Ha, remember when I said I was going to be moving soon so there wouldn’t be much sewing coming out of my end? I LIED (or rather, my new landlords lied. Dur!). Move-in date has been tentatively pushed to mid-week. The awesome part is that I thought we were going to be moving on Saturday, so I packed eeeeverything in anticipation & we didn’t move on Saturday and oh wait, that’s not awesome, this shit sucks ass.
Long story short, about a quarter of my sewing room is unpacked (oops) and I have a new dress! Yay!
So why is this dress called the Gazer? Well no shit, it’s a hybrid pattern – the top is a Hazel, the bottom is a Ginger. Hence, Gazer lolol (previous name considerations were Gazel & Hinger). Also, if you look at this dress too long you WILL get dizzy so the name could very well be a cautionary tale, if you will.
Anyway, I received this pattern as a birthday gift from reader Tracy. I actually tried to make it up a couple of months ago, but the fabric I chose was super tragic & the result was one of those wadders that lived in the corner of my sewing room until I threw it away, ahem, a couple of days ago when I was packing. Haha! I’ve come to the conclusion that gathered skirts just don’t suit my shape whatsoever. I knew that I wanted to do something with this pattern, though, so I stewed for a few weeks on what to do about the skirt. I had a lot of gingham left over from my Thurlow shorts (seriously, like 2+ yards! The fuck!?)… and then an idea was born.
First, I had to drag out my cardboard cutting mat (what? Doesn’t everyone have two cutting mats?) and somehow clear floor space for all that cutting:
My back is STILL angry at me, by the way!
I cut the bodice pieces for the Hazel and the skirt (minus the waistband) is the Ginger, version 3. Due to the gingham being sheer, everything is underlined with white cotton batiste.
I was initially unsure whether the multiple check directions were going to result in a Hot Mess, but I think this turned out pretty cute!
I mean – LOOK AT THAT CHECK-MATCHING!
FORREAL, THO.
Not to toot my own horn here (I’m totally tootin’ my own horn), but this shit ain’t half-bad.
I do think this pattern is pretty flattering!
The original version actually had pockets… but I must have placed them too low, or else they were fighting with the bias… either way, they kept making these weird lumps around my hips & the openings kept bagging out, so I just ripped them out & called it a day. I’m not really a pocket-person, anyway – I never put anything in them haha. So they won’t really be missed!
Psst – the white bow isn’t part of the dress, it’s just part of my massive belt collection.
I do love the way the skirt looks, but I don’t think I like wearing bias garments. They just feel weird to me.
Oh, here’s how it looks without the belt – I wasn’t able to get the checks to match up at the waist 😥 Mostly because I didn’t take that into account when cutting. OOPS. I mean, it’s close enough I suppose – but also just off enough so that it bothers me.
As mentioned before, my cutting table is down for the count (it’s currently holding a lot of boxes!), so have some flat shots on my quilt. Before anyone asks – I did not make the quilt, but my great-Grandmother did 🙂
The center front at the waistline totally looks like a vortex, fyi.
I guess that’s it! I hope they let us move this week haha. All these boxes are driving me crazy!
LLADYBIRD 
Yeah this is fabulous – and a great way to get around the skirt bit of the Hazel – I have to say, I’ve made a few and the gathering at the waist is not my favourite thing. I hope you’re able to move and get settled into your new place soon! x
Adorable!!! So how much fabric did the Thurlow shorts *really* take?
Definitely not the 2 yards suggested! I bought 2.5 yards & I’m pretty sure the Thurlows used less than a yard… even with the check-matching.
Amazing job!!! I love it! You are marvelous at print matching…seriously! That dress is hot stuff 🙂
-Ashley
http://distractedashley.blogspot.com
HA! I love the way you toot your own horn. None of that stupid fake modest, “Um… I think it’s nice? This is okay?” that requires everyone to say, “No girl, we LOVE IT. Its SO GOOD.” Eff that. You’re awesome and you know it!
The wraparound effect created by that pattern is cool. And… dizzying. It makes your waist look TINY!
❤ jen @ stuff jen did
It’s a fantastic dress, so I hope you wear it a lot. The side panels make this really awesome illusion that it’s wrapping the side and skirt fabric around to the front. Really cool!
Awh man please do not worry about checks at the waist – this hybrid skirt/dress mash up (drirt? skress?) is amazing. So very cute. Love the gingham so much.
Way cute, Lady! Pretty genius to combine the two patterns!
