Design Notebook: Black Dress

One of my big assignments for school is to design, make a pattern, construct, and grade different sizes of a basic black dress that could be worn to a job interview or out to an evening event.  I did three sketches, and this was the one that won out in the end.  The other two were either too dressy or too boring, and I liked how this one struck a balance between polish and fun.  It actually started as a flash of inspiration as I was falling asleep one night.  I saw this dress in my head in a peacock blue, and practically jumped out of bed to sketch it before it was gone forever.  (I always think of really awesome stuff right as I'm falling asleep and think that I'll remember it in the morning.  I never do.  Hahahah.)

At least I learned from past mistakes, because I love this dress.  I don't have many sheath dresses in my closet, which is interesting because the shape tends to be pretty good on my body type.  I think that I shy away from dresses that don't have fullness at the hip to balance out my large chest, which is probably why I added pockets and an interesting waistband.

Last Saturday I went to check out a great local fabric shop with a friend from school, and they ended up having some really gorgeous black fabrics.  The one on the left is a heavy wool crepe, exactly what I was thinking of for a structured dress like this.  The swatch on the right is another 100% wool, a gabardine with a satin finish (if I'm remembering correctly), which I love because well... it glows.  It's not shiny like satin, but it definitely has a soft white gloss on its surface.  It's not quite what I'm looking for for the body of the dress, but the head of the school suggested using it as a contrast, maybe on the sleeves and on the waistband.  I really like the idea of playing with texture and light to add some subtle interest.