Dotted Blue Dress

It's been so long since the last update to this blog, but finally, here is another finished dress project. I have to admit I actually finished it sometime this past April or May, so this post is long overdue! Things have been somewhat busy lately, making my projects almost as sparse as my blog updates, but here's to hoping things will soon "pick-up" again :-)



The design for this dress comes from New Look 6824 and is a combination of the pattern's options for a full skirt, a square neckline, cap sleeves, and a broad sash (views H, A, F, and J, respectively). The fabric is a border-printed cotton from JoAnn's.

Details. . .
Fit alterations/design changes
I made a "muslin" test garment for fitting purposes and found that I actually didn't need to make too many dramatic changes. I made my typical short waist adjustment, did an SBA on the princess seams, and added a little hip room by widening the skirt panels a bit.

I also redrew the neckline to be slightly higher, at the same time giving the corners a more rounded shape. Since the skirt is cut with the border along the hemline, I used the fitting stage to determine the dress's length, as well. I made it slightly shorter by removing 1-inch from the bottom of the skirt panels.

Fabric/layout
The cut of fashion-fabric was about three to three and half yards long and 50+ inches wide, with the border printed along both of the selvages. It turned out to be just about the right amount, though I did need to spend some time spreading the pieces over the material and adjusting the layout, in order to fit in all of the pieces and match the border print at the center back skirt seam. Having a border along both of the outside edges made it necessary to squeeze all of the bodice, sleeve, and sash pieces into the middle of the yardage, so a single-bordered material might require less length (but even then, the layout can be affected by the fabric's width, nap, or the distance between repeats in the border pattern).

Other details
The entire dress is lined, rather than having only a bodice lining as directed by the pattern. I did this by drafting A-line shaped panels for the skirt and seaming them to the bodice lining at the waist. Additionally, I made swing tacks to connect the hem of the lining to the hem of the dress.

Conclusion
What I love most about this pattern is the full, pleated skirt and the big bow at the waist! It also offers many design options and is fairly simple to construct. I really enjoyed making it and find that it's fun to wear, as well.

Brown "Trumpet" Skirt

This post is really about more than one skirt, as this skirt design didn't come from a commercial pattern, but is a copy from a ready-to-wear garment. It all started when I bought this skirt I found on a sale rack about four years ago. . .



It has eight identical panels that are trumpet shaped - starting very narrow at the waist and curving out to form a flared hemline. I liked the way that the skirt fit so much that I wanted a second one. I decided that it couldn't be too hard to take a pattern off the skirt and make it myself, especially after I'd met a girl a week or two before who had described to me a method for doing it.

I didn't take any pictures at the time, but I'll describe it the best I can: I found a piece of corrugated cardboard that was at least as big as one of the skirt's panels and placed it inside the skirt. Smoothing one of the panels out to be completely flat and centering it over the cardboard, I inserted sewing pins in all of the seam lines along the edges of the panel. Pushing the pins into the cardboard created a series of holes that outlined the shape of the panel. I then removed the pins, pulled out the cardboard, and used a marker to "connect the dots" preschool-style with the marks the pins had left. After that, all I had to do was re-trace the shape onto pattern paper and add seam and hem allowances.

It was very easy to do because I only had to copy one panel and there were no darts in it. Eager to test my new pattern, I made this skirt:



This brown skirt is the most recent garment I made with this pattern, when I needed a basic brown skirt this past February/March. The construction is super simple! Seam eight panels, add a waistband and a zipper, hem the lower edge, and it's finished.




I finished the inside of the waistband with a cotton print to add a bit of color.

Cross-hatch Denim Jumper

This is a jumper from Simplicity 4097, made using a cross-hatch denim with a slight stretch.

Materials:
-Denim (cotton/spandex)
-Cotton lining
-Interfacing
-Invisible zipper
-Thread

Fitting Alterations
I made a muslin to test the fit of the garment and took a tuck in each of the skirt panels when cutting it out, on account of my short waist.

The first fitting issue was that the entire bodice was hanging too low, with the lowest part of the front neckline running along the bust line. To fix it, I took up the shoulder seams until the bodice was centered over the bust line, as it fits in the photo on the pattern envelope. Afterward, I lowered the back neckline and armholes back to their proper positions, since taking in the shoulder seams had pulled them up too high. I eventually lowered the pocket stitching lines on the skirt, as well.

The next adjustment involved an excessive amount of fabric in the back, where the jumper was very baggy from shoulder blade to . . . um. . . well, never mind. I eliminated most of it by taking a small amount out of the empire waist seam in back. The only alteration after this was to add a bit of room in the hip area.

