Unselfish Sewing : purse and dress

My daughter's dress / Robe pour ma fille

My daughter is only 6 years old, but she is very opinionated about what she wants to wear at my sister's wedding next September... At first she wanted a mermaid skirt, but I was afraid it wouldn't allow her the liberty of movement she will crave to play! We had some discussions, none of us really happy with the compromises... But then she saw a pin on my Pinterest board of a one shoulder sheath dress and asked me if I could sew that bodice but with a a high-low skirt like her favorite Barbie dress. Of course my love!

The bodice pattern is the Bridgette Dress from Violet Field Threads Etsy shop. I drafted the full circle skirt with box pleats in the back and pleats in the front, similar to the By Hand London Flora dress and a wink to the 9,500$ Mikado Silk Dior Dress (similar to Jennifer Lawrence) I tried once in NYC!

Here is the muslin in her favorite color awaiting hemming and a zipper. She was so thrilled she wants me to finish it for the last day of school next week! Sorry for the blurry pictures ; those were the best out of the gazillion of twirling-like-a-tornado-of-giggles pictures!

Muslin for my daughter's dress for the wedding

Clutch purse / Petit sac à main

As a gift for my mother in law, I chose a bag pattern that matched her coral & white dress pleated neckline, used remnant of my own bridesmaid dresses (a white poly satin) and fabric from her own mother's stash for the lining. I sewed it up and send it via priority mail to be on time for her retirement party! She was very happy and I liked it so much that I will sew 2 more for the bridesmaid at my sister's wedding! The pattern is the Wrislet Clutch Purse from Constructiv Patterns Etsy shop.

I love the final sewn clutch ; it is a great size for a night out and I love the recessed zipper as it look more professional! The PDF pattern was easy to assemble. I prefer pattern with more illustration than text, but it wasn't too difficult to put together. Next one I will do, I will make a removable strap instead, using a clip on the strap and D ring sewn in the side seam of the bag.

Gail's Retirement Purse

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.5 FINISHED!

My dress is finished!

It is not perfect, but I am thrilled with the result! The pattern review will come shortly... Thanks to all the help I got from my sewing friends on the Facebook Sewing Group!

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin Finished!

Back of S1882 - Muslin Finished!

I worked on this muslin part.5 from June 26 to July 20th 2013 :

• Fixing most of the fit issues by tapering up to 3/4 inch at the middle of the midriff piece on the side seams : DONE!
• Finish seams around zipper :  DONE!
• Resew the visible invisible zipper to hide it better (need to press it more, use regular zipper foot instead of cheap plastic one) :  DONE!
• Steps 27 to 30 - Collar : DONE!
• Steps 31 to 34 - Neck Facing : DONE!
• Steps 41 to 44 - Sleeves B : DONE!
• Steps 48 - Hem : DONE!

Time for part.5 : more than 6 hours...

Next to do :

• Write Simplicity 1882 pattern review : TO DO 
• Alter pattern pieces for next version : TO DO
• Then, sew another one in my blue floral cotton stretch sateen! (summer dress style : no sleeve, no collar, no pocket flaps) Hopefully, the next one will be faster to sew!

 

Fabric for my next S1882!

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.4

I will finished this muslin in June. My body is a little more tone and less heavy since I started sewing the dress a year ago...
 

My measurements (start / now) :

• High Bust : 38,5 / 38 in
• Bust : 41 / 40 in
• Waist : 34,5 / 33,5 in
• Hip : 40 / 40 in
• 5ft 2in and 160 lbs / 157 lbs

Pattern sizes used :

• Making Simplicity 1882, view B, size 18, D cup.
• No lining.
• Used a plum colored popeline and black popeline accent @2$/m from Fabricville.

Pattern alterations :

• Shorten by 6 in at the hem.
• Skirt : I tapered from size 18 at waist to a size 16 from top of pocket flaps to the hem. In other words : I used the front and back skirt pattern pieces from the top to the notch in size 18, then from the notch to the hem in a size 16.
• Bodice : Take in 1 1/8 inch at the top of the side seam under the arm  to nothing at the midriff seam.

