Monday, April 11, 2016

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).

20 comments:

  1. Ik vind de foto met de blauwe lucht het mooist, maar dat is misschien ook omdat ze er zo majestueus op staat :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ze voelde zich heel koninklijk in ieder geval!

      Delete
  2. Oh dat is scuba, heel leuk! Ik zou de stof uit eigen beweging niet gekozen hebben, maar vind het eigenlijk wel heel mooi voor deze jurk!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Grappig is dat he, als je soms stof op de foto ziet denk je, uhm nou nee, maar dan af kan je mening veranderen.

      Delete
  3. Prachtig!! Het zit haar als gegoten.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ja he, zo fijn als je na een tijdje gewoon weet hoe lang en hoe breed je iets moet maken.

      Delete
  4. Wauw, die jurk is echt heel knap! En zo leuk om te lezen dat ik je met de blauwe lucht inspireerde...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Heerlijke blake. Zalig patroon he 😍. En wat een eer om hier niet één maar twee keer vermeld te worden ☺️

    ReplyDelete
  6. Super! Dit is de eerste bedrukte scuba die ik echt mooi vind!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Die van Lieselove toen, die Evamaria had vond ik toch ook om te watertanden.

      Delete
  7. Is dat echt scuba? Machtig mooi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ZO ben ik voorgelicht, maar het is dus wel een dunnere soepele versie.

      Delete
  8. Die kleuren zijn helemaal prachtig!! De eerste scuba die ik leuk vind!! Ik dacht altijd dat het niet zo soepel viel, maar die dunnere versie blijkbaar wel!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. De kleuren doen denken aan die lap die ik bij jou won!

      Delete
  9. Amazing! When if first read about Scuba and saw it I thought it was too stiff - but for such a dress it's just perfect. You're also part of wild&free testing? Looking forward to 'sew' from you 🙂🙃🙂🙃

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :) I am not part of Wild&free testing, I think, not sure what it is ;)

      Delete
  10. Mooie jurk! Ik vind de kleuren toch wel heel mooi uitkomen tegen die grijze achtergrond.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mijn man vond de betonnen muur erachter wat vreemd, maar ik vond de kleurstelling zo inderdaad ook super.

      Delete