Simplicity 1796, Crossover Dress with Elastic Waist

Why does Simplicity choose such heinous fabrics for their envelope pictures?  Case in point, Simplicity 1796.  They made two dresses for the envelope, and they are both out of some sort of horrible undrapeable poly blend broadcloth.  You can practically smell the artificial fiber fumes coming off the photo.  I paid no attention to this pattern whatsoever until I saw it reviewed, and suddenly noticed the nice details:  the shoulder yokes, the pleated bodice, the cinched waist.  I appreciate that solids are the best choice for an envelope, but how about some high quality fabrics?  Yuck.  On the plus side, this pattern comes in a huge range of sizes:  10-28W.  I graded down to an 8 at the shoulders and bust.

I used the silk/wool I got at Paron last November for the absolute steal of $6/yd using a Groupon and shopping in the 50% off section.  In the end, I'm glad I got a bargain because the pink ran in pre-treatment.  :(  The fabric is still useable, but it is slightly less awesome with pink patches in the white areas.  Fancy fabric is generally meant to be dry cleaned, but I'm just not going to do it and I'd rather sacrifice some fabric at the pre-treat stage than lose a garment after sewing it.



It's a lightweight fabric so I lined it to give it body and opacity, using an Ikea Knoppa sheet for the bodice and a rayon satin for the skirt (but somehow got confused when sewing the whole thing together and put the satin face toward the fashion fabric and the matte face toward the body).






To keep the neckline from stretching out during sewing, I fused strips of interfacing in place along the stitch line of both the fashion fabric and lining.  Since the yoke supports a lot of fabric, particularly as the bodice is pleated into it, I interfaced the entire yoke.









To get good turn of cloth, I trimmed 1/4" from the neckline edge of the lining before sewing it in place.








I also reinforced the pocket opening edges with interfacing.  I sewed the fashion fabric using French seams as it is somewhat delicate, and followed my tutorial for sewing the pockets in (even though I'm the one who made the tutorial, I still have to look at it every time!).  The fabric presses so beautifully, I think these are the most attractive French seam pockets I've made.





To line the dress, I constructed and lined the bodice and then constructed the skirt and its lining.  Then i matched up the bodice center front and stitched the fashion fabric skirt to the right side of the fabric and the lining skirt to the wrong side.  When you flip everything right side down, the skirt's seam allowance is enclosed between the fashion fabric and the lining.

I pressed this down and then stitched the waist casing through both the fashion fabric and lining of the skirt.  This turned out to be somewhat of a mistake as the casing was SO INCREDIBLY THICK that pulling the elastic through it was absolute torture on the hands.  I think it took me 3 days to do because I could only handle doing it for a small mount of time.   Anyway, to get the width of the casing (with which I should have been much more generous!), I lined up the elastic with my waistline seam and then stitched a little below it. This would work on a casing that does not have so many thick layers, I promise.



As drafted, this dress has a serious drop shoulder.  It's a great width for the sleeveless version, but would have looked terrible had I set in the sleeves there.  I trimmed it back to my normal shoulder width.




I think it was at Pennsylvania Fabric Outlet that I bought a large Guterman spool that I knew would match some wool I had at home.  Somehow I didn't notice until I got it home that it was topstitching thread, not sewing thread.  So now I have this giant spool of magenta topstitching thread.  I decided to use some of it on this project.  I topstitched the yoke, neckline, waist casing, and did two rows of stitching on the hem.







I liked the tab detail on the sleeves, though I didn't use the instructions.  I just made some tabs, placed them in an aesthetically pleasing place on the sleeves, and stitched them in place using a decorative button.  I got a whole tube of these at a vintage store a couple years ago--I was glad to finally use a couple.





I was a bit skeptical of the elastic waist on this, thinking it might look cheap and lowbrow, but I think it works with the style.  It certainly made fit easy!  The belt in the thumbnail photo was misguided (or at least I should have tightened it a notch), but outdoor photos are so much nicer!  That is at the National Gallery of Art in DC, which has glass pyramids like those of the Louvre, though not quite as majestic.  It's much better without the belt.

