Long sleeved Zéphyr

Woven dresses are fine, but let’s be realistic: what I wear most often, and with the most pleasure, are still my knit dresses. Secret pajamas, as the American seamstresses would say! And if there was indeed a dress scheduled for this fall, at the very top of the list, it was indeed a long-sleeved Zephyr. ;

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Yes, Zéphyr is perfect but Zéphyr has a small flaw: it does not include a version with sleeves included. It is drafted with plunging armholes : adding sleeve on it, without previous work on the bodice, could be risky. As one works with a knit fabric, the trick is possible, but in the visual the rendering will not be optimum.

Honestly, if I had not followed drafting classes for a year, I would not have asked myself the question and I would have opted for the last born of Pauline Alice, the Aldaia, which is a beautiful knit dress, similar style. But alas, I myself have a small flaw: I am madly in love with Zephyr décolleté. 😀

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This V neck, sexy without touching, I find it perfect. I know that for some it’s quite deep, but precisely, that’s what I like. 😉 At 35 years old I finally understood that when you have assets, you have to take advantage of it. 😉

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So I started a little work on the bodice. I enlarged the 4 pieces of the bodice, 2 cms, at the shoulders and armholes. So that you visualize the thing better, I took some pictures :

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In tissue paper, you see my Zéphyr pieces in size 38, without sleeve. Below, on colored paper, my reworked version. Warning: I do not pretend that this modification is done according to the rules, I tweaked in my corner, without asking my teacher for help. Anyway, on me, it works!

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For the sleeves, I simply took my mix between Moneta for the sleeve head, and Wren for ease and length, and it works there too.

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For the size chosen, always 38, but sewn with 7mms seam allowances. So rather a 38.5 at the final rendering.

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The fabric is a Punto di Roma knit found at the Plaine market. The coupon was over 3m and the seller gave it to me for nothing. I find two defects: one, the composition 100% synthetic makes one sweat a lot. And it has too much drape: it sticks quite a lot and makes the skater’s skirt less in shape than I would have liked. Finally, I know that this dress will still be worn. (what’s magic with knit fabrics: a moderately successful woven make, I know I won’t wear it very often. The moderately successful knit make, I know it will save me regularly , some tired mornings.We can’t fight against knit comfort :D)

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3rd V-neck, and this one passed by itself! 😉 There is no to say, exercising always pays.

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Conclusion : I’m really happy with the changes on the bodice, which will allow me to be able to redo Zephyr with sleeves, as soon as my road recross a beautiful cotton jersey, a little dense. You think that Santa Claus accepts this kind of orders ??? : D

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A beautiful weekend Ladies, and courage in the Christmas preparations ! 😉

2 comments

  1. Dalia says:

    What a creative sleeve-solution! The dress looks so put-together too! With knit dresses it’s always easier in winter, they just work better with sweaters and coats, I think. And where I live people always think you are going somewhere special in a woven dress…

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