Time for a Burt Bacharach/Hal David sing-a-long:
What do you get when you fall in love?
A guy with a pin to burst your bubble
I do like this dress, I just don't LOVE it. I fell really hard for the envelope, though. You all know how that goes.
I challenged myself to randomly pick out one of my older pieces of fabric and do something with it. Using my homemade iPhone app, I chose this black and white stripe. The fabric is really very thin and when I washed it, it crinkled up like crepe, especially near the selvages. That's probably why it languished in my stash so long. I had a lot of it too. I decided to use this pattern: Vogue 8876. Since the pattern had these nice seam details, I figured I could pipe it to add some body to it. I added cord to this bias leftover from this skirt. Then I threw in the rose floral piece. I think it had a been a table scarf in a previous life.
I started by making a muslin from some old sheets. It fit surprisingly well. I did a small slope shoulder adjustment and a princess FBA:
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| Princess FBA |
Design wise, I felt that the tuck in the front was adding too much volume, so I smushed it out.
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| the tuck in the princess panel |
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| The tuck smushed out |
Just in case, I basted all the pieces together and checked the fit before adding all the piping. The sewing was all pretty straight forward, but I did notice an error in the notches: The notch on the bottom hem band that should line up with the bottom of one of the princess panels is marked on the outside curve not the inside:
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| That notch on #12 should be on the opposite side |
Another thing I thought was a little odd is that the center front pattern piece is the same for both the zipper version (B and C) and the button version (A):
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| I altered the one on the left, but believe me, other than the curve at the top, they are the same. |
I had originally planned on using buttons, but when I saw how the center panel looked when lapped, I went with a zipper. The pattern calls for a separating zipper, but I used an invisible zipper 'cause that's what I had. The pattern version opens completely but mine requires a step in since my zipper stops a couple inches above the bottom band.
Oh, and did I mention it has pockets?
It is a fun dress and I enjoyed making it. I really love the mix of materials, but I just don't think its flattering on me: too much volume in the skirt, too high a neckline, plus I really don't like princess seams.
Yet I'm strangely attracted to the long sleeve version....I should just get over it!
Bonus Content:
This is why you should never empty the trash until the project is complete:
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| damn serger! |
I still had a lot of leftovers, so into the garden jar they went:
Don't they look great with the eggplant?
