FO: Christmas Dress At Long Last

Everything about this dress feels like a down right Christmas miracle, and I am so happy to finally have pictures so I can show it on my blog :) First thing's first: Look - I made a dress!

So I have had this fabric in my stash for maybe 7 years? Something like that? I bought it soon after deciding I wanted to sew my own clothes and had all these grand plans for a closet full of Modcloth style novelty print dresses. The problem with a Christmas dress and me is that I will love the idea of having one, but I never actually have the time to make it by the time I realize I want to wear it. I always think about making it when the holiday craze has already begun, which means I am working a ton and spending my very little making time on gifts for others. So this fabric, which is an adorable Christmas tree damask style print quilting cotton by Michael Miller, languished in my stash all this time, always with the hope that one day I would actually help it fulfill its destiny as a dress. This year, I finally made it happen. I was singing in a local church's Christmas concert on December 3rd and was told to "wear something Christmas-y", and when I took stock of my wardrobe I immediately thought how cute it would be to have this fabric as a dress finally. So Saturday night (the night before the concert) at about 8 pm, I pulled out this fabric, cut out my pieces, and had it almost entirely sewn before going to bed at midnight. After going to my own church the next day, I had to set in the sleeves, hand stitch a bias neckline facing, and hem the skirt. I was finished just in time to fix myself up and get to the concert. Under normal circumstances, I would not recommend starting a dress the night before you need to wear it, but I have to say it really worked out for me this time around :)

The only reason this worked out is because I used a pattern I knew would basically fit me. Since losing weight, I have been able to fit into my Take a Seat Dress and my Don't Let the Bird Do the Dishes Dress again, even having them be a bit too big (which is a miracle since they were always just a smidge too tight even when I first made them), so I knew that using Simplicity 1419 would at least yield me a reasonable fit dress with little to no tweaking. I used this pattern for both those dresses as well as for a Halloween costume and a muslin, so I've adjusted things about the fit overtime and had it pretty much down to a science. This is a Lisette design, and it works as a great basic dress base. I've changed the neckline and sleeves on top of making my usual lengthening and hollow chest adjustments, so the pattern pieces are there and ready to go no matter what I want to do with it. Also, it has pockets, which as an absolute necessity in anything I make.

The fit on this is close, but not exactly perfect. But who really needs it to fit perfectly on something you won't wear beyond one month a year? I am still losing weight, so I don't really want to spend the time and effort and fabric on making clothes that should soon not fit me anymore, but I justified this because I really didn't mind if this only fit me for the month after I made it. So I got to sew again, yay! There are a few things I need to fix about this pattern should I make it again soon, and you can see one above. See how it is bunching up off my back in the photo above? I now know that the way I corrected for my sloped upper back was not correct, and it lead to this issue. I can fix it for next time, but to make this one fit better I added darts in the back neckline to help minimize the volume. It's still a bit baggy in the middle, but it wasn't going to keep me from wearing it.

I didn't get too particular about pattern matching since I was on a time crunch, but I did try to make sure the front and back matched up at the waist as best I could. I'm pretty happy with my results there. Also I did a lapped zipper because they are my absolute favorite.

I went with my preferred bias tape neckline on this dress, just like the last several versions I've made with this pattern. This is the original neckline height from the Lisette pattern, but I omitted the collar and keyhole detail. I hand stitched the bias tape in place because I've just found it lays so much better than machining this area due to the curves, and since it's just around the neck it really doesn't take that much time. Also I loved wearing this with my vitreous enamel cardinal pendant and earrings. I went all out several times and wore a red bow in my hair and even (gasp) red lipstick. I seriously never wear lipstick because I feel like it makes me look weird, but I am warming up to it after this little experiment.

