I’m calling this dress the Picnic dress or really should be called The Copycat Dress.
I’ve been debating for several days whether I was going to blog about this project or not. I have very strong feelings about sewing this dress, some positive feelings and some guilty feelings. I’ve gone so far as to check with Stephanie first since I never want to illicit negativity on the web between us sewing bloggers.
You see… Stephanie of Star Spangled Heart blog had sewed up an incredible dress last week.
I feel head over heels with the print that I (guiltily) went and hunted down the same fabric to use on a dress of my very own.
The pattern that I’m using is Marian Martin 9227:
So, you can already see… it’s looking more and more similar to Ms. Stephanie’s dress.
The catch is that she spotted this fabric on a OTR dress and had went about recreating it for her very own.
The Bernie Dexter dress looks very similar to Gertie’s new dress pattern too.
Here’s the link to fabric.com if you want to get some of this awesome fabric for yourselves! :) Yarr… It’s on sale now too for $7.63 a yard. I missed it by that much.
This could be a really perfect one to use too:
So I’m having lots of guilty feelings about this dress since I feel like I’m basically ripping off another blogger, who was also putting her own spin on dress she saw in a shop. I’d feel much less guilty if I were recreating something I saw mass produced but I do know it all boils down to the same thing.
I know this post is really loaded with all sorts of ideas like consumerism, copyright, crafter’s free license to create, etc.
But the one thing that is ticking in the back of my mind is: I’m doing all of the work and fitting sewing this dress up for myself… so technically it’s my own dress, kinda…. right???
When I don’t think about all of these topics, I’m having a really fun time sewing up this dress for myself. I haven’t made a summer, sleeveless dress in well… forever really. Most of my dresses either have cap sleeves or short sleeves attached since I’m just shy like that. I’m not used to showing off my shoulders/arms. But this dress makes me feel flirty and ready for a summertime picnic.
Here’s my my bodice muslin:
And the back has a surprise:
Shirring! This addition was all me. :)
I got all of my pattern pieces cut out, but the only assembled piece I have so far is the bodice back:
The shirring took quite a long time. I didn’t bother to match up the pattern since I thought it would be too busy anyhow. But after looking at the back bodice, I wish I had matched up the patterns at the center back.
I was going for functionality over beauty since the center back will have a zipper and I wasn’t sure if I had to add/remove more fabric here for a better fit, after all is said and done.
Getting back on topic…
So having such happy feelings about this dress, I wanted to figure out a way to share it with you all in a transparent way.
The only thing that makes this all okay in my mind is the fact that I love Stephanie’s dress. I loved hers so much that I wanted one for my very own. Mega compliment for Stephanie! But there are peeps out there that would get really offended and territorial on their creations. Heck… I would if someone recreated something I’d made (but not given me credit).
And I think that’s the thing! Giving credit where credit is due is the key. It’s one thing to be inspired by something and it’s another deal to 100% copy a design. But in either situation, I think the key is noting the original to give credit where it’s due so that you’re not trying to take all the credit and pass it off as YOUR original creation.
Yay’s/Nay’s? Thoughts?
Note: I know this will illicit very strong thoughts in either case, but please be polite as you guys always are. :)
In: Sewing
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