Fiddly Bits

This evening gown not only has the challenge of being made in the evil and slippery silk charmeuse but it also has a lot of fiddly bits. 

Like the sleeves.  It took me hours when muslining this bodice it took me hours upon hours to figure out how to sew the sleeves.  They are cut into the back bodice piece and hellishly artfully wrapped around to the front bodice to create the sleeve.  Sounds easy.  It isn’t.  The cut on piece is oddly shaped and I just could not wrap my head around it.  Of course, the instructions made the process as clear as mud!

Due to the lapse in time between msulining the bodice and working on the real deal, I had completely forgotten how the sleeve from hell was constructed.   A few hours later, the light bulb went off and I came up with this:

Isn’t the sleeve rather sweet?  Hats off to the designer who thought it up

Other fiddly bits include the shirring mentioned yesterday and interesting “facings.”  The  facing only covers the shirring and you have to cut into the fabric to fold it down.  If you don’t cut far enough it does not work; if you cut too far you have a hole.  Ask me how I know!  Luckily the collar covers my patch.  Oh yeah, attaching the collar, another piece of fiddly hand sewing.

Execution of the Plan

I am happy with the dress however it really veered off the plan.

Recall…this is the pattern.

My previous dress made with this pattern.

You just look at this dress
and it wrinkles

I started off thinking this was just going to be as the pattern intended but after cutting out the pattern pieces I decided I wanted a tie for the back.  I knew I was going to back off the piping for this dress and that stayed true to plan.  I also knew that from my prior make, I thought the sleeves were a tad long…just long enough to annoy the crap out of me so those were shortened.  I also wanted to lower the neckline.  Hello cocktail dress…. needs a low neckline.

I constructed the dress with French seams.  I love French seams in theory but they annoy me in execution because it really does mean sewing the dress twice.  I also hand basted the seams first before taking it to the machine so I could stop the slippery charmeuse from slipping and sliding all over the place.  Due to the time crunch I have to admit the basting was NOT pretty but it did its job.

Just the 2 rows of topstitching
and lower on the neck

First bee in the bonnet: I decided I should top stitch with silver metallic thread.  I had some wild idea this would look really cool.  Well, the first row of topstitching along the shoulder seams looked okay.  Sooooo I decided a second row would look better.  It was okay so why not add a third row??  So that’s what I did.  But when I stepped back and looked at the third row, I ….well I have to say I hated it!!  Really hated it and started re-thinking silver topstitching all together.  Out came the third row of topstitching but I just decided to leave the 2 rows remaining and revisit it later.

Notice how high the neck
is in the back.  Also you can kinda
see that there would have been a lot
more topstitching

When trying on the bodice with the lower neckline, I started making changes to the neckline in general.  I thought there was too much fabric in the back of the neck in that it was creeping up my neck.  But time was of the essence so no muslining changes.  When I bound the neckline with bias binding, I made further changes to the shape of the neckline which means that all the silly topstitching has all but disappeared.

Second bee in the bonnet: After piping along the waistline, I decided I needed to bring the silver metallic topstitching down to the waist.  I topstitched above the piping. …and it looked weird so I removed it.  I topstitched under the piping…better but the fabric was sliding and the topstitching was…well…very wavy.  So out it came.

This silly topstitching is eating up the time!!  I had to stop and just finish the puppy so I didn’t go to the party naked!

Evil Ease

The Water Circles dress is almost complete.   There is one major hold up….inserting the sleeves.  I just can not ease them in without lots of gathers showing.  Now, I don’t think these sleeves  are supposed to be gathered on the sleeve cap…I certainly would prefer that they were not.  However, after a couple of tries using different methods, I am about to give up. 

The irony is that I did take out some of the ease from the sleeve caps but obviously not nearly enough.  I cannot imagine what these ease monsters would have been like if I had left those extra 2 inches in.

Sleeve pinned in

From the back, a sleeve pinned in

Fluttering By

First take a look at the teeny tiny vintage buttons that I am going to use.  

Pretty and vintatge

I bought these years ago but had no idea they would be so very small.

Blurry but check out the button next
to a dime.  See ....super small!!!

 Because I am not doing the cape, the pintucks will be on display.  I am going to punctuate the pintucks by using these buttons.

Also because I am not using the cape sleeves, I need to draft new sleeves.  I want flutter sleeves which are still correct for this era.  How to draft the sleeve?  First, I grabbed a dress I own with those types of sleeves and traced it off.  It looked odd.  Next, I started going through the pattern collection looking for a pattern with that type of sleeve.  Luckily I was able to find one.  Traced it off and what do you know it looked odd.   

Weird sleeve pattern

But it also matched what I traced off my dress so I took a deep breath and went for it!!