Here's a look at the neckline bias and the lapped zipped up close. I used a 22" green zipper from my stash and it was basically the perfect color. I just love it when that happens, but at this point it's a game of averages because I seriously have so many zippers it's probably more surprising when I don't have one that will work on hand. That's definitely a tip I would give anyone - get your zippers at the thrift store, folks. I bought a bag of over 100 for $10 several years ago, and I've grabbed a few more here and there to add to that selection. It's a crazy tub full, but unless I need a very specific type of special zipper, I never have to put a project on hold because I have to go pick one up. Also, I really have to give a lot of credit for the speed of this project to the fact that I have a serger now. All of my seams were pressed and then serged, making it really so quick for finishing the insides. No matter how quick I need to make something, I still always finish the seams because I don't want it to all unravel in the wash. Definitely worth it even if you only finish the insides with your serger.

So that's my Christmas dress :) I was so happy to have it finished, and I made sure to wear it as often as was appropriate during December. I wore it to the concert, to church several times, for family photos, and to work on Christmas Eve. Now I feel like my time was worth it even if this dress doesn't fit me next year. I got lots of compliments on it every time I wore it, which is also always nice. It's very cheerful, very green, and very me.

Check back soon to see a few other projects I made with this fabric! It amps up the cute factor in a big way.

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards Christmas Tree Damask print quilting cotton by Michael Miller - $12?
Pattern: Simplicity 1419
Notions: 22" green zipper - $0.10, white thread - $1.00, white packaged bias tape - $0.25 (thrifted)
Time: 6 hours
Total Cost: $ 13.35

FO: A Joy-full Halloween Costume

Every year around Halloween, I start thinking about what my costume will be. In the past few years, I've managed to pull something together, often with some kind of quick handmade item, but it never fails that I just don't have enough time in the month of October to make up a proper costume of the caliber that I want. So this year, I started planning and acquiring for this costume in mid August to make sure I made my plan a reality. I'm happy to say it came out just like I'd hoped!

I decided as soon as I watched Inside Out that I would go as Joy for Halloween this year. She wears a simple dress that I could certainly recreate myself, then all I had to do was find a blue wig and a few accessories. Originally, that was as far as my plan extended. Then I was poking around Ravelry one day and came across a free pattern for a crocheted Bing Bong and I knew I had to include that as well. I've written a separate post on Bing Bong, so you'll see him again soon :)

So, my costume. Joy's dress is just lime green with a full drapey skirt and freehand looking splotchy flowers on it. I decided to use my already fitted pattern of the year - Simplicity 1419.I've made this dress 3 other times already this year, so I figured it would be quick to make (hint - it wasn't and I will explain lower in this post). I added sleeves to my dress just because I always have sleeves and no one mentioned anything about lack of authenticity, lol.

I made the dress with some lime green broadcloth I bought at Joann's on sale. There was much deliberation with my husband in the fabric store to decide which lime green was the "joy" color and this one won out. I used matching thread and sewed the whole dress before adding the flower things.

The flower splotches were something I had to think on for a while. At first I thought I would block print them, but when it came time to it I realized the flowers were all different sizes which blew that idea out of the running. Then I bought acrylic paint thinking that would be better, but I didn't like the idea of it flaking off as I moved around. I finally came across the display of multi colored permanent markers that you can buy individually and brought in a scrap of fabric to try it out. It looked pretty good! Basically it was like dying the fabric with a stick - too easy. I ended up draining 2 markers in making all these flowers, but that ensured they were nice an saturated. The flowers are a little stiffer than the rest of the dress, but nothing that affected its comfort.

I staggered the flowers, making different sizes diagonal from each other. I started by sketching out the flowers with a friction pen, then coloring them in, and ironing the flowers to remove the friction ink. Seriously, if you haven't tried out friction pens in your sewing, look into it! My sister brought back a variety of colors for me from Japan when she lived there (this was before they were for sale in the states) and I use them constantly for pattern drafting as well as marking on cotton fabrics since the ink disappears when you touch it with an iron. Magic! I'm no artist, so if I hadn't had the friction pen option these flowers would have looked much more homemade and awful.

