The First Dress I Sewed (for myself)

A few months ago while I was doing laundry I came across the first garment I ever sewed for myself (because I had finally gotten to the bottom of the laundry pile).  As I was hanging this particular dress up I was picking apart all the mistakes I now know I had made.  I made this dress over three years ago but it was a UFO until after I moved to SoCal 2 years ago.  All I had left was a zipper and the hem but it took me about a year to get to it.  It was the first zipper I ever put in and you can definitely tell!  But let's start with the beginning of my tattle-telling.

I decided to use New Look 6886 and make a dress.  The style is very much something I'd wear as I'm a big fan of fitted bodices and flared skirts as a result of a mis-proportioned body.  I had already bought material for a different pattern (this was before my fabric addiction turned into a fabric stash) and I decided to switch patterns since they both called for the same amount of fabric.  No big deal there.  My first mistake came in looking at ( or not looking at) the measurements for the body.  I decided to sew a size 14 because that was my bust size and I knew the skirt was flared so I wasn't worried about my hip size.  I had read on many blogs about the ridiculous amount of ease in Big-4 patterns so I thought I'd be fine.  After I cut everything and had started sewing my bodice I freaked out.  I finally looked at the finished waist measurement and measured my waist over and over again, coming up inches short (or too much, your choice).  So... I decided to add 1 1/2 inch panels to the back of the bodice on either side and the same amount on each side seam of the skirt, thinking this would cover it.

Obviously I had no idea about how to adjust fit correctly (I don't actually know that I know now either) and this dress ended up being too big...  By almost exactly the amount I had added.  Funny, right?  I readjusted the back by the zipper, tightening it up to fit with pins.

I had also  decided to add a skirt lining, so I cut my lining using the skirt pattern and narrowing it's volume.  After that I added gathered tulle in an attempt to make the skirt poufier (oh the days that I always wore something poufy!).  That tulle got cut off after the first wash- it became a mess.

Because I decided to add a skirt lining I had no idea how to insert the zipper since a lining wasn't included in the directions.  I tried tho.  I pinned it in and sewed it up and...

I had a totally un-matching waist seam and one top of the back higher than the other.  Oh dear!

I folded the excess on top down, topstitched over it and cut out the excess- total chaos.

As a result of my incorrectly inserted zipper, the bottom of it had a funny hole and pucker.

The inside seams aren't finished but they haven't frayed terribly too much.

The shoulder straps are too long for my short shoulders.  I even ripped out the seam once to try and shorten them, but they're still too big and fall off my shoulders.

Actually, considering  how little I knew about adult clothing construction then and how fearlessly I went about it, it's not that bad.  Nowadays I make multiple muslins and hope my adjustments will work, but I'm not so fearless like that anymore.  I could definitely use that again, if anyone finds some you-don't-know-what-you're-getting-into-fearlessness lying around. 

I didn't wear this terribly often until recently since the shoulder straps fall off my shoulders and the skirt caught on the skirt lining and bunched up when I walked- it was sooooo annoying.  Here's some advice- don't use quilting cotton as a lining for quilting cotton.  It just doesn't work.

I recently decided to cut out the lining so it wouldn't be such a pain to wear.  It worked (happy dance).  The shoulder straps still fall down, but at least I don't have a bunching up skirt.  Since the most obvious mistakes are on the back I figure out of sight out of mind- right?  The best part was the first time I wore it after this adjustment I had two complete strangers compliment me on my dress, one even asked where I got it.  It kind of made my day.  I wear this dress more often now. I love how it's fitted just for ME and I wonder why I don't sew myself more clothes.

I learned so much from this dress, especially since all my sewing before this was children's clothing and home sewing.  Even with all my mistakes, I still feel good wearing it and have pride in it being me-made.  I've recently decided to use this pattern again, hopefully with different mistakes this time.  Hehe!  Also, my roommate would love for our living room to be completely pink like that (and I'm totally amused by the pink filter!).

WIP & Bargain Finds

This is what I'm currently working on.  I've had this pattern for almost a year now, figured it was time to sew it up.  Yippee for new clothes!  The fabric is just a cheap dollar find from walmart a few years ago.  It's nice and soft and light weight, but who knows what it's made of.  I plan to wear this shirt the moment I finish it, I kid you not.

I also went shopping today.  I love shopping- for anything, fabric, shoes, clothes, groceries, books, random supplies- it gives me happy bubbles inside.  The patterns on the left are from the $2 bargain bin at a local fabric store.  I also got the first three fabrics there too (also on clearance tables).

The two patterns on the right are because I couldn't decide on one.  In fact I'm going back to get two more peplum patterns on Friday when the Simplicity patterns go on sale at Jo-Ann's Fabrics.  I need a peplum for my Halloween costume- any guesses on what it could be?

