Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Antisocial Behavior Dress

If you could do anything humanly possible with complete assurance that you would not be detected or held responsible, what would you do? We were talking about social influence and deindividuation last week in my AP Psych class, and when presented with the above question, 36% of college students responded with some kind of antisocial activity (e.g. criminal or spying behaviors, with most people actually saying "rob a bank"), 19% cited some other non-normative behavior, 36% neutral, and only 9% of the respondents named a prosocial behavior (Dodd, 1985). I'm pretty sure that of all the responses, 0% of them said "enter a sewing contest without using the official contest pattern."



Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard that Colette Patterns recently released a new sewing pattern, the Laurel shift dress, and not only that, but they sponsored a huge contest with absolutely fabulous prizes. Who wouldn't love all that free money to buy fabric and notions with?! Unfortunately, I'm a cheapskate when it comes to buying sewing patterns. I love the sales at Joann's, but even those are a bit pricey when you can buy vintage patterns for $0.25 each at thrift stores. Which means that when it comes to having to pay over $10 for a pattern...well, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Especially for such a simple shift that I could probably make up on my own. I bid a sad goodbye to thoughts of free Spoonflower fabric of my own ($18/yd, even for my own design, is something I can't justify right now. I'll have to settle for drawing or printing my own), but somehow the idea of a simple shift wouldn't leave me alone! Even though I was pretty underwhelmed when I first saw the Laurel pattern announcement, Debi was right -- contests really do inspire me to rethink my initial assessments of a pattern (or in this case, a look) that I'd previously dismissed as unsuitable for my body type/personal style.

So...what did I finally make for my if-I-could-I-would contest entry? Well, let's just say that velociraptors, especially as depicted in Jurassic Park, are the ultimate in antisocial behavior:

Okay, I know, this isn't a velociraptor*, but it's still pretty awesome to find metal dinosaurs outside a random car wash in TCOCC. 
A wash and wax for $9.95! They actually do a pretty good job, as Mr. Cation car can attest. 
There was a Sewasaurus Tyrannosaurus Rex too!

I could also wear this on days that I'm feeling particularly introverted, because there's nothing more antisocial than a dress printed all over with ominous words/phrases like "Keep Out! Danger! Caution! Warning!"Also, Mr. Cation swears he will not walk next to me when I wear this in public, so that's even less social interaction...

You mean you don't want to be associated with me? At least Amanda will join me in making dinosaur poses!

When I first received this Jurassic Park sheet in the mail, I was so excited, but I couldn't figure out what to do with such an awesome (and large-scale, and multi-colored) print! Thanks to Brooke, who suggested that I make it into a shift dress with as few interrupting style lines as possible, I decided to make this not-a-Laurel. While I can't exactly enter it into the contest, I still think it would've been a pretty fabulous entry for the showing-off-a-print category.


I started with Simplicity 8722, which I've used in the past, but only with knits. In order to get the more fitted look that I wanted, I ended up making a whole bunch of modifications, taking in the side seams and back (at both the CB seam and by making larger back darts), almost totally redrafting the sleeve, and of course, axing the facings and replacing them with bias strips. Now that I've finally done the work of modifying the pattern, I'm surprised by how much I like the shift dress look! It's simple and classy (as long as you're not using dinosaur sheets from the 90s) and not nearly as awful on my body as I was expecting.



Summary:
Fabric: Just half of a 70/30 poly-cotton twin sheet. I love that shift dresses use so little fabric! This means I still have enough fabric left over to do something else, although I don't know what yet.
Notions: Bias tape for the neckline, seam binding on all the inside bits (there are no raw edges anywhere, because this fabric frayed like fraying was its only goal in life), a 20" zipper, and a hook and eye
Hours: Eight, for all the fiddly fitting and seam binding everything within an inch of its life.
Will you make it again? Now that I've figured out how to wear a shift dress well, you bet I'll be making more! Colette, I'm sorry for ever doubting the brilliance of the Laurel. However, I'm still not paying you $14 for it.
Total cost: Thanks to the generous NYC sewing bloggers, this was a free project! All the notions were in my stash already, but I guess if you had to count how much they originally cost me, I'll say it was $1.
Final thoughts: This might be one of the more ridiculous things I've made. And that's saying a lot, since I've made quite a few ridiculous things in the last couple of years! Unlike the other geeky dresses I've made, which were all a sort of uniform blue with a slightly more subtle print (you wouldn't think they'd be subtle, but I've hung out with people and had them not notice until several hours in that I've got Jedis or superheroes all over my dress), this dress boasts all the primary colors in a huge, blocky print. Dinosaurs just don't do subtle. Still, I think the colors and pattern actually add to the mod 60s look. Hah! Obviously I don't actually know anything about the mod 60s look. At any rate, the nicest thing Mr. Cation could think to say about it (actually, I'm not sure he was trying to be nice...he might have just been confused) was that it looked like a pediatric nurse's scrubs. You know, the kind with teddy bears all over to keep children calm. Well, watch out, children, these terrible lizards aren't even pretending that the shot won't hurt! They're all like caution danger warning this shot is going to hurt like a dinosaur bite. Still, despite all that, this dress makes me really happy because it's just SO WEIRD.

