Tag Archives: dress

January 7, 2011 · 2:59 pm

SFOs (Semi-Finished Objects)

Zena of Blood, Sweatshop, & Tears once commented that “wearable is climax. Done is denouement.”

She is so right.

Lekala twist-top, v. 2

In that spirit, I give you my second take on the Lekala 5675, a.k.a. the twist top. The hems are serged but not completely finished, and it’s been like this most of the week. I am disinclined to fuss with trying to stabilize them for topstitching. Bleh. This red knit is wiggly, super-stretchy, and much more like the kind of fabric I imagine the shirt was designed for than my last attempt. It’s also an amazing example of the difference fabric choice can make for the exact same pattern (only difference is I added perhaps an inch more extra length to the red version, just in case, bringing the total increase to about 3-4″ in the sleeves and 4-5″ at the hem. The first version was roomy and sweater-like, with a surprisingly perfect fit in the shoulders. This version is second-skin tight and the shoulders look really narrow. Although about the same as they look in the pattern illustration, actually.. The twist still doesn’t pull naturally into the kind of tight twist the illustration suggested. This might be a drafting problem (maybe they should just have widened the upper front piece a bit so that a full twist was required), or it might just be that my doubling of the front (makes the finishing easier and never a bad idea in a thin knit) gives it a bit too much body. I think in my head the slit below the twist should be wider, but again it’s actually quite comparable to the illustration. Some day I shall use Sherry’s post to attempt to reduce a swayback in a knit. Someday.

Simplicity 5728

Simplicity 5728

In a similar vein, my (wearable muslin?) version of Simplicity 5728 is at a try-on-able phase in construction. Yay!

This is such a peculiar fabric. I would’ve sworn it

Simplicity 5728, side view

was a diagonally-ribbed knit, but it frays like a woven. It’s stretchy, very slightly in length, significantly in cross-grain, but fairly stable. It does have that cling-to-every-lump-and-bump quality of a knit.

In the stretchy (whatever the heck it is), I should probably have used the original bust-length, as the extra length doesn’t seem to be necessary. I had narrowed the bodice sides 1/4″ on the pattern, since it seemed a bit roomy under the arm,

Back (lightened to show lack of swayback wrinkles!)

tapering to nothing at the waist, and I took it in another 1/4″ here after trying it on (adding up to a substantial 2″ reduction in the total bodice width). I did a swayback alteration as per Sherry’s instructions (sooo easy when you have both waist and CB seams), taking off about 1/2″ (12mm) both above and below the waist seam. I gave the CB seam of the skirt a bit of an S-curve to it as my swayback seems to be rather below my waist in this area. And then I cut, inserted zipper, and hoped. And—well, look!

Can we say, happy customer?

Also, like what I did with the back neck? I did a brutal job of finishing the top of

Simplicity 5728, full back

the zipper, but otherwise it’s snazzy! Er, and yeah, the zipper’s pink. I thought it coordinated/contrasted nicely with the muted purple of the fabric, but probably it’s just too light. But the only other zipper I had of suitable length was white, and an invisible one, which I don’t actually know how to install. It’s vintage and metal, though, so it’s cute enough to deserve to be looked at.

Simplicity 5728, front closeup

You will recall that I received excellent advice from Kay and others on my sleeved muslin to raise the bottom of the armscye to improve my sleeve mobility. So I raised it a full 2cm, on the principle that it’s easy enough to lower it after the fact if I need to.

(It occurs to me that I probably annoy nearly everyone with my flitting back and forth between metric and imperial measurements. Can I call it a Canadian thing? I prefer to do my seam-allowances in metric because the metric markings are at the front of my sewing-machine face-place, making them easier to see than the imperial markings, which are at the back. On the other hand the width of the regular foot is definitely 1/4″, so I tend to do things like small alterations in this increment. It also depends on which ruler or measuring tape comes to hand first…)

I should also mention that I added 5″ (and we’re back to the imperial) to the hem of the skirt to get it to this luxuriously long length. That’s supposed to include 2 1/4″ of hem, which would bring it to a perfectly respectable heel-length, I think, although I’m not convinced a 2″ hem will be desirable in this fabric. I’m wearing a 3″ heel in the photos. I love these crazy-long 70s skirts.

