-Busted Lady. Some of the versions I’ve seen draw way too much attention to the boobs than I’m comfortable with, especially those made with stripes or printed fabric. And since I am, as we have established, afflicted with a low bustline, I didn’t want my boobs to hang tragically below the area allotted for them.

Patchwork muslin

So I made a muslin, out of whatever knits I had lying around. I cut a size 5, and here are the adjustments I made:

  1. lowered apex by two inches
  2. full-bust adjustment by two inches total
  3. added two inches to the bodice length
  4. removed about a half an inch from either side of the front neckline (so the dress isn’t quite so low-cut)
  5. removed about one-and-a-half inches of width from the back neckline, to prevent gaping.

Given my reservations about the dress, I’m amazed at how much I like it. It’s way more flattering than I’d expected; I think having a good fit really helps. I also feel like I’ve turned a corner, fitting-wise. I have a better sense of how things fit together and, while I still have a lot to learn, pattern adjustments are starting to make more sense to me.

Stylin’ in her kid’s Joni dress

And of course Dora wanted her own version. I modified a t-shirt pattern by adding about a two-inch projection from the center front, then doing a double-twist, just like on the Joni. I realized afterward that I should have taken some of that width out of the bodice somewhere, since the dress is too big, but she still loves it. I didn’t have enough stretch velvet for the skirt and used a lavender poly-cotton blend to make a circle skirt. Dora says her version is even nicer than mine.

And finally, I made Dora a reversible tank top she’d requested out of leftover merino wool and some really nice jersey I’d mangled in an abortive attempt to make a baby onesie. I’m glad I was able to salvage it, since it was obscenely expensive. (The yellow side of the shirt is wet because of course the first thing D did after trying it on was spill ketchup on it.)

Next up: a be-mushroomed Ruby top, and I’m really wanting to make the TATB Etta dress (love that back neckline!) out of some swallow fabric I have.

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