A Little Break from Dresses

My father and stepmother are coming to visit for 2 weeks and while I am looking forward to their visit the downside is that I lose my sewing room for that whole time. So I didn't want to start a new dress pattern only to have to abandon it for 2 weeks, but I did want to sew something. A knit top seemed like the perfect thing so I pulled out a recently purchased Simplicity Project Runway pattern, 2733 and some bright blue rayon jersey and got to work.

I would probably buy more Simplicity patterns in this range if I could see what the heck was going on, you have to open up the patterns to get all the line drawings. I confess I really only bought this one for the gathered sleeve. [Oh, I take it all back, the Simplicity website has undergone a major revamp, you can see the line drawings and zoom in on the pattern envelopes. Good for Simplicity (bad for my bank balance and pattern stash!).]

I made a couple of changes to this version, leaving off the pockets and changing the gathered front to a flat front. I think the top as photographed on the pattern is very cute but I fear on me I would look very pregnant and I wasn't in the mood for experimenting!

Dress 3 of 7 - Vogue 1117 Michael Kors

This is the Michael Kors pattern everyone got excited about when it was released, followed by disappointment that the pattern photo just didn't look as good as the runway shots of this $2000 dress. I've ploughed ahead anyway, someone do tell me (gently) if I look a frump in it!

As I mentioned in my last post, although this pattern is rated average it is a bit fiddly and time consuming. However it is drafted really well and the instructions do give you a nice finish. When I cut the lining I really could not see how it was all going to fit together properly, but almost miraculously it just did!

The bodice fit is not as perfect as I would like - it sits off my shoulders a little bit and I had to wrap it a little tighter to eliminate any gaping at the front. The fabric is a grey lightweight wool, with silk satin lining - it feels really luxurious on, maybe not worth $2000 but not bad!

Finished dress with as yet unpressed hem, as Barney the cat is trying to remind me.

Close up of bodice - to get the top to fit me without gaping I needed to pull it in tighter so the pleats in the front bodice have almost disappeared into the side front seam.

I added a faced hem because I wanted a bit of extra length to wear this with boots in the fall, but still wanted a hem finish with a bit of weight to it. I understitched it and then hand sewed it invisibly to the dress.

Vogue 1117 by Michael Kors - part 1

Thank you all for the comments on the green Cynthia Rowley dress, I wasn't sure about the style for me before I made it so I definitely recommend giving it a try.

Next up for me is the Michael Kors dress 1117, this is a very early progress report so not the most interesting post I'm afraid.

The pattern is rated "average" which I think is a bit optimistic. It has an interesting cut with side front and back inserts which are not easy to sew. With the caveat that I am not much of a teacher or photographer and there may be better ways of doing these steps ( I'm certain it wasn't done this way in factory production! ), here is how I inserted the side fronts and backs - steps 7, 13, 20. For sure the pattern instructions are somewhat lacking, but the illustration does show you what you are trying to end up with.

The photos below illustrate step 13 - the left front bodice, but the basic technique is the same for all - essentially don't try and stitch to the side and underarm in one pass, instead stitch them separately stopping at the pivot point.

Here I have stitched just the side seam, stopping at the pivot point. (the line of stitching nearest the cut edge is the staystitching from the previous step). It's easiest to see where to stop if the bodice front is on top. Pin first and check from the right side just to make sure that the square piece of fabric required for reinforcement hasn't got caught in the seam. Edited to add; Told you I was hopeless at tutorials, I was so carried away with taking photos I didn't read the instructions! This left bodice seam should be left open below the dart.

Next pin the curved seam that follows the underarm, again with the bodice front on top - you can just see the pivot point from the previous line of stitching.

Flip it over to check before sewing the seam.

Stitch in place (you can see I used two rows of stitching to get it right (I finished too short of the pivot point the first time), so you might want to baste in place first!). Press and trim the seam allowances, grading them to minimise showthrough on the right side.