Even better, though? I'm not alone in my weirdness! Gingermakes, of Mood Sewing Network fame, and one of the NYC bloggers who was in on sending me this sheet, kept a JP sheet for herself...and she also made it into a shift dress (but she used the real Laurel...I guess I'm just the Chinese knock-off)! I'm pretty sure that when Andrea announced the S.O.S. challenge, she never thought it would be applied to such fabric. But there you have it, sister fabrics...go check out her make!

At this point, Mr. Cation was like, are we done yet? 

*A true-to-life statue of a velociraptor wouldn't be very fun to take pictures with, though, since they're not nearly as scary as the Jurassic Park movie portrayal. As expressed so delightfully in one of my favorite nerdy songs, Hollywood Raptor, velociraptors should be feathered and more or less turkey-sized. Incidentally, The Doubleclicks are an absolutely brilliant pair of sisters who write awesome stuff -- if you're into D&D at all, you'll love This Fantasy World.

39 comments:

  1. Oh my gah, I'm laughing so hard right now! We're even both wearing wedges, although mine are red and white striped, so TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Ridiculous. I can't believe one of these exists, let alone two!

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  2. I am absolutely loving your dress!! My son (5 years old) would absolutely die if I wore it. He would like it soooooo much!

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  3. Great dress and good for you to spot a dress you can use instead of buying a pattern

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  4. Ha, I love that both you and Ginger mention that the men in your life do not want to be seen in public with you two wearing these dresses. Some people just don't appreciate a good dinosaur print... (;

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  5. I love this dress, but almost more than that, I love the fact that you cite psych research in your sewing blog. :D

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  6. OMG i love it so much. i actually think the absurd colors do contribute to a mod-60s look with a true unique spin, and it's a perfect match for a sheet with such an exuberant and obvious pattern. :-)

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  7. I love this post from top to bottom, love the dress, love that it's a vintage pattern instead of new $14 pattern, impressed by your fitting and sleeve drafting, love how uncomfortable it makes Mr. Cation, love the poses and love the descriptor of the fraying fabric. :) I'm still giggling over here as I type. My co-workers are wondering what's wrong with me, lol

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  8. You totally rock that dress, girl. I've always had a soft spot for shift dresses.

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  9. i have to say, i kinda love this dress! it may be my favorite of your "geeky" makes. it's so funny the Mr doesn't want to be seen with you in public while wearing it though!

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  10. That is so funny! I had the same thought when I heard about the contest! Sisters in cheapness :)Great dress BTW!

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  11. Have you ever bought an indie pattern? If not, you totally should, just as a treat. They're seriously different from anything you'd get from Simplicity et al, full of comprehensive instructions and diagrams and hints on fitting and all sorts of wonderfulness. And they're pricey because they've usually been designed and written and drafted and tested by just one person who is trying to make a living from something they love. End of lecture :)

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  12. Subtle is overrated! This dress rocks!

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  13. I wasn't sold on the Laurel pattern I have to admit plus, like you, my Indian stinginess came into play about buying it! But I've seen a few nice versions out there in blogland and yours is definitely the wickedest!

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  14. All. Kinds. Of. Rad. I love that you guys have made the same style of frock!
    And my love for raptors is such that for our wedding cake toppers I had a toy raptor representing me with a tiny fascinator on its head (husband had a tiny Optimus Prime in a vest). Rad!

