Sunday, May 18, 2014

Finished Item: Simplicity 1699

I got this dress so far. SO FAR! And then nothing. So I had to hustle to get it finished.

I originally bought this pattern for the jacket (I need to revisit it because I like it!!). Yet as I looked for reviews of the jacket I saw tons for the top and dress. And now, I totally want one :)

For DD, I used a size 10 and did a 3/8" broad back adjustment.
I ended up needing to sew the bodice with 7/8" side seams, but left the skirt with 5/8" seams.
*Can anyone tell me why the skirt would have a center front seam instead of being cut on the fold?
 Facings can just be silly and fiddly and I knew a facing on what was still for her a casual dress would be a total fail. I used bias binding instead.
There is some detail happening at the sleeve that I don't think I executed correctly or very well. Eh...

At the last 'fitting', she walked past me and I asked, "uhmm, are your undies striped?" yeah...the skirt needed lining!

The fabric is a very pale mint with a pretty flower detail. There is texture to the flowers...they're raised in some places.

I had a perfect minty colored poly pongee (yay $1 sale at FabricMart!) in the stash. I finished this dress late Friday night. I was totally going to hem the lining but just used my Gingher(!) pinking shears on it and she was *IN LOVE* with the pinking!

It was hilarious!!! She thought it was "SO FANCY!"...so needless to say I did not need to hem the lining - SCORE!

Sewing for her is interesting. I have to balance wanting to make a garment I'm happy about with her wants. She did not want a blind hem (that's weird). She wanted a visible zipper but really thought the lapped zipper was cool. Etc.
I totally still think of her as a fat baby sitting on the counter eating chicken...


Speaking of lapped zippers...WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THEY AREN'T THAT COMPLICATED?!?

I tried to sew a lapped zipper last March and April and it was horrible and I never tried again! When I got ready to tackle this one I was apprehensive. Then something clicked and I looked at the instructions (pretty dang good!) and thought, hmm...it's kinda sorta like a fly zipper! Easy as pie. 

(I interfaced both sides of the zipper area for stabilization)

Another skill under my belt!

I wore my Winter Street Dress to the banquet. During dinner, one of the women at our table complimented my dress (hey, she even knew that it had inverted pleats!). I said thank you and kept eating. My daughter did an "ahem...and where did you get it?"...So mouths dropped, people were amazed and it was pretty friggin awesome! :-D

Fun times!
I need (YES I DO!) a couple tees/tanks to get ready for the warm weather. She won't stop about her Burda jacket though so I think I will make that my project this week. I can get the bulk done and hopefully finish over the long weekend.

*The bonus? This was an $11 dress.

Fashion fabric from SR Harris: $9.00 for 2 yards
Pongee lining from FabricMart: $1 for 1 yard
Zipper from SR Harris: $1
Bias binding from stash
Pattern used before