Construction
The denim I used had a bit of stretch along the cross-grain, so the horizontal seams had a tendency to stretch out of shape under the pressure of the machine's presser foot. To prevent this from happening at the "waist" seam, I basted a strip of bias-cut broadcloth (with all of the elasticity pressed and stretched out of it) along the seam line before seaming the bodice to the skirt.

Also, when lining the bodice, I kept the lining free from the zipper and waistline seams, rather than including it as the instructions say. This way, I could turn under the seam allowances and slip-stitch it over those seams later on.



As mentioned above, I did use a bit of interfacing, even though the pattern didn't call for it. I fused it to the upper pocket edges to prevent stretching and the zipper area for a bit of stabilization.



Overall, this jumper was fairly simple to assemble, and I love it when I get a chance to add a bit of color to the interior of a garment with a contrasting floral print. . .

Chocolate Corduroy Jacket

Here are a few pictures of a chocolate colored jacket made of pinwale corduroy, using Butterick 5253. I made view B, but substituted the collar from view D, rather than making a mandarin collar.





Materials Used
-Pinwale corduroy (the photos represent the actual color but are somewhat dark; here is a better picture)
-Cotton broadcloth
-Fusible interfacing
-Champagne colored polyester lining
-Thread
-Self-covered buttons
-Shoulder pads (1/4")

Fitting Alterations
I didn't make a test garment for this jacket, but I had anticipated needing to make an SBA, so I altered the pattern for it before cutting into the fabric. I typically take a tuck in the pattern for my short waist, but since this jacket is not particularly fitted in that area, I didn't need to make any adjustments for it this time.

The jacket was much too loose when I tried it on after sewing the side and shoulder seams, so I took it in at the back princess seams. I actually had to remove quite a bit, but it seemed to do the trick ;)

Cutting and Construction
When cutting out the under-collar, I placed the pattern on the bias and added 3/8" to the center back edge to allow for a seam. I didn't actually intend to do this when I started cutting, but I ran short of fabric and it was the only way it would fit. Funny that it should work out that way!
Also, when cutting the sleeve ruffles, I wasn't sure that I wanted make them quite as gathered as in the illustration, so I reduced the length of the pattern piece by a slight amount. It ended up fitting on the layout perfectly, without an inch to spare (I was literally "cutting it close" with this garment!).

For the construction process, I basically followed the pattern directions to the end, except for a few slight detours. The first was using broadcloth for interfacing rather than a fusible, since I was working with corduroy. I wanted it to have additional support in the button/loop area, though, so I fused a strip of lightweight interfacing to the broadcloth along the center front edges. After that, I basted the broadcloth to the corresponding corduroy panels.
The second "detour" was trimming the under collar by 1/8" at the outer edges before seaming it to the upper collar to pull the seam under slightly. Finally, I did a bit of hand under-stitching at the center front edge, on the under collar seam, and at the back neckline, where the lining joins the collar.

Overall, this pattern worked pretty well for me. It probably would have been helpful if I had made a "muslin" to determine the necessary fitting changes before starting to sew, but I was able to adjust it during construction. Other than that, it's a relatively straightforward pattern, I'm satisfied with the results, and I'd recommend it to others as well.

Black Gabardine Skirt

I've finally got a few pictures of a black wool skirt that I had worked on and completed in December of '08. I meant to post about it sooner but hadn't taken photos until just now. At any rate, here's a view of the front:





For the pattern, I used Simplicity 9825; I've used it once before to make a denim skirt and pulled it out again to use up a generous scrap of black gabardine left over from another project. I modified its design this time by adding hip pockets and flaring the hemline. Here's a side picture; if you look closely, you can see the pocket opening:



To make the pockets, I drafted a simple pattern by using the dimensions of a pocket on a ready-to-wear skirt. The hemline of each panel has been flared by 4 to 5 inches at the side seam. I would have liked to flare them even wider, but I was somewhat limited by the size of the fabric scrap ;)



Other modifications include an added lining, an invisible zipper instead of a lapped zipper, and swing tacks connecting the skirt and lining hems. The construction was fairly simple, but the wool gabardine did not hold creases especially well, so I catch-stitched some of the seam allowances in place when working on the yolk. I also recommend this blog post by Dawn of Secret Pocket; I found her hemming tip very helpful when stitching the hem into place =)

Catching Up: Rust Orange Shirtdress

This past summer I worked on a shirtdress project that was originally inspired by a dress worn by June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) in the vintage television show, Leave it to Beaver. It was full skirted, had bais-cut sleeves, and - the feature that attracted me the most - a pair of hip pockets with overturned flaps.