The only thing I don't like about the pattern is the pleats in the bodice at the shoulder yoke.  They look terrible on the pattern envelope, and even in my drapier fabric--it is about voile weight--still don't look awesome.  I'd like to make this again converting the pleats to gathers (folding out some of the width), maybe for summer to take advantage of that wide shoulder.  It's a pattern that requires a careful fabric choice.  I'll have to be on the lookout for a lightweight cotton or cotton/rayon.  Rayon challis would be ideal but I just hate how non-durable rayon challis generally is.  I had a RTW rayon skirt that was a workhorse in my wardrobe for a good 7 years until I got sick of it--and it still looked great.  But I've never found that quality rayon in yard goods.  My lightweight woven rayons generally shred at the seams after a couple of years.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

McCall 6744, Grecian Knit Dress

I did a ton of sewing for trip to Greece (as I think you can tell by all my recent posts). So much so that I didn't end up taking everything with me! McCall 6744 didn't make it into the suitcase, though I do like it as a casual summer dress.  You might recognize this fabric from Vogue 1282--I made the top out of the leftovers after finishing the dress.  I was surprised how much I had left considering I did "stripe" matching, both vertical and horizontal, with the flower motifs.

Do you like how "ethereal" the photos are?  Yeah, I discovered a fingerprint smudge on the camera lens after my photographer had already taken all the pictures.  Oh well!



Many of the previous reviewers noted that the front bodice gapes; almost all of them had to wear a camisole underneath.  So I took a fairly aggressive amount out of the crossover on the front bodice to prevent that--you can see the three tucks I took in the photo at left.

While I don't have gaping and don't need a camisole, I ended up with a similar problem as with Vogue 8870 (my high-low hem birthday dress) where the bodice is short at center front and blouses a lot at the side seams.  That goes more with the style of this dress so I'm fine with it, though it benefits greatly from (of course!) a sash.

I think I just don't care for crossover styles where the crossover is shallow, ending just a few inches from center front.  A crossover that goes all the way to the side seam is easier to adjust for a small bust without distortion and more flattering and wearable for me, not to mention more secure.  I'm going to have to stay away from these styles in the future.



There is not much to say about this simple dress.  One of the nice features is the shoulder gather.  It gives some shoulder coverage without a sleeve and allows for plenty of volume in the bodice to get the grecian drape.







To make the gather I sewed the shoulder seam with the sewing machine rather than the serger, and then pressed the seam open.  I machine-basted long gathering stitches starting about two inches from the already finished neckline and ending about 1/2 inch from where the sleeve hem would be stitched down.  I pulled the gathering stitches tight, and from the right side stitched in the ditch, catching clear elastic underneath to keep the gathers in place.  Then I removed the gathering stitches and hemmed the sleeve.  The gathers could have ended further from the sleeve hem, as it does pull up a bit.




Although it didn't make the cut for the suitcase (I thought it would be weird to be wearing two things in the same fabric in photos, and I liked the top better), I do like this dress despite the weirdness with the crossover bodice.  The pattern also has a plain tank bodice, a racerback tank bodice, and a crossover skirt option, so it's quite versatile.

I timed the sewing of it poorly. I wore it on the day the photos were taking, but I won't get to wear it again until late next Spring when it is warm again!  We've had some crisp days in DC though luckily it hasn't gotten truly cold for good yet, but this is just too summery to get away with in mid-October.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Burda 06-2013-128, Double Layer Tank Dress

For some reason I was struck by Burda 06-2013-128 when the magazine arrived.  It looked cute and easy to wear--and easy to sew, too, which can be a bonus sometimes.  I decided to add it to my sewing for my trip to Greece.

I didn't do the waistline casing (actually, I couldn't even tell from the instructions whether you were supposed to do a casing or use elastic thread in the bobbin).  The waistline shaping here comes solely from the sash, which I tied loosely in the hot weather for more wearing comfort.



I finished the neckline of the pink underlayer with bias binding made from the floral outer layer.  I ironed it so that one side was longer than the other so I could put the longer side on the wrong side and sew it on in one pass.

