The Wicked Stitch: Through the Looking Glass

How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they'd give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn't good to drink -- But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. 

You can just see a little peep of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it's very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. 

Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking- glass House! I'm sure it's got, oh! such beautiful things in it!

Let's pretend there's a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let's pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why, it's turning into a sort of mist now, I declare! It'll be easy enough to get through -- 

' She was up on the chimney-piece while she said this, though she hardly knew how she had got there. 

And certainly the glass was beginning to melt away, just like a bright silvery mist.

In another moment Alice was through the glass,

                                                                                                Lewis Carroll - Through the looking Glass

**

This is the dress I made for the Tessuti Awards competition. Sadly I didn't even get into the finals, but I am proud that I finished it in time. I had been meaning to enter the competition for the last few years! and finally I did it! Next year I'm just going to have to step up my game a bit!

None the less, here is my dress - Does it not remind you very much of Alice? I thought it was a perfect match.

I certainly steered my my original plans, posted here, and ended up mixing together 3 different patterns together and improvising here and there.

I had a lot of fun playing around with multi directional stripes. Although I'm uncertain how flattering the horizontal stripe is across the middle.

I used Tessuti's "Tap Water" Japanese cotton. Its delightfully sheer and soft and has a slight seersucker effect. However, this meant I had to line the entire dress, which I did with a white cotton voile.

I also made my own bias binding for the arm holes. I love the effect of the diagonal stripes against the vertical. It really is the smallest things when sewing that you fall in love with!

Stripe matching wasn't always possible, but there where a few places where it was. I love the chevron stripes on the hips.

I also used a red bias tape around the waist on the inside as a little waist stay. Mostly it was just there for decorative purposes, but it also helps to stop the waist from stretching out, seeing as the fabrics are both quite light and delicate.

The weather is slowly warming up here in Sydney and when it does I see this dress getting a lot of wear. Its going to be perfect and breathable for those hot sticky Sydney summers.

Mx