Elisalex Dress: The Details

This dress turned into a battle of wills. If I hadn't liked the fabric so much (purchased from the Etsy Shop FabricsAndTrimmings last summer), I might have waved the white flag and moved on months ago. Most of the problems were self-inflicted: poor choice of underlining, and not recognizing early enough that the skirt design just didn't suit my body. Once I ripped out the former and abandoned the latter, the dress came together pretty easily.

I probably can't remember all of the changes I made along the way, but I know that the following happened:

• 1/2" sloped shoulder adjustment
• took in the top of the princess seam
• increased SA on sleeves to 1"
• lengthened the bodice by 1.25"
• reduced the side seam SA to 3/8"
• used my TNT pencil skirt (drafted from Studio Faro's worksheet) for the skirt

I used some of the skills I learned from Susan Khalje's Couture Dress class on Craftsy for the construction:

• traced the stitch lines and hand basted or pin basted the seams before sewing
• made the piping from silk muslin and 1/8" cotton cord
• stabilized the neck and back with silk organza selvedge
• lined the bodice with stretch cotton poplin, attached by hand with fell stitches
• bound the seam allowance in the skirt with Snug Hug using Laura Mae's tutorial
• used stretch lace on the hem allowance (and sewed up with a catch stitch)
• added drapery weight to the back vent to stop the corners from curling

The zipper was the last battle ground for the dress. All told, I think I handpicked a lapped zipper three times and a centered zipper four times. And every time it looked terrible. I've had success with lapped zippers in the past, so I'm going to say that the problems were due to the stretch in the fabric. In the end, I threw in an invisible zipper and I'm quite sure I won't lose any sleep over this. 

I'm glad the fabric didn't become a casualty of the war. And that I only suffered minor injuries (pricked fingers, one ding from the sewing machine). And that my medal of honor has green flowers on a lilac background!

If you want to read through the early battles, you can find them here, here and here, and my victory dance is here. And now I'm going to make something EASY with jersey fabric.

Style Arc Bonanza

I've been lurking the Style Arc pattern website for over a year now. I love a lot of their designs, but the one-size-per-pattern and high shipping costs made me hesitate to push "buy". But I finally went for it with some mad money I received for Christmas this year (thank you, Aunt Wendy!).  And here's what I chose:

Clockwise from top right: Tracy Trench Coat, Emma Dress, Alisha Dress, Julia Jacket, Darla Stretch Woven Dress, Marni Ponti Jacket, Rosie Top (the free pattern for January).

Now what to make first? The two patterns that are calling to me Darla and Marni - they are the patterns I've had my eye on for longest AND I already have fabric for them.  I've got a few possible combinations for the Darla.

1) I could do the back and sides with this magenta fabric (stretch cotton sateen) and the front middle panel with the purplish grey (also stretch cotton sateen but lighter weight - I'll probably underline it with itself).

But I'm wondering if I should do something to play up the seams - piping? slot seams? - or just let them be free and unencumbered by notion-ry?

2) Option #2 for this dress is some ponte knit from my stash, a black/magenta polka dot from girlcharlee.com (I have just enough to squeeze out the front center panel and maybe the back center panel).

And Darla option #3 is an abstract grey/black ponte knit from StoneFabrics.co.uk:

What gets your vote?

The second pattern that's up at the top of the list is the Marni Jacket, which I plan to make in - surprise - a magenta double knit I found a Field's Fabrics in Kalamazoo.

I've got enough of this fabric to also make a skirt, but that might be too much magenta for one outfit. "What?" you say, "Too much magenta?" Yes, dear readers, I do know there's a limit to the amount of magenta one gal's closet can take. But in reality I approach magenta like I approach chocolate - one more itty bitty piece couldn't hurt anyone, could it?

