Saturday, August 28, 2010

Moss and magenta, a pleasing pair

Sometimes taking a quick detour yields pleasant results. I was intent on finishing each sewing project before starting a new one. There's only so much room on our dining table for the piles and piles of fabric, thread and trim that get edited down to the ones I actually use.

The current project had been a lime and lemon-colored slipdress, but that got preempted yesterday. I needed something to wear to the waltz workshop I was co-teaching this afternoon. I pulled out a long chiffon dress that had been hanging in my closet for more than a year. Then I remembered why I hadn't worn it recently: the chiffon overlay had shrunk in the washing machine, but the polyester lining stayed the same. So now the lining was showing. I had to shorten it.

I lucked upon the right shade of magenta lace in my stash to lengthen the chiffon hemline. But I noticed how much the magenta just popped while lying next to a moss shrug and a chartreuse blouse, from which I had harvested strips to add to the hemline of the lime slipdress.

The gears started turning, and I added more to the dress than just a lacy hem. You can see its evolution at my flickr site.

View more photos here.