Here is my progress as of June 26th 2013 :

• Attach skirt to midriff : DONE!
• Alter bodice : DONE!
• Sew bodice : DONE!
• Attach bodice to midriff : DONE!

• Finish midriff seams : DONE!
• Steps 24 to 26 - Zip : DONE!
• Steps 27 to 30 - Collar : TO DO
• Choose and sew sleeves A, B or facing C : TO DO
• Steps 48 - Hem : TO DO
• Alter pattern pieces for next version : TO DO  

Time for part.4 : 3h30

I think there is issues, but the fit is already better than RTW on me, mostly due to the D cup! I will sleep on it and reassess the fit tomorrow... Here are the problems noted :

1. Diagonal lines on top of my breast
2. Horizontal line around the top pipping of the midriff... Why?
3. Apex could be a little lower, either the shoulder seam should be let out about 1/4 in OR the apex moved OR princess seams reshaped (how?) ?
4. I sometimes wonder if the bottom of the midrif was designed to sit at the waist or not? I think not since there  is shaping in the midriff to get the waist indentation there, no?
5. My invisible zipper in visible... I hand basted the second side, but not the first. Maybe I should use the steam a seam thingny to baste both side before sewing?
6. The side seam is a little bit too forward. 
7. It feels like I should pinch the midriff piece about 1/2 in on each side (2 inches total) - would that fix some issues?

S1882 - Front view

Not so invisible zipper

Side view - side seam too forward, why?

Maybe I need to take it in more?

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.3

New Sewing Machine and "Progress" on S1882

I started resewing the dress from May to June.  In this post (journal entry!) I state the last steps I made on my dress... I'm a snailstress, really!

After June, camping season came and ended with my oldest child starting pre-kindergarden! I'm so proud of her! So after the frantic months of September and October, I wanted to start working on my dress again, but sadly the sewing machine my mother-in-law gave me stop working...

I now have a new machine (Clara, my Singer Quantum Stylist 9960) and I LOVE IT! I'm doing quite a few tiny projects and Christmas presents in the last month with it - I will obviously post about them after the Holidays!! My new machine offer a lots of stitches and I will need to revisit how I finish the seams of my dress...

Resewing the dress S1882

What I did :

• Alteration - Hem: I removed 6 inches from the bottom
• Alteration - Skirt: I removed from nothing (size 18) at the waist to 1/2 inch (size 16) from the notch to the hem.
• Seam finishing: I chose to turn the seams allowances under, for a cleaner look inside and durability. I tested before on scraps to be sure it wouldn't show through when ironed. I used my blind hem foot to sew equidistant from the folded edge of the seam allowances.
• I started with the midriff piece and had some trouble to align the piping edge at 5/8" since the store bought piping was only 1/4" ; so I used my grand-mother tape with a long metal end that is exactly 5/8" to align the piping as I machined basted it to the midriff piece.
• I then sew the skirt pieces and finish the side seams with large double fold bias tape.
• Attach skirt to midriff : TO DO
• Alter bodice : TO DO
• Sew bodice : TO DO
• Attach bodice to midriff : TO DO
• Zip : TO DO
• Collar : TO DO
• Sleeves : TO DO
• Hem : TO DO

Next time I should

• REVIEW HOW STRATEGY TO FINISH SEAMS...
• Pin carefully the previously finished seams allowance when sewing the piping to avoid them being caught up.
• Step 10 - Avoid raw edges for the bottom seam of the pockets
• I need to alter the pattern pieces : TO DO

TIME :  6 h.
Wednesday May 2nd : maybe 1h, I don't remember
May 31rst : 1h alterations
Thursday June 14th :  4h midriff, piping, skirt
Friday June 15th:  ?h, skirt seams finishes not all done...

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.2

Fitting !

I love the pockets!