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  15. You always have the coolest fabric!!!
    I must have been living under a rock.. had no idea bout the contest... was wondering why there were so many Laurels around lately!!!!!!!

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  16. Cramazing. Just. Wow. I'm extra feelin' it since I just re-read "Jurassic Park" on my kindle.

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  17. You and Ginger are so much fun! Love all this. Great dress, wonderful metal photo buddies...

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  18. Hahah this is awesome I love your fabric choices and it suits perfectly for this occasion! Loved the outcome of your dress looks amazing.

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  19. This dress is amazing! Jurassic Park was my favourite movie as a kid, and one of my favourite books still, even if the dinosaurs are treated with a good dose of creative licence, haha. Now I feel the urge to actually finish the dinosaur print dress I'm half way through and stalled on, just so I can join the dino-dress club :).

    The shift style actually works quite well on you, yay! (it's fun finding new styles to play with, yes?).

    p.s. "Dinosaurs just don't do subtle" is the best thing I've heard all day.

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  20. Love that fabric!

    Because most of the shift dresses I've made before have been vintage, it was weird making a modern pattern WITHOUT the back shoulder darts (you know the ones at the neckline?), I almost included them in my white blanket dress, but tried to stay true to the modern era.

    LOVE IT!

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  21. 100 times more satisfying than robbing a bank! Lol! I LOVE this and I LOVE that two of these exist and I LOVE that dinosaur statues! Brilliant! I think you should make a felted cat hair T. rex!

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  22. That is awesome! And it looks great on you - good job for going out of your comfort zone. :)

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  23. I am hoping you will wear that dress proudly on Geek Day. It's perfect.

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  24. I am really impressed with your Laurel knock off! I agree it is very sixties mod!

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  26. You two are all kinds of awesome! I totally love this dress (and the photos)! Well done drafting your own Laurel.

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  27. I love this dress so much. That is my idea of heaven - a dress looks cool but people refuse to talk to me when I'm wearing it. Perfect for antisocial days. I'm wondering now if I could get away with painting keep away signs on some of my stash fabric and sewing it up...

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  28. Ha, such a fun dress! I feel the same way about pattern prices, and I really can't get myself to buy Colette patterns because the bust sizing is so far from my reality. I really do want to make a shift dress now, though!

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  29. I LOVE it! And I really like the shoes you paired it with! I knew a shift dress would look good on you. =) I was the same way about them for a while (the no defined waistline is a little hard to get used to at first) but as long as you fit it properly, it still gives you a waist.

    I think it's a dress that will make people smile when they see it. And forget antisocial - you will have people starting conversations with you. Happens all the time when I wear my crazy print shift. My husband didn't like mine at first either (thought I was weird for cutting up a bedsheet) but it grew on him and I'm pretty sure he likes it now. I think your husband will learn to appreciate it - after all, you look great in it!

    ~ Brooke

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  30. Fabulous in every way, Cindy. You and Sonja are the dinosaur fun dream team!

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  31. I would totally be seen in public with you in this dress. Because its awesome!

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  32. I love this so terribly much! I fear my life will not be complete without a Jurassic Park shift dress. (I was pleasantly surprised by the Shift dress I made at Xmas, too.) Hooray!

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  33. You totally had me laughing with this post! Love all your makes, this one takes the cake (so far). I, too, was too cheap to shell out for the Laurel pattern - modifying the Sorbetto, we'll see how that goes. I would totally walk down the street with you in this dress! Wouldn't it be awesome to have a "loud dress" sewing bloggers meetup?

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  34. Hilarious and brilliant! And that's just the post! I can't decide which I love more, the dress or the story or the photos! They're all fantastic.

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  35. So weird AND so so AWESOME. That fabric is just the bees knees, and the shift dress style allows it to shine :)

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  36. Awesome! I hadn't realised I'd not commented earlier! I LOVE your dress, post and who can possibly go past the carnivores on your front ;) More fabric swaps I say!! ;)

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  37. I knew I recognized this dress! I saw you at JoAnns a few weeks ago wearing this dress and I thought to myself, this dress sure looks familiar (that's because I had seen it on your blog). It wasn't until I saw your about me that I realized we live in the same town! LOL!

    -Ash P
    http://distractedashley.blogspot.com

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