Well I spent the day getting ready to sew tomorrow. I cut out both the fabric and the lining for my red dress (Simplicity 4014) and am ready to start sewing tomorrow.
I had already done a FBA - my first ever - and sewn a muslin.
The dress I chose is quite confusing. I did a paper fitting which made me decide to lower the bust line an inch and add a couple of inches in the FBA..... the problem was .... and I only found this out after I sewed the muslin .... is this is not your usual run of the mill princess seam dress (as this is only my third garment sewn I don't really know what a run of the mill anything is but .......). When I did my paper fitting and my adjustments I did it for when the princess seams fall over the apex of the bust. But this dress does not do that. It was quite confusing as the seams run down the SIDE of the bust. I almost added an inch to the side and subtracted from the middle but then I thought - hang on - if I did that the darts would not be right!! Soooo ... my FBA was a little off as it really wasn't measured from the right place.. Have a look at the line drawing, you can see the darts are on the princess seams not the side seams:
I have decided to do the sleeveless version - I know I know - my wobbly bits will show - but my idea is to wear different jackets / shrugs etc with it and don't want the bulk of the fabric.
Anyway - by taking some off the shoulders I think I can put everything back in its right place - time will tell how it ends up.
My big problem is - how to sew the lining in. Will I do a separate lining and sew it in or will I treat lining and fabric as one and sew it as I go... I will sleep on it.
This is my fabric and lining:
I also traced the pattern for Butterick 5430.
Now I am normally a cut the paper patttern kind of gal. Quicker the better I say... however I think that I can quickly become a convert to tracing the pattern first. What do you prefer? I thought I can morph this pattern from smaller shoulders to fuller bust and tum..... well .... didn't pick an easy one to do that with as it has yokes and back parts and cowly neck etc - NOT straight forward as to what is bust - what is shoulder etc. Will wait and see how this turns out. This will be a muslin but I hope it turns out wearable. I am really finding out what many others have said - take your time - get the pattern right. I am trying.
I also traced Pamela's Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt. I am dying to try this pattern (although I had to add 5 inches - it is funny - just typing this out I have realised that I added 5 inches to the pattern instead of dividing that by 4 as it is a half pattern cut on the fold - which means I have added 20 inches - DOH! Oh well - at least I didn't cut the fabric.
I had some nice comments from the hectic eclectic (love the name) MrsC. I had to look up SWAP when I first read it in reviews as I thought similiar to you - swapping things - but it didn't go with the sentence LOL. Re the legs - thanks - sometimes I wonder how they hold the rest of me up. I look forward to seeing Burda phase II and your storage solutions.
Re the dressmakers dummy - DOH - it was just ordered and paid for on Friday. On the hopefully positive side - I purchased the fabulous fit system so I am hoping to pad the dummy up to my voluptuous curves so hopefully it will work. Any comments out there re fabulous fit?
I will post tomorrow a *hopefully* finished dress.
I had already done a FBA - my first ever - and sewn a muslin.
The dress I chose is quite confusing. I did a paper fitting which made me decide to lower the bust line an inch and add a couple of inches in the FBA..... the problem was .... and I only found this out after I sewed the muslin .... is this is not your usual run of the mill princess seam dress (as this is only my third garment sewn I don't really know what a run of the mill anything is but .......). When I did my paper fitting and my adjustments I did it for when the princess seams fall over the apex of the bust. But this dress does not do that. It was quite confusing as the seams run down the SIDE of the bust. I almost added an inch to the side and subtracted from the middle but then I thought - hang on - if I did that the darts would not be right!! Soooo ... my FBA was a little off as it really wasn't measured from the right place.. Have a look at the line drawing, you can see the darts are on the princess seams not the side seams:
Anyway - by taking some off the shoulders I think I can put everything back in its right place - time will tell how it ends up.
My big problem is - how to sew the lining in. Will I do a separate lining and sew it in or will I treat lining and fabric as one and sew it as I go... I will sleep on it.
This is my fabric and lining:
 |
| Wool Blend |
 |
| Charmeuse |
I also traced the pattern for Butterick 5430.
 |
| Ponte knit Berry |
I also traced Pamela's Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt. I am dying to try this pattern (although I had to add 5 inches - it is funny - just typing this out I have realised that I added 5 inches to the pattern instead of dividing that by 4 as it is a half pattern cut on the fold - which means I have added 20 inches - DOH! Oh well - at least I didn't cut the fabric.
 |
| Ponte Knit Black |
Re the dressmakers dummy - DOH - it was just ordered and paid for on Friday. On the hopefully positive side - I purchased the fabulous fit system so I am hoping to pad the dummy up to my voluptuous curves so hopefully it will work. Any comments out there re fabulous fit?
I will post tomorrow a *hopefully* finished dress.
Stunning fabric - the wool blend and charmeuse looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI'm a tracer for a couple of reasons - I sew for myself, my daughter and my mum often from the same pattern so its easy to reuse. Plus when I was starting to learn about fitting I made a lot of mistakes and it was easy to scrap it and retrace. I've been tracing for so long now that I feel really naughty if I use the paper pattern, like I expect the pattern police to burst through the door, lol.
I have decided that tracing depends on the pattern. Patterns that run me more money initially deserve the added cost of the tracing paper and my time. BUT the patterns I pick up for $0.99 at JoAnn's does not deserve my time or added cost of tracing. I have even bought more than one of a pattern at $0.99 just to make sure, in case I have several alterations I'm not sure about. Love the red, good luck on the alterations, learning to alter patterns is curve that can be fun and frustrating all at the same time! Then you body changes and throws you new alterations to learn :grin:
ReplyDeleteYou are just going to love your new dressmaker's dummy. After I have pinned my pattern onto the dummy I do feel confident that my pattern will fit. I had to look up SWAP too a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't understand how everyone was swapping such beautiful clothes. Have a wonderful weekend sewing, your pattern and fabric choices are beautiful. I always figure that I can't spend too long knowing that what I'm going to make will fit well before I start too.
ReplyDeleteHiya, you know for someone who just started you are showing signs of expertise already - smart people make good dressmakers :) Your application of logic is going to serve you very well. And the thing about the dummy is that they are so darn useful for things like checking drape, set of shoulders, collars etc, i's well worth having one. Just not for fitting alone. So it's all good! :) And that pattern is fab because you have not only the curve of the princess seam but the dart to shape the bust and once you crack it you'll be delighted I am sure :) It's going to be one gorgeous dress!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the encouragement! Laura M - 0.99c for a pattern!!!! Unheard of here.. Please enlighten me any Aussies out there - anywhere in this country where we can get patterns for 99c?
ReplyDeleteSome patterns I'll trace off but most often I'll just mark the alterations on to the pattern itself. In a multisize pattern I never cut off the lines I don't need - I just fold them out of the way or mark the fabric directly.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see what you think of the magic skirt, I've read really good things about it but I keep thinking that it's just a straight skirt with some waist shaping and elastic, surely I can draft that myself. I'd be interested to know if there's some tricky thing going on to give it its magic.
Really like the dress patterns - I think I've decided on the pattern I'm going to use for the red dress project. Maybe I'll see if I have enough fabric today.
forgot to enable follow-ups :/
ReplyDeleteI apologize that yes in the United States our stores will run $0.99 pattern sales on Simplicity patterns. The McCall's & Butterick patterns have been $1.99 lately, and Vogue go on sale for $3.99. I always have my list in hand, to get all I want. They limit us to ten per visit, and I've been known to come back in a few hours or the next day!
ReplyDelete