Hips, don’t lie. (aka Drape Drape 2 No. 2 One-piece Side Drape Top)

 I don’t know what made me buy this fabric. Apart from the animal print, it’s unlike most of the stuff I’ve made or bought. I stood in the shop debating the respective merits of more conventional leopard print and this material, which I’d probably describe as tie-dyed animal print, and I finally went with my first choice. I bought so much I had enough to make this AND the cowl neck top I posted previously. So here it is, Drape Drape’s One-Piece Side Drape Top. Except it’s quite obviously a dress.

With complete disregard for anything Shakira may have taught us, my hips are actually lying in the picture above. But I have a couple of ideas of how I can get them to tell the truth.

This is a nice, clean design. It’s just one pattern piece, folded over. One long seam up the straight side (that’s the right side of the pic), seams at the shoulder and the top part of the extra “triangle” on the left. Like the asymmetrical top, it looks baffling when it’s cut out but, that’s one of the things I love about these designs. Making them is like unwrapping Christmas presents.

The next time I tackle this pattern (and I most definitely will! I’m already planning to make one for my sister), I’ll make a couple of modifications. First of all, I recommend playing around with where the apex of the excess hits. I’d like the drape to hang a little lower so the bulk/point of the drape hits a little lower down my thigh. I think it looks fine as it is but shifting the apex will cut down on the bulkiness of fabric on my hips! Most importantly, I’ll cut it out in mirror image so the drape hangs my left rather than my right as I’m right-handed this makes much more sense. Although, my stupid asymmetrical hair-cut might throw the balance out. Curses.

Slight digression here….my mother is left-handed and, given that she taught me to sew, I regularly find myself wielding scissors with my left-hand wondering why it’s so difficult while E and the cats look on in horror. And I absolutely cannot iron with my right hand. E’s left-handed too. It only took us three years of living together and a 20-hour flight to Australia to figure out that he needs to be on my left and I need to be on his right. Before that, it was chaos! Constantly elbowing each other and drinking each other’s beer (mainly him drinking mine, me elbowing him for robbing my lager). Back to the frock.

I’m not sure what’s up with my homage to Twilight scowl in this pic. It was very cold.

It’s kind of a shame to hide that design feature with a belt but I think it tones the colours down a tad and makes it a bit more autumn-wintery. And work-friendly.