Graphic Studio Faro Pencil Skirt

Sometime back in the summer I agreed to be a pattern test for Studio Faro's Pencil Skirt Worksheet.  I finished my muslin in late August or September, but then the wedding dress took over.  All along I planned to make up the skirt using this fabric, and when I saw that the challenge this week on Project Sewn was for a graphic print, I knew I had to get busy.

I like having bold prints or bright colors on my lower half as it provides a balance for my broad shoulders. This fabric is a stretch cotton sateen from GorgeousFabrics.com, and it's on sale this weekend!

I used some of the techniques I learned while making the wedding dress, a combination of instruction from Rhonda Buss, Susan Khalje, and Gertie Hirsch:

Underlined the waistband with flannel and organza and added spiral steel boning.  I also drafted the skirt with a 2-inch contoured waistband, because I like it like that.

Installed a waist stay to keep the skirt in place (I walk fast and my side seam often ends up a center front).

Why not magenta?

Put drapery weights in the back vent to keep the corners from flipping up (I like how the weights tap the back of my knees when I walk) and finished the hem with lace and a blind stitch.

Installed the zipper by hand with a pick stitch so that I could better match across the seam.

I used one of my favorite buttons from my button collection.  I found this at a thrift store where it was the only one of it's kind - perfect for a skirt!  Isn't it a beauty?

I've drafted pencil skirts before but Studio Faro's directions were a bit different than I had seen previously. The thing that most amazed me was the perfect fit on the butt!  When I've drafted skirts using a different method, I usually have to play around for ages to get this fit:

I tweaked the fit a bit between the muslin and this skirt by taking in the side seams a titch, as my muslin was made with, well, MUSLIN, and my fashion fabric was a stretch cotton sateen.  I'm really amazed how well this came off the drafting table!

I should have some finished wedding dress photos to show you soon and I plan to write a "what I learned" post about the whole experience.  Next up: Gertie's wiggle dress for a client!

Fashion Parade, Part the Second

I am writing today from Michigan.  Devon hails from Michigan, and since I've moved around too much to really have an affiliation to anywhere, I've adopted Michigan for all things that need an affiliation.  This mostly means sports teams, and since we didn't watch sports in my family growing up and I know almost nothing about sport teams, adopting the Lions, the Wolverines, and the Tigers - oh, my! - was not a big deal on my part.  It is nice that I see woods out the window here in my adopted state instead of the side of my neighbor's house. 

Marides - one of my long-standing clients - wanted a dress for the holidays and I suggested Colette's Peony dress since I thought is would suit her shape.  Marides liked it so I sent off for the pattern.  And then I read reviews of the pattern and saw how much trouble people have had in fitting the bodice and I got a bit nervous. 

Marides is petite (she can't be more than 5'1") and, like me, a bit rectangular.  Her measurements lined up with the Size 12 for most of the dress with a bit more needed in the waist.  Before making the muslin, I took 2" off the skirt length and a full 1.75" off the bodice at the "lengthen/shorten here" line.   I traced the waist halfway between the size 12 and 14 and tapered it to the size 12 at the hip.  I decided on those amounts by comparing Marides' shoulder-to-bust and waist-to-hem measurements to the pattern measurements.

The muslin fit okay (I should have taken a picture but I forgot) but definitely needed more adjustment.  I took 3/4" off the shoulder, extended the back darts up another 2 inches, and took about 1/2" off the bodice center front just above the waist dart (tapered to 0 at the side seam).  When it came to making the changes to the flat pattern piece, I was at a bit of a loss as to how I should deal with the 1/2" at center bust to 0 at the side seam issue.  I search around online but couldn't find anything that felt right (I can't say exactly why they didn't feel right, but I'm learning to trust those instincts).  Then I remembered that I'd learned some flat pattern adjustment techniques from Lorraine Henry at the Original Sewing Expo Show I attended last March.  I found the full bust adjustment, reversed it for Marides' issue, and then crossed my fingers and cut the fashion fabric for her real dress.

And it worked! 

