The Ressurection of the Dress - Seamstress wanted!

[beetiger]

I have this little black dress. I mean, I have actually a whole bunch of black dresses, but there's one I wear constantly. It's made of (I think) jersey cotton, it's got a scoop neck and 3/4 inch sleeves. It doesn't wrinkle and it pretty much stuffs in my purse if I need to change for a party. It goes with corsets. It goes with pretty much every piece of jewelry I own. It goes hiking. It goes to fetish clubs. It's wearable when I didn't really want to get out of bed and dressed. I can sleep in it if I have to.

I wear this dress about once a week, and have for...years, I suppose. I don't remember when I got it, but it was probably in college sometime. With striped socks, it's pretty much an identity piece. I've said I would wear it until it falls apart.

Well, it's falling apart, or at least getting holes in inconvenient places to fix. And I'm kinda devastated, considering it's a piece of cloth. I haven't found another one like it.

Is there someone here that sews, can make patterns, and would be willing to try to duplicate this very simple dress? I can send you pictures. I can even send you the dress if you promise to send it back intact. I'm happy to pay a reasonable rate for the amount of work it would take to get it right, even if that's more than a dress like this would probably cost.

Feel free to pass this on to anyone you know that you think might help. This would be an easy project for the right person, I think.

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great dress!

If it doesn't wrinkle, it's probably not cotton, or at least, mostly not cotton. There are many simple dark dresses sold as packable/travel dresses, and you might be able to find a close match to the dress if you can't get it repaired. They are a bit pricey, but for something you wear once a week, the cost averages out quite well.

For example, this one or this.

[jenny_evergreen]

Wish I could help! I feel your pain.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

I actually own the first one. It's a great dress, but not enough like the one I'm trying to replace. It's a really different material than this dress, which feels kind of like a heavy-weight cotton T-shirt. I have bought dresses sorta-like this dress for years. None of them are quite right.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Do you know weegoddess? She's on my friends list and is a seamstress. She may be able to help you.... She lives near Philly, I think....

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

She's kind of one degree removed from a bunch of people I know, but I don't know her personally.

[kakiphony.livejournal.com]

Post this to etsy on the alchemy setting. You'll get offers from various people and then you can look at their work and see who you think will do the best job for the best price. Voila!

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

If you write to her, tell her I sent you. :-) She's very nice, and has made wedding dresses for a couple folks in the crowd.

[valdary.livejournal.com]

I'm too far away and not really well enough to take this on for you, but if you want to learn pattern cutting I recommend the Betty Foster books.

You won't need to sew in darts if the fabric is elasometric, you cut the front bit two inches longer at side and stretch the back to fit the length as you sew, it makes a gentle gather instead of dart and looks a lot smoother.

Sounds like you are looking for elasometric fabric but in a heavier weight and less shiny than Lycra or Spandex.

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Have you considered looking at the tag and searching ebay for "brandname black dress"? Might turn up something.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I believe I remember that dress!

Anyway, I second the pointer to weegoddess.

(I also have other ideas for duplicating garments, but they generally include tailors in Asia who are good at this sort of thing. These are less practical if you're not going to Asia.)

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the reminder of this. I'm taking this approach and I think it is going to work for me.