Adventures in sewing

On a recent trip to Michael Levine’s loft I bought some lovely rayon challis and was anxious to get sewing, too anxious apparently.I misplaced an important pattern piece, then when I discovered the mistake, there wasn’t enough fabric left, I pieced some together. Guess what that didn’t work out so well, so into the trash the whole mess went.

Instead I used some quoting cotton I got from a friend and a whole different pattern that felt like it could handle the stiffness of the fabric. New Look 0125. Serious seamstresses always say – make a muslin. Sorry, I sew for pleasure, I’m not a couture seamstress. So I didn’t. And guess what, same mistake, I cut 2 of the pleats instead of 4.This time it worked out better than expected, I went into my fabric stash and found something to tone down the busy floral print. I think this look works much better. Yay for being forced to find creative solutions! Imagine my surprise when WSJ had an article about Sharp Florals, combining florals with solids in high fashion. As in $4000 high fashion. I don’t try to follow trends or create them, but when it happens I don’t complain.I like a full skirt that has some swing! Once again, one of the big problems I have with quilting fabric is that it is so often one directional. Maybe you can’t see it in this busy print, but I can’t help not seeing it. I spent many years studying, then working in the industry creating pleasing all-over prints. When I am out in public, I am always looking at printed clothing, figuring out where the repeat is. Judging the pattern, yes, crazy I know.I’m sure I could have flipped some of the pattern pieces and no one (except me) would have noticed. But I just couldn’t do it. Oh and back to fitting, yeah, I had some issues. The waist was too low, I don’t like this gaping armhole. When I first tried it on, it just looked frumpy. Lucky for me the issue was taking in seams, so I was able to adjust most of the issues, except this armhole, which will remain as is.The dress has a pocket, since the skirt is so full, a pocket is a great thing to have. If the dress is tight and form fitting – then I find the extra bulk of a pocket unflattering. My serger is still in the shop, 5 weeks later! I did get a call saying the missing part was sent out, so I really hope to have it back next week. I cut out all the pattern pieces with my pinking rotary cutter, we’ll see if I like the result after a few washings.A big reason why I ran out of the floral print was the hem of the skirt. The skirt was cut in pieces but is pretty much a full circle skirt, this kind of separate hem give the skirt body and structure. The pattern called for interfacing, seeing that I used firm quilting cotton, I skipped that step. After mistakes, tweaks and work arounds, I am very happy with this dress. So much so that I might make another version, one where the top and skirt are different fabrics and the skirt is straight. At least now I know what adjustments to make before I cut into the fabric, not to mention that it won’t take 4 yards to make.