June 1949 - Butterick's Recommendations

Whew, following a to do list is really unexciting.  Trust me.  So I am not going to provide daily updates because it would put everyone who reads it to sleep...including me.  However, I think that black and white swirly dress has bad karma or maybe it's cursed!  Seriously, it took me hours upon hours to get that zipper in.  First I baste it in backwards one direction, then the next.  Then I get the right side but forgot to cut the extra bit at the top...and on and on and on.  No wonde this became an unfinished object, I almost tossed it aside for the second time!!!

But...take a look at these:

 

Every month Butterick, and I am assuming other pattern companies, would publish advertizing pamplets with what is "in."

A Perpetual Meh

It is not done, but here it is in it's present state.  Does the fabric give you a headache or just annoy you?  I cant decide.  I will shoot an upclose picture of the fabric, it is very busy.

It needs a zipper and a hem.  I wonder where I put that zipper I bought for this dress?  This is what happens when you buy notions  a year and a half before you need them - you end up buying them again.

No Zipper, no finish

Interestingly, this pattern seems to be ever so popular and I like some of the dresses made up with the pattern.  I think the fabric is just not drapey enough for the pattern.  It is also a pain to press.

Black and White Swirls or UFO #1

UFO #1

The first item coming off of my December list is this UFO.  It has been sitting on my sewing table for about a year and a half.  It will be off of the table by the end of 2010.

A year and a half on from the point of just giving up because the bodice was inches bigger than the skirt which made putting them together seem impossible, I have learned many skills which would have prevented this from occurring.

In fact, many problems I encountered with this pattern I would not now encounter.

There are a number of reasons this dress became an UFO;

1. I didn’t like the fabric.  This is now a no-no for me.  If I don’t like the fabric, no matter what, I do not buy the fabric.  The irony is not just that I don’t like the fabric but I spent more money for it than I normally did.  Also, it is a cotton stretch….ugh. 
2. I did not know about FBAs at this time so I cut the bodice to fit what I thought was the correct bust size.  Wrong!  I had so many fitting issues because the bodice gaped at the arms.  Much fiddling occurred to try and fix that.  A simple FBA would have resolved that issue!
3. I had never eased in anything.  You will note there are no sleeves in this dress because at this point in time sleeves scared me.  It wasn’t until I picked this back up today when the lightbulb went off and I figured I could just ease the bodice into the skirt.  Duh….how simple.  Never occurred to me when I was first making the dress.
4. I didn’t know about different types of interfacing and the one I have is too heavy/thick.  This problem still exists but I if I made this up now, it wouldn’t.
5. The ribbons on the pleats just would not press correctly.  I now know what to do to fix this and may work on this before I go to sleep tonight.
6. Zippers scared me.  Not any more.
7. I was making this to go to a party.  What was I thinking???   I didn’t love this outfit so why would I hurry to complete it to wear to a party?  Once the party got close and I had issues, this was tossed aside with pleasure.
8. Hubris: I seriously thought I would be able to whip this together in a few days….right!  Now that would be a possibility but then….no way.

Current Status:  Bodice and skirt have been sewn together!  It did take a while to ease the bodice into the skirt but it was doable.