Coming soon: the great sleeve adventure!

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December 30, 2010 · 1:50 pm

A little goes a long way…

A small lengthening adjustment

I took Steph (and several other peoples’) advice and lengthened the CF by rotating the bottom of the bust piece down 1/2″. (thanks for your thoughts, everyone!)

This seemingly-insignificant alteration had some major consequences. On the up-side, it achieved its intended goal of allowing the midriff piece to sit a little lower, bringing the seam-line down to the vicinity of my waist. On the downside, now the bust feels a little too full and wide (odd since if anything the piece is narrower than before). I assume this is because it’s under less vertical tension or something. Also the neck feels a bit gapy—always a risk in a V-neck like this, the correction for which is the exact opposite of the alteration I just made :P. I’m hoping that the weight of the skirt

Simplicity 5728, v. 2, with sleeves!

keeping the bodice in place will keep this from being a problem. In today’s photos I’m wearing the Bullet Proof Bra, which brings my bust measurement up in line with the pattern’s intended 34″; it succeeds in filling in most of the extra fullness, but it still feels a little bulky/loose under the arm.

(To bra or not to bra… that is the question. On a daily basis I tend to go without—a knit top offers enough support to get me through my daily routines, and indeed most exercise except for jogging. On the other hand, a bit of support is nice for when I’m wearing wovens, and if I must wear an annoying band around my ribs, I might as well get some, ah, enhancement, from it, which is where the Bullet Proof Bra comes in. Which will I be more likely to wear with this dress? Well, whichever ends up fitting under it better, I guess…)

Arm-lift---uh oh

Then, of course, I added the sleeves.

Can I just say that woven sleeves are a pain in the arse? These particular ones have a little pouf at the top, which is achieved by lengthening, rather than widening, the sleeve cap. So they look gorgeous with my arms down, but ride up mightily the moment I lift my arms. Now, I’m not expecting to be able to do jumping jacks, but it would be nice to able to put my hands on my hips without the entire bodice pulling up around my ears. And then the neckline goes totally wonky, too. Grr.

Side view, arm raised.

On the up side, I’m no longer wondering if the armscye is too high. With the sleeve on, it feels not nearly high enough.

Incidentally, I lengthened the sleeve pattern by a full two inches to bring it to this point, which is about where I’d like a finished sleeve to end. I’m not totally sure if I want the fold-back cuffs that came with the pattern or not (do they make sense without the collar?) so I’ll have to think on that. Maybe I don’t want long sleeves at all (but I’m having a hard time thinking about anything short sleeved right now, as I’ve said).

Back, with sleeves

But, the back looks pretty good with the sleeves—I wouldn’t want to take any ease out of it, I think.

Back with arms raised

It handles the arm-raising much better than the front.

I think I’m satisfied with the bodice for now—side seam ease is something I can

Side view, with sleeves

always tweak in my final fabric (whatever that may be), so the issue that remains is the sleeve. What do you think? Keep with restrictions? Attempt to alter the cap (I seem to recall the Sewista Fashionista taking a stab at something similar not that long ago…)? Swap in a different sleeve I like better? (I haven’t done a long-sleeve in a woven for me yet, so I don’t really have any candidates. I could do a short sleeve—I’d probably like a short cap sleeve better than a puff anyway, or there’s always the lure of a pleated sleeve cap. Again, though, I don’t have a preferred pattern for any of these.

This is my first elbow dart, by the way. it does make for a nice fit.

So what do you think? Short sleeve or long? This sleeve or other? I have a feeling I’m going to go with the long skirt option. Cuz, well, I love me a long skirt.

The pattern girls, to remind you

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July 25, 2010 · 6:09 pm

My first vintage crush

OMG gorgeous fifties dress

I’ve talked before about how vintage styles mostly don’t really do it for me. Either I don’t have the right figure (40s and 50s) or I don’t like the style (20s and 60s. For that matter, 70s and 80s, too. Yes, I know I just cut out a VERY 70s sundress. I am attempting to pass beyond my prejudices). However, some of my favourite blogs are by vintage fashionistas (Gertie’s being the biggest, of course), so I kind of get pulled along for the ride. And I like a lot of what I see, even if I can’t picture myself actually wearing much of it.