I started out by searching for a pattern to use so that I could make something like it, and this is what I found:



It wasn't a "carbon copy" of June's dress, but it was close enough to where I could use it as a base to be adapted to the design I liked.

The original dress was made of a printed material with small motifs arranged in a striped pattern. Since I couldn't really find anything close enough, I decided to try using a Rust Orange Shirting from Fashion Fabrics Club that features a subtle, tone-on-tone stripe.



Materials:
-Striped shirting fabric
-Batiste (for interfacing)
-7/8" wide Grosgrain ribbon (for waistline stay)
-Buttons (photo below)

Pattern Alterations:
First of all, I had to resize the pattern. It was a size or two larger than my measurements, so I graded it down using these instructions from Sensibility.com.

I also made a few fitting changes for my figure, which included taking extra room out of the bodice (SBA), making a short-waist adjustment, and adjusting the darts in the back of the bodice. I had to play around with the back and waistline darts a bit; I even had to take them in a little again - along with the side seams - when the dress was nearly complete.

To conform the pattern to June's dress design, I flared all of the skirt pattern pieces to be wider at the hem. I turned the sleeves and cuffs on the bias, too. In the original dress, it looked like there was a seam down the center of the sleeve, creating a chevron pattern with the bias-cut grain, but my fabric was a little too thick to make this feature work smoothly, so I cut each sleeve in one piece, instead. For the pockets, I needed to incorporate the pocket pattern pieces into the side/front pieces of the skirt, rather than attaching them as patch pockets. This caused me to split the side/front skirt piece in two - a top piece which meets the bodice at the waistline (and part of which is also the inside of the pocket) and a bottom piece (which makes up the rest of the skirt portion). I also made the pocket pieces to buckle slightly outward, so that they would stand out a little.

Construction:
For the most part, the construction was fairly simple - basically assembling the bodice and the skirt, then seaming the two together and working on the collar and button placket. I followed the instructions rather loosely, but I did use a sew-in interfacing, as directed. I didn't receive very positive results when I tried fusing the fabric with interfacing, so I used batiste by basting it to the wrong side of the areas that needed interfacing.

Originally, the collar/under collar pattern was supposed to be cut all in one piece, with a fold along the outer edge, but I made a separate under collar piece. This allowed me to make the under collar piece an 1/8" smaller around the outside edges so that the seams would pull slightly toward the underside of the collar, where they won't be seen. While I was at it, I decided to cut the under collar in two pieces on the bias, with a seam down the center.

(This picture is probably the most accurate in representing the actual color of the dress.)

I also stitched a waistline stay to the seam allowance of the waistline to help support the weight of the full skirt:



Last but not least, a better view of the buttons. They're not very easy to photograph because they're somewhat glittery and glow when I use the camera's flash. They're not quite as dark as they look below, but this is the best shot I could get ;-)

Butterick 4790

For a quick project this earlier this year, I used Butterick 4790, more commonly known as the "Walk-Away" dress pattern.




If you look at the line drawing on Butterick's website (linked above) you can see that this dress is basically like an apron. It goes on over the shoulders, then the front of it fastens in the back, and the back fastens in the front. The inner layer fits like a sheath dress. . .


. . .And it's fastened with a button and loop at the center back:



Details:

I was basically "testing the waters" with this version (thus the not-so-original color scheme). The changes I made to this pattern were adding about an inch on each side where it fastens in the back so that the edges would meet, taking in about a quarter of an inch at the shoulder seams (doubling to half an inch), tucking out a bit of length for my short waist, and removing a bit of excessive fullness at the bust.

The only detour I took from the instructions was to miter the binding at the corners of the dress rather than stopping at each of the corners and turning under the edges.

This pattern is pretty simple to sew and went together quickly, though I took my time with the binding. Unfortunately, the fabric and binding don't really seem to compliment my coloring, and even after my alterations it didn't look quite right on me (not sure why -- my short waist, perhaps?). My sister fit into it nicely, though, and these colors are more her style, so I'm letting her have this one. I'm not sure whether or not I'll be tweaking it to make another one for myself, but it's still a neat pattern for its unique design and simplicity of construction :-)

Navy Corduroy Jumper

Here's another version of Simplicity 3673. I made my first version during last December/January, and this time I made one for my sister.





