Calvin Klein coctail dress

Finally! Long awaited (it has rested in a pile on my table for weeks..), I've finished (and already worn) my Calvin Klein dress. It's a Calvin Klein Vogue American Designers 2051 to be more precise.











I'd guess it's a 1980's, or possibly 1990's pattern based on the style of the dress, the pattern envelope and the fact that it came with a lot of patterns that range from the 1960's to the 1980's. Bought on E-bay.

Oh, found it! It says 1988 in a small print on the envelope. I love to be right... (hehe).

I really like this pattern, it came with a foundation-pattern for the dress, and called for a waist stay. I've wanted to make a dress with a dress foundation and waist stay ever since I first had a look in Claire B.Schaeffer's "Coture sewing techniques" and realised it's a must for "real" dresses, but found no information on how to execute it. 10 points to Calvin! And the fit is great (though I did adjust it a bit to fit me).

These are a couple of the changes I made to the pattern. I have a very narrow back, I always have to make patterns more narrow around the above waist-underneath bust-area. I also made the skirt a bit more fitted.

I've also (finally) learned that I must, MUST cross out the old lines when I make changes to patterns. I always think I will remember things like what line to cut along, but I don't. Or maybe it's that my mind begins to wander at the second I start cutting the pattern and I always begin to follow the wrong lines. Unless they're marked with little crosses!

I've also realised just how important it is to first pin and then baste the zipper in place before sewing. And that you can actually change the position of the (sewing machine-) needle before sewing, to get it closer to the zipper! Wow, that took a few years...

I still haven't learned to be attentive enough when I sew the actual seam though, so the seams are not the same distance from the zipper on both sides... I didn't bother to rip one of the seams, fingers crossed no-one will notice... and I will pay better attention the next time. Promise!

The material is a gorgeous (I guess) polyester (and that's a major contradiction of terms to a dedicated lover of natural fibers like me) with black weft and red warp (or the other way around maybe) that makes it shimmer in a blackish red colour that's impossible to set the finger on (as shown in the pictures). I love it. It's slightly stretchy (=very kind fit-wise), has a bright and shiny red wrong side that's also very slippery (=lining of skirt unnecessary) and was generally very easy to work with. Kind fabric.

The bodice is lined with black cotton (that actually is the dress-foundation) and boned with polyester boning. By the way, I wish I could find steel boning for corsets! But the polyester boning was easy to work with (am I becoming a fan of polyester? I also LOVE my Houdini Hoodie in tam tam tam: polyester Polarfleece). And I have better (=more necessary) things to sew than corsets :-).

The boning and waist-stay makes it stay in place, and very comfortable to wear.

Had to do a glamour-pose... and bring out my grandmother's fox from the wardrobe to not freeze to death! Modelling outside in Sweden in April is cold, I swear it was no more than +2 degrees Celsius, but foxie kept me nice and warm... and I think him and the dress had to get to know each other, they will surely meet again!