But, the other day I stumbled from Gertie’s blog onto the Blue Gardenia, and there I found… this gorgeous thing.

This is officially my first Vintage Crush.

Look at that waist line (down-up-down)! Look at that back detail! Look at that interesting front seaming. Look at that…

Price tag. Ulp.

Folks, I am never going to own this pattern. Even if it were in my size (it’s a 40″ bust… I’m a 33″. I could probably make it for my husband, but I don’t think he’d appreciate it…) it’s listed at $125. Yowza. I haven’t managed to justify spending $20 on a Colette pattern yet (and believe me, I slaver over Ceylon and the Lady Grey almost daily).

But oh, do I want to knock it off.  I can’t even begin to imagine how except perhaps by draping, and I haven’t got a dress form (much less one fitted to my particular body). While I read a lot about pattern-drafting and like to think I could theoretically do it, in practice, I rarely have. Never for something complex.)

It even makes me love the French darts, and I hate French darts. Also, for the record, I’ve yet to sew myself a real skirt, much less a real dress, much less a crazy fancy fitted dress with complex seaming like this.

Alright, I’m going to whimper to myself for a bit now. We spent most of the day gallivanting (it’s one of the first truly nice weekends we’ve had yet this year) and now I have to clean the house (which is a catastrophe due to my past few days’ intensive sewing) and all that responsible stuff, to likely no sewing today. Poop.

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July 23, 2010 · 10:23 pm

Sundress!

70s sundress

Finally, something for me! And it may even be warm enough this weekend that I’l actually want to wear it!

This is the fabulously long version of my new 70s sundress pattern,

Sundress Start

seen on the right. It’s not a brand I am familiar with.

I added the patterned overskirt because I thought it would be pretty; the gauzy patterned cloth, as I mentioned before, was a broomstick skirt I’ve had forever. I like how it looks although it was a pain to cut out (especially since I wasn’t using pins).

The pattern calls for the elastic to run all the way around the ribcage; I preferred to keep it to the back and sides (less tummy pouff) but this had the side-effect of flattening the bust (since it’s designed to be partly pulled in by the elastic). I’m always amazed when I manage to make a pattern too small for my bust (ok, not exactly too small… they fit in fine. The shape is just flatter than would be ideal. The girls are really doing well for having nursed two babies, but they are still a little squishy these days). Other than that I really like the shape of the top—those kind of triangle tops can be really fiddly things, especially for gaping along the bias, and they both cover well and don’t gape, which impresses me. There is supposed to be an elastic inside the back of the neck, as well, which would probably make it more comfy, but I like the look of having it

70s sundress---back

sewn and flat. We’ll see for next time, perhaps. The waist elastic casing is only 1/2″, which looks very nice and delicate

70s sundress

but doesn’t feel terribly secure; I think next time I might try widening it to hold a 1″ elastic.

The instructions (which I read!) were simple but seemed fine. It’s a pretty simple dress.

Also, this amazing length is the pattern’s full length BUT it allowed for a 2″ hem, and I only did a 3/8″ one, as I didn’t think the wide hem would work with the crinkly fabric. So really it should be about two inches shorter. The extra length is fine for me, although we’ll see how impractical it ends up being.

(I’m not sure if you know me, but I tend to be drawn to the extremes. This means I like my skirts either really short, or really long. This has the net effect of making sure I don’t wear skirts very often, since the long ones tend to be too formal and restrictive, and the short ones I spend too much time making sure I’m not flashing people. Anyway, obviously this time I’m indulging in the long)

The gathered back does indeed look rather sack-like; hopefully my luscious and toned upper back will distract people from this.

The only other concern I have about this dress is that the voile is still quite sheer, and it does show all the way up in the front. Probably I would be wise to wear a slip or add an under-layer, but I don’t have much voile left, or anything else that would be suitable.

All in all, though, I am totally stoked to have a sundress again!