I didn't do *perfectly* at sandwiching the body of the dress and had to rip it out in a few places where I'd missed the dress altogether, so I'm not sure it was any faster than my usual two step process, but it was an interesting experiment.



I used foldover elastic to finish the floral overlayer.  Because my fabric was a woven with no stretch I didn't stretch the elastic as I would have for a knit.  I sewed the FOE in one pass as well, and as with the bias tape it mostly worked, but I had to rip and resew a few places.

I should have stretched the FOE very gently as I was applying around the curves of the center front and back, because it doesn't sit totally flat.

I ended up sewing the outer layer to the inner layer at the center front and back to get it to lay flat, as well as in the ditch of the shoulders and the side seams under the arms for a few inches to prevent shifting.




While I was making it and even once it was done, I wasn't totally sure that the self bias tape didn't make it too juvenile.  Who knows.  It's a casual, fun, summer dress so I suppose a little Garanimals isn't the worst thing ever.

I had to drastically shorten the shoulders, 1 inch in front and 1/2 inch in back (I am short from chest to shoulder, presumably due to the small bust, so I always have to shorten the front more).  I had shortened the front shoulder about 1/4" before cutting, but obviously that was only a fraction of what it needed.  I don't usually find Burda to be incredibly long from shoulder to bust so I'm not sure what's going on with this pattern.

 Because of the shortening, which I did not do on the outer layer, my inner layer shows more than the design is intended to at the neckline and armscye.






The hemline is also very long.  I shortened it 1 1/2" before cutting, and another 1 1/2" when I put in the hem, for a total of 3 inches shorter than drafted to get a just-above-the-knee hemline.

I did narrow hems on both layers, serging the edge, then pressing under along the serging line, and finally pressing under again.  This isn't a baby hem, obviously, but I find the serger width very convenient for getting a nice even hem.






I love the idea of getting a peek of the underlay fabric at the hem.  I hemmed the two layers separately to the exact same length, and then stitched the layers together.  I considered doing a subtle high-low hem, but that seemed like too much.  So you're really only going to get an occasional glimpse as the dress is in motion, but I know the detail is there.



 I cut the center back with a seam.  I didn't add any shaping or do any swayback adjusting, but because of the width of the skirt it uses vastly less fabric.  If both pieces are cut on the fold I don't think any fabric is wide enough that you don't have to cut them from separate lengths.  Cutting the back with a seam means you need almost half as much fabric.





This is just personal preference, but I don't like how low the back neckline is.  I don't think it adds much the style, it promotes gaping, and I find it inconvenient for bra purposes.  You can still get a double layer look with a higher back neck.









My two fabrics were a good match here.  The pink underlay is an Ikea sheet purchased several years ago ($14). I bought two of these sheets several years ago.  I made the green sheet into Butterick 5320.  I love the color, the sheen, and the body of the fabric, but it wrinkles horribly.  The floral overlay is an extremely lightweight cotton batiste ($3/yd) from our epic trip to Fabric Mart last November.  It's too light use on its own for anything other than a simple top, and I wanted a dress of it.  So the sheet gives body to the batiste, and the batiste hides the sheet's wrinkles.

At first I was concerned about how sticky-outy the sheet fabric is in the skirt, but then I decided I love it.  It's almost a petticoat in itself!

With some modification to the shoulder and the back neck, I really like this pattern.  I can definitely see making it again as a single layer dress.  It's a good pattern for a large print because the front and back are each just one piece.  And you know how much I love a large print.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

These photos were taken in Chania, Crete.  Our trip to Greece was wonderful, fabulous, amazing, and all the superlatives.  You can see the photos from the trip here (click on Greece 2013 Slideshow to see them all compiled into one set).  There are several more new pieces to come so stay tuned...

Vogue 8870, High-Low Hem Surplice Birthday Dress

It takes me a long time to warm up to a trendy trend, like the high-low hem.  At first I hate it.  Then I am skeptical.  Then I see some cute examples.  Then I am ready. This process can take years. 

