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F23 - Dark Green Velvet Bell-Sleeved Mini-Dress

[green velvet bell-sleeved mini-dress] This was my latest project for a hand-made garment, based on the design available (in black) at GoodGoth.com. It comprises a body, made of a front and a back section, and two long, strongly flared sleeves, all made of a beautiful deep dark green stretchy velvet fabric, which is depicted below.

[close-up of velvet fabric] There will be a zip up the back to allow the wearer in and out, although the stretch of the material will also help in this regard. Below the hips, the dress will probably taper in slightly, but this is more than compensated for by the massive flared sleeves. Now that they're finished, I can confirm that the sleeves will be bigger than originally planned, being 74cm wide at the ends. Which gives the dress a C-value of 0.75 , making them the biggest flares on this site. The volume is over-estimated because the sleeves curve out rather than being straight.

Not allowing for labour costs, the total cost of this dress, including fabric, zip, and thread, will be less than £4 (€6, US$6). I kept a log of progress during the creation, which is presented below. I would estimate that in all it took about 30 hours of work to make, which means that it needn't take as long as I took, and could just about be done in a weekend.

W=74, w=10½, l=50: θ_F=22.01°, V_F=< 29543 ml, C=0.75

Progress Chart
15^th February 2003
Fabric and zip bought.
16^th February 2003
Measurements of future wearer taken (for guidance only - the real size will be determined by a later fitting).
18^th February 2003
Material cut into four large pieces, which will become the front, back and two sleeves.
19^th February 2003
Pieces pinned together in approximately the right places, and started sewing the hems of the sleeves.
20^th February 2003
Continued sewing the sleeves up - I am approaching the limit of what I can do without the wearer...
22^nd February 2003
One sleeve finished - the other is about half-done.
23^rd February 2003
Sewed pieces together to check the fit and style, made slit for zip and then unpicked the sewing having made the zip in the wrong piece. Ah well....
28^th February 2003
Now that the ultimate wearer is in town, the fitting can at last take place. This changed the design a bit - now the bottom hem will be slanted and there will be darts to improve the fit around the bust.
7^th March 2003
Finally got around to doing a bit more - sewed the zip (poorly, I'll have to do that again), lower parts of the side seams, and half of the bottom hem.
8^th March 2003
Did most of the zip properly this time, and finished the bottom hem, as well as doing the darting on the front.
15^th March 2003
Finished the second sleeve, and pinned the pieces together roughly in place. Again, I must wait for a fitting.
22^nd March 2003
The final fitting!
26^th March 2003
Now I know that the body's the right shape and size, I've cut away the excess fabric, and made one side seam tidy on the inside.
27^th March 2003
Finished the second side seam. All that remains now is to sort out the attachments of the sleeves.
29^th March 2003
One sleeve is now attached and its seams are all neat and tidy. Nearly finished!!
30^th March 2003
The other sleeve is finished now as well. I thought I'd be finished now, but it looks like the zip might need re-doing (again!) - it keeps rucking up at the back, and I suppose I ought to do something with the neck-line.
6^th April 2003
Finished! - sewed the neckline pretty much straight across (this can always be lowered later), and re-did the zip at the back, which involved sewing 16 inches of fabric onto 14 inches of zip. I think that was the most difficult bit, but it's finished now.