The finished upper front piece (oops just realised this final photo is actually the right front!).

Step 13, the bodice back, is a little trickier in that you have 3 sides to stitch - I did it in the same way - first the side seam, then the underarm seam and lastly the seam joining to the lower dress. Looking ahead in the instructions I see that the lining is constructed similarly so there is plenty of opportunity for practice!

I hope these photos help pad out the instructions a bit. Ok, back to work on the dress.....

Dress 2 of 7 - Simplicity 2497

A reminder of the pattern, a Cynthia Rowley design;

I made View C, the version made up on the envelope, except I left off the pockets as I can't quite get my head around pockets in cocktail / evening dresses.

Learning my lesson from last time I did make a quick muslin, more to check the style on me than anything and liked it enough to go ahead and cut my emerald silk dupioni. I wish I had checked the fabric more closely before cutting as there is a very prominent stripe on both the bodice and the skirt, but I can live with it. I had washed this fabric once in the machine to soften it a bit, and I also added a lining to the skirt section. It is an easy pattern to make and goes together quickly.

This is a fun little dress and I will definitely be making the scoop neck version in a more casual fabric

Some more detailed photos;

Dress 1 of 7 - Vogue 8594

Well as you can probably tell by the big gap between my posts this was not as quick a project as I had hoped, despite Vogue's "easy" rating. Technically the sewing is easy, but what is not obvious from the line drawings is that the diagonal seam on the skirt front needs to meet up with the side back seam. This means there is no room for any fitting adjustments on the side seams - if you make this dress a muslin is absolutely essential. When seams meet in a chevron you can get away with fine tuning the fit as you go, but when they are diagonal it's impossible.

Of course I did not do a muslin and discovered too late that the dress was too big on the hips (surely a first!?). I didn't have enough fabric to recut the skirt pieces so I ended up redrafting new front triangle pieces so that the seamlines would meet where I needed them to. Very fiddly and very boring, - I was glad to get this one finished I can tell you. That said I am really happy with the finished dress and it gives me a good excuse to wear these purple shoes - a bit matchy-matchy, but I don't care!

Click to enlarge (or maybe not, please don't look too closely at the seam matching!)

Next I am making Simplicity 2497, the Cynthia Rowley dress. I'm working on view C, in an emerald green silk dupioni which I washed to soften it up a bit. This pattern really is easy (so far...).

I also really want to thank the ever stylish Cennetta over at The Mahogany Stylist for giving me a Kreative Blogger award. I truly appreciate the time and effort that goes into all the sewing blogs I read - thank you for the inspiration and motivation.

The Mad Dress Project - Seven dresses, one lunatic

Here are the 7 dress patterns that I am planning to sew after my recent pattern buying splurge. It's clear to see that some of them have similar details and I probably should not have bought them all, but it will be interesting to compare the finished garments.

Vogue 1108 Bellville Sassoon
Vogue 1117 Michael Kors
Vogue 1118 Tracy Reese
Vogue 1123 Anne Klein
Simplicity 2497 Cynthia Rowley
Butterick 6582 Retro 60's


I think I'm going to start with the dress with the easiest rating, Vogue 8594. I'm planning on making the scoop neck version in an aubergine cotton and will probably leave it unlined so it will be more casual and a good transitional dress just in case summer really never ends here.

Last of the summer sewing

Thank you for the encouraging comments on the loud dress, I've worn it a couple of times and people haven't run away screaming so I feel braver about it now. The photos are taken on my roof - my vertical yard if you like, it's scorching hot at the moment so I dash up there and take the photos as quick as I can, I'm sure my neighbours think I am crazy.

So I am back from a great trip to California and somewhat embarrassed to report here that I did not even step into a fabric store! But I did get 6 rolls of tracing paper so that should keep me going for a bit.

I did manage to knock out a couple of quick items before I went on holiday - both are duplicates of items I have made recently so were fast and easy.