Oh man, I gotta have it! I love the hazel bodice but I sooo do not love the gathered skirt on that pattern. Every time I look at that pattern, I hear this weird sound in my head… I think it’s my hips laughing. This looks sooo much more sleek and trim. Construction-wise, do you think it would mess things up to eliminate the waist seam in the front?
Hmmm, I don’t think it would do too much harm! The waist seam is nice, though, for giving the skirt some neat bias design to match the stuff going on at the top 🙂
I LOVE this! I’ve also had a couple of hazel attepmts with a different skirt but none of them have turned out as awesomely as yours!
Wow, this dress looks so good! The side panels and the bias cut skirt, I love it!
Lovely combination and great use of checks!
Looks awesome! You’ve totally inspired me to create my own Gazer.
Awesome! The a-line skirt is a great idea. I cut my Hazel skirt on the bias in a similar way – with the stripes doin’ a chevron thing but it still had the gathers. It looks cool but I don’t like the gathers on me either.
This looks fantastic! I love the Hazel bodice but not the skirt. This is the best fix for that problem I’ve seen.
Whatever – I just lurked your Hazel and it is TOTALLY legit. Even with the gathers! I love all the stripes, so dizzying in the best kind of way 🙂
I absolutely LOVE this! Gingham was such a great choice for that bodice
The reason I haven’t bought the Hazel pattern is the gathers at the waist – but your Ginger solution has totally sold it to me now. I absolutely love it Lauren, you look gorgeous. And your check matching is beyond belief! x
Seriously cute….you must be the check matching princess….I am in awe of your skills…it really looks special…perfect fit and youre right in hybridising it….the a line skirt works perfecto.
This turned out awesome! Did you have any issues where the two patterns matched up?
Surprisingly, no issues at all. The waist of the bodice was almost exactly the same size as the waist of the skirt (maybe 1/4″ off, I just cut them to match haaa). I would caution anyone who wants to try this might want to double-check the hip measurements to make sure that the skirt will fit – or make a muslin – since the bodice length means the skirt will sit a bit higher than it was designed for. But I’ve worn it all day (and last night :X) and I’ve had no problems!
Good to know, thanks! 🙂
L, you killed me! I LOVE IT TO DEATH!!! May I steal this idea?
Hahah of course! But you better show me a picture if you do 😉
Gorgeous dress!
i love it. that is some inspired franken-pattern-ing there, and i think the different grains of the checks is brilliant. maybe the bias cut will grow on you, because it looks fabulous.
So cute 🙂 I love gingham! Especially how you played with the direction of the stripes 🙂
I definitely prefer that skirt to the blah rectangle that is on the Hazel. Beautiful!
Oh so cute. Great work on a brilliant hybrid!
Genius! Your version looks great and I’ll be trying that idea.
too cute to be true! I love gingham checks! I admire your strive for perfection in matching them up! I would never be able to do it. it would stress me out too much!
Sewing with stripes & checks isn’t so bad. Seriously! The cutting kind of sucks, but as long as you do it right, you don’t have to think much about it during the sewing. I’ve found that cutting everything on one layer is WAY easier than double-layer. And cutting pieces on the bias means you don’t have to worry about matching them up 🙂
Thanks for the reply! I will have to try the single layer cutting for stripes! I guess it makes sense, but I needed to actually read it! 😛
Oh yes you are right! I had forgotten about cutting on the bias! 😛
Love this mash-up! Well done with all the matching up too (just ignore the waist – I think it looks great)!
The gathered skirt is one of the reasons I eventually decided not to get the Haze pattern, but I love the bodice shaping so combining with a skirt pattern I like might be the way to go! Genious idea Lauren! ;D
You think this turned out ‘pretty cute’?!? Try insanely cute! This dress is gorgeous and I think the Hazel/Ginger hybrid has worked really well, you’ve done a great job on this! I know what you mean about gathered skirts – they do tend to suit me, but only if they hit at the right place. My first Hazel attempt was a complete disaster, so I too am now working on a hybrid. I hope it turns our half as well as yours ;o)
The dress looks amazing especially the top – as you mention it looks very very flattering!!!
That dress is…..unspeakably good! It is downright couture!
This is such a great frankensteining of patterns! Totally breathes new life into both the dress and the skirt and the ginger looks super flattering on you! I love it!
Good luck with your move! Ugh! Living with boxes is THE WORST!
