O'Keefe Coatdress

When this pattern from Diane Ericson was published, I ordered it right away. I have decided that, even if I never use the actual pattern pieces, it's worth the price for all the creative ideas Diane tucks into her pattern instructions. This comes in the form of a spiral bound booklet that is more like a magazine than pattern instructions anyway.

One of many of Diane's samples from this pattern - here it is cropped.

After having such great fun with her French Fold Shrug, I was hungry for another creative adventure with Diane as my muse. And I am somewhat enamored of Georgia O'Keefe. Who isn't? She was such a force of nature during her time, answering primarily to her inner (and outer?) spirit, and not worrying too much about others' opinion of her.

Since I almost never buy fabric for a specific project, I shopped stash for the perfect piece to try this pattern. First though I pulled out an old cotton bed sheet and made a sort-of toile, using the cropped length on the pattern pieces,. This was not to be a wearable toile/muslin.

Use of a toile or muslin has its limits. A bed sheet is usually constructed with a fairly tight weave. This piece is soft due to its age. But it does not mimic my fashion fabric adequately.  I rather liked the way the toile fit through the shoulders and bustline.

My fashion fabric was in stash but not deeply. I purchased it at Mulberry Silks and Fine Fabrics in NC in early June. It is one of those luscious Nani Iro double cloth gauze wonders. This one is on a soft black background with a light scattering of flowers and leaves. There is also some yummy brown, and even a little touch of shiny gold thread. Beautiful piece.

And of course I had too little fabric. To use what I had as fully as possible, I placed the pattern tissue on it strategically letting the long dress length hang beyond my fabric. This omitted the collar and cuffs which was fine. I had an older cotton lawn from Gail K here in Atlanta that would be good as an accent. The lawn has the same hand as the cotton gauze.

After I basted it all together, I decided the dropped shoulder was not a great look. It was too dropped and, with this soft fabric, there appeared to be no shape to the garment.

I had to cut the back with a center seam and forgot to add seam allowances. You can see where I added in a piece of selvedge with the sweet Nani Iro marks to fix my goof.

Trying to raise a dropped shoulder, after the fabric has been cut, is not for the faint of heart. It requires messing with the side seams and the shape of the armhole and the shape of the sleeve, lots of kludgy after-the-fact stuff. I played around with lapping the side seams as Diane is prone to do. It is a cool technique. 

I omitted interfacing from the collar, as well as the cuffs. I added interfacing to the center front only to support the buttons and buttonholes. I also used a mix of buttons, a la Diane.

I like the finished collar - it's soft like the overall garment. In the spirit of Diane, I folded in in some pleats in the back collar and visibly stitched it down. 

A Diane Ericson sleeve is beautiful. It is one piece but, with the addition of a dart, executes like a shaped two piece sleeve. My final garment does not show this off properly, perhaps again due to the soft fabric. I plan to revisit some patterns that fit me nicely and convert the sleeves so that they hang with this soft curve at the elbow.

One of the interesting aspects of the Diane Ericson sleeve is that it is easy to use when fabric is limited. See my layout above. The only sleeve seam falls along the grainline. The dart mimics an underarm seam.

The bottom of the toile sleeve, which follows the crosswise grain here, shows the effect of Diane's sleeve design.

I think I may do something different with the cuffs. The softness does not work as well there as it does on the collar.

In the end, I sewed ordinary side seams down for about 6" and left the remainder open as a vent. The sleeves were attached in the round and look OK.

Here is the final piece, though Diane recommends that no garment need ever be final. That's a philosophy that resonates with me. Those cuffs are going to change, for sure. 

For now, it is OK.