Now onto the hiccup in this sewing experience. I'm sure you may have noticed I am wearing a wide belt in these photos. Joy doesn't have a belt. It became a necessity for me. Apparently I made a mistake when cutting out my fabric because my dress that I muslined and tinkered with the fit and have made 4 times ... came out too small. Of course I didn't realize this until I had already cut down the seam allowances because having made this so many times before I decided I did not need to check the fit. How wrong I was! I was so depressed. My dress that I thought would be a quick sew ended up sitting on my dress form for weeks while I mustered the courage to fix it. I didn't want to cut new pieces because that would have meant disassembling the entire dress at that point, so first I let it out at the zipper opening - not enough. Then I let it out at the sides the tiny bit that was possible - not enough. It sat for a while longer before I just decided to be completely experimental and I sewed a knit fabric gusset at the side waist seam. The fabric I had was green, but didn't match so even though it fit at that point, I wouldn't have wanted to wear it in public and have to explain to curious onlookers that I was too fat for my dress and had to add a stretchy piece. Ugh, isn't that just the worst ever? I waited a while longer to address the awful look of the knit piece, and one night I thought about a stretchy belt I have. I put it on with the dress and it covered the knit section almost completely, but the belt was black and looked awful - it would completely throw off my authenticity. I did have a small amount of fabric left though, and I had some incredibly heavy fusible interfacing on hand, so I decided to make a belt the same width as my stretchy belt. 

I just cut two 4" wide strips across the width of the remaining fabric, fused a 3" wide piece of the heavy fusible (meaning the heaviest fusible I've ever found) inside the middle of the belt front piece (so not in the seam allowance), did some straight seams and topstitching and had a long belt. I put on the belt with the dress, overlapped the ends where it fit me, and added 3 hooks and eyes to make it stay straight and secure. It was actually incredibly easy to do, and it really made the difference in not only how my costume looked but also how confident I felt in it. No one wants to walk around feeling too fat for their clothes.

After adding the gusset, I just kind of stopped caring if everything was perfect on this dress. Originally I hoped that I could maybe wear this just as a normal dress, but I lost that desire pretty quickly - lime green isn't really my color anyway without my blue hair. I promise the wrinkles you see on the dress and belt are not fitting issues - I didn't get to take these photos until I had already worn the dress once to a party. I added pockets (because why not?) and I used a blue invisible zipper from my stash. I also made my own bias tape to finish the neckline. I'm really proud of how well the flowers turned out especially where they span across a seam or a dart. The permanent marker worked perfectly and people were amazed that I drew them on myself and it didn't come printed that way.

I finished the dress on October 23rd so I could wear it to our church Trunk or Treat party on the 24th. The night of the party, I started off with my makeup. I dusted my face all over with a yellow eye shadow, dusted with a little bit of MAC highlight powder (for a light shimmer), then re-dusted the yellow again. I used a bright blue eye shadow for my eye liner, put on a little mascara, then sprayed it all with Urban Decay All Nighter spray (this stuff is great - it's like hair spray for your face!). Nest I had to help my husband cover himself in red cream makeup (I sponged his face just so it was more even), then I sprayed his hair red. Next I had to wig cap my hair and put on my wig. My tights and shoes were completely random - I've had them for years but never worn them (in fact I rescued the shoes from my donate pile for this costume, lol). Then I just had to don my dress, grab Bing Bong, put a towel under my husband to save the car, and drive to the party :)

(I know I have total bucket face in these photos, and I could have gone whole hog like my husband, but I didn't have enough powder to cover my whiteness plus I didn't want to get it all over my car)

We were in such a hurry that I did not manage to take nice pictures of the two of us. All I have is this kind of awful photo a friend took. We were Joy and Anger! I was making balloon animals for the kids (one of my other hidden talents) at the party, then we decorated our trunk for trunk or treating:

Again, I forgot to take a photo at the party, so this is the aftermath. I swear that bowl was full of candy. We gave away candy and glow bracelets. My trunk was lit up balloons in the colors of Riley's memories from the movie. And of course Bing Bong hung out there too :) Yay for a full theme! I promise it looked much better in real life and the light was much more faint. 

Here we were at the end of the night. The kids really loved our costume and we won the adult costume contest :) Ho yeah! lol

Also I had to include this photo because it was just so crazy. This is what our shower looked like when my husband washed off all that red makeup. It's like a murder scene in there, lol.