It looks beautiful! I love the different directions of the checks, and I love the overall lines. (I have a hard time with gathered skirts, at least at my natural waist)
Did you cut the underlining for the skirt on the bias as well? I ask because you say you don’t like the feel of the bias; in the past when I’ve cut stuff on the bias to play with stripes, I’ve cut the underlining on the straight-grain for stability—but that was for a bodice, it might not work as well on a skirt. Hmm.
You know what – I did cut the skirt on the straight grain. DUR. That’s probably why it feels so weird! I bet that would be fine for a bodice, but since a skirt is more fluid/not stationary, it probably needs the double-bias. Whoops!
I made the hazel bodice twice and I’m still not entirely satisfied with it. I think the facing fits it weirdly. The side seams of my hazel are coming undone because the bottom edge is a lot smaller than the equivalent part of the bodice. Did you have any issues with the facing?
I think you may be right about that – I slip-stitched my facing to the underlining, and I noticed that I had to ease the bodice into the facing, which seemed really weird to me.
OMG i LOVE this… like really really love love!! I like my Hazel just fine but yeah… gathered skirt. Not flattering. Comfy but not flattering. I’m always adjusting it when i’m wearing it and that’s not cool LOL. I DEFINITELY think I’m gonna copy you and do my next Hazel with a lovely straight skirt or A-line instead, cause your version looks PERFECT!
Love the white bow belt – so gorgeous with the dress 🙂
oh my word, this is fantastic! Easily one of my favourite things I’ve seen on the internet! Nice one 🙂
Your writing style makes me laugh so hard that I am nearly crying in my cube – only slightly awkward. I am loving this hybrid dress you are rocking here! And that is some damn fine check matching – top notch! I love it with the white belt, and the front totally looks like a vortex in an epic, time travel kind of way. Well done on rocking these two patterns!
DAMN GIRL! This looks amazing! Your check matching kinda makes me angry and jealous, but also way impressed. Love the black and white! Great job, you!
I love the gazer! I have been pondering a hazel, but I didn’t think the skirt would look good on me. Your solution is perfect!
oh this is just the most pretty dress I’ve seen lately! love it and you look fabulous!
I was just wondering how I was going to redo the skirt on my hazel pattern. I haven’t made it up yet but was thinking of a more streamlined skirt. Yours looks awesome!
This is lovely! The Gazer is born! I think it works so well because of your awesome check matching skills and I love the little row of diamonds down the centre skirt seam.
This dress is absolutely stunning and your pattern matching is so on point!
I know you worked so hard to line all that up. That’s major. You go, girl.
Great combination – it looks amazing.
So fancy with all that check-matching! 😉 How do you consistently knock out such great projects, lady? I need some of your sewing mojo (well, I have no mojo for much of anything these days. Ugh.)! lol.
Oh, and so glad you didn’t go with Hinger… It just sounds *wrong* (and I’ll leave it at that. haha!). lol.
Wow! Go gingham!
You are so inspiring! This dress is just adorable! 🙂
I love this! I just made a muslin of the bodice and installed a separating zip up-side-down so I could try it on and see exactly how thick my waist is. Prior to this I thought that i might need some sort of SBA…but lo and behold, the bust fit awsome and I *only* need to add 4″ to the waist. Ha. My bust is a size 2 in this patt but my waist/hip are size 8…I’m thinking changing the skirt portion to an a-line might give my waist better definition than using the gathered skirt. Thoughts?
LOVE it! Well done matching those checks so well. xx
LOVE….. what a brilliant idea – thank you – I have some black and white check that I wanted to use for this dress and couldn’t imagine it as a dirndl skirt on my figure.. Don’t like them on me as much as A line or maybe slightly gathered – but I usually sub gathered skirts in dresses with one of my other patterns which is a gathered skirt cut with slanting sides – givse the full bottom without that much bulk at the waist. But this looks so amazing – just hope it will look half as good on me!
…… I actually visited because i was checking out thurlow reviews :)… I see we share a simlar diskike of the way bias feels, and of putting in pockets – hello from Malta, Europe 🙂
such a flattering cut on you and- wow!- you totally rocked lining up your gingham! great job!
I love that dress. How smart to combine the elements you like in one pattern with those you like in another! You’ve given me all sorts of ideas with my own set of patterns.
This is super cute! I found your post while searching for gingham dresses for my new Squidoo page. I just featured you in it, because I thought this dress fit perfectly! I hope you don’t mind! Here it is: http://www.squidoo.com/gingham-dress
Hello,
Greetings from Spain.
I have discovered your blog some months ago and i love it.
How many fabric do you think that I need to do this creation (the Ginger/Hazel Hybrid) in a 14 size?
Thanks a lot