Closer view

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July 10, 2010 · 11:54 am

Ruffle Dress

Pink ruffle dress---complete!

A long morning’s labour completed. What do you think of the flower? I needed

Flower decoration

something to cover up my uneven ruffle, but I didn’t want something that would stick out too far. Loosely inspired by these.

Ok, I think that’s enough sewing for others. I want something for me now, please.

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July 10, 2010 · 9:29 am

Diabetic shock…

Pink Overload!

I am in the throes of sewing a ruffly pink sundress for my niece. It is really, really sweet. I just might barf.

Can I just say, I am suddenly very proud that I never sewed anything pink for either of my daughters? Thank you, thank you very much. (Honestly, I don’t mind pink in moderation. but this… that’s a lot of pink. And it’s not cool, edgy pink with skulls on or something)

It’s based on the Oliver & S Popover Sundress, a free pattern. You can see the difference in my stylish sketch there.

My snazzy sketch.

I’m actually only using about the top 5″ of the pattern, since I needed the dress to be twirly (my niece is 3 1/2, and any skirt that doesn’t twirl out is “broken”). The rest is gathered tiers.

Which brings me to the second problem… the ruffler foot.

I learned to use a ruffler foot on my mother’s gorgeous, ancient 1960s Pfaff. You could ruffle, pleat, gather pretty near anything on that machine. And I did. Ok, I didn’t, but I made a number of tiered skirts for bellydance, which is pretty much anyone’s ruffling quotient for a lifetime (the one in that picture has 9 tiers, 7 of them ruffled, and the bottom hem consists of over 30 fabric-width (45″) strips.

When I moved away, my mom bought me a new sewing machine as a going-away present. Aww. It’s a lovely little Janome, and as you know it has sewn me through jackets and jeans with relatively little hassle. Things could be much worse. One of the little things I asked for when we got the machine, though, was a ruffler foot. I was still in dance-sewing mode, after all.

And I did, actually, manage to make one more full scale tiered skirt on my Janome. So I guess I can’t say the ruffler doesn’t work… it just doesn’t work as well. I don’t know if it’s the machine (not quite as sturdy) or the ruffler (also not quite as sturdy). It certainly can’t pleat to save your life. It does a roughly 2:1 gather on its lowest setting, and heaven help me if I want to change that. It’s little things, like the poky bit the needle sometimes hits on…

Of course, it didn’t help that last night when I was trying to start on it, I kept forgetting to put the presser foot down (it’s very hard to see the difference with the ruffler foot on… and it still ruffles, just even less well). And then somehow I managed to switch it to a zig-zag stitch…

Yeah, that doesn’t work. Remind me to pick up more needles when I’m out this afternoon…

But things are going much better this morning. I got the whole bottom tier ruffled. When I finish this post I’ll go do the second tier up. I always start at the bottom on these things, otherwise my brain breaks with the enormity of the task.

I always forget how the tiers multiply. That bottom tier was 6.6m long (6 fabric width strips) before I ruffled it. At least it’s done now!

The best thing about ruffled tiers? They use up almost ALL of the fabric. All I have left over of that ghastly pink solid is a 10″ square.

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July 8, 2010 · 10:50 pm

A real oldie…

This was my highschool grad gown (aren’t I cute?). I didn’t sew it. My mom did.

The catch?

She made it for her highschool grad, in 1970.

Peach is not normally my colour, I must admit (it isn’t really one of my mother’s, either). But isn’t this an awesome dress? Square neckline, princess seamed bodice, empire waist. It doesn’t get much better, does it? And so classic. Timeless. The gloves and handbag were also from when my Mom wore it; the necklace and shoes (not shown) were my own. The wrist corsage was courtesy of my excellent grad escort. I am secretly hoping one of my girls will wear this gown some day… though at this point I’m not sure if either of them will ever be big enough. Their dad’s family is, ah, small-boned.

The trophy was for Art, by the way. Aside from this photo, walking across the stage with it was the only time it was in my possession. I have a little plaque. Somewhere.

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June 30, 2010 · 10:58 am

The (not so) Big Reveal

Danielle Dress!