I did my whole costume again a week later on Halloween and we gave out candy at my parents house (not a lot of trick or treaters at our house). I went as Joy but my husband did his usual scarecrow routine to scare the living daylights out of kids. We rate how fun our evening was based on how many kids scream and run away without collecting their piece of candy, ha ha. It's great.

So there you have it - my Joy-full Halloween :) It was a lot of fun, and I was really proud of how well my costume turned out. On a slightly more serious note, I love the symbolism of the fact that I chose to be Joy. I was talking to my husband after Halloween, and it really does sum up my outlook I've been trying for this year. I think in any situation you can choose to be sadness or anger or any other easier emotion, but life is so much better when you choose Joy :) I hope you all had as much fun this Halloween as I did!

Summary:
Fabric: 3.5 yards lime green broadcloth from Joann's - $12.50
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 and 2444
Notions: thread - $2, invisible zipper - $1.50, 2 turquoise Sharpie permanent markers - $4, knit fabric scraps - free, fusible interfacing - free (stash), hooks and eyes - $0.50

Hours: Who knows, lol. Maybe around 10 with all the futzing
Total Cost: $20.50 (plus the wig)
Fun had: Immeasurable!

OAL 2015: Don't Let The Bird Do The Dishes Dress and White Sunshower Cardigan

*Warning - I fully believe that the size of the post/number of pictures included should be proportional to the size of the project. This is two projects in one. You have been warned.*

I almost can't believe it myself, but it is true ... I managed to finish my entry for the Outfit Along by the deadline! Sure, I posted my pictures on the final day, but hey that still counts, lol. So... this is my outfit.

Obligatory front and back shots.

The Outfit Along was hosted by Andi Satterlund and Lauren of Lladybird, and it involved making a dress and a sweater to be worn together (an "outfit" if you will) over a 2 month period. You could choose any patterns, you just had to make an "outfit" that involved knitting and sewing and have it submitted by July 31st. I ran into a few snags with my first choice, causing me to find myself a month into the challenge with no sweater started. I raided my stash, and picked a newly released pattern by Andi for my sweater and got to work. This means I managed to finish this whole outfit in less than 1 month!

Realistically I will wear this sweater open most of the time.

My timeline was pretty tight for a person who works full time and has lots of other obligations that take her time. Mostly I was only able to knit on the weekends, with a few weeknights in the beginning. Happily, this pattern is deceptively simple and I've already made several of Andi's patterns (meaning I know how to make them fit me), so I was able to knit it quickly with no fuss.

So, let's talk about the dress first :)

This dress has been floating in my brain for quite a while. I picked up 3 yards of this ridiculous...ly awesome fabric at The Sewing Studio's mega sale in July of 2014. The fabric was a bit of a splurge for me, but it was just so ludicrous I had to get some. I was really inspired by the dress that Sewing Pies made out of this fabric for the first year of Sew Dolly Clackett, and I had to be part of the club. The Birds Doing Dishes Club. This fabric is called Don't Let The Bird Do The Dishes and is by Michael Miller Fabrics. It's a quilting cotton, but it's worth using solely for its print.

To make my crazy bird dress dreams a reality, I reached for what has become a tried and true pattern of mine - Simplicity 1419. The entire dress is from this pattern, but I decided to switch things up this time (this is my 3rd iteration) and use the scoop neckline from Simplicity 1873 in hopes that it would make the dress a bit cooler for the insane Florida summer I'm currently living through. Ugh.

There's a bird nesting on my boob!

I'm honestly thrilled by how this dress turned out - certainly my best version so far from this pattern in regard to both fit and attention to detail. I did make one hiccup though ... I made the pleats go the wrong direction, which means that center box pleat section above my torso hugs my tummy a bit more in the front than I would like. I didn't realize this until everything was sewn together and the seams finished, so I was not about to rip it out. It's still a full skirt, so it doesn't really bother me.