Really Big Sleeves

Lined sleeves with some ribbon
just pinned on.

Working away on the fantasy outfit and moving at a snail’s pace.  The ginormous sleeves are sewn and lined.  The trim is still not completely put on.  In fact, not all of it has even been purchased!

 

I love the sleeves.  They are so big they seem decadent.  The sleeves are longer than the skirt!!

Who Doesn't Enjoy Quick Sewing?

Another 1940's dress that is coming together quickly......such a pleasure.

Construction notes:

• Did not do an FBA since it is a 34 inch bust.
• There are pleats in the bodice and darts in the shoulder.
• I did not like the pleats in the bodice and turned them into darts.
• I made a huge cutting error on the skirt.  One piece is not wide enough through the hips.  It is my fault; I did not make sure the fabric was even before I started cutting.
• I cut the sleeves on the bias.  Not sure why; the pattern is too subtle to really show up with a bias cut.
• I love love love the pleats on the sleeves. So simple but pretty.
• I had to stare at the instructions for a long time to figure out how the pleats in the front bodice worked and then after figuring them out I turned them into darts.  Blech.

Where I am:

Not sure I like those lapels

Pieces are sewn together…..kinda…

Bias cut sleeve with pretty pleats!

Yup, there is the back.

Rolling Along

Gah, my battery is not working so pictures took longer to take than finishing up binding the sleeves. 

There is a lot of bias binding on this dress which for me means a lot of hand sewing.  Finally, the end is in sight for this dress.  Tomorrow the band across the chest goes in and the buttons.  Depending on how long that takes, hemming will need to begin.  However, the hard stuff is now done!

I like how this looks.  The binding does rather disappear into the dress.

Here is an up close view of the bias binding on a sleeve

Too HOT

The past few days it has been just too hot to do anything.  When I get home from work, it is still in the high 90s which means it is over 100 in my little house.  YIKES!

I tried to sew on Monday, and the sweat was pouring off of me at the machine.  Not a good sewing experience.  So all I have done is take the ruffles off the sleeves of the 1870 dress and the pink removed.  One yellow ruffle has been re-gathered. 

That's all I could manage.  I did not want to sweat all over my fabric.  There is another 1870 event this weekend and I would like to convert the Rainbow Sherbet dress into a Lemon-Lime Sherbet dress.  Will it be possible in this heat? 

Rainbow Sherbet

It’s the colors.  Even though not correct, this outfit is reminding me of Rainbow Sherbet.  The colors, except for that raspberry color, are not accurate and nevertheless, I think of Rainbow Sherbet.

The ruffles on the sleeve turned out exactly as I envisioned them.  Yet, I do not love the way the ruffles turned out.  Something seems off.  It is too heavy.  Maybe it is because the yellow is muted by the pinks beneath it.  I can’t put my finger on what is bothering.

The ruffles are also now on the skirt.  Whew….that sucked.  I do recommend the string method of gathering.  For me it is the quickest.  With a cording foot you zip along.  Also, the actual gathering is much quicker as well.  I think I may need to spread out the ruffles a little more.  Still, I am not loving this.

I picked up 2 greens and 2 pinks to coordinate with the stripes.  The stripes are 2 shades of green, the 2 shades of pink you see on the ruffles, the yellow and a neutral beige.  When I looked at the striped fabric, the raspberry pink always stood out the most and the olive green.  I decided not to use the olive green because the fabric, while an exact match, is thicker…less gauze like, than the other fabrics.  The same with the lighter green.  The pinks and the yellow are the same weight fabrics so I thought they would look better.

Now, I don’t like it.  The pinks receded and the greens are standing out.  I think that may be because the ruffle around the neck has none of the pinks in it….so the bodice becomes predominately yellow, green and the beige.

What to do?  I think I may have to change this up after I wear it.  Have to wear it to the event first, there is no time to change it now! 

Frilly Girly Ruffles

So…what to do with the neckline?  This is 1870’s so it needs some trim. 

My first thought is the ribbon work that has consumed some of my free time.  I was able to make continuous yards of this ribbon design by buying an entire spool of green grosgrain ribbon.  Much more economical than the small spools one gets at JoAnne’s.  My plan is to add this ribbon to the skirt to tie the green in the bodice to the yellow skirt.

But I wasn’t thrilled.  So I started playing around with a ruffle around the neck.  I had seen this technique done on other dresses from this period and eventually decided to go this way.

One of the reasons for going this route is that I know I want ruffles on the sleeves; so this should tie in with those ruffles to make it more homogenous.  I can place the ribbon on the sleeve where the ruffle meets the end of the sleeve.  I am thinking about Dark pink, khaki and yellow ruffles on the sleeves again to tie in the colors in the stripes on the bodice.

