Before we get onto the subject of Babs I would like to say a huge thanks to those who voted for my red dress. I was surprised and thrilled to received 13 votes - I wasn't expecting one vote seeing as how there were so many beautiful dresses. I entered to challenge myself and am humbled to receive votes.
I have taken some photos of the evolution of Babs to show my family so I thought I would post the pics to show you as well. I haven't finished but she has already proved to be so helpful in pattern fitting, seeing how things go together and in showing how things will look.
This is her fresh out of the box.
As posted earlier I split her ribs to make her the largest size. On that topic let me say that I came across a comment when researching what dress form to go for. One person had said to buy a dress form where the smallest size of the form is closest to your size as you can not pin in the cracks at centre back and centre front once open. I ordered my dress form from "For Frocks Sake" and the lovely lady there told me to go for one smaller than my size as you can always pad up but if you lose weight the form would be useless.. So I took her advice and am very pleased I did. As for pinning in the cracks - even if you don't pad the form you can easily put a cheap t-shirt on it and that will allow you to put in pins.
I used both Wadding (2 packs - eek) purchased at Spotlight and padding I purchased in the Fabulous Fit System (FFS) and I am sorry to say - she is "starting to look a lot like....... me" :-(
Good for fitting - bad for self esteem - well at least I can't lie to myself!!
The first step I took was to wrap one layer of wadding around her and pull on the first of 2 covers that came with the FFS. Can I say that was a TIGHT fit. The XXL FFS goes to size 20 "up" but they couldn't tell me how far up the up went.... Anyway it went on and I smoothed out the wadding underneath then pulled the front up to replicate my tummy ....hmmmmm ... Phew - first layer..
I then rolled on the second cover (with the princess seams) and carefully put pads in all the right places.. even able to replicate the hump on the top of my back :-) :-( Happy I could do it - sad that I had to..... I added yet more wadding - more padding under arms, on sides, and top of stomach and then put on one of my old bras... ALL of the remaining padding and yet more wadding went into the bra and voila...
Here she is helping me with the lay of Butterick Connie Crawford's 5430 . She was invaluable in helping me to work out how to put the yoke on the dress and seeing the fit.
There are big ripples showing on the back...
I don't know whether this needs to be adjusted on the pattern or on Babs - maybe she needs padding on the back. I have tried it on myself and the ripples are there on one side but not as bad. I ask myself - and anyone out there who knows - does Babs need more padding in the back or is it because I have arms that hold the dress up more? Any advice?.
The almost twins - I can see Babs is a bit taller than me and will adjust accordingly - this will bring her bust line down too.. Although the measurements are correct - it also looks like she may need a bit more padding too!
I still want to add another feature. I purchased some stretchy silky material used to make slips (not sure what it is called) I want to make another cover that shows the princess seams (the FFS seams are so tightly stretched they are not in the right place - and are covered by the industrial strength bra...) This will also enable the garments to slip on and off easier. I will also put where arm holes and necklines should be on this cover. I also purchased some ribbon tape with cm increments that I am going to sew onto the front and back centre seams and around the middle so that any pattern adjustments needed will be easy to measure... That is all for another day.
This weekend I am hoping to finish the Butterick 5430, hem another version of the Pamela's Patterns Magic not so pencil skirt to see how that goes and maybe even finish another skirt that I have cut - A Simplicity Khalia Ali pattern.
BTW - can anyone tell me why I am having problems with my blind hemming? The foot seems to work okay but leaves this pulling - the stitches seem to be a little too far into the hem?? Any advice? I am going to have to unpick and do by hand.
Next time I will have pics of the finished dress and skirt.
Until next time.....
I have taken some photos of the evolution of Babs to show my family so I thought I would post the pics to show you as well. I haven't finished but she has already proved to be so helpful in pattern fitting, seeing how things go together and in showing how things will look.
This is her fresh out of the box.
As posted earlier I split her ribs to make her the largest size. On that topic let me say that I came across a comment when researching what dress form to go for. One person had said to buy a dress form where the smallest size of the form is closest to your size as you can not pin in the cracks at centre back and centre front once open. I ordered my dress form from "For Frocks Sake" and the lovely lady there told me to go for one smaller than my size as you can always pad up but if you lose weight the form would be useless.. So I took her advice and am very pleased I did. As for pinning in the cracks - even if you don't pad the form you can easily put a cheap t-shirt on it and that will allow you to put in pins.
I used both Wadding (2 packs - eek) purchased at Spotlight and padding I purchased in the Fabulous Fit System (FFS) and I am sorry to say - she is "starting to look a lot like....... me" :-(
Good for fitting - bad for self esteem - well at least I can't lie to myself!!
The first step I took was to wrap one layer of wadding around her and pull on the first of 2 covers that came with the FFS. Can I say that was a TIGHT fit. The XXL FFS goes to size 20 "up" but they couldn't tell me how far up the up went.... Anyway it went on and I smoothed out the wadding underneath then pulled the front up to replicate my tummy ....hmmmmm ... Phew - first layer..
I then rolled on the second cover (with the princess seams) and carefully put pads in all the right places.. even able to replicate the hump on the top of my back :-) :-( Happy I could do it - sad that I had to..... I added yet more wadding - more padding under arms, on sides, and top of stomach and then put on one of my old bras... ALL of the remaining padding and yet more wadding went into the bra and voila...
Here she is helping me with the lay of Butterick Connie Crawford's 5430 . She was invaluable in helping me to work out how to put the yoke on the dress and seeing the fit.
By the way - you can see that I pinned one seam on the outside and one on the inside... didn't think much of it as I was only pinning to see the fit ....... but ....... I thought - hey it's pinned - I may as well sew - and of course sewed one side in and one side out - using the overlocker at that - spent quite some time with the unpicker!
There are big ripples showing on the back...
I don't know whether this needs to be adjusted on the pattern or on Babs - maybe she needs padding on the back. I have tried it on myself and the ripples are there on one side but not as bad. I ask myself - and anyone out there who knows - does Babs need more padding in the back or is it because I have arms that hold the dress up more? Any advice?.
The almost twins - I can see Babs is a bit taller than me and will adjust accordingly - this will bring her bust line down too.. Although the measurements are correct - it also looks like she may need a bit more padding too!
I still want to add another feature. I purchased some stretchy silky material used to make slips (not sure what it is called) I want to make another cover that shows the princess seams (the FFS seams are so tightly stretched they are not in the right place - and are covered by the industrial strength bra...) This will also enable the garments to slip on and off easier. I will also put where arm holes and necklines should be on this cover. I also purchased some ribbon tape with cm increments that I am going to sew onto the front and back centre seams and around the middle so that any pattern adjustments needed will be easy to measure... That is all for another day.
This weekend I am hoping to finish the Butterick 5430, hem another version of the Pamela's Patterns Magic not so pencil skirt to see how that goes and maybe even finish another skirt that I have cut - A Simplicity Khalia Ali pattern.
BTW - can anyone tell me why I am having problems with my blind hemming? The foot seems to work okay but leaves this pulling - the stitches seem to be a little too far into the hem?? Any advice? I am going to have to unpick and do by hand.
Next time I will have pics of the finished dress and skirt.
Until next time.....
