At this point I have completed three different versions of a white cotton voile underdress. All three underdresses share a simple shift silhoutte. Only the treatment of the neckline and hemline differ in the three samples. The first design wound up having a tiny notched neckline and one godet incorporated into the two side seams to slightly increase the fullness of the hemline. The second design had a simple rounded neckline and rectangular godets. I really like the effect of the recgtangular “godets” in the second design for the white voile underdress. I carried this feature over into the third design but modified the rounded neckline by adding a ruffled peter pan collar.
In terms of design elements, the rectangular godets feel a lot nicer to me. There are no sharp elements in the design to poke the wearer. The regular godets (which have a triangular shape) are just too poky for me. I also like the ruffled peter pan collar. It adds a bit of romantic fun.
The goal in developing the underdress was to modify the look and feel of a tunic which had high side slits and a very deeply notched neckline. I decided to use white cotton voile since I had enough fabric in hand to experiment. I decided to double layer the fabric to provide opacity as well as a little substance to the underdress. In cutting the pattern, I tried to avoid wastage of material. I folded the fabric into four and I cut the pattern on the grain, parallel to the selvage. I was able to accomplish my goal of not having any wasted fabric by using rectangular godets and reincorporating as ruffles etc the stray bits of fabric left over from cutting the neckline and armsyce.
Overall the silhoutte of the underdress really needed the addition of the godets to give it an elegant drape. Otherwise it would have been very narrow. The use of ruffles further embellished the design so that when worn with the tunic there is extra interest at both neckline and hemline.
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