dressmaking..

Hurrah! There are two dresses done! ( I hope) Well, one of them I need to see on the lass before I can confidently say it is done, as I am not quite sure about the finished length.

I got out the rolledge foot on my machine, practiced a bit, made a mess the first time, tried again, and thought I had the hang of it, and went for it! When it is doing what it says on the tin, it works really well, but it does have a slight tendency to attempt to creep out of its nifty little rolling groove, so you do have to not stitch at 90 miles an hour, just go a wee bit steady, and keep checking the positioning. 

That light and translucent fabric deserved either a roll edge or a narrow edge on the overlocker, I discussed it with my daughter and we thought this would be the better finish on this one. 

The worry with hems like this is always the length. There is not much room to get it wrong. If you have chopped the fabric off, it is gone, you cannot put some back on...So, I shall see it on the lass one evening this week and hope!

So, the second dress! I checked length on my daughter before I started- she is very handy, and I felt better checking the paper pattern on her before cutting the skirt- there is not enough fabric to be making big mistakes here! And then I overlocked the pieces. It gives me confidence that they will not fray later. 

 I love when the overlocker ( serger for those of you who know it that way) runs itself to the point where it produces this effect with the offcuts!




I did the under layer on all sides, but the light outer layer I left the hem edge unfinished at this point.

 This is the skirt of the dress!
It does not look much like a dress like this!

 I love my blind hem foot, it just works!

and, yes, I did the same roll edge finish on the dress here. 

Just checking the length before the final hem is done! We wanted it to just skim the floor.

With some Irregular Choice shoes, which give her height! Again, before the final hem is done!

Anyway, it is done now, and I can relax, and let her enjoy it!

and I am linking this with le challenge- because this dress is a SINGLE colour!.... see if they accept that! well, it is all purple all through!

Play with a pattern...

So, you get a pattern. And the pattern is the 'right' size. So, as it is a special dress, you make it up in some spare fabric you have left over from another project... and look at the fit.

Does the 'right' size pattern fit nicely?

NO.

My subject has a bust. And the pattern has the same size bust- but not the same shape bust. Perhaps the bust on the pattern has developed a strange bulge at the front roughly at the level of the armpit, but maybe there are busts out there which do work like that. I am happy that my subject ( victim?) does not have a natural bulge just there!


What did we do?

This is the original side front, which I took out again. You can see a line drawn on it near the top, which is the line I drew, while it was being worn, as a guide for altering things. I then redrew that pattern piece,

The pattern I ended up with is shown below, sitting on top of that original piece.

Quite a difference. In shape as well as size.

Other alterations we made included, taking an inch out of the front, which was cut on the fold, adding darts in the back so it lay nicely, and taking a lump out of the back armholes,. having done all this, we think we shall have a really good fit!  Good job the original pattern was the RIGHT size to start! Much harder to upsize or downsize it!

The dress is now being made. I hope we can show you soon!

Today's offering is...

 This new T shirt.
The fabric was left over from that dress I made last spring. I did not have sufficient border to put the border all round the hem line, nor to use for the sleeves, so, it is just on the front. But then, it is effectively a completely free T shirt, isn't it?  So, who could possibly complain?


Oh but it gave me hassle!

It is a soft knit fabric. Knit fabrics need ballpoint needles, right??

But my ball point needle kept shredding the thread, and I would suddenly realise that I had only managed the first couple of inches of my seam, when I thought I had got to the other end and done my wee reverse...

So, in the end, I gave up and put in a sharp, and it worked perfectly.

 Then, I wanted to use a twin needle round the neck.

Good in theory, and again, recommended practice...

except when your machine decides, all by itself, and with no help of any kind from the operator... to only sew with the right hand twin needle, and to ignore completely the left hand needle!


I know- this never happens to you...

and then, it decides, all by its self, and with no help from anyone, perhaps it will use both needles again...  producing this result...

no, I know, it never happens to you..

I gave up with the twin needle for the hem, and just did a blind hem. I reckoned that would be ok, as it is a sort of stretchy stitch in it's own right... Isn't it?


And in the end,. I have a nice fitting, eminently wearable T shirt, from my leftovers. I call that a win, what do you think?