I’m a lot happier with this dress than the last one.
The lines on the bodice are much better because it’s lined rather than having facings. I managed to use left over fabric from the dress for the lining and saved myself the expense of buying extra material.
I also preferred doing the pleats instead of gathering. It took longer to get it precise, and I still think I didn’t make them straight enough. The skirt kinda billows and I’m afraid that people might think it’s a maternity dress if I wear it. You know, women of a certain age wearing an empire waist is always a recipe for embarrassment.
Here is the finished product on “mini-me”. It’s tighter on the mini-me than on me so I need to rename the dress form to something more appropriate. All suggestions are welcome!
Posted on May 18th, 2009 by Pamela in Music, sewing
I know you all have been waiting with baited breath to see what I was able to pull off on a long weekend.
I’m actually very pleased with how this turned out. It’s not perfect of course, how could it be? I haven’t sewn a dress since 1989. It was really easy to get the fitting of the dress perfect, having the dress form that I made with mom last weekend. There was one small hitch; I had to add darts in the back after I had put on the neck facings, but since it was my first go that was nothing, and with the material being really cheap and the style cute, it’s still not going to be my favourite dress ever.
Because everything went really well and only took me a day and a bit to finish, I’m going to go for a vintage pattern for my next project. something with a fitted skirt and bodice. Very Jackie O. You will have to stay tuned.
Thanks to Lauren for lending me her sewing machine until I get my own.
Now all we need is a Fabricland in town. There are too many fabric stores in this area dedicated solely to quilting. Maybe I haven’t had a good enough look around yet, if you know of any good places to get fabrics for garments, let me know.
And in keeping with my type, I’ve been exploring other avenues for my creative outlet other than cooking…
Of late, I’ve been really interested in trying my hand at sewing. Obsessing over the idea really. I even went as far as ordering vintage dress patterns online (fortunately they are pretty cheap), and just this weekend got my mom to help me make this:
Ya, now you want a custom dress form too, I can tell (they are sooo flattering), but making one of these is not for the faint of heart, I started getting light headed as mom started wrapping me in the 2nd out of 3 layers of Duct Tape.
Here’s my first kick at the can:
I’m doing the one on the bottom right. Although the one in the middle looks super cute too so if all goes well I may add the sleeves and the do-dad on the front.
In all, I’m sure everything will turn out perfectly and I will be starting my new fabulous career as a vintage dress maker by the end of the summer. How do I know this? Because I took it as a sign when my hair stylist offered to give me his brand new sewing machine. Plus my personality type didn’t indicate a tendency to exaggerate or get way ahead of myself.
I also preferred doing the pleats instead of gathering. It took longer to get it precise, and I still think I didn’t make them straight enough. The skirt kinda billows and I’m afraid that people might think it’s a maternity dress if I wear it. You know, women of a certain age wearing an empire waist is always a recipe for embarrassment.
