Things I like

As always, I’ve finished my latest dress and predictably have ended up not liking it.

This is the pattern I used:

Simplicity pattern 2967

It’s another Simplicity Retro pattern and I got it from US Ebay as it wasn’t available on the UK Simplicity website. When it turned up it turned out to be for bust sizes B-D, so I had to alter the bust darts. It was the first time I’d done that and it involved taking them in by an half an inch, and clipping the excess fabric from the sides and bottom of the dress. Quite simple, but I felt quite good after doing it, like I had learnt something a bit complicated even though it wasn’t. I also had to add some length to the sleeves as I’d chosen to do the long sleeved version of the dress and when I made the mock up the sleeve length taken from the pattern was too short and made my long monkey arms look even more monkeyish.

It took me about 7 weeks worth of classes and a few hours homework here and there to do the mock up and the proper version, as I wanted to be really neat and do things properly instead of rushing them and leaving the finish a bit dodgy.

This is how it turned out:

:-(

I’m thinking ‘yuck’ at the moment, but I’m not sure why. It’s not the fabric (as I love it), it’s more the shape and the sleeves. I’m not sure what I was expecting as it’s pretty much as per the pattern cover, but I felt a bit disappointed when I tried it on for the first time.

I got the fabric from John Lewis in March last year – it’s ‘Love’ by Amy Butler – and I was saving it for when I was a lot better at dressmaking than I was back then so that I didn’t ruin it. It was a bit more pricey than fabrics I usually buy, and as a consequence a lot heavier and an absolute dream to sew with. I hardly made any mistakes as a result of runaway fabric or slippages. The worst bits to sew (as always) were the sleeves, but even then after I had unpicked them following a tiny mistake you could hardly see where it had been stiched before.

Anyway… I’ll give it a couple of weeks and see how I feel then!

Another project – this one done at home on the side – was a stretch denim version of Simplicity pattern 3833. I had a few days off work and once I’d finished the dress for my course I thought I would get on with this one. I originally started it last summer following the problems with the cheapo spotty version, and then left in pieces in the dining room when I got annoyed with it one night (mainly because I used red carbon paper to do the markings and then couldn’t see them properly under the dining room light). Last summer I decided that I wanted to have a red zip and red stitching to nicely contrast with the colour of the denim, and I had just got a nice pair of red pumps that I wanted to wear the dress with. Six months on I still liked this idea, so stuck with it.

Simplicity 3833 in stretch denim

Half way through making it I had the idea that I might want to experiment and use a decorative stitch, so I used the scallop stitch on my Pfaff machine to sew the hems on the bottom of the dress and the sleeves. I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Sleeve with decorative stitch from my Pfaff machine

Red concealed zip

I ended up really enjoying making the dress, although again the dye came off on my hands and working with stretch fabrics isn’t brilliant, especially with decorative stitches. I had to unpick some of the scallop stitches (twice!!!) which wasn’t much fun as they had stretched out where I was pulling the fabric without realising.

Next project for my course is a shirt dress, I’ve been wanting to try a collar, cuffs and button holes for ages. I started to cut the pattern out on Tuesday night, but I have only got one class left of this term and I’m not sure if I am feeling brave enough to attempt the mock up without supervision before the new term starts in May.