About one month ago I was asked if I made custom dresses. I demurred, but the emails persisted, so I gave a quote for the job once I’d seen the dress I was to copy.
But I can tell you that the bodice looked like a very bad attempt to copy an Herve Leger bandage-type bodice, with a very large piece of cotton sewn to the bottom of it in a huge circle skirt. In the pic that I’m supposed to work from for this project, the skirt fabric looks like it’s been wasting away in the back of a closet for about 18 months, it’s so creased. And the ‘bandages’ of the bodice are AWOL.
My quote for labour/design was deemed acceptable, and I was given a bag with the goodies you see above:
- about 1.7m of waistband elastic for the bandage bodice
- 3m of 115cm wide very lightweight poly crepe (pictured on the left)
- 3m of 150cm wide heavy jersey for the lining (pictured on the right)
The dress is supposed to be a pullover dress – no zipper or other openings, thank you!
I have been avoiding this, but today is the first fitting.
*sigh*
I am not working with anything else so I must make magic from these fabrics. I really don’t know how I’m going to copy that bandage bodice, which is why I’m loathe to tackle this project, so wish me luck.
The skirt will be a piece of cake, I’m sure – a simple A-line jersey lining with a double-width gathered poly crepe skirt stitched directly to the waistband elastic.
The bodice will require samples, trial, error and something called faking it.
I hope it works…
Mezzo Couture 
I feel your pain. Some people can be incredibly thick skinned. At least you should be well rewarded for a horrible job.
Uck, I would have just kept saying No
Yeah….. but I can be a bit of a wuss sometimes….
umm… Good Luck?
Good luck with this. It sounds hideous and I do hope you are being paid plenty for tackling the project. I can’t imagine how she will get it on and off.
This sounds like a nightmare and I am hoping you do awake and say, “whew, so glad it was just a bad dream”…unless you carry on and crank out a weird mummy like dress that this girl will surely sweat like a pig in while the elastic continues to crawl up her body during the evening. The little 3 part kit just should go back to the dark inner recesses of the closet! Hoping to have some hair left after tackling this project!
Brave woman – the dress sounds just weird. Is it for a carnival or some such?
Whatever you sew it will be well made, the design, I’m not so sure about……..
Believe it if you can, but it’s a PROM dress. Yup. Go figure.
Well that’s why she was so dayum persistent! Have you seen prom dresses lately? Most of them look like hookers on the stroll. I hope you can make this work and that you find a way to charge them more money for this!
that sounds like the world’s most uncomfortable garment – under no circumstances can I imagine wanting to wear a whole bodice made of waistband elastic – it’s bad enough when it’s at the actual waistband! LOL Anywhoooo…. with any luck it’ll take you an hour and you’ll have made a whopping hourly rate. Just don’t do TOO good of a job or she’ll be sending all her friends to you!! LOL ^_^
I’m sure you’ll manage, but I would have blocked her email if I could or failing that put a filter in place to make them all go directly to trash after a final reply saying “I am not interested in making this dress for you, any further emails will receive no response”. I figure if someone is rude enough to keep asking after being told NO then I don’t need to see their continued attempts to get me to do it.
Good heavens, I don’t envy you to have to do that job. But it is through adversity that we reach for the stars (or something along those lines 😉 ), so I’m sure you’ll come out a stronger woman at the other end.
Oh my! That will be an unusual garment, for sure, but I’m sure it will be well made and a perfect fit.
Keep sending positive thoughts my way!
Will do!
Good luck!
Good luck! I can’t imagine WEARING a bodice made out of elastic. How do you breathe comfortably in that???
It’s supposed to fit like a bathing suit, so it theoretically should be comfortable.
I don’t envy you either, though I am sure you will make magic. Good luck!
Send me good thoughts!
I don’t envy you- and a bodice made of that elastic? Ew! Abandon all taste…
To each their own….. *shudder*