Lovely Corners!

I have bitten the bullet and cut my fabric!  The cotton lawn lining was really lovely to cut but is a complete wrinkle-fest however much I iron, press and steam it.  At least it is the lining so I am the only one who will see it.  The moss crepe was pretty awful to cut, it has a bit of give to it and it likes to shift around all over the place.

Stay Tape on Seams

The Burda Style pattern calls for bias or stay tape on the neckline and armhole edges.  I must confess I didn't have a clue what this was!  After a bit of googling I found a great article on it over on Gertie's blog which explained it all clearly.  basically it is used for stabilising the curves on neck and armholes and is sewn on just inside the seam allowance.  I realise now that this is just a different technique to stay stitching which I have used on necklines before.  I thought I would give this a go though so see how it works in comparison   I would imagine it is a fair bit stronger than normal stay stitching.  I got some sew in stay tape on ebay as I couldn't find iron on and I wasn't really sure I would get iron on tape to behave.

Lining Front Sections

I had another go at the dreaded angled front pieces using this tutorial on the Burda Style website.  It is a really simple tutorial but it totally works!  My corners are crisp and lovely and although there is a little wrinkling in the lining fabric corners, the moss crepe corners are looking good!

Front of bodice

The moss crepe is harder to sew as it is a little slippery but it doesn't need pressing at all and doesn't crease or wrinkle at all!

Back bodice

I have sewn the back darts and the shoulder and side seam now so the bodice itself is all in one piece.  It is looking pretty good but I still don't  know what to do about the cap sleeves.  Sleeves or sleeveless?

Lilac Love Wedding Party Dress - WIP1

I am lucky enough to have a week at the moment so I have been working on my party dress as the weeding is this Saturday!  EEK I am excited!  Pattern cutting took a long while compared to normal as I had to cut the lilac fabric on the grain and then try and line up the heart tulle so that it was straight on the grianline and would match at the side seams.  I only achieved minimal success but I don't think it looks too bad and the all important front panel is pretty perfect.

Pattern matching

Nice straight front lines

Just pinned here but the seams are not exactly matched though they are straight

I think my pattern matching went a bit awol as I forgot I couldn't just line the hearts up as it has the dots in between and I didn't allow enough room for the repeat.  Oh and my dress form is smaller than me, hence the overlap.

After the outer bodice fabric was sewn I started on the lining.  I am using the same lilac for the lining and instead of making boning channels as the pattern stated I used some matching grosgrain ribbon which I actually bought for another little project.  The bodice has plastic bones on each of the seams which will help to keep its shape and hopefully prevent wrinkles in the fabric and make it stay up better.

Lining with bones

Ribbon boning channels

Next I made up the halter straps for the bodice which I have made pretty wide as I prefer the look of wider straps and it will give me more support and less worry of my dress falling down while dancing!

Halter straps, not tied

I am pretty happy with how it is looking so far.  My boyfriend keeps telling me it looks too modest, he thinks the neckline comes up too high but I keep telling him I haven't done the top seam yet.  I am wondering whether to take a bit extra out at the front to make it lower or perhaps make the V a bit deeper?   Any suggestions?

The Banana Carousel Dress - WIP 1

This dress seems to be taking an age, not because it is difficult, just that I have only worked on it for two days since my last post about it due to something else with a deadline coming up.  (All will be revealed soon!) 

Doesn't look as bright here as it is

I started by cutting my pattern pieces then reading the instructions and writing out my own extra steps such as 'add piping' and 'draft tabs' as otherwise I was worried I would follow the steps and miss out the bits I wanted to add.  I chucked the bodice and neck band on Anne Boleyn as I needed to work out the size and shape of the tabs. 

Tab pattern and tabs

I drew out the tab on paper then added the seam allowance and cut 10 shapes from my fabric.  The piping I pinned around the edge and had to snip on the corners to get it to turn.  I don't know how people get such neat corners on tight turns like this, most of mine as passable but they are not amazing.  I then made the tabs into a sandwich, stitched again and turned them inside out.  This is where I realised I had made them too big!

TOO BIG!

Originally I was going to put all 5 tabs on the front but I made them larger than I really wanted.  I think at some point my seam allowance measurements went a bit crazy.  I put all 5 on the model and they just looked far too costumey, if I was making a clown costume then great but I want this to be a day dress.  I have compromised and put 3 on the front and 2 on the back now.  I added the piping when I sewed the band to the dress.

You can tell I took these in the evening!