After seeing several cute iterations of this pattern on PR, I decided I could take the plunge with the high-low trend (I may be willing to do the trend, but I am not willing to butcher the English language by calling it "hi-lo") using Vogue 8870, sized XS-XXL.  I even went bold with double trending by using this ombre silk, one of the gorgeous pieces BadMomGoodMom picked up for me for a song.

After I had the dress almost done I saw this Lela Rose for Fall 2013.  It looks like my trends should last through at least next season!









I did my usual adjustments, including a broad back.  I should have been more aggressive with the broad back.  I didn't want the hassle of bringing the adjustment into the raglan sleeve, so I just did it on the bodice piece, and I don't have as much movement through the back and shoulders as I would like.



There was universal praise for this pattern among those who have sewn it, but I had an *awful* time with it.  I think the flowing silk charmeuse added a level of complexity the pattern could not take.



I had a little gaping at the back neck, which is not unusual for me.  I added a tiny dart, which took care of it.

My main issue, though was the length of the bodice.  The side seams drooped a full two inches lower than the center front and back.  I sewed it to the skirt like that thinking that once the waist was elasticized there would be some sort of miracle transformation.

There was not.

So I put the dress on inside out and tied elastic around my waist and snugged it even with the lower edge of the center front and back of the bodice, then marked on the side seams where the elastic lay, which was two inches shorter.  Then I ripped the skirt off (poor silk!), reinforced the stitch line with strips of interfacing, trimmed the sides of the bodice at my markings, and sewed it back together with the shortened side seams.  Much, much improved.

The side seams of the front bodice are cut on the bias because of the grain direction, so I assumed the problem was my carelessness in letting the seam stretch out (though the back side seam is pretty close to straight grain).  But comparing the pattern piece to the finished dress, the side seam was as drafted.  I really don't know what happened.



Part of the problem may have come in with my Small Bust Adjustment of shortening the front bodice crossover.  I probably could have shortened it half as much and not had gaping; this is *very* unusual for a Big 4 pattern.  Anyway, the front pulls up a little and it's hard to keep the shoulder seams exactly square on my shoulders.  (I did nothing to the length of the back bodice, though, and it had the same length problem there with a very high center back and the drooping side seams.)




Experimenting with the elastic in the "waist" casing, it looked best if it started and ended about 3 inches in from the side seam on the front, with the center front completely flat and unelasticized and the majority of the gathering in the back. 

It still isn't great, so I went for the universal solution to a bad waist:  the sash.  Without the sash it is just bad.

However, the Bust Pleats to Nowhere I will not take credit for.  I don't know if they are angled wrong, or too close to the center front (and I overlapped the fronts about an extra 3/4" from the design) or what.  But they do not create flattering draping over the bust.  They just create a bubble of fabric above the waistline.

Speaking of which, the waistline is way high!  It is dangerously close to empire, and I swore off empire last year, no matter how much I am tempted, because it is very of a moment for 2011 and the expiration date approacheth.

I like the raglan sleeves, though they are a tad restrictive.  The downward slope of the shoulder is pretty severe.



I finished the neckline with bias tape rather than a facing.  I used the leftover bit of white fabric from below where I cut the front skirt to make the bias tape and then dyed it using a mix of Teal (mostly), Aquamarine (a little), and Navy (just a few drops) liquid Rit dye.  I managed to get an almost perfect match for the turquoise in the fabric, much to my surprise.  In the photo at right, the dyed bias strip is above and the original fabric is below.  (Alas, an attempt to dye cotton in the same dye bath did not have good results.)




After sewing the bias tape to the right side of the neckline, I stitched the raw inside edge of the bias tape over the neckline seam allowance before pressing under.  It is kept in place by strategic hand stitches at the sleeve seams.

I cut the back skirt on the fold rather than with a CB seam, as did most everyone who made the pattern.  It required ignoring the grainline, but a seam would have interfered with the smooth ombre look of the skirt.

I lined the skirt only with silk/cotton Elegance from Martha Pullen.  This stuff is a dream for lining!  I drafted a straight across hem for the lining, rather than making it high-low as well.  It shines through a little, so maybe that was a mistake.  My pet peeve for patterns with "specialty" hemlines like this is when they do not come with a "regular" hemline marked as well.  It limits the versatility of the pattern.



