Finished Projects

Well, I said I'd get around to posting photos of my latest projects, and here they are. First up is Simplicity 3794... Again.

This time I made the skirt without the waistband. I know, I know, I made a big deal about the waistband the first time I made it, and I still think I prefer it with the waistband, but it's fine without it too. What happened was, I laid out the fabric to cut the skirt out, and I realised if I left off the waistband, I'd have just enough fabric left over to make the Princess a pair of capris. And the fabric is so cute, and it will match the white ruffled top from a couple of posts ago.

This pattern is so easy. I didn't even look at the instructions. I sewed my panels together, added a zipper and used bias tape to finish the waist. You could easily make this in an evening. I'll probably make it one more time and then look for another cute and easy skirt pattern.

The next finished item is Simplicity 2923, the new shirtdress.

This is a really cute dress. I love the seaming in the bodice and the sleeves. It's a really unique look for a shirtdress. It went together easily, too. I chose the stand collar because I like the clean simple look of it, the slim skirt beacause I thought it would be a nice look for work and because I have another project coming up with a full skirt, and the flat sleeves. I considered doing the long sleeves because my office is usually only a few degrees above zero, or so it seems, but I decided I really didn't like the long sleeves on the model. And although I really do like the puff sleeves, I have heavy upper arms and I thought the flat sleeves would be more flattering and comfortable.

I bought the pattern in the 6-14 range, thinking the 14 would fit me in the shoulders and it would be easy to add 1/2 inch to the side seams to approximate going up to a size 16. When I checked the finished measurements printed on the pattern pieces I freaked out a little bit and almost threw the pattern away because it looked like I was going to have to add a total of
FIVE inches to the waist to get it to fit! I decided to persevere, and I made a muslin of the bodice adding 1/2" to the side seams, 1/4" to the front (princess) seams, and gaining the remaining 2" by making the pleats shallower in the front and the back. After I tried it on, I decided I don't need as much ease as Simplicity thinks I do, and I redid the pleats the original depth, resulting in a total of 3" added to the waist. After all, I'm going to wear this with a belt cinched around my waist.

In the end, I ended up making the adjustments listed above, a 1" FBA, added 3/4" to the length of the bodice and made a sway back adjustment. I also had to slash the skirt front from waist to hem and add 1/2" of width to match the adjustments I made to the front seams.

After I sewed the skirt to the bodice, I ended up going back and shaving about 1/4" from the side seams at the high hip. The pattern was very curved there- a little bit too much for me- and I had a strange bubble of fabric at my high hip. That's definately not a place where I want to have a bubble! I still think I need to go back and taper the side seam a little more from the hip toward the hem. But it's not too noticable.

All in all, I like the dress. I think it would look great made up in denim with some fancy topstitching to enhance all of the great seaming. But I don't know if I will make it again. I have so many other patterns waiting to be made. Speaking of which, I better get back to the sewing room. I'm in the middle of Operation Straighten Up and Get Somewhat Organized Before Starting the Next Project!