Patrones Shirt Issue 269 #1 from a taupe/cream embroidered voile (click to enlarge)

BWOF Skirt 09/08-120 from a black cotton with an embroidered border (no hemming required!).

I thought HK would have cooled down a bit by the time I returned but it's still really hot and I am ready to move on from summer clothes onto a new project that I can really get my teeth into. I thought about the PR wardrobe contest, but having bought lots of dress patterns recently I have decided to attempt to use every single one of them (6 in total). More on the Mad Dress Project in the next post.

Finally a huge thank you to Trudy for giving me a Kreative Blogger award. If you haven't already, check out her blog and see if any of the other award winners are new blogs to you as I discovered a couple of new ones there.

Oh dear, the postman just came...make that 7 dresses in the Mad Dress Project!

McCall's 5752 Knit Dress - The Sequel

Thank you all for the tips and good wishes for my vacation. I had totally forgotten that there was a PR weekend to LA so lots of good info on there. Does anyone else like to make new things to take on holiday? I have been trying to knock out a couple of simple things and to make things easy on myself I have remade a couple of patterns, starting with this McCall's that I only posted about last time.

Dim your monitors and grab your sunglasses folks, this is a loud dress!

This is one of the fabrics I bought when I went fabric shopping with Trena when she visited Hong Kong. It's a very large print and at the time we thought it would be perfect for a maxi dress, but the reality is I will not have many occasions to wear one so instead it became a shorter knit dress.

Since some of you are thinking of making this pattern here is a little more information before I get around to doing a full review on PR (I am way behind!);

- Take note of the seam allowances, they are 2.5cm on the side seams, this is to allow you to fit as you go.

- I changed the order of construction so I sewed the side seams last. The instructions have you make the bodice and skirt and attach at the lower bodice seam. Either way works, I just prefer to fit my side seams in one go.

- I eliminated the midriff lining. The pattern for the midriff has the ruched outer part, a stay and a self lining piece (cut from the stay). I decided this was more layers than I needed so my stay also functions as lining.

- I fiddled about with the crossover and gathering on the front bodice to make sure there was no gaping, this is easy to do, just baste them to the front midriff section until you are happy with the positioning. Otherwise this was a straight size 12 from the envelope.

OK got your sunnies? Here goes....

McCall's 5752 Knit Dress

Here is my finished version of the so called "perfect knit dress". I made view B, the short sleeve version without a tie belt. While it's probably not absolutely perfect, I am pretty happy with it and in fact have another one in progress. This is a Palmer/Pletsch pattern and the instructions are more like a sewing lesson than the usual ones with a whole section on fitting and tips scattered throughout. The pattern pieces also come with adjustment lines printed on them for common fitting adjustments. Not that I really used the instructions, this is a very simple dress to sew.  

In other news my husband has a business trip to LA so we are making a trip out of it and will spend a few days in LA, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs, we leave on Friday and I'm really looking forward to it. If anyone has any must do travel tips please share! Also I know it sounds insane but does anyone know where I might be able to buy a roll of tracing paper while I am there? I can only get it in sheets here and it's sometimes more expensive than my fabric!

Anyone for camping?

Yes my friends I have made a tent!

A Burda 07/09 - 108 tent to be precise.  I know this is a pretty wacky pattern, but I had envisaged a nice tunic with floaty see through sleeves.  I don't know how this ended up so big everywhere, I am swimming in it and I wonder if I managed to cut the wrong size.

Is this what I planned?  No.

Did I have to spend ages working on it to get it to a trying-on state? Yes

Am I happy?  No.

Is it salvageable?  I doubt it.

Here is the sorry mess, I can't face taking a photo of me in it, you wouldn't see much of me under there anyway!

Oh well, moving right along I am now working on McCall's 5752, the Palmer/Pletsch perfect knit dress.  A bold claim if ever there was one but I am pleased to say it is looking pretty good so far and should be finished soon so fingers crossed for a happier post next time!