I read the instructions for attaching the neckband and facing and couldn't make head or tail of them.  It seemed like the instructions told you one thing and the illustrations another!  If anyone else has made this and understands them then please let me know!  In the end I just did it how I thought it would work best.  I tacked the tabs to the seam allowance then machine sewed the facing to the neck edge.   I should have used the interfacing on the outside of the band though as the fabric band had stretched a little I found but I was able to manipulate it without too many creases.  I then hand sewed the bottom edge of the facing to the piping all the way round and I did a pretty good job too!

Back view

I actually like the tabs here, it gives more detail to the back as there was not a lot going on back there before.  I think I will need to take some of the fabric off the centre seam as it is a little big on me so I made sure the tabs sat towards the arm holes.

That is as far as I have got!  

Happy Easter Everyone!

Vintage Vogue Re-issue Summer Dress - Work in Progress 2

Bound Buttonholes I fear you no more!!  

This project has been on hold for a while, partly as I needed to sew up 6 aprons and partly because I have been very scared of the bound buttonholes.  Looking at the instructions I just though argh I don't understand, so I ignored them and ran away. 

This weekend however I had a day free and I felt some sewing motivation so I started on this dress.  In my head I had started calling it 'The Impossible Dress' which is never good for conquering your fears.  The dress itself has 43 (!?!) steps in the pattern instructions which is more than any I have done before.  To break it up I have written the numbers down and am slowly crossing them off as I work through it as it is better for me to break them down into small pieces.

Front right bodice piece

I have currently done 1-11 which includes the bound buttonholes on the bodice.  Before starting on them I searched the net for tutorials and found this one on Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing which explains it
very well.  I didn't really know what they looked like finished either so this was very helpful.  I grabbed some scrap bits of fabric and had a go myself.  I was just playing to see how it worked so it isn't pretty and I didn't press it, it was just to get the hang of it.

Buttonhole practice

So then I was feeling very confident and I re-read my instructions and realised the pattern suggested making them in a slightly different way.  Instead of using a different piece of fabric for the lips as Gertie suggests, it uses the same fabric that is pushed through the hole folded back on itself.  I decided to use this technique as it kept the bulkiness of the fabric down.  I am really pleased with how they have turned out so far.  Don't mind the black stitching, that is just to keep them in place and to stop them stretching when sewing the bodice together.

Bound buttonholes on front

I have also done the darts in the front and back and sewn the 2 front bodice pieces together and the same for the lining.  I have realised that sewing darts is one of my favourite things in making up a garment.  I think it is because they make your flat piece of fabric instantly shaped and more on its way to becoming something you can wear.

Back pieces and linings

My 1975 Ditsy Floral Dress -Work in progress 2

Hooray I had a day off today and actually got some more done on this dress.  I was hoping to have finished it but best laid plans and all that.  This morning I went to see an exhibition at the local college which my friend had photography work in.  They also had some dressmaking bits including a really pretty 1950's poodle skirt.  It was interesting to see what people had made from this course as I decided against it last year as it was one evening a week and by the end of the year you had only made one outfit.  I know I can make a dress in a few days so I wasn't that impressed though I did think maybe it would be a really good quality outfit and maybe there would be things I could pick up that I wouldn't  have learnt through teaching myself.  Then I looked at the inside seams of the garments.  Completely unfinished and left raw and the hem was all done on machine.  Hmm.  Glad I didn't take it now as I am not sure I would have learnt anything new.

Anyways, on to the current project, my 1975 flowery dress.  I decided to make the dress with the neck facing from the instructions as the original suggested rather then lining it as the fabric is not see-through and I don't want it to be a bulky summer dress.

Inside neck facing before pressing

I also finish all my seams with my overlocker.  It's quick and easy and I am not really that worried about retaining the vintage feel by using French seams as I use vintage patterns because I like the designs not because I want to be historically accurate. 

Pressed facing from inside dress

The pattern suggested stitching along the top of the facing but I thought top stitching might keep if folded down better so I top stitched around the neckline through the facing.

Inside of sleeves

Next I sewed up the little puff sleeves, these were quite straight forward as they were the same method as a Burda shirt I made a few years ago.  It leaves the cuffs looking all neat and pretty inside.  I had to reduce the seam allowance by half a cm on each underarm seam as they were feeling a little tight on my arms when I tried them on.  (I hope other people do this, walk around with disembodied sleeves on their arms!)  I top stitched the cuffs to match the neckline too. 

Puffy sleeves!

The pattern calls for the zip to be put in before the facing and sleeves but as I plan on adding some trim (which you can see around Ann's neck) and thought it would look better if I can hide the raw edges when putting the zip in rather than have them showing.  I don't really see why you have to put the zip in first.