By now, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of my loyal readers started to wonder if I ever made a tartan asymmetrical neckline dress. Did I perhaps give up after making the necktie? I certainly did not! Did I have the energy to blog about it? Nope, sadly I did not. But better late than never! :)
The main fabric for the dress is a medium heavy cotton fabric with a tartan print. Its properties are similar to my usual muslin fabric from IKEA, only a bit thicker. For the lining of the skirt, I used a regular lining fabric (probably polyester). The graphite version of this dress didn’t have a lined skirt and the only reason for that was that the inside of that fabric is very sleek as it is. The cotton however, needed lining, otherwise I would’ve ended up with a skirt moving higher and higher up my thighs.
An improvement from the graphite version of the dress are the belt loops. Since the tartan pattern changed between the skirt and the top, it would look much better with a belt. And to keep a belt in place, you need belt loops :) Another detail worth mentioning is the “chain sewed” thread that attaches the under skirt (lining) to the outer skirt. This keeps the under skirt from sliding around.
I’ve also included a neat way of sewing darts and fastening the thread. Just start sewing your dart and when you’re close to the edge, carefully sew a couple of stitches parallel to the edge. After the parallel stitches, steer the needle over the edge and sew ~1-1.5cm without any fabric. Stop sewing, lift the presser foot and move the fabric towards you. Now sew a couple of stitches on the dart to fasten the thread. It’s quick and easy and the result looks great every time.
Yuki Clothing 