The same ..yet different

Today's title reminds me of when as a little girl I'd try to tell my dad that things were "exactly the same ... but different" .... amusing to him yet it made perfect sense to me!


These two dresses for the TCC style show at Novi are both in a crinkle woven that actually sewed like a dream.  Same.   The pattern for each is the shoulder princess dress.  Same.   The collar and neckline on Dress 1 is a lowered jewel with a turtleneck on steroids; Dress 2 has a v-neck with a convertible collar.  Different.  The sleeve on Dress 1 is a shirt sleeve that has been widened and lengthened at the wrist to add fullness that is contained with a cuff; the sleeve on Dress 2 is a skirted tiered sleeve with some "princess" seaming.  Different.  The dresses are made from two distinct measurement charts.  Different.

Dress 1

 

Dress 2

The skirted tiered sleeve is one of my favorites.  Once this sleeve was chosen, the sleeve tool allowed me to shorten the overall length and make other preference changes.  Then I had a dilemma -- did I want to cut all the sleeve pieces on grain or did I want to do some on the cross grain?  I tried both ways and still had a dilemma -- I liked them both and each had pros and cons.

Sleeve A:  The one where all the pieces were on grain.  Pros were that it sewed together a little easier (because of the crinkles) and hangs ever so gracefully. Cons are that you can't really see the panels since the seamlines hide in the crinkles.

Sleeve B:  The one with every-other piece on straight or cross grain.  Pros were that you can see the panels and it still hangs beautifully.  The only con I could think of is that some may think I made a mistake (gasp!) when laying out and cutting the pieces.

A: On-grain pieces

So while I am a stickler for accurate details, I am not afraid to 'fess up when I've goofed.  In this case, it was intentional and not a goof.

B: Some cross-grain pieces

 

And the winner is --

So, see?  The same ... yet different.