Cutting the dress was an exercise in creativity and patience; I'd originally ordered two yards of the knit, with just a vague idea of making a top. Ann sent 2 1/4 yards...possibly because the print doesn't quite go all the way to the selvegdes..it has a scant 58" of workable width. But as soon as I saw it, it said 'Wrap dress!'.
And doncha know the pattern says it requires 2 3/4 yards of 60" fabric.
Well, I've had lots of practice squeezing pattern pieces on fabric (see The Encouragement of Minor Miracles for the most recent example), so I started playing with the layout. Because the front skirt is a full pattern, cut twice, I had to use a single fabric layout for that piece, so doing a whole trial layout really wasn't practical. I took a deep breath, and started cutting. I figured if I were short, I'd just make a sleeveless dress.
But, since the fabric is the same coming and going, I could use a 'without nap' layout and I got it all on there! Barely...this is the totality of the remnants. Whew...But I did have a real bummer happen during the cutting process...the little red thingy lying on the far side of the cutting board is a piece from my nice Martelli rotary cutter; it fell off the table and I stepped on it (I didn't hear it fall!) and..well..it broke. It's the piece that holds the spring that holds the blade guard in place; I've had to tape the guard back now, just to keep it out of the way when I'm cutting. It will no longer guard the blade...yikes...
So now a new rotary cutter is on my list of Things to Get at the Atlanta Expo Next Year. If I can wait that long.
Great job on squeezing those pieces on the fabric. I have to do that often because it seems like I'm always spacing out when I get to the cutting counter. I'm really interested in seeing the hexagons made up!
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on the layout and cutting for the wrap dress. I am impressed! It makes you wonder how often you could do with less fabric.
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