The only problem, while I consider myself a girly girl, I have always stayed away from ruffles!

Dress of Doom

Seriously, that is what it has become.  Everything and I mean EVERYTHING has gone wrong.  All of those hours spent measuring and measuring for naught.  The skirt pieces are of varying lengths.  It is not long enough for the tucks I wanted.  I am going to have to do a faced hem to make this work.  I do not have time to take out the top tuck so that the skirt is longer, which I may do sometime in the future. 

The only thing that was easy was putting in the sleeves.  Again, seriously!  If sleeves are the EASY part, that gives you an inkling of what a bother this entire dress has been.

Oh yes, the dress looks fine in the pictures; you cannot see the mistakes or the misery it imposed on me.  But trust me, this is merely terrorist propaganda by the Dress of Doom to make people think I am exaggerating this situation beyond all proportions.  I am not.  Do not believe the propaganda!

I have been soooooo close to chucking the whole thing but part of me will not let me do it.  I will wrangle this beast into submission and into something I can wear if it kills me.  One of us is going down! And it better be the Dress of Doom

Want to bet I decide not to wear it cause it is too matchy with the hat since I have no time now to make additions…….hahahahaha.  But that would mean the terrorists won.

The 20’s

How about some eyecandy because I am tired of the refrain about homework taking up my sewing time.   So after a “discussion” with Lisa, ( who has an awesome blog for you to check out),  about the 1 hour dress, I have been thinking about my foray into 20’s outfits.

I love the clothes from the 20’s but they do not love my hourglass figure.  I know that women in the 20’s had hourglass figures, but the styles make me look more than a tad dumpy.  Of course, that wont stop me from loving and wearing the styles.  In fact, I have a 20’s dress brewing in my imagination.

This 20’s dress, I adapted from a 1926 pattern, is one of the first dresses I ever completed.  Note, I said completed not started.  I finished it last August.

It is loosely based on a 1920’s pattern I own.  I changed up the sleeves, they were supposed to be cap sleeves but I like bell sleeves so there I go.  Also, there was no waist band, so added that in because I thought it worked with the stripes.  The front bodice of the pattern was a lapped front which I though would be lost with the stripes.  I am sure there were more changes I made but I am blanking right now. Oh yeah, how about matching the stripes up....sheesh.

Now, almost a year later, there is so much I would do differently.  The sleeves have pleats in them because I could not figure out how to set in a sleeve and get rid of the ease.  Also, I would finish the neckline differently. I would still use bias binding but have it hidden rather than as an element.  I think I will increase the darts.

This is a dress to slip over the head: no closures whatsoever (which may be why I did finish it).  It is sewn entirely with French seams as is the accompanying slip made of china silk.  However, I have no clue where that slip might be!

It is nice to know that I have advanced as a sewist.

Rethinking Sleeves

I gave putting in the sleeves before sewing up the sides a try.

For me, I continued with the pin basting with lots and lots and lots of pins to set in the sleeve.

Then came the sewing of I believe is the sleeve head.  Not sure of the technical term.  The sleeve set in without any fuss.  However, I do attribute the success in sewing in the sleeve to my method of pin basting.  I swear by that now.  While it was a little easier to sew, there really did not seem that much of a difference from sewing up the sleeve prior to setting it in.

Next, I finally got to sew up the sides of the bodices.  I sewed in the various directions from the bust point.  A little extra work but am unsure of the benefit.

Will I continue to sew in sleeves in this manner?  Maybe.  I will continue to give this a try for the next couple of times and then assess what will work best for me.  The first try at any new method is not sufficient to determine whether it is the best.  My instinct is to always go with tried and true methods.  So, I will need to continue to work on these techniques.

It is always good to have options and my sleeves look good!

Next Project

Being optimistic that the Mint Chip Dress will be finished today, I have selected my next project:  McCall's 5150 which is from 1959.  Need to switch it up a little from the 1930's for the moment and make something, hopefully, straight forward.  Yeah, like that ever happens.

I am planning to sew up the 3/4 sleeves since I work in an artic zone and here in the middle of summer am wearing long sleeves and 2, yes count them, 2 sweaters.  I do reserve the right to change the sleeve length depending on my mood which is very changeable when it comes to all things sewing.

I will make this up in a turquoise cotton sateen.  It is pretty but wrinkles sooooo darn easy. 

Ahhhh the excitement of a new project.

Class

I am taking my first ever sewing class and it starts tomorrow night!  I am more than a little nervous about this since I have not taken a class since I finished my post graduate degree a very long long time ago and vowed never to take any more classes again.  A vow I have maintained up till now.  So starting tomorrow and for 3 hours every session, I will be in a classroom setting.  Ugh.