The golden fabric is a yard and a quarter of silk dupioni.  The bronze fabric is a yard and three-eighths of silk shantung. Both were $7.99/yd, marked down from $20.99 and $24.99 a yard respectively.  I love getting silks for that cheap, the only issue is at this store they're always in small cuts at that price, usually less than 2 yards.  Oh well, I'll take what I can get.

The lace is a suuuuuuuuper soft stretch lace that's was a yard remnant.  I carried that sucker with me around the whole store until I was ready to check out.  I have plans for a lace-backed shirt of some kind..  What do you think, By Hand London's Polly Top, Deer & Doe's Plantain T-shirt, another Megan Nielsen's Crescent Blouse or a completely different pattern?

The red fabric is a bemberg rayon from Jo-Ann's Fabrics.  It's a really pretty color and so soft and luxurious.  I got it to line a dress I'm making that's completely see thru.  I totally lucked out on getting this today because it was supposed to be $9.99/yd (and I was going to use a 30% off coupon) but it ended up being only $5/yd.  Cheaper than I was expecting to pay!  I got an extra yard just because I could.  Hehe

What are you working on right now?  Find any good deals lately or ways to save extra $$$ in those tempting fabric stores?  Let me know!  

Better Late than Never (Right?)!

Remember that dress I mentioned waaaaay back in April?  The bridesmaid one?  The bridesmaid dress for my friend that was seven months pregnant?  Well, three (almost four) months have passed now and 3(ish)+7=10 and guess what?  That sweet little girl is almost two months old now!  What does this mean for that dress?  That I never got over there to take pictures and the baby bump is gone so there's no point in trying to get them taken now.  I know, I REALLY need to work on my timing (but don't worry, my always-early-housemate is aware of this issue and I'm always reminding her we have seperate cars- hehe).

Anyway, I have a few pictures of my previously pregnant pal at the actual wedding I can share and some of the final muslin, but you'll just have to believe me about the nitty-gritty details.  Also- fair warning, this will probably be a wordy post.

So the pattern was New Look 6864.  The fabric was 100% polyester in Scarlett from Joann Fabrics, the main fabric was polyester satin and the overlay was a polyester chiffon.  I'll share my thoughts about polyester later in this post.

I started with a straight size 8 since my friend is normally a size 2 when not pregnant and I knew there'd be extra ease since New Look is part of Simplicity, a Big-4 company.  Well, that extra ease was not enough for mama and baby belly.  I measured how many inches I was short along the back where the zipper would be (and where the dress wouldn't close).  Taking those measurements, I added them to the given measurements for the size 8 and ended up all over the place.

The next muslin I decided bigger was better.  I cut a size 12 for the bodice, graded to a size 16 for the waistband and size 18 for the skirt, but I kept the length of all pattern pieces at the size 8 because that was the perfect length for her baby bump (does that make sense?).

This dress was way too big, but I was ok with that!  At that fitting, I pinned the back shut and all down the excess at the back of the skirt.  I pinned the extra on both side seams under her arms and it happened to line up perfectly at the bottom of the waist band so there was no need to grade down the skirt's side seam.  Now this part is real tricky- I took a Sharpie and marked along everything I had pinned- really hard, right?  At home I measured from marked line to seam line and marked that onto my pattern piece.  Because (pretty much every seam) had two Sharpie lines, one on each side seam/back zipper line, I ended up with two different measurements per pattern piece.  So I literally went in between the two marked lines and cut down the middle.

After cutting out my new pattern pieces I made my final muslin, but I was really hoping this would work so I took a chance and used some nice cotton- in hopes of this one being a wearable muslin.  It was, yay!  I only had enough of the cotton for the main dress, not for the the bodice lining.  I used a soft white cotton for the inside and decided to be persnickety with my thread.  The thread on the outside matched the main fabric while all the inside stitching on the white lining was also white.  Yeah, you see some pride sneaking out here.

Anyway, there was only one spot on the final muslin that needed adjusting, the upper right back bodice where it attaches to the neck band.  It was pretty easy to just adjust that by moving my seam line on the final garment.

Now, the final garment.  It. Was. A. Pain.  I don't like polyester, Sam I Am!   I do not like it in a boat, I do not like it with a moat or goat or a house or a mouse or on a train, plane, in the rain- however that is supposed to go.  Polyester does not press, like, at all.  Polyester satin and chiffon shift around sooooo much and be careful with your pins cause they leave marks.  Also, it doesn't press.  Did you know it's virtually impossible to get a decent crease or seam allowance to stay on whatever side you want it on because it doesn't press.  I'm pretty sure I had cartoon thunder clouds around my head from my frustration and growing irritation.

