Business Lady with a Sharpie Twist
I recently received a copy of the new extended size range of the Liesl & Co Rush Hour dress for review on the Curvy Sewing Collective. It’s a classic princess-seamed sheath dress or peplum top which is just perfect for a business look. That’s one of my favourite silhouettes, but I prefer it in a knit!
Luckily, I’d just received my order from Cali Fabrics (Oh happy day!), and I had plenty of Liverpool knit to choose from. It’s stretchy, has body, and never fades or wrinkles! I know some people find polyester knits too sweaty, but I find making a sleeveless dress solves that. In winter I’ll be wearing a cardigan anyway!
I used this diagonal stripe and floral print for the centre panel front and back, and some solid black for the skirt side panels. Just for fun (and scrapbusting), I used leftovers from this Cali Fabrics dress from 2018 for the bodice side panels!
But when I tried it on, there was a problem – no, not with fit (although I’d tweak that next time) but with how my colour-blocked appeared from afar! If you squint at the picture above, can you see how the bodice side panels blend with the centre panel because they are a similar depth of colour? I wanted the side panels to read as dark like black, for that classic hourglass effect.
Never fear, my Sharpies are near!
Yup, that’s right – I coloured in my print! I shaded most of the white with black and blue markers, and thanks to the painterly print it blends right in. I’ve coloured on a few dresses before, and it’s a fun way to adjust a print. It lasts well in the wash too!
It’s hard to explain how darkening the print changes the balance of the garment, but I think you can see it best in black and white. To show you, I coloured in the front but left the back panels as-is, for now!
Can you see how now the side panels on bodice and skirt read as a unit, but on the un-Sharpied back, the bodice panels merge with the centre panel instead? It’s a small difference, but it matters to me! In fact, now that I’ve looked at photos, I’m going to make the side panels even darker.
What do you do with your polyester knit scraps? They aren’t ideal for quilting, nor underwear or baby clothes, which are usually the common scrap-busting ideas online. I’m hoping that mixing prints and colour blocking is going to help me use of some of my leftovers!
WOW! If you wouldn’t have told me, I would have thought those were coordinated fabrics from the same line. This is really amazing. What a cool tip for all those scraps, or even when you didn’t quite buy a piece large enough!