It's frustrating that this dress turned out kind of meh.  I put a lot of work into it; I sewed it while my serger was in the shop so it has gorgeous French seams for everything but the waist.  It's a luscious silk.  And it will have to be my birthday dress (tomorrow!) because I had only 3 weeks to sew for the Greek islands instead of a month and a half.








When it is all dressed up with accessories, it passes for a cute dress.  But it definitely cannot stand on its own.

I like the idea of this pattern but I'm not sure I'll give it another try.  Definitely not the crossover bodice.  If the mood strikes I would try to draft a plain bodice with sleeves based on the spaghetti strap version.  I like the spaghetti strap version as is but seriously, bra.  Strapless bras are horrible.  I would recommend a stable but lightweight cotton as the best fabric; a good quality lawn would be perfect.  I think this could also work in a knit.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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Trip sewing continues apace!  So far I have made:
-3 bikinis
-shorts
-yoga/hiking capris

-nightie

I have a knit dress done except for the hem, and a knit top about halfway done.  The last two pieces on my list are a little sweater and another knit top.  Though this is a long weekend, it will be full of birthday festivities so we'll see.

Simplicity 2369, Mock Wrap Border Print Dress

I've been meaning to get back to Simplicity 2369 (which they have issued as a seemingly identical pattern in the Amazing Fit line as 1653) for a while--it is just so flattering, and also fabric-economical compared to a full wrap dress. I had made it with the longer flutter-esque sleeve, as well as self-drafted long sleeve, but I wanted to try the cap sleeve version.



The sleeve is drafted as a two piece, with a front and back sleeve and a seam all the way down the shoulder.  I combined these into one, lining up the seam line at the hem and using a dart at the shoulder where the seamlines diverged.

After the dress was made, the sleeve was much floppier than I expected.  It's shown on the line drawing as a cap and I feel like on other people it looks snug, but mine wings out a bit.  I took some width out at the hem for next time, as you can see in the tucks at left.




I shortened the crossover a smidge, shown at right.  On the previous versions I found the crossover went all the way to the side seam, so the knot bulges out right at the side seam, widening my waist.  Shortening it slightly moves the knot into the front so it doesn't add any visual width.












The only other change I made to the pattern was to attach the tie to the left side seam (the side the crossover is attached to) so that it goes across the back.

The pattern is drafted so the tie comes out the right side to just meet the crossover.  This creates way too much weight in one place, and with the crossover a smidge too long just does not work at all.  Not to mention, you lose that nice little bit of swayback fitting!





I actually went back to the pink version, cut a longer tie out of leftover fabric, and sewed it into the left side.  It's hard to see in the busy print, but the tie goes across the back in this version as well. 

I used the tie finish on the crossover described in my first post about this pattern.  It neatly encloses the raw edges.

For the neckline, I serged on very slightly stretched clear elastic then turned under and twin needled.






I really like the way this pattern works in a border print.  The skirt is not completely straight, so the border comes to a slight peak at the side seam, but it is really not noticeable unless you get this close.













In addition to using the border at the hem, I cut the sleeve hems on the border.  The detail is pretty much lost in the busy print in wearing, but I know it's there.   I cut the ties with the border at the bottom for added visual interest.






You might recognize this fabric from my impromptu Gulf Coast bikini.  I was afraid I had screwed myself by cutting into it--the motifs are huge and really need to be centered--but luckily I had just enough to make this dress.

I even had enough fabric left over for two pairs of knickers.











I used the plush back picot elastic Ms. McCall of Brown Paper Patterns sent me for the waistline.  I love it!










Knit dresses are so easy that it feels like cheating when they turn out so flattering.  Maybe I'll just call it "efficiency."

I got several unsolicitations from strangers when I wore this for the first time, in addition to kind compliments at the DC PR meetup (and an outdoor photo session!).  Even the boyfriend spoke approvingly of "that psychedelic thing" (yes, this was meant as a compliment).

