I apologize. I know it's been awhile. I have been so busy with school that I have neglected the blog. I have been sewing though! I have numerous projects to tell you about once I take pictures! I have even written the posts and am just waiting for me to add the pictures (which requires another person to take the photos). In the mean time, I can tell you about a project that I have started but have not finished. Alex's school is hosting what we call boat prom on December 5th. It is essentially a dance with a similar formality of prom that is being held on a boat (hence the nickname). Alex is limited to his dress blues for attire. I decided to use a pattern that I had made before, about a year ago : B5882, Gertie's shelf bust dress. I had previously made this gorgeous dress for convocation/fall senior dinner last year in a cute pink and brown damask with a brown contrast. Since boat prom is in New England winter, I thought a nice navy stretch velveteen would be an appropriate fabric and I picked a white satiny fabric for the contrast. About a month and a half ago I saw a post on WeSewRetro.com displaying Rocksie Belmont's first self drafted dress. She sewed pleats into the skirt as a pop on contrast: Genius! I thought that a pleated skirt like that would fit into this dress so well. So there I was, with a solid plan and a slight clue of what kind of undertaking I was getting myself into. I bought my fabric during a trip to Joann with Alex. A benefit of taking him with me was I made him carry the bolts around the store as I decided on fabric, a zipper, thread, ribbon, and boning. That's what big football players are for, right? I pinned all of the pattern paper to the fabric and cut out the pieces in my dorm room, taking up most of our floor in doing so. My biggest mistake thus far has been possibly the two worst fabrics I could have paired together. Velveteen is difficult to work with because of the pile but I selected STRETCH velveteen. Not only do I have to deal with the pile but I also have to worrying about the seams puckering. I also selected a very slippery fabric for the contrast and lining. The pleated shelf bust detail was very tedious and stressful. However pairing a non stretch with a stretch with help me in the long run and I will get to that later... |
Construction of the dress was fairly easy because I had done it before. I pinned the heck out of everything and made sure not to create hypertension on the velvet when sending it through my machine. Sewing the skirt seams took quite a long time due to the 11 seams and then going back to topstitch all 11 seams. After finally sewing all seams together and staystitching the pleats into place, I immediately knew the skirt would be too large for my waist. I decided to put that to the side for now and construct the bodice. The lining has boning in the seams (unfortunately the cheap plastic kind rather than steel coil. A girl's gotta pay tuition!). After finishing the bodice, I pinned it onto myself and gauged how much I would have to take it in. Compared to the last time I made this dress, my measurements have not changed and my weight has not changed but I have magically dropped from a size 16 to a size 14 (for readers who are outside of the sewing world, that translates to about a size 8 and 6). I took in both the bodice and skirt at the side seams and inserted the zipper. I like the fit at the bust but my under bust torso and waist are looser that I would like. I am devising a plan to take in the bodice and skirt without having to redo the zipper (I hate zippers...). I will then attach the waist stay and the straps. Once I verify the fit is how I want it, the only think left is the hem! I plan on wearing the petticoat that I made to accompany my prom dress to give the skirt so oomph while also relieving some of the weight so that the bodice and waist are not stressed as much.