Ah, the Danielle Dress in all its glory! Oh happy day! Of course you’ve already seen photos of the dress with everything but the final hem, so it won’t be that huge of a deal. Ah well.

It has taken a LONG time to get this post up, due to lack of awesome pictures worthy of this awesome dress. Lots of fuzzy ones, ones that don’t show the hem, ones where I’m making a wonky face… you get the idea. These still aren’t them, but they’ll have to do for now. My usual photographer (AKA daughter) is spending the month with her cousins!

It occurs to me that this is my first fully-lined dress. Also my first “everyday” (as opposed to costume) dress.

A quick recap on the construction… the fashion fabric is some kind of crinkly chiffon (possibly crepe?),

Danielle---rear view

very thin, in a bold black and white print (I don’t usually go for prints) that has been in my stash for at least five years, since I made a tiered dance skirt for my older daughter out of it.  I underlined it with a plain black cotton (from my old duvet cover, the same stuff I used to underline my girls’ coats) to give it a bit more body, and lined it with a very plain, very cheap black lining fabric. While I cutting I committed the major sin of not cutting the centre front on the fold, so I had to improvise and add a third pleat and centre front with a black inset of the same fabric as the “waist” band. Since I now had a seam allowance at the centre front, this meant I had to fiddle with the other pleats a bit to maintain the skirt width, but I think it worked out all right.

To keep the chiffon (which was a b*tch to cut out, by the way) from sliding around on the underlining, I

More Danielle!

hand-basted all the pieces of the shell together. This was probably the single most time-consuming part of constructing the entire dress. On the other hand, it was handwork, so I could do it in the livingroom with the family instead of ditching them to sew, so I get less (though not no) hassle for it, and not once during the actual construction did I want to shoot myself in the head due to my slippery, misshapen chiffon fabric pieces, as I usually do when working with this kind of fabric.)

My cutting wasn’t as precise as I would like (as usual), partly due to the chiffon, partly due to sloppiness. Precise cutting is definitely one of my Areas to Improve, although I’d like to say this dress was quite a bit worse in that department than most of my recent efforts. Cotton and denim (which is of course cotton too) are really dreams to cut out. My biggest goal was to get the front pleats to line up with the front darts (and to not totally ruin the darts). I was not 100% successful, but managed adequately. The darts are at least more symmetrical than most of my previous attempts, though I’m still not 100% happy with them, either.

The lining was fairly rushed and fudgetastic. I didn’t do a separate waistband for it (I meant to make the skirt longer to compensate, but didn’t, but due to sloppy/generous cutting of length this didn’t actually matter. My goal was to make the lining slightly smaller, which I achieved a little too well, but at least my zipper doesn’t get caught in its fabric (!) and the outer shell doesn’t look strained.

I didn’t want to finish the arm-holes by hand, so I wound up releasing my shoulder seams so I could machine-stitch the lining to

Hand-finished hem---the large stitches you see are actually the hand-basting I neglected to remove since it was on the inside. You don't see ANY of the actual hem stitches.

the arms and neck and then reverse it, then hand-finished the shoulder seams. This is easy, but somehow when I do this the shoulder seams never match up as nicely as they ought to… the front is always a little too narrow for some reason. There’s probably a better method out there, but I’m too lazy to research is right now.

The zipper was a bit of an experiment. I’ve read the standard method for inserting them (and this was a standard, not an invisible zipper), but I’ve never had great success in this department. Usually they end up catching on the fabric around them, at least a bit. I was attracted by the idea of installing it by hand, but also short of time. In the end I sewed it to the lining by machine (carefully well back of the zipper teeth) and then picked it to the outside by hand. It looks great, at least on the outside. My hand stitches show on the inside (perhaps with a little more thought or paying more attention to some tutorials, I could have avoided this, but I was in a rush at this point). I also finished the hem by hand, which is lovely when you have an underlining to catch the stitches on, and I’m quite happy with that,

Hand-picked zipper

though there is one spot where I accidentally caught the fashion fabric and it shows. I could fix it, but I probably won’t bother. I just hemmed the lining by machine. I really should pick up some finer machine needles… the ones I have are a bit too thick and the lining fabric puckers.