There's one part on the skirt where it's gathered and attached to the bodice that some of the skirt fabric got caught and stitched into the gathering.  It almost looks like a pleat.  I tried to unpick it so it could be redone nicer, but the fabric wouldn't cooperate and played hide and seek with my stitches- so a pleat added into the gathering it was!  I think (hope) I'm the only one who noticed.  I also decided to be lazy on the skirt overlay and not adjust the tension for the thinner, sheerer fabric.  The result was slight puckering that I hadn't even worried over until I saw the dress on my friend while standing up with the other bridesmaids (in their pucker-free J-Crew dresses).  Lesson learned I suppose.

 The chosen dress had a deep V/notch  in the neckline but because of the heavy. thick fabric, one side had a hard time staying up and not flopping down.  The solution to this became to sew the top of the V together to create a keyhole.  It was a nice detail that many ladies noticed and commented on (positively, I might add- hehe).  I've also come to discover that I cannot sew zippers that have been pinned into the dress.  None of my seam lines will match.  I HAVE to hand-baste my zippers in to get matching necklines and waist lines.  It's a pain while I'm doing it (unless it's embroidery, I'm not a fan of hand sewing) but totally worth it in the end.  One last thing- hook and eyes.  They are mischievous little notions.  Anyone have any tips for sewing them in easily or at least neatly?

All in all, it was a good experience and ended pretty well.  I didn't think I would do anything like that again anytime soon, but that was before I realized the difficulties I have saying "No freaking way!" to people.  Cuz, ya know, I totally made my roomie's Comic-Con costume.  But that's a story for another day.

A Blast from My Past

This past weekend for Mother's Day I went to visit my mother (cause I like her and she's my mom and stuff).  She wanted to organize and rearrange her craft/guest room while I was there, so we were busy all day.  While going through some of her fabric, I thought some of it was quite hilarious and had to share.

I haven't seen these cut-and-sew panel thingies in years but looking at this particular one, I think I'm ok with that.  My mom  wants to inform you all that I just about died with laughter after finding out the circles around the vest are to make yo-yo's to go ON to the vest (supposedly embellishing it).  She threatened to make it and give it to me as a gift.  She has an awesome sense of humor.

Star Trek fabric!  I look at this piece and remember all the years of watching Star Trek because with my dad in charge of the TV, it was that or nothing.  I guess you can find just about anything these days, but this was bought at least 15 years ago.  That makes it almost vintage for sewing.

My mom says this is Daisy Kingdom fabric.  I remember when my little sister was about 4, I found a Daisy Kingdom dress at a garage sale around the corner from home and brought it home for her.  That's about the extent of my Daisy Kingdom experience besides a few patterns found in bargain bins at the fabric stores (except my mom just informed me the vest up above is also Daisy Kingdom). 

We found some vintage UFO's in my mom's craft room too.  Like this blouse.  She has it all finished except buttonholes and button.  I actually tried it on and think it'd be cute over a shirt with a single button to keep it half closed.

The neckline has this cute curve that looks like it should be folded over/ironed into a lapel.  I think the print is super cute and this shirt is totally wearable (so she should finish it).

Here's another UFO of my mom's.  I feel I should mention that both of these were made when I was really, really little (read over 20 years ago). This one is a button-down midi-skirt with patch pockets.  I've totally seen these coming back into style, yet another wearable garment- if it were finished.  

She's already finished the hard part in my opinion- all those buttonholes!  I think I counted 8 total, that's 8 more than I'm usually willing to do (I'm a big fan of sewing clothes with closures that don't involve buttonholes).

It's even marked where the buttons need to go.  The ONLY thing not done on this skirt is the buttons.  I vote this one should be finished too.

This is actually one of my unstarted projects from elementary school.  We used to have a dress code before uniforms at the school I attended and I was going to make this dress (view B).  There was another girl in my grade who wore dresses with buttons and sleeves and I usually wore jumpers.  I wanted my own dress with buttons and sleeves so I intended to make this one.   Obviously it never happened, the fabric didn't even get cut.

A close up of the fabric I chose in 5th grade.  I still like it!

I adore this fabric.  Look at how much cuteness is contained in one cut of cloth.  Those airplanes kill me!  I can totally picture this made into a little boys shirt with the airplane stripe going across mid-chest.  

This is the phone pic my mom snapped for Facebook.  I think we did a good job.  Lots of work but now it's a space capable of lots of fun (sewing- duh!).  I also cleaned and organized my own room right before I drove to my mom's (no pics, it's boring), but now I better cool it on the cleaning front before my housemate expects me to start picking up my crafting projects.  Hehe.