I did my usual construction with this dress - finished the insides with pinking sheers, top stitched hem, side seam pockets, etc. I did take quite a bit of care with the pattern placement and lining up on this dress. I didn't have enough fabric to match such a large scale print completely, but I made sure that the purple swagged dish drying lines were lined up at the side seams as well as across the sleeves. I also took care not to have a "bird headlights situation" across the front bodice - instead I just picked a bird that I liked that was usable given my fabric constraints and made him a bit off center. Due to the scale of the print, he's kind of the main bird you see at first.

To a more experienced seamstress, this will sound silly, but it makes me feel so accomplished - ALL my seams and darts line up perfectly. I had to make a lot of changes to the pattern to get it fitting me, which left me with side seems and darts that did not line up with each other. Each dress I've made has been out of a crazy novelty print, so no one has ever noticed but it really bugs me every time I think about it. This time I was determined to lined everything up, and I am so happy that it worked out. I had to document this achievement by taking pictures of each seam, lol. The photo on the bottom left is my waist seam at the zipper - oh yeah!

Speaking of the zipper, it took a few tries this time with get thing things lined up properly, but all that ripping out paid off in the end. I used a 22" invisible zipper with a white pull and it really is invisible :) Funny how that's always thrilling, huh? I finished the top with a hook and eye as per usual.

I love how clean my insides turned out even though I only finished things off with pinking sheers.

I also decided to leave off the facing (again) and use bias tape on the neckline. I really just hate facings in clothing - they itch and never want to stay where they should on me. The bias tape gives me a clean finish with nothing tickling my chest as I wear the finished product. The bias tape was a pre-made pack I picked up at a thrift store for 25 cents who knows when.

I love so much about how this dress turned out - definitely a winner for me. I know this will be another great conversation starter piece ... once the weather cools down enough to not want to rip it off after an hour. We are heading into the "ugly hot" time of year here, and it is so muggy and humid that I don't even want to think about it. Anyway, this dress will get a lot of wear in the fall and winter.

Now onto the sweater :) I went with Andi's new pattern, Sunshower from her Quiet Days collection for Knit Picks. It's designed with negative ease to give a fitted look, and it has an all-over lace body. I did my usual fitting equation for this sweater (Large bust and sleeves, XLarge waist) and it worked a treat. I love that her patterns are so easy to meld sizes with - I just did fewer decreases at the waist so that I ended up with the number of stitches for the XL size. No fancy math required :)

I think my favorite part of this sweater is the lacy detail along the bottom hem - sometimes it looks like hearts, other times it looks like leaves - either way it't really pretty :) The all over lace design is incredibly easy to do and was quick to memorize. I ended up using 3.3 skeins (685 yards) of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow from my stash for this sweater that I've had in my stash since January (and I got a sweet deal on it, which is even better). I'm hoping that the cotton yarn and lacy design will help this sweater not be too warm for Florida. We shall see :)

The side of the body and underside of the sleeve have 4 rows of straight stitches that hold the decreases, and I love how pretty and uniform this makes the whole side look. I also made the sweater several repeats longer in the waist since I have a long torso and I wanted it to hit at my actual waist.

I chose some pretty white plastic rose-shaped buttons from my stash because I thought they went well with the overall girly theme of the lace and possibly leaf design along the bottom. The button band was the only section of the pattern that had any issues - I had to change the spacing of the button holes to get the top button at the V point in the knitting. This wasn't a difficult change, but it's worth noting if anyone else runs into the same issue. I put 12 stitches between each button hole, just for the record.

And now onto one of my favorite parts of this sweater ... the button bands! These came out so pretty that I seriously want to rip this baby open and show them off to everyone. Or wear the sweater inside out just so they can be fully appreciated, lol.

I followed Lauren's tutorial on how to back the bands with Petersham ribbon. I've used this method once before (on my Minty Miette cardigan), but my efforts were foiled by crappy ribbon. I had no idea that there were different qualities of ribbon back then, but it makes sense now - ribbon is just like fabric in that it's made of natural and synthetic materials. This time around, I hunted high and low locally for real rayon Petersham ribbon, but no one had any that I could find. I turned to the internet and was rescued by Britex Fabrics of all places. There prices seemed just like buying the cheapy ribbon at Joann's to be honest, and this was the real deal. I was ecstatic! To make the most of the shipping cost, I bought enough ribbon for all the cardi's I've previously made as well as this one. My non-gaping button dreams can now be realized! Anyway, if you have ever wondered about trying out this technique, DO IT! I'm really amazed at how pretty this looks inside, and the rayon is nice and smooth to the touch. I machines stitched my button holes (without interfacing the ribbon), secured all the holes and the ribbon ends with fray check, and hand sewed the ribbons in place. This took a few hours to accomplish completely, but it's so worth the time to not look like I'm busting out of my sweater since it's a fitted style. Petersham button bands forever!

