Luckily I recovered from the delay in order to get one of my commissions done and...
New Look 6773. If it looks familiar, it's because it should... oh yes, the copy bat has struck again! This is my attempt to copy bat the purple batty dress from Sourpuss. The days of the original dress are numbered, every time it was washed it got a little more faded-- not to mention some of the seams have become undone on some places, and I always wash in delicate settings with cold water and woolite for blacks. The fading and fraying has gotten so bad that I have all together stopped washing it in the general wash, and have now added it to my pile of dry cleaning. It's so sad to see such a beautiful item just be an all round disappointment in quality.
Anyway, I vowed to copy bat the dress because I adore that dress. I am not going to buy another one, because the cons of doing so are just too great. It's so much money to gamble on a potentially bad product-- could have been mine was just some bad dud, but I don't want to risk another one. Not when I have the ability and know-how to make a similar one. So I did.
A couple or so Hallowe'ens ago a good friend had purchased me a couple yards of this wonderful spider web fabric. I see it every year now at Walmart-- seems like it's a popular one. I knew it was just the fabric for this copy bat dress I had in mind when I was organizing my stash for the move... but, it wasn't until I actually moved to San Antone that fate brought me together with this out of print pattern during a sale.
And it all came together just like that. Bodice view B and Skirt view K made an almost identical dress in style and cut!
So I began my work a week or so ago, when suddenly I sent all my machines in for work on the oddest lark I've ever felt.
There is sat for a few days, taunting me on my dressform-- laughing at me for my impulse. I couldn't even do any retail therapy because the cost of sending in my machines was a little too sudden and large of an expenditure. Although, my serger was aching for a new plug; the plastic around the socket was smashed during the move since the movers had packed it with my very heavy and very metal exterior singer machine. Lucky it didn't affect the electrical, it was just an annoyance because the plug wasn't as secure as I liked. It was really dumb, but I'm over it now.
About the only problem I encountered with the pattern itself was the left side back bodice piece alone was gaping under my arm in the most unusual way. I'm positive it was because the tension on my serger was a little too strong and it warped ever so slightly to create that gaping. I had to retinker with the settings on all my machines on their return naturally, which I thought I nailed by the time I put the final garment through. To fix the problem I reopened the seam and tucked the excess and hand stitched it back. Not the proper way, I'm sure, but it solved the issue and it appears flawless lol.
This dress is fully lined, and despite the tiny hiccup, it wasn't much of an issue. Though I truly do wonder if I should have lined it-- there is a reason I never line the dresses I make. It's bulky, and a pain with static. Hate that clingy feeling... it hasn't happened yet, but we'll see. I chose a lightweight cotton for the lining, none of that synthetic stuff notorious for static charge. I didn't see much of a choice for including the lining because the collar is attached to the edge of the dress... I guess I could have just drafted a facing like I do with everything else, but I suppose I felt I needed to change it up?(??)
Ah well, whatever the case, now I won't feel quite so bad when the bat dress and I part ways, because I know that I can always make the replacement, heh. I might just even make this in different Hallowe'en prints too! That might be really fun.
The rough cost break down of this dress was:
- $4 per yard for spiderweb (x2),
- $2.00 per yard for lightweight cotton (x2)
- $7 per yard for black twill (.25)
- 12 inch zipper $4 (1)
- Pattern (on sale) $1
Making the grand total: $18.75 and 5 hours total of labor (not including the long pauses between actual work). If I calculated in minimum wage for those hours (going to put it at $10 because that was what it was in New Mexico), it comes out to be a touch more than the one from Sourpuss but only for that reason alone; I only calculate wages if I was actually going to sell it, which I am not.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of "The Copy Bat"-- bringing you ways to make the things you want on (mostly) a dime.
P.S. the shoes I'm wearing are ones I modified once upon a time-- for a better look, and the story behind them, check out the old post!