The Specifics:

Fabrics:
For the fashion fabric, she chose a navy blue pinwale corduroy, with a polyester lining for the bodice. We also substituted an invisible zipper for a regular one.

Alterations for Fit:
None, other than slight adjustments to the side seams in the skirt.

Construction:
For the most part, I made the jumper following the pattern directions, with a few small additions/changes. . .

The first change was to add interfacings to reinforce a few key areas of the garment. I hand basted 1-inch wide bias-cut strips of silk organza to the wrong side of the shoulder and armhole seam lines before sewing in the lining. For the zipper seam, I basted in a 1-inch wide strip of batiste, which was cut on-grain.

I also hand under-stitched the armhole and neckline seams with a pick-stitch. The instructions don't actually say to under-stitch this area, seeing as it's too narrow to reach by machine, so I did it by hand to prevent the lining from rolling outward.

The third change I made was to insert the lining in such a way as to cover the zipper seam and waist seam. In the pattern instructions, the main purpose of the lining seems to be for finishing the neckline and armholes. After that, it's supposed to be stitched into the zipper and waistline seams with the rest of the bodice. I decided to leave the lining free of the zipper seam and tack in place later (I actually did this by machine; see my other version for details), also slip-stitching it over the waist seam.



The waist seam was supposed to be pressed down (according to the directions), but pinwale corduroy is relatively lightweight, so I "cheated" and pressed it up so I could hide it in the lining. The rest of the seams are simply overcast with a zigzag stitch.

Well, that's about it. It was a fairly simple and enjoyable project, and the corduroy seems to be a great choice for fall!

I'm sorry I haven't been posting very often (I say this too much!). I sew a lot more often than I get around to writing about, so I'm woefully backlogged with projects to post :-( I'll have to see if I can get some more pictures up!

Navy Linen Dress

Last summer I purchased a length of "hanky" linen with the intention of making a coat-dress from a vintage 60's pattern, but after a while, I changed my plans and decided to save the linen for another project. This spring I felt the urge to finally make something with it, and since I wasn't really sure that Vogue 7693 (see link above) was suited to me, I started searching for patterns with that called for a lightweight fabric in a length of 2 5/8 of a yard. After gathering pictures from several different patterns, I decided to use this one:


Butterick 6582

After fitting the muslin, working on the lining pieces, and planning the construction, the dress went together pretty quickly. Here are the results:




A Few Details. . .



The pattern doesn't include a lining , but I added one because my fabric is nearly sheer. Making the pattern for the lining wasn't difficult; all I did for the bodice pieces was combine the bodice facing pieces with the main bodice panels.

I started by tracing the front facing piece onto a blank piece of paper. I then placed the front bodice piece over it, matching the seamlines at the armholes. I pinned the sides and bottom of the pattern piece flat (this caused the fullness in the upper part of the pattern to buckle inward, which you can see below).



I then traced around the side and bottom edges of the pattern, and it ended up looking like this:



I transfered the darts after unpinning the pattern, then matching the side and bottom edges and tracing the dart legs.
One thing I should note, however, is that drafting the lining piece this way caused the lining to be slightly shorter than the bodice piece. After making the dress, I found that the front of the lining waistline seam was about 1/2" higher than the waistline of the actual dress (it ended up being alright, though, because it did not significantly alter the fit). So when making the lining piece, I would recommend adding about 1/2" to the middle of the bottom edge and gradually blending into the side seams ;)

I didn't even need to make a back lining piece; all I had to do was use the back bodice piece.

To avoid adding bulk at the waist of the dress, I altered the pieces for the skirt lining to be an A-line style. I simply started with the original skirt pattern, making the length of the waistline seam the same length as the bodice waistline seam (with the darts folded in, as they would be when sewn).


The hem was a bit uneven once it was sewn in, but I was able to use a hem marker to make it parallel to the floor.

Even though I wasn't using the facing pieces for this pattern, I still wanted to interface the neckline and armholes to support the edges. To do this, I cut silk organza from the facing patterns hand-basted them to the wrong side of the lining panels. I finished the free-hanging edges with a zigzag stitch and catch-stitched them to the linings (you can barely even see this in the picture).



Those strips on the outer edges are strips of batiste that are cut on the grain. I had originally applied them fearing that the neckline edges on the bias would stretch too much. After sewing the neckline seam, though, I found that it would be better to allow for a little "give," in the front, so I ended up removing the strip on the largest bodice piece and re-stitching the seam ;)

To keep my bra straps from peeking out from under the narrow shoulders of the garment, I also added "lingerie straps" to the shoulder seams on the inside. I made them by using 1/4-inch wide twill tape, miniature snaps, and following Claire B. Shaeffer's instructions from The Complete Book of Sewing Short Cuts.