So, if you can't tell yet, I am totally thrilled that not only I was able to finish such a large project by the deadline in spite of various difficulties and time-sucking real life duties, but also that I have such a cute outfit added to my closet! Let's just be real - a white cardigan goes with everything, so I know I will get a ton of use out of this piece, and the dress is a long time plan come to fruition. Thanks so much to Andi and Lauren for hosting this knit/sew along. I tried to participate the first time, but life got in the way, so I'm really proud I was able to get it all done. I can't wait to make another awesome outfit next year!

Dress Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of Don't Let the Bird Do the Dishes quilting cotton by Michael Miller Fabrics - $18.50
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 with Simplicity 1873 neckline
Notions: 22" white invisible zipper - $1.50, light blue bias tape - thrifted $0.25, hook and eye - stash (free)
Hours: 10
Total Cost: $20.25

Sweater Summary:
Yarn: 4.31 skeins of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow - $16.00
Pattern: Sunshower Cardigan by Andi Satterlund, $2.00
Notions: 4 Buttons from Joann's - $2.20, Rayon Petersham Ribbon from Britex Fabrics - $2.25
Time to Make: 1 month
Total Cost: $22.45

FO: Take A Seat Dress

This is an epic project - I actually used one of my "love it too much to risk messing it up" fabrics from my stash! And I LOVE IT!

I purchased this fabric last 4th of July from Fabric.com in the sale they had that weekend. The fabric is called Perfectly Perched Chairs in Steel designed by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman. This line had several designs featuring chairs, but I liked this one best due to the colors - steel gray, white, and bright turquoise. I bought 3 yards with no specific pattern in mind, just knowing I wanted a simple dress. Then it sat... and waited... I didn't want to just chop into this awesomeness without knowing I would like the results, you know? I mean, those chairs needed their day to shine! I started off thinking Simplicity 2444 would work, but I didn't want to break up the lines of chairs with the angled bust darts on that pattern. So, I raided the pattern stash for a bodice with more simple, straight darts that could be used for all my lined novelty prints (seriously, I seem to be unknowingly drawn to lines and geometric patterns that need pattern matching - it's a dilemma). Simplicity 1419 seemed to be just the ticket, plus it had the fun option of the keyhole neckline and peter pan collar. So I muslined the daylights out of that pattern, and made my Skewed Flowers Dress first. Once I worked out my little kinks, I decided to take the plunge!

Now, I did make a few changes from my Skewed Flowers dress - most obviously the neckline. I love the keyhole and collar the pattern includes, but I think a cutesy collar on a dress covered in bright colored chairs would be a bit much. Just a personal judgement there. I actually just traced the Simplicity 2444 neckline onto my traced 1419 pattern piece - quick and easy change. I also really didn't want to have to figure out drafting a facing, plus I've had a problem with my dresses standing away from my back more than I like and I'm pretty sure it's due to the stiffness of the interfaced facing back there. This time, I decided to try bias tape on the neckline. I will admit it was a bit fiddly since I only had double fold bias tape on hand (and I was in to much a "quick satisfaction" mood to make any), but I made it there in the end. It's actually much easier than following all the directions for a traditional facing, plus I hate that facings always want to pop out, so I will certainly be employing the bias tape method on future makes :)