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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I'm likely to be sparse for the next month or so.  I had been planning a trip to the Greek islands at the end of September, but last week we spontaneously decided to move it up to the beginning of September.  Yay, but eep!  I have so much sewing to do!  I have one bathing suit done, another cut out, and a pair of shorts cut out.  The goal is to get those, a nightgown, a knit dress, and possibly a pair of yoga/hiking capris done in the next two weekends.  Um.  There will be more sewing than blogging going on, or at least there better be!  And then I'll be on the trip itself, which I'm thinking will be sheer bliss.

Burda 05-2011-108, Malaysia Fabric Sundress

The piece de resistance of my stashbusting during the stash contest was finally making something out of this fabric I bought in Malaysia in 2009.  I was there for work, and one of our excursions was to the local department store (our hosts, understandably, wanted to show off their modern marvels).



They had packaged sarong lengths for about $6, so I bought 3 of them.  This was the last one left (one of them was made into a shopping bag, the other into Simplicity 2177).  This print was meant to be shown to advantage when folded as a wrap skirt in the traditional manner, so it was a double border print with a decorative panel at one end.  In all, I had 75 inches of fabric.

My first plan was to make a simple darted sundress using Burda 08-2009-128.  I planned to use the decorative diamond-shape section as the bodice.  Well, with the double borders and relatively narrow fabric, I couldn't fit the whole bodice in the diamond-shape section.  Dangit!  I had to fall back on princess seams; since I had already fitted and made Burda 05-2011-108 for last year's Seersucker Social, I figured it would be easy.

Is anything ever easy?  I wanted to use some of the floral motifs in the side panels, but because of they way they were placed, I had to add a side seam to the pattern.  To find the side seam, I put on the previous version and marked with a row of pins what seemed to be the side.  Very scientific.  I transferred my pin marking to the side panel pattern piece, and then split it along the marking.  This allowed me to further refine the fit (and by "refine the fit" I mean "add more room at the waist").





But then once I got the bodice put together those side panels looked so plain, even with the floral motifs I had so carefully placed.  Ugh!








 I slept on it and decided to add some of the border fabric to the side panels to jazz them up a bit.  I traced the lower curve and panel seams and cut out lengths of border.  I put the border on "upside down"--with the selvage at the top--and stitched very close to the edge of the selvage using my blind hem foot to keep the panel in place.







The center back bodice is perhaps the pinnacle of my sewing to date.  I took great care in cutting so that I could perfectly match up the motifs along the CB zipper.







As long as you pay no attention starting at the dark border on the bottom of the lower diamonds (why did this happen?), the back looks seamless, much less zipperless.  While I have done projects in plaids and stripes, I have never matched a print before.  So proud, y'all.










I didn't have enough fabric to fully self-line the bodice, so I used batiste for the lining.  I didn't want the white lining to peek out the neckline or armscyes so I did yet more drafting to create front and back facings without the princess panel seam.









I found scraps of fabric to cut out the facings, interfaced them, serged the lower edges, and then carefully placed them on the lining and stitched in place at the lower edge using my walking foot.  This trouble was worth it to get a nice finish.

Luckily, the skirt part was easy!  I didn't want any seams to break up my print, so I made the panel as wide as I could and used the selvage as the hem edge.  I added darts in the back to align with the princess seams, and also put in darts to align with the side seam.  Then I did a large inverted pleat at center front with the remainder of the extra width.



For a simple dress, this ended up being a ridiculous amount of work, especially given what I had planned in the first place!  When I first finished it I wasn't sure about the diamond shapes and wished I'd done a plain bodice and used the diamond panel in the skirt.  But the longer I wore it, the more I liked the exuberance of the bodice.  It seems like an appropriate way to use the fabric, where that panel would be the star.

This fabric is not, alas, my oldest piece in stash, but it was one that had been weighing on me to sew it up already.  So yay for that!  Only hundreds more pieces to go...

The photos were taken on a visit to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in the DC area; you can read more about our visit here.  If you have access to a car and live around here, you really must visit!  It's gorgeous and free.

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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There are still a few more days to enter my swimsuit elastic giveaway if you haven't done so yet....