Alterations :

• Hem about 6 to 7 inches from the edge.
• Skirt : tapered from size 18 at waist to a size 16 from top of pocket flaps to the hem.
• Bodice : Take in 1 1/8 inch at the top of the side seam under the arm  to nothing at the midriff seam.

The dress will have cap sleeves, a black collar and black piping at the waist and under bust seams.

TIME : 1 h
Sunday April  15, 1 h
Update Blog : 0.75 h

 

Unpicking Basting Stitches

TIME : about 1,5 hour.

Simplicity 1882 - Muslin part.1

Cut Fabric

My NYC glass head pins!

Measures in inches

High Bust : 38,5
Bust : 41
Waist : 34,5
 Hip : 40
160 lbs, 5 ft 2 in.

Making Simplicity 1882, view B, size 18, D cup.
Used a nice plum colored popeline and black popeline accent @2$/m from Fabricville.

What I did:

I decided not to cut the pattern tissues. So I trace with a teethed wheel and wax free carbon paper on my fabric, unpinned the pattern tissues and cut with my rotary cutter every pieces. I used my carbon paper or tracing pen on the fabric to report the notches and dots on wrong side.

Next time, I should:

•  Trace the pattern tissues onto paper at the right size with the teethed wheel, skipping the carbon paper and the use to remove the tissues before cutting. Then use those paper pattern pieces, directly pinned to the fabric or weighted down with pattern weights, to cut around it with my rotary cutter.
• Cut the notches OUTSIDE instead of tracing them on the fabric inside the pattern pieces.
• Continue using pen to trace dots and inside marking.

It took me about 1 week, tracing and cutting a few hours for a few nights, while procrastinating a lot and surfing the web... (maybe 6 hours)
TIME : 6 h

Basting

Basted seams outside, on RIGHT side.

What I did :

Research princess seams sewing technique :

• Princess seams sewing tips
• PDF on Princess seams types and tips
• Pressure foot to sew curves without pins and video

Next time, I should :

• Step 9 - not sure I should have topstitched on top of the pocket flaps or underneath it??
• Take better care to notch the flap curves because they were visible on the right side when ironed. So I sew the flap interfacing side up on the dress - but they are sensitive (wrinkles) to heat...
• Stay-stitch at 1/2 in the curve and maybe slit notches before pinning and sewing the princess seam (or use the magic curve foot!) 
• I am quite symmetric, so I could avoid sewing the seams outside next time I try to fit garment!?
• If I mark carefully the alterations, I should skip the basting and fitting steps for the next dresses using this same pattern...

I could buy :

• pinking shears or rotary cutter blade to finish seams (or use the mounting technique - i.e. partial lining)
• Get a clean and non leaking iron! 
• Get the Curve Master 5/8 pressure foot - would be handy for my son's quilt projects (lots of curves planned!) and clothing!

TIME : 4.5 h
Saturday April 14, 2.5h, steps 1 to 10.
Sunday April 15, 2h, steps 10 to 17.
Update Blog : 0.5 h

Monique Dress - Tired of Muslin!

Bonne nuit!

I worked some more on my Monique dress. The problem I had was that when the dress is pined on me and I cross my arms in front, it's pulling fiercely in the back.

• I tried adding width at the center back seam. I sew a strip of fabric with evenly spaced row of stitches so my husband would be able to pin following the same distance from top to bottom. I figured the center back (CB) seam need to stay on grain. But it didn't work: armholes and back neckline where gaping and wrinkling at the top even when my arms where at my sides...

Gaping back neckline

• I removes fabric from the front of the armholes (leaving the side seam intact) and redrew the curve, sans French curve ruler... (Note to self, buy one!) ; it has improved matter significantly.
• Then, I measured my real apex and moved the waist dart accordingly.

back view, with redrawn armholes

back view, with redrawn armholes

• I redrew my pattern piece on a new piece of paper for readability!! It was starting to be quite chaotic...

chaotic front bodice pattern piece

last front bodice pattern piece

I  tried to use Diane as my stunt double but I think she is not enough like me to do the final fitting and tweaking... She is awesome for general length, width and hemming though! She will need to be properly padded to be closer to my figure...