As you can see form the side view, I still have a bit too much fabric at the upper back. It drives me nuts. I hate that can't reach back there to pin everything in place just right, you know? My hunchback needs some assistance. Oh well - I'm going to look up how to address this before my next make. The back view ... I'm almost ashamed to show you because it shows the problem with the other change I made to the pattern. Honestly, the dress it too tight. I've worn it out now, and it did stretch out a bit so that it was more comfortable, but it tends to look a bit sausage-like in the back unless I'm standing just right (clearly I'm not standing just right in this photo). I also had just washed the dress and ironed it before taking these photos, so trust me it isn't always this tight. But good grief the zipper is actually stuck in a wonky position halfway down my back... and you can see the white line of the "invisible" zipper. Ugh. Maybe I'll lose weight someday, lol, just for this dress. My invisible zipper does look very good other than the tightness issue. The thing I changed was that last time around I had to add a tiny extra pleat to the front skirt to make my pieces match the bodice after all the alterations I had made, so this time I just figured I could cut the next size down in the skirt - apparently this was not a wise decision.

Not a lot of hanger-appeal to my dresses, lol.I think you can see the effort I made with pattern matching though. I knew I didn't have enough fabric to even try a seamless match up of the pattern, but I wanted to make sure the lines of chairs were consistent, and I paid particular attention to make the center front waist seam on the gray areas between the chairs. I think it came out really well :) This is my first official time pattern matching, so I'm pleased.

Close ups: I decided to use some chartreuse colored bias tape from my stash (left over from this Sorbetto) at the neckline just for fun. I love a little hidden pop of color and you don't see it from the outside at all. I followed the suggestion of a reader on my zipper and placed the top of the zipper tape just down from the seam edge - this caused a definite need for a hook and eye, but the zipper doesn't seem to make the dress want to pull away more, so that's a win :) My waistline seam is just ever so slightly off at the zipper, but it was so close that I couldn't be bothered to rip it out and try again. Also, my darts still don't line up from the bodice to skirt on the front due to all the changes I had to make to the pattern. One of these days I'll figure that one out.

Now for the other icky mistake - that picture above shows my side seam. Yeah, it totally doesn't line up from the bodice to the skirt. More than that, it's almost a full inch off! This is another issue I had from cutting the smaller skirt, so I will certainly not do that next time. When I ear the dress though, the print is so busy that no one has noticed this little flaw, plus let's be real I don't usually walk around waving my arms in the air, so I'm not that worried about it. It's just being documented for internet shaming purposes *sigh*.

So there you have it :) A new dress that I absolutely adore in spite of its issues. Seriously, how awesome is this fabric?! I just love it, and I know it will get lots of wear. Even The Gordo had to photobomb me so he could be seen near this dress, lol. Don't let that corgi smirk fool you. He loves the dress too.

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of Perfectly Perched Chairs fabric in Steel colorway by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman - $13.32 from Fabric.com (no longer available)
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 with Simplicity 2444 neckline
Notions: 22" invisible zipper - $1.50, thread - stash, chartreuse bias tape - stash
Hours: Approx. 5

FO: Skewed Flowers Dress

I'm here with a new dress today :) It's a bittersweet thing, sadly, but we will focus on the good parts first.

I put in a lot of time to fit Simplicity 1419 (talked about and pictures of alterations here). I decided that this pattern was worthy of serious fitting work because it would be a good block that I could make variations on - it has just straight waist darts and bust darts, so it would be great for all the novelty fabric I have waiting that has patterns in stripes. I wanted to make it up as-is too with the fancy collar and whatnot, so after altering the pattern for my "dowager's hump" (ugh, that's so depressing), thick waist, and hollow chest, I cut it out for real. This fabric is called Flori-logic by Pippa Moon for Studio E Fabrics that I picked up at my trip to The Sewing Studio this past New Year's Day. The fabric was in their clearance quilting cottons, so it was 50% off and then an additional 40% off of that, so I grabbed the last 3.3 yards on the bolt for just $11.00 - score! The collar is just white Kona Cotton that was in my stash from an old UFO.

Yay, pockets!

I really like this pattern overall - the instructions were surprisingly good for a "Big 4" pattern, and I really had no problems with any part of the actual construction. My only issues were with personal mistakes, of course. Likes, likes, Megan, talk about the likes first, lol. So, there are pockets! I love pockets, man. Everything is better with pockets. I really like the skirt on this - the pleats are very flattering, I think, and help the fabric lay flat over my tummy.  The bodice fit came out nice, and I love the sleeves. Hmm ... what else? I like that i can wear this belt with it to break things up a bit at the waist, lol.

