Love Affair with Reversible Knits

Andrea has used this reversible knit and New Look 6482 to its best advantage.  I can just see Andrea wearing this dress on date night with her handsome husband!  Andrea blogs at Sew to Fit and also check out her YouTube channel for more expert fitting and sewing advice.  Thank you Andrea!

Here is a simple project that took a little thought to finalize.  In my design process, most often I draw up a design before I sew it up, in order to help me visualize the look before I use my fabrics in the final design.  If I come across a pattern that has a basic design, it becomes my canvas for designing what I want.  But let’s be clear, the design doesn’t take shape until I’ve had time to doodle around the line drawing while giving my creative juices a chance to birth something wonderful.  When I sew with a print, the print speaks to me and directs my thoughts to a design.  In the case of a wonderful solid, I am free to do whatever, or maybe even embellish. In the case of this dress pattern…it was ripe for any design I could imagine.  And this is what I imagined….

The moment I laid eyes on this reversible fabric,  I bought from SM Fabric.com, it was destined that I would make something which would take full advantage and display both sides of the beauty it has to offer.  I just love these two sided knits.  

I love how the inset on the side is at a slight angle giving it a slight asymmetric look at the hem. As you may already realize, this is not the original pattern. It was the diving board for this design, my design process began with this pattern.  The plain front was not what got my attention for this pattern, it was the side inset.  At first I thought the inset was mirrored on the back, both being on the right side, but this one has the inset opposite on the back, with the matching inset being on the left side of the back. 

Well, this dress was such a great success!  For now, I have more two-sided fabric to buy, and more color blocked dresses to design. What’s your design process? Are you creating any color blocked wonders?