Then I cut the dress's bodice and waistband pieces in my fashion fabric (hey hey! I used the same fabric as my muslin, my inexpensive 3$/m super raspberry mystery fabric!) But I have some bad puckers on my darts end...

All 4 darts have protruding points

Even worst from the side or the top!

I tried to shorten the side dart, but it was not a good idea ; it created excess fabric on the side of my bust. Here are my limited ideas to remedy to my boxy puckered dress bodice:

• I was thinking that my problem might be my poor pressing skills ; I tried using a rolled towel to support my darts. (Note to self, buy a tailor ham!) That looked better but didn't remove the puckers.
• I could try to angled the side dart to create a dart that goes up on my bust (french dart, is it?) or a curved dart - I thought that the puckers might be due to the proximity of the 2 darts points or their big sizes?!? The curved or French darts are supposed to be better looking on busty damsel. But I'm not quite sure how to do it...
• Or I could try to divide my big side dart into multiple darts ; darts cluster. Or remove some width from the side dart and put it in the waist dart, then divide the waist dart into 2 to 3 smaller ones... But I'm not sure it will solve my problem if my poor pressing or drafting skills are to blame!?!
• I found information on how to move my side dart into an armscye dart and slash through it all to create a smooth princess seam. I'm tempted by this one - that would remove my square darts tips problem. But it will modify the simple design and look of the dress, no?

What should I do?
Any ideas why I failed with my quadruple nipples-darts bodice?

Monique Dress - Muslin #2

Thanks to the advices of a fellow seamstress (Madame Karpen, Merci!) on a facebook group, I resumed working on my Monique dress today! As per her advices, I started with a smaller bodice size, the MEDIUM (38-30-40) and did spread the pattern 2 inches apart, instead of 1.

Pattern Modifications
I made all sort of flat pattern manipulations, based on the book "Every Sewer's Guide to the Perfect Fit" by Morris & McCann:

1) I did an FBA of 1 inch following the method 1 ; I sliced from the pattern Original Bust Apex (apex) to the armhole single notch, from the apex to the waist seam through the waist dart and from the apex to the side seam through the bust dart. Than I spread 1 inch at the apex, tapering to nothing at the armhole.

2) To realign the bottom seam of the bodice, I sliced from the apex to the Center Front (CF) fold and spread 3/8 inch.

Added the maximum suggested (1 in) at the bust with FBA

3) Since I'm more than a D cup, I decided to sliced and spread another inch following the method 2 of the book. For this, I moved the waist dart closer to the side seam so I could slice it in the middle and hit the shoulder seam. Then, I spread 1 inch. This step moved the apex about 2 inches closer to the side seam - I should have move it back to its original position after spreading as I  discovered with the second muslin...

4) I redrew the darts, starting 2 inches away from the new apex and keeping the same dart feet.

Added another inch at the bust with method 2

 5) Finally, I lengthen the front and back bodice patterns by 2 inches, so the waist seam would fall under my bust. I determined this by measuring myself and the flat pattern from shoulder seam to under my bra band both in the back and front.

Lengthen front and back bodice by 2 inches

Sewing Muslin #2
It took me a while to do all those alterations, since I am a beginner at pattern fitting! I was happy to finally try my new acquisition ; tracing paper and a tracing wheel. I decided to trace the SEAM lines as oppose to the seam allowances, as suggested by Gertie's in the Bombshell Dress class on Craftsy (I LOVE this class! I have yet to make the sultry dress...) I did also machine thread traced my seams and cut really big seam allowances strategically at the shoulder and side seams, mostly because I don't know any other method that would allow me to easily measure the modifications I made to my muslin...

Thread tracing of muslin

I was glad that it seems to fit well, except for the darts. The apex was moved when I added the second inch of ease at the bust, but now it was wrong. So the bust dart was too far away from my real bust apex and the waist dart was all wrong!