So, what makes this dress "bittersweet" for me? Well, just take a gander at the photo below. I'll give you a hint - it's in the neck region ...

My keyhole in the neckline is totally slanting to one side! Ugh! I was seriously so ticked off when I noticed this problem. See, here is how it happened - in all my fitting changes to the bodice fit, I had to redraft the entire neckline and facings - the keyhole has a large facing that goes from the shoulders to around the keyhole, and the original was symmetrical. All I can think of is that when I was redrafting the new facing, I never folded it in half to make sure it was perfectly symmetrical - I just traced and trusted. Never do that! Always check, people! Learn from my cautionary tale so you don't look like a doofus who can't see straight when you sew. By the time I realized the slant, it was way too late to help since you have to cut into the bodice fabric to make the slit. The whole collar and keyhole was finished. I will confess - I have been too embarrassed to even wear this out of my house. I would feel compelled to lean to the side when I was near any other humans. *sigh*

Here's a close-up of the horrendous slant. Another screw up on my part - I accidentally put the collar pieces on upside down. I meant to have the interfaced side on the top, but then somehow I didn't pay enough attention and I put them in the opposite way. Ugh. I do like the collar though, and I know that it wouldn't be a big deal if I hadn't made the slant crooked. You probably wouldn't notice any problem with the collar if that hadn't happened. I used a gray satin covered shank button from my stash that I'm pretty sure came as an extra button on something someone else bought (my grandma kept all her buttons too and I inherited her stash). The gray matched pretty well, and I really just wanted the button to disappear. The last thing this neckline needs is another thing competing for the onlooker's attention, ya know? I was pleased with my sewing in all this process though, which is nice  to think of :)

Oh gosh, the back and side view. These pictures finally made me understand how Roisin of Dolly Clackett complains about her back looking derpy. Maybe it's that I now have a fitting diagnosis that I am, actually, a hunchback. I have awful posture, and that doesn't help. Also, the back collar has issues. Either way, I hate that back photo. I have a consistent problem with sewing zippers, and I may sound like a bonehead for asking, but it's never been explained to me. Do you put the top edge of the zipper tape along the edge of the fabric? Do you drop it down? I ask this because the zipper tape always ends up causing the back of my dresses to stand away from my (hunched) back. Hooks and eyes don't help, facings definitely exacerbate the issue, but I'm pretty sure that the underlying culprit is the damned zipper tape. If anyone could enlighten me on this, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, my zipper doesn't match up exactly on the collar - it was so frustrating, and I can only blame (yet again) my drafting issue since it made everything slant. It's not horrible (only about 1/4" if even that), and I have long hair, so I wasn't worried about it. I made a choice between having the top match or the waist seam match, and this area was easily hidden, so the choice was obvious to me.

My invisible zipper did go in beautifully, and I'm ridiculously proud of that :) Also, check out that waist seam matching action - ho yeah! As far as other details, I just turned and stitched the hem and the sleeves since the fabric has such a busy pattern. You really don't even see the thread.

So, there you have it. A dress. With a slanted cut at the neckline. It's a shame, because I really do like the dress other than that, so I am hoping that one day I decide to do a major hack and change the neckline to something more ... straight, lol. In the meantime, maybe I'll just look for a high collared sweater and keep it buttoned up all the way? I mean, it's a shame to not wear a dress that goes so well with my Swedish Hasbeens, right? I'm choosing to look at it positively as a learning experience - I most definitely learned the problems while making this! I'm hoping to use this pattern again with a plain neckline soon, so here's hoping I can put my new "knowledge" to good use :)

Summary:
Fabric: 3.3 yards of Flori-logic by Pippa Moon - $11.09, white Kona Cotton - from stash
Notions: 22" invisible zipper - $1.50, lightweight fusible interfacing - $0.25?, grey satin shank button - free
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 - $0.99
Hours: A lot - maybe 20 total?