On the whole, the dress was a smashing success. It fitted well with minor alterations (though the bust is still a bit generous for me… I suspect I need to narrow the front and then make the darts smaller). I did end up taking it in almost an inch on each side at the back seam, so perhaps I could have cut the size 34 instead of the size 36. The only disappointment? I it’s a bit too fancy for everyday, and who knows when I’ll get to wear it again?

Shoulder seam---not a great match up.

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June 24, 2010 · 7:41 pm

So close!

Danielle dress---almost finished!

I guess it would be a better strategy to show less progress, save the full dress for the big reveal, right?

Sorry, I don’t have that kind of self-discipline. So here’s the Danielle dress—ALMOST done. So close. It just needs a hem and one shoulder sewn up. I took it to work with me

Danielle dress---back

today, finished the zipper by hand on the train (I sewed the zipper to the lining by machine, but hand-picked the outer layer. At least, I think it was hand-picking. I haven’t actually read any of the numerous wonderful tutorials out there on hand-finishing zippers. It’s not perfect on the inside, but the stitches are damn near invisible on the outside, so I’m not going to complain.

Boy, the dress is SNUG. Not the outer shell, by the way—just the lining. I tried to cut the lining a bit smaller… apparently I succeeded too well. Ah well. I don’t think I’ll be popping seams, but unfortunately it means the outer fabric can’t stretch quite as much, so the bust is looking a bit rugose again. Though if anyone is looking that closely at my chest, they’re looking WAY too close, right?

Side view---a little pouffy in the front.

It’s a tiny bit pouffy at the front, due to my 3rd pleat/insert, I think. I’ll do what I can with ironing, but… ah well. I don’t mind looking 5 months pregnant… I do most of the time, anyway ;).

The hem will come up about 3 inches, I’m thinking, in the hemming.

Did I mention I’m insanely proud of that zipper? It’s the first one I’ve ever done (aside from jeans flies) that doesn’t catch on its surrounding fabric. It’s not invisible (it’s not an invisible zipper), but it’s nice and even and I’m okay with it. 🙂 And it made my 40-minute-each-way train commute much more enjoyable.

Oh, and if it’s a little rumpled… that’s because it spent the day in my backpack! So really, it looks pretty good. 🙂

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June 24, 2010 · 9:40 am

Oopsie

Oopsie... two new fabrics. But they were cheap!

Well, that didn’t last, did it? I bought two pieces of fabric at Value Village yesterday—about 1.5 m of some fairly heavy ivory knit (that comes in a tube! I’d heard of this but never seen it before), and like 5m (by like 60″ wide… there I go mixing my units) of some red, fairly heavy *something* with a bit of a ribbed weave. Interestingly, the mass of red was not much more expensive than the little bit of knit. The knit will of course go towards my “conquer the fear of knits” sewing (whatever form that will take). The red can be the surcote for my mediaeval dress for that fair later this summer. Man, that will be hot. As in, sweating and sticky… but oh well.

A mediaeval sideless surcoat

Here’s a picture of what kind of garment I’m talking about; it’ll go over a long-sleeved long dress I made last fall.

Incidentally… this fair I’m goingto styles itself a “Medieval Faire”… now, I’m not a huge fan of cutesy mis-spellings, but I can just about handle randomly sticking an E on the end of Fair to seem more “period”… but if you’re going to do that, spell it MEDIAEVAL! WAY cooler.  My $.02 🙂

Considerable progress was made last night on the Danielle—I just need to finish putting in the zipper and hem it. Unfortunately, I was working in the “I should go and clean house/feed children/tend family… in one more minute” mindset, which means I kinda barged ahead without really taking the time and care I would like to see myself take. I think it’ll be okay, but I’m a little disappointed with myself. I also took my lined-sleeveless-article shortcut and opened the shoulder seams so I could turn it, and somehow when I do this the shoulders never go back together quite right. I should probably have spent more time reading up on how to do linings, and less time convincing myself that I can figure anything out on my own. On the other hand, I may actually have it ready to go by Saturday. I’ll take more pictures once I get the zipper finished :).

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