Organza is the devil’s cloth

The dress to wear to my friend’s wedding this weekend is finished. And it almost finished me. Silk organza is EVIL… it’s probably made from REAL ORGANS. What a monstertrucker it is to sew, what with the unravelling and the wiggling and the stretching.

It’s the 1963 pattern, McCall’s 7052, with modifications. I just used the double-cowl bodice and then frankensteined skirt pieces from TWO different patterns. That’s metafrankensteining. I wanted a straight skirt at the front and a full one at the back, which means I could be vaguely sleek but still engage in wild, abandoned, drunken dancing (I anticipate it will be that kind of wedding. I hope it will be.) So I have a mullet skirt. Excellent.

I bought the fabric ages ago from Rathdowne Remnants, and lined it in an avocado-green silk you can still pick up for a song at Clear It. (Or, if you run out, and you know Moggy, you can raid her stash on a Sunday night like I did. Thanks, Moggy!) I couldn’t resist the blue roses, which I’m always drawn to for their genetic impossiblity, even though I don’t actually like roses much.  Also, I like the 1960s Readers Digest illustrative style of their rendering. It was before I knew how diabolical organza is and I won’t hurry to sew with it again… it’s just not worth it.

But after all that, I’m quite pleased with the result. Bring on the festivities!

Silk organza scheming

A good six months ago, on a trip to Rathdowne Remnants, a chum goaded me into buying a remnant of silk organza in a print I’d been humming and hawing about for a dress to wear to an upcoming wedding. “Carn,” she said. “If you do it  I’ll take you out for cocktails in it to test it out.” Can’t argue with that, so I snapped it up.

It’s 3 metres of buttery yellow with completely barmy Toulouse-Lautrec can-can dancers on it. Of course. But since then I’ve been a bit stumped about what to do with it that will a) show off those dancing ladies and b) best work with organza.

Organza is tricksy stuff. It’s very sheer and light, yet crisp, too. So it needs lining. And doesn’t drape. Hmmmm.

The oracgoogle showed me that these are the sorts of frocks that are made from organza.

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Source, apparently here, eventually, but I can’t find it within the site

(I apologise, I saved last a while back and now can’t find where I pinched them from. No credits. Bad form.)

It’s an organza bonanza! Emerging themes are overskirts, fine pleats and sheer showcasing. BUT there’s a nightmare side to organza I’m sparing you from… the bridal frou-frou, fluffy, frilly, Catholic-child-confirmation horrors. Not me at all.

Question: can I pull off this daring exploit? I’ve been trawling patterns for a while but I’m a bit stumped. I thought about modifying Simplicity 2250 to dump the spaghetti strap idea, and just use the bodice:

…but I’ve since seen some versions made up and unless it’s done in that tiny thin striped fabric, the bodice pleats can look a bit clunky. Maybe nice crisp organza would be OK. I WILL need a full skirt for wild drunken wedding attendee dancing.

What do you reckon, internets? Got any ideas? I’ve got about a month until I’ve got to have the frock finished…well, sooner, if I take up the generous cocktail test offer.

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