Blake in scuba

I do not know where I saw the Blake dress from Mingo and Grace first, but this, this and this version really made me want to sew one. The Blake dress that is featured on the pattern's cover page is made with scuba/neoprene, which gives the dress a very pronounced shape. Scuba is a rather new fabric type, I tried to find a nice definition, but failed. It is a bit foamy and the origin is probably wetsuit (scuba diving) related. I had never sewed with scuba, so when Droomstoffen gave me the opportunity to do so, I jumped on it.

I have been (digitally) across two types of scuba, a very thick foamy (usually uni colored) one and a bit thinner, flexible one, which more often has a print. The fabric I got is from the second category, I believe this one was a similar type. The fabric has a nice stretch and I decided to omit the back zipper, it worked out great. The dress officially did not come in the size for my eight year old (max size is 6), but fortunately she has a skinny chest (she even fitted in a size 5) and I winged the length.

The Blake dress talks about soft pleats. That was a new one, I never heard of it, soft pleats are not sewed closed at the top, but they are sewed slightly overlapping. Soft pleats give more volume in the skirt than regular pleats. My daughter totally got the princess vibe from this dress, in most of the pictures she is holding the skirt like it is a huge ballroom dress. The smartly placed pockets were of course a hit. The width of the front and back skirt is different and the pockets are very well hidden because of it.

One of the biggest advantages of scuba has to be the fact that it does not fray. Not even a little bit. I pre-washed this piece to test it, and the sides are still perfect. They are so perfect that I decided not to hem. I did not finish the neckline, nor the arm holes and also the bottom still has its raw edge. You can imagine what a satisfactory sew this dress was. In case you get inspired, this fabric is currently on sale at Droomstoffen for just 6.50 euro per meter. I asked for 90 centimetre and managed to also cut a matching hear band and a dress bodice for my youngest, so even if I would have bought the fabric, this would have been a crazy inexpensive dress.

Making pictures of this dress was the hardest part of this project. I love the colors, and I thought that the forest would be the ideal place to capture them. Looking at my camera screen, I felt that the dress was behaving like a chameleon, so I tried a greener background, that was fail. A grey industrial background also did not give me what I wanted. Finally I tried a blue sky one, because I was very inspired by her pics, none of them gave me the effect I hoped for. I am still learning a lot when it comes to photography, so what do you think, which surrounding would have worked best with this dress? It has been a while, but this dress got a twirl test, and it passed!

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).