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| Tiramisu dress, with pockets! |
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| Tiramisu dress, flattering midriff |
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| Belted Tira - I swear my lips are not neon! |
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| Belted Tira - real color is deeper... |
The Facts
Pattern: SewingCake 0144 - Tiramisu Knit Dress
Year: c. 2012
Fabric: Used 1.6 yards (size 35D) of Raspberry Ponte di Roma, 60% Poly, 34% Rayon and lycra, medium weight. I machine wash and dry it, can see a little piling but it didn't change the fit.
Notions:
- Ball point needle #70/09,
- Stay tape for shoulders seams,
- Fusible webbing for hemming.
Stitches:
- Basting : #1 Strait stich with length 5.0, Satin foot B
- Construction : #7 Stem stitch, Satin foot B
- Top-sticthing : #6 Strait Stretch stich, Blind Hem foot D at 1/8 in.
- Finishing : #16 Overcast Stretch, Overcasting foot C, cut SA at 1/4 in.
- Hemming : #7 Stem stitch, Blind Hem foot D
Time to complete: maybe 9-10 hours (with tracing, cutting, sewing, learning curve of a new sewing machine and lots of sewing knits 101) Maybe 5h for the next one?
First worn: March 2013.
Wear again? YES! I already did!
Total Cost: about 25$ for 1.6m of fabric, stay tape, webbing and thread.
The Sewalong Review
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| Look ma, no gap! (before hemming) |
My first sewalong : I loved it! It was from January 8 to 18th 2013. I did not finish in time due to a broken sewing machine foot and some procrastination during the hemming stage...
The
format (30 min a day) was perfect for my busy mommy lifestyle of night
sewing bursts! Of course, it never took me only 30 min per day ; I'm a
perfectionist over planner! But I learned a lot in the process ; it was
my first time sewing knits. I am hooked now!
Steph C was very generous of her time and comments. She is good to help, guide beginner sewers and is funny too! The flicker group was awesome ; so much inspiration, help, kind comments! It was like having girlfriends come over everyday to chat and sew the same project! My first sewalong, but definitely not my last! :D
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| Link to Etsy shop |
The Pattern Review
Pattern Description: Tiramisu: a knit dress with a surplice front, underbust gathers and cut-on sleeves, midriff section and half-circle skirt with in-seam pockets. The pattern includes optional stripes placement guide, cup sizing A-D and bust alteration line.
Pattern Sizing: Ingenious way to choose you size ; by measurements (no arbitrary numbers here!), cup size and joining the dots for the midriff. I used :
- Bodice=35D.
- Midriff=35 at top to 32.5 at waist.
- Skirt=32.5 with 25 hem.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes!
Were the instructions easy to follow? The instruction were easy but I loved having the sewalong group for reassurance and variation of techniques by StephC...
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love the visual of the pattern
instructions ; so clear and simple. I still wish pattern instructions in
general would come on Letter sized paper (I have a small desk to sew!),
but those were the best I used so far (I had done only patterns from the
big 4 before...)
Fabric Used: 1.6 yards of Solid, Raspberry Ponte di Roma, 60% Poly, 34% Rayon and lycra, medium weight.
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| twirling factor (before hemming) |
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
- I am 5'2" and 40-33-40.
- I cut the Bodice size 35D, but cut the Front underbust line at size 35A.
- Midriff : I cut the size 35 at top to 32.5 at waist.
- Midriff : I also lengthen by 3/4 inch : but will not do it next time.
- Skirt : I cut the size 32.5 with the size 25 hem. I still removed about 3 inch when hemming.
- I remove 3/4 inch on the mid riff back (piece #2) at the under bust tapered to nothing at the waist. (mismatched pattern pieces, has been resolved in the second release of the pattern.)
Would you sew it again? YES!! I will do a top with the remnant of fabric (bought 3m to be able to recut pieces if fitting dictates to!) And I would love a 3/4 sleeve version and some for the summer too! I'm super proud of my craftsmanship on this project ; my best to date! I love the numerous quality stitch of my machine...
Related :
I was lazy when I modified the pattern, not translating any difference from the original pattern for the Front and Back. I base it all on the back piece because I wanted the neck to be high, so not to interfere with the yoke... Hence, I used only 2 pattern pieces : one for the yoke and one for the body. It worked out OK I think, a little snugger, but it might just be my fabric too? 
