Vogue 8379 in Black & White

This is my third make of Vogue 8379 this year, and I've got a fourth and fifth already in the works (one for a client, one for me). This is heading towards a record, although it hasn't got there yet!

This dress was for my client Diane. I couldn't get a shot of her in the finished dress as we did a quick exchange while I was teaching a lesson, but I have some nice dress form photos.

This fabric is an ITY from GorgeousFabrics.com, called Wibby-Wobbly-Webby Jersey, and there's still some in stock. My first two versions of this dress were made from ponte knit, so it was different to sew with something thinner and much stretchier. I don't think I really changed anything in the making of it, except to be be very carefully that I wasn't stretching the fabric up to my machine (I have a table for my serger and I elevated the fabric to reach my Pfaff workhorse).

I did change some aspects of the construction, mainly in adding a lining to make the fabric less sheer and less likely to give away every bump. I used a knit tricot lining that I also purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics sometime in the last 18 months.

I debated with myself as to how best to attach the lining since it wasn't quite as stretchy as the ITY. For the bodice, I attached the lining at the neckline, waist, and sleeve hem. I attached the facing after all of this was in place. I was worried about the sleeve bagging, so I tacked the lining and the main fabric at the shoulder and underarm - we'll see how this works and I may need to re-work it if Diane has trouble. I added clear elastic to the shoulder and waist in order to stop the dress from drooping.

For the skirt, I attached the lining to the main fabric at the waist and at center front, after hemming the lining separately. I folded the skirt facing over the lining and topstitched it in place.

I was worried that the white lining might peek out at the side seam tie slot, so I attached the lining to the main fabric here with a fell stitch.

I like Diane's version so much that I plan to make a black and white version for myself!

One of the nice things about having made this dress for a couple of people is that I now have a little library of bodice muslins in different sizes. When another client contacted me last week about making her a version of this dress, it was easy to figure out what adjustments she would need. I've found that the biggest issue with this dress is the waist placement so that the bodice hugs the body in the correct way. I think the pattern runs a bit short in the bodice, although for Diane's dress the original waist placement was spot on (she is high-waisted).

If anyone is considering this pattern, I'd encourage you to make it up. I've now made it for both straight and curvy figures and it looks good on everyone!

A Few Morsels From the Past Week(s)

I get to teach kids in the summertime and I've been looking forward to this for a few months.  I'm teaching a couple of week-long camps later in the summer, but for now I am teaching 4-6 students on Friday afternoons.  Most of the girls are around 8-9 years-old (and yes, all girls - I keep waiting for a boy!) and for the first class we sewed pillow cases.  They were all keen to sew stuffed animals (I thought they might be too old for this, but I was wrong wrong wrong), so in our last class they got started on stuffed owls.  Here they are with their owl "heads":

There's one girl hiding under the table to avoid having her picture taken.

I finished my next Stitch project (due out in the fall) but I can't show you that.  Cora is very happy because I used leftovers from the project to embellish one of her dresses.  She hates clothes that are only one color, so she's very happy with her new look!

I've been doing a lot of alterations lately but I've got some new garment work coming up.  I also finally kicked myself out of my procrastination loop with my own garment project.  I've been working on this for at least a month and it's not a quickie.  I've had trouble finding longer amounts of time on the weekend to make progress with it, but I did finally complete a step.  I'm following the steps from Susan Khalje's Couture Dress class on Craftsy, but using a different pattern.  So far I've fitted the muslin and cut out the underlining and fashion fabric from the muslin pieces.  Here's the organza (for the bodice) and batiste (for the skirt) underlining pieces laid on the backside of my fashion fabric.  Can anyone guess the pattern?  I'm hoping to hand baste the underlining to the fabric while I'm on vacation next week.

And up last in my show-and-tell is a dress I actually finished about a month ago.  I was almost too embarrassed to post it because I've made this dress (Simplicity 2580) so many times.  But I love the fabric - Groovy Bricks ITY Jersey from GorgeousFabrics.com so much that I just had to give you a peek.  One of my upcoming custom garments came after I wore this dress to book club.  Maybe I'll actually get photos of me in the dress sometime soon.

If off with the girls to rural PA for a week.  Cheerio!

Sewing Injuries and Pattern Alias

Hey, it's Friday!  I'm hoping to make some progress on my Craftsy Couture class this weekend now that I have waxed tracing paper in hand and I've traced my pattern pieces (just need to add seam allowances).  I wonder if this mom can steal a little time on Mother's Day to hide out and sew.  Is it rude to disapper from the celebration?

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one to have had a run in with an iron.  An anonymous commenter on my last post managed to pick up the wrong side of the iron - I can hear the sizzling sound that would have made!  My other major sewing injury happened about twenty years before I actually started my sewing career.  I was sewing a patch on my favorite pair of jeans and dropped the needle onto a carpet floor while trying to thread it.  I stood up to look for the needle and put all my weight straight onto it.  And, of course, I was barefoot.  The needle completely disappeared into the flesh of foot and my aunt had to squeeze it out like a splinter.  And yes, she is One Tough Aunt.

Another anonymous commenter tracked down the true name of my New Look pattern: New Look 6164.  And now that she said that, I do notice that the pattern pieces have that number on them.  What's that about?  Did 0172 get married and change her name to 6164?  Or is 6164 on the lam, hiding out in 0172's pattern envelope???

Anyway, here's what the pattern looks like:

She looks like she's hiding out, doesn't she?

Here's the front bodice + band that comes with the pattern:

And here's the back band piece that I created by copying the general shape of the band:

I tried to be scientific about how wide I made the band, but then gave up and just guessed.  I used this same piece for the front and back on my recent dress variation, and just folded under the straight side until it was about 1/2" to 1" less wide than the skirt piece (I wanted to increase the negative ease for the band so that it fit snug around my waist). 

Thanks for checking out my last dress creation and let me know if you have questions about how I got there.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mamas!