This pattern actually wasn't very hard to make and I'm pleased with the results, so I'm glad that I saved my fabric for a suitable project! I've written a review about this pattern for PatternReview.com, so if you're interested in reading more about this project, click here. As always, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask :)

Striped Shirtdress

Here is a recently completed "unfinished object" (UFO) that I started sewing over a year ago. I had originally intended to wear it myself, but when it did not fit me very well, I hung it in the closet, where it stayed until my sister asked me about it months later. "Are you ever going to wear that striped dress?" she said. Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Are you kidding?"(meaning, of coarse, that the answer was "No"). "Well, good!" she said. "Maybe I can wear it!" I told her that she could try it on and was surprised to find that it fit her perfectly!




For this dress, I used McCall's 4769.The fabric is a navy blue and white seersucker with an 1/8" stripe. I turned the skirt panels on the bias to create a chevron pattern, eliminating the button placket on the skirt and sewing a center front seam there instead. This caused me to change the order of construction by completing the entire bodice first, save for the left side seam and the buttons/buttonholes. In order to compensate for the shortened placket opening, I inserted an invisible zipper in the left side seam:

I also cut the button placket on the bias, as well. I didn't use the pattern's sash piece; my sister cut one out using her waist measurement, and I helped her sew it together. The fabric's stripes aren't particularly clear in the first two photos, but the details are clearer in the picture below, which I took before the dress was completed.





All that was required to finish this dress was making the buttonholes, sewing on the buttons, and finishing the hem. Now that it's actually done, I'm happy with how this pattern turned out, and I'm glad that my sister can wear it so that the project wasn't a "waste," after all!

1950's Can-Can Petticoat

I'm sorry that my posting has been so sparse over the past few months! Life has been keeping me so busy lately that I hardly have time enough to sew! I've been working on a few projects during my "spare time," however, and one of those projects was a petticoat from a vintage 1950's pattern:



The envelope description refers to it as a "can-can petticoat" because the ruffles are stitched to the underside of the of the petticoat, giving a "can-can" effect when it's lifted up.



The main part of the petticoat is cut as a circle skirt, and the ruffles are stitched to the inside of the skirt in three tiers. Most of the skirt is on the bias, which is, I believe, part of the reason that the stitching lines cause the fabric to pucker. This doesn't bother me too much, however, because the only part of the petticoat that will show is the underside, if at all.




The materials that I used were:
-Cotton sateen
-Petticoat netting
-1/4-inch wide ribbon
-1/4-inch wide bias binding
-hooks & eyes (to fasten waistband)

Details:
I used French seams on the side seams of both the skirt and the ruffles to completely enclose all the raw edges. To finish the bottom edge of each ruffle, I stitched 1/4" wide ribbon to the wrong side, having the ribbon just cover the raw edge. I then turned the ribbon to the right side and stitched it into place, where it completely enclosed the prickly edge.


On the wrong side of the ruffle, slightly overlap the raw edge of the net with the ribbon, and stitch along the edge of the ribbon that is farthest from the raw edge of the net.


Next, fold the ribbon to the right side of the the ruffle and stitch into place.

I also covered the raw, gathered edge of the topmost ruffle with a 1/4-inch wide bias binding to minimize irritation (this can be seen in the fourth photo from the top).

Pattern Changes:
I added several inches to the side seams and waistband, as the sizing was a bit too small. I also modified the side placket opening to be slightly deeper, making the opening sufficient enough for me to not have to wiggle my lower body into it ;)
The waistband was originally one inch wide, but I narrowed it to 5/8-inch in order to decrease bulk and make it more comfortable. I also fused the waistband with interfacing, even though the pattern instructions didn't call for it. This will hopefully lend a little stability.
When I cut the ruffles, there were many small sections that were supposed to be cut and joined together. But for each tier, I cut the pieces end-on-end, as suggested by one of the reviewers at Pattern Review, so that I would only have to sew the side seams of each ruffle. It saved me a lot of time!
Finally, I shortened the entire petticoat by one inch (I had planned on doing this ahead of time, so I applied the ruffles one inch higher than the original stitching lines).

All in all, I enjoyed this project, even though sometimes it may have seemed like I would never finish adjusting and pinning gathers on the eighteen yards of netting! I hope to eventually wear it with another retro project I've been working on. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm able to post again!