Something I failed to notice when I signed up for the class is that a tailoring project would be assigned.  Hmmmm, I wonder if I can make it a vintage tailoring project?  Just a thought because I don’t think a modern pattern would hold my interest for very long!

Kelli:  Thanks, I will have to tell you I was shocked with the ease (no pun intended) the sleeves went in.  You will get there too! Because if I can, you can!! 

Brain:  You are so sweet…thanks as I hang my head in embarrassment and dig the toe of my shoe in the ground.

Because I didn’t get a chance to share pictures last night before sleep overtook me: let me present the sleeves on the dress:

Practice DOES Make Perfect

This is the adage that my grandmother used to always preach to me whenever I became frustrated with my inability to do something…anything. I have to say that I never thought I would be able to conquer setting in sleeves in one go. But you know what, with the Mint Chip Dress, it happened. I guess all of that practicing finally paid off…though I also have to give kudos to all those people out there who posted tutorials.

My technique is the pin method. I do not put gathering stitches in the sleeve cap. Instead I just pin the bejebbers out of it making sure that my pins are straight and there are no wrinkles on the underside. I then sew in the sleeve and leave the pins in while sewing. I know horrors….leaving in the pins but it is the only method that I have found to work for me. The key really is making sure the pins are straight and that there are no wrinkles and use as many pins as humanly possible!

Seriously it works but practice really is required. I hate to tell you that the first sleeves I tried to set in, I just gave up and put in some cute little pleats with the decision that this is the way it was meant to be. A year later, with much practice, I managed to set in the sleeves on the first go with no ripping out of seams! Yay me! And I rarely say that.

Sleeve Fail

I don’t mean setting in the sleeve.  What I am talking about is some decorative pleating on the sleeve.  A couple of hours in, basting, pulling out basting stitches and then re-basting, I knew that I was utterly and completely lost.  The instructions….no help.  I am looking at instruction numbers 29 and 30 with the accompanying picture.

Went back to the pattern to check if I missed some markings…nope, they are all there and accounted for.  Here is the pattern piece, note that it looks nothing like the instructions.  Hmmm….what am I missing?

 

Stare at the pattern some more.  Finally, give up for a little while.

Returned and tried folding everything differently.  Then the light bulb went off…well not exactly, I realized that there was just one combination that I had not tried and sure enough it seems to have worked.

 

That took much more effort than anticipated.  Setting in the sleeves will be simple in comparison.

Grinding Halt

Yup, that’s what happened with the Mint Chip Dress.  The next step was to place 1 inch wide ribbon belting around the waist.  Hmmm while not sure what ribbon belting is do, do you think petersham?  I have decided to use grosgrain ribbon.  Great, don’t have any grosgrain in a light color.

Ok, can work on the sleeves.  But no, there are no marks on the sleeves.  I used a pen to mark the sleeves, you know one of those pens where the marks go away with water.  Well, they have disappeared.  I just checked, yup water to remove ink; there is no mention about the marks just disappearing.  I made sure not to use the type of pen where the marks disappear just by air exposure.  I just don’t feel like re-marking the sleeves tonight.

All I accomplished was to remove the inset that was a little off and re-sew that back into place…..arghh.

Silk Chiffon is EVIL

I love silk chiffon.  I love the way it drapes.  It is perfect for this 1931 dress.  But seriously, it is evil.

My fabric spits out pins.  Tonight I was pinning away at the sleeve, I turn my head and half of the pins had magically come out of the fabric.  What is that about?  And let’s not talk about what happened when I happened to move.  Or how about sewing in the sleeve.  I would start to sew and then a symphony of pin drops could be heard on the hardwood floor.  The pins needed to escape the terribly evil fabric is all I can think.

I also have a love hate relationship with French seams.  I really love they way the look.  However, as much as I try I always mess them up.  It takes a lot of concentration on my part to get it right.  I have a hard time getting my head around which side to sew first.  Of course, it does not help that the fabric looks the same on either side.  There were many ‘duh’ moments tonight.

I did finish off the sleeves!  The French seams helped with the ease situation so no unsightly puckers.  It did take numerous tries to get those sleeves in but there they are.  Done.  Now, I think its time to make some bias binding and start in on the neckline.

Oh…yeah, my elbow feels better….maybe 

One Armed

As you can guess, it appears that my internet is working again.  Wonder if it will work on the weekend though?

I worked on the 1931 dress, though you really can’t tell it.  I set in one sleeve perfectly with a French seam and then realized I had done it backwards.  So rip rip rip, out came the seam and did it again.  Blech….it did not look that good.  Another try or 2 and we have one sleeve half way into the bodice.

At least my elbow doesn’t hurt.

Here is a picture of the skirt trim.  I need one more row of these trims, lower down on the skirt.