I had some lovely quality fabric to use for the dress:

It's a stretch cotton sateen (and they have one yard left!!) I found at the Etsy shop Fabrics and Trimmings and I'll certainly be ogling the apparel fabric in their shop again.  (In fact, I just ogled and I'd love to have some of this for a peplum top and some of this for another pencil skirt!  Someone please stop me . . .)  It held up fine in the washer and dryer and sewed up like a dream.

I made piping for the neckline and this was super easy to do once I found 1/8" cotton piping (Hancock's wasn't going to help me out with that).  Thanks again, Etsy (this time seller CrystalsLaceAndMore)!  I've had a dress is my head for over a year now that involves polka dot piping, so I'm glad to know that will be easy.

The only major problem I had finishing the dress was with the buttonhole on the belt.  Machine stitched button holes are the weakest link in my sewing skills.  I don't know if it's me, my machine, a lack of practice, or a lack of a buttonhole foot (I don't have one and can't find one for a 1970s Pfaff 1222se online). 

I practiced the button hole first on a scrap piece of fabric and it looked fine so I went ahead and threw one down on the belt.  And it was a disaster.  I was disgusted and embarrassed with the results so at this point I just had to go to bed.  Carol tried it on her machine the next day with only slightly better results (I used the dark brown thread, she used the lighter green):

Ugh!!!

I do now feel a bit more confident with my bound buttonholes after making so many of them on my Gertie top, so I decided it was the only fix.  I took off the ruined side of the belt, cut out a new piece, and sewed up this buttonhole:

Front

Back

Overall I liked the Peony pattern, but maybe it was easier for me because Marides didn't want it as fitted as some folks do.  I loved the fabric and I've got just enough left to make a pencil skirt or maybe a sleeveless top (hooray!).  And I loved that Marides was happy.  I've got some figuring to do in the New Year to see if I can really make this work my next career, but I do love the part of this that is about helping others feel good. 

This is Marides in the dress (in my kitchen with Belly's artwork behind her head) before I hemmed it:

Fashion Parade, Part the First

Happy December!  I have been hunkered down for the past few (oops, five) weeks, drafting and sewing and seam ripping and handstitching.  I received so many orders during the double skirt party weekend, that I haven't been able to think much beyond trying to get the orders done.  But as the holidays are here, I'm making myself relax a bit.  Feels good.

I have a heap of garments to show and I thought briefly of cramming them into one long post, but that seemed, well, too crammed.  So I hope to break them up in a series of posts so that you can see what I've been up to!  And when I say "I", I really now mean "we" - I hired a lovely woman named Carol to help out so that I could finish all my winter orders before spring comes around.

I'm going to start with the two skirts we finished most recently, as the process is still fresh.  Catherine is a new client, and she wanted a skirt replicated.  I've done this for myself before, but never for someone else.  Here's the original skirt:

It is a simple six-panel straight skirt with a cute pleated section in the center back, welt pockets, and a waistband.  Catherine says she wears this skirt all the time so it's a good style to copy.

She chose a striped stretch sateen fabric that I purchased a while back from GorgeousFabrics.com.  The two challenges to this skirt were 1) matching up the stripes, and 2) making the welt pockets (something I'd never done before).  To make the stripes go a little easier, I decided to cut the waistband in the opposite direction.  Carol handled challenge #1 beautifully when she put the parts of the skirt together, which left me with the challenge of matching the kick pleat to the stripes and making the welt pockets.  Here's how it turned out:

I planned to finish the waistband with topstitching but that didn't look right.  I ripped out those stitches and finished the waistband by hand - I'm very happy I did as it looks so much better!

This next skirt was for Stacey, another new client.  I've made something similar to skirt before, so I decided to change it up by adding a hem facing.  I love how cute it looks from the inside and I hope it might peek out every once in a while! 

I also did a drapey deep cowl neck for Stacey in the same metallic jersey I used for my own.  I've got another top like this on order - I guess everyone loves a little sparkle at this time of the year!