I elongated the bust dart with pins of about 1 1/2 in. For the waist dart, I had to unpick the basted seams and redo them while wearing the muslin with pins. I will modify the pattern to indicate my real apex and the new darts...

Monique dress, Muslin #2

I wasn't able alone to put more than 2 pins in the back...

The gaping armhole is gone!

What is left to do:

• Sew my new darts and a zipper (or wait for my husband to pin me in!), to verify ease and if the neckline is gaping (as seen a little on the pictures above)
• Redraw the waistband pattern to match the bodice and add 1 inch to the length so the waistband bottom will hit my natural waist.
• Decide if I redraw the facing pieces or use my pattern to fully lined the bodice.
• Decide if I want any embellishement at the waist and hem...
• Try the slightly gathered A-Line skirt to determine if I prefer clean darts to gathers... 

What do you say? I might finish it in time for my birthday next week...

Monique Dress - Muslin #1

Bon matin! Talk about an ice breaker post ; I started my Serendipity Studio Monique dress and I am experiencing some trouble to make it fit! So here is my attempt at documenting my alterations and progress, I hope some good seamstress might stumble onto it and give me some advices! 

Pattern Size Choice
At this time, my measurements are : 41-33-40, with high bust of 37. So 4in difference between high bust and bust means am a D cup... (my bra is 34G) Looking at the Serendipity Studio Monique Dress pattern info, I decided on the size LARGE (40-32-42), with 1 in FBA. I knew I would have to fiddle with the waist a little but since its a straight band... 

Full Bust Adjustment (FBA)
It is my first FBA. I'am not sure if I should have tried a X-Large without alteration first. But since the pattern is designed for B cups, I knew it would need tweaking anyway...

Here is what I did to the front bodice pattern piece :
1- I sliced from the Real Bust Apex (RBA) to bottom seam and from RBA to armhole at about a 30o angle. Then, I spread 1 in from bottom to RBA and tapered to nothing at the armhole.

2- To realign the bottom seam of the bodice, I sliced from RBA to the Center Front (CF) fold & spread 1/2 in. Redrew the new dart at 1 1/2 in horizontal distance from RBA, with width of 1 1/8 in each side.

FBA and length alterations

3- To match the side seam between the bodice front and back pieces, I added 1 1/2 in to the back bodice armhole and removed 1 1/2 in to the front bodice armhole (as seen in Fast Fit, by Sandra Betzina). I drew the curve by both eyeballing it and using the original patterns pieces since I do not own a curved ruler yet...

added half the difference to the back and removed it from the front

Now the side seam match

Bodice Muslin #1
I made a muslin of the bodice and it kind of worked out OK. The fabric is medium cotton (I think) at 2$/m from a Fabric remnant shop in Montréal - I bought about 10 meters to make some muslin for a few projects and I plan of wearing my finals muslin afterward, I LOVE the color!

My problems with the first muslin :

• there is a gap at the armhole;
• the under bust seams is not quite under;
• the waistband is about 3in higher than my natural waist.

The waist band is just pinned, white elastic is at natural waist

I just pinned the back too, no zipper yet

Armhole Gap
This is my major problem! I tried to pin it, but the resulting dart intersected the horizontal bust dart - I can't do that, can I!?! What should I do about the gap in the armhole? Is it because I totally ignored the original dart when doing my FBA? Or of poor retracing of the curve of the armhole? Or it's the chosen FBA method that inevitably add more fabric around the armhole? Or I started with a size too big?

Under Bust Seam Too High
To get the under bust seam lower, I plan to slice horizontally between the horizontal bust dart and the vertical under bust dart and to add about 2 in of length.

Waistband height
Because I'm not sure a slightly gathered A-line skirt starting a mere 3 in under my bust would be flattering on me, I am also thinking to lengthen the waistband so the bottom of the waistband hits my natural waist. But I will reassess the waistband height AFTER resolving both previous issues...

Any advices? Merci!