Malvarosa

Jeepers.  I decided to do a little photo shoot recently for 3 items.  My camera decided, however, to play silly buggers and the first 2 outfits came up a nice shade of blur.  Now I don't mind keeping a little mystery about me but this just looked like some bad photography.  I'm fostering a young black kitty at the moment, perhaps it was just a bit of bad luck.  He was in the vicinity.
 

So, take dos. I really liked the version of the Malvarosa I saw on the Clever Tinker blog. I'm not sure that just seeing the pattern cover would have inspired me.  So let's just step back in time to say 1984 and the much worn drop waist dress.  Very simple pattern to make up.  So of course I chose a fabric with a specific pattern through it. Fortunately this rayon/cotton blend from Lincraft was fairly easy to match with the various panels.  I liked the sleeve detail build into the bodice pieces.  Though the rayon does stretch a bit so I'll have to watch the top of the sleeve doesn't getting all poochy.  I had thought about doing bias around the sleeves but given the shape the bias wasn't going to work. Also given the softness of the fabric I didn't see the point in bias around the neck either. Softer fabrics can certainly looked puckered when finished.  

The only extra adjustment I had to do was the underarms. I always find there is too much gape under the arms on a lot of loose fitting garments. Plus I took in the width a little around the top.  So after a few adjustments I also added some fusible webbing to hold the facing in place. I'm a keen user of this item for hems where the fabric is too soft or silky. It just give it all a smooth finish. 

Would love to try this pattern again in a plain coloured fabric. But, oh where to find the illusive good quality plain coloured fabric.