All I Need is a Hat

The 1930’s dress is done.  YAY!! For a relatively painless make.  That hand basting saved a lot of trouble.  Though I do think the collar area might be reworked; I am not happy with how it lays.  I can say I am pleased with how it turned out!  It is exactly what I envisioned.

It looks ok on the dress form but it really looks better on.  I thought the skirt would not be nearly as full as it turned out to be because the skirt is quite full.

Some details.  The hem is hand rolled as are the sleeves.  The v neck collar thing was hard to put on.  It took me longer to get that thing (not sure what to call it) on the dress than it took to make up the dress.  I do like the button accents on the pintucks and the sleeves…ah the sleeves are perfect and much better than the cape sleeves. 

Check out the buttons!!
Love that detail

Back view

What would I do differently?  The v neck thing I think needs be sewn starting at the v each direction.  I may try that because the left side is rippling.  Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is making the FBA just a tad bigger.  The bodice fits but I like a little looser more modern fit.  Amazingly, that is it!

Side

Now, I need to get some pictures of me in the dress.

The Narrow Hem

How do you make a narrow hem?

When needing a narrow hem in the past, I would merely pull out my rolled hem foot and use that to make a narrow hem. (This is not a rolled hem using a serger but what my sewing machine company calls a rolled hem foot.)  The rolled hem foot worked; however, my results varied…sometimes it would turn out quite nice and other times, it turned out quite wonky.   So, why not try something different?

Back

Front

I have read about a different technique and when my facing called for a narrow hem, I thought why not.  

I straight stitched quite close to the edge of the fabric.  Then, the fabric was turned twice and stitched again. 

I am quite happy with the results and may need to retire my rolled hem foot.  I cannot say that this technique is faster.  Quite the contrary, it really is slower.  What it is, is more precise resulting in a finish that does not have problems.  

First Sundress of the Season

 I managed to finish up Simplicity 1620.  Boy do I like wearing full gathered skirts.  I do not, however, like attaching them to a bodice or hemming them!  What is worse is when your camera disappears for days so you cannot document the finished product.  Found the camera and here I am.

Love the piping.

Without petticoat

Attaching the skirt was problematic magnified by my lovely piping.  Getting the skirt to lay nicely after being sewn required a couple of tries.  I did not use a waist stay because the selvedges are at the waist.  There should be no stretching of the waist.

I used an invisible zipper because that is what I had on hand.  Went in easily, by hand.

Hemming the skirt was another matter entirely.  I expect putting in the zipper to be a slow process because I need to make sure everything turns out lined up.  However, hemming should be quick and easy.  What with measuring, pinning, ironing and actually sewing, I must have spent no less than 3 hours on the skirt hem.  Probably more.  Just the sewing of the hem took over an hour and a half.  Yuppers, I timed myself and I felt as if I was sewing rather fast.

Self timer catches me in action.
Here you can see there is quite a bit
of ease through the lower part of the
bodice even without the FBA.

Once I found the camera, I tried the self timer function to get pictures of the dress being worn.  Wow was that something.  It turned out better than I thought….though the first couple of tries did not include full bodies.  I found a place in my front yard where I could achieve that.

Yes, there is a street light in my front yard.
It was put there by a previous owner
and it is kinda goofy and kinda cool.

I am wearing the dress with a petticoat but not a very full petticoat.  It should look better with the fuller petticoat.  Note to self: make bigger petticoat.  Oh, yeah, I have one half finished.  Better get on that!

My thoughts on this Simplicity pattern - nice and easy.  I had read some horror stories about vintage Simplicity patterns and I did not have a problem with the pattern or fitting.