Linen striped Summer Dress

This dress is part of a summer wardrobe for a friend. She just picked up fabric at random; it was only 2m in length, thought across it was 44". 
The bodice of the dress has dropped waist in a V shape,  because of which the when the skirt was attached the hemline looks uneven. Took darts through the armhole for a better fit for the bust. Since there was shortage of fabric, I had to use plain white cotton fabric for the neck and armhole facings.
Simple summer dress which fits excellently. 

Red kurta with Applique on it

The fabric is like spun, but synthetic and dull red shade. A friend of mine just dropped it in my lap and told me to do whatever I thought was suitable for her. Since given a free hand, I decided to jazz it up a bit. I had this piece of chiffon printed fabric lying around (almost threw it out a couple times), and felt if I add this in some form, it would lift up the dress. 

As for the form of the kurta, I made a knee length, half sleeve pattern with side slits, about 9" long. There are two uneven panels on the front; narrow one on the left and broad panel to the right. I gave a slit near the hemline and attached the printed chiffon as a facing. It turned out to be a cute detail. Asymmetrical neckline added interest to the kurta.

I cut the chiffon fabric in the shape I wanted (more out of the availability of size and shape), and tacked it in place. Then I stitched blanket stitch / Button hole stitch around the edge, making sure the applique sat flat on the kurta.I used an embroidery frame about 8" dia., to hold the cloth in place. Once done, it was time to add some jazz! I had a few coloureed stones from past project, and tacked them on in clusters. Not visible in the attached photos, alas!

My friend cam around yesterday and tried it on. It fit her well, but she wanted a sleevless kurta, so the sleeves will have to go. May be I will use them on some other piece! how is that?

Linen Summer Dress

A friend of mine wanted a few new summer clothes this summer. It turned out to be a new wardrobe. This Linen dress is part of the new lot. She just bought 2m. of the Linen fabric in Beige colour, not having decided what to do with it. Another half meter more and the dress would have looked luxurious. fabric felt great and stitched even better.

I used the left over fabric from another summer top I made for her in paisley print, for piping around the neck and arm holes, also as facing / border on the hem of the skirt.

The bodice is long, sitting on the hips. Skirt is expanding panels. A cute detail on the pocket made it very interesting. Inside of the pocket is also paisley print fabric.

Took darts from the armhole for a better fit for the bust.

Overall, it turned out to be a nice fitting and modern dress for summer.