Soooo, in my last post, I
And then...Since Jess of Sometimes Sewist made me complete my mini wardrobe, I needed a SUPER quick 5th piece. I decided on the Maria Denmark Kristen Kimono tee...in gray.
I've made this like 7 times so nothing new to add...well I did bands on the sleeve and hem to make it fast. And for the first time sewed them flat. I really liked this approach on the V1395 dress and on a casual item, I will definitely use the flat method from now on. I just did tiny stitches at the serged seam to keep it "down".
Laughing (HARD) at myself; I immediately redeemed myself by cutting another version of A1636...in a bright floral!
YAY! COLOR!
I had been looking for something like this for awhile and then Dina posted it here. I seriously went to WalMart the next day and bought it. I'll grab a couple more on my next trip and do a blog giveaway.
So this pattern is like, the most awesome. It's super awesome. Super, really awesome. WHY don't regular Simplicity patterns fit like these?! This is my 2nd SS pattern and they are made so well and have really good instructions. Sheesh.
Front, back (bodice and skirt), front and back facings, pockets (optional-more on that later). Easy. Easy. Easy. It is so well made that it would be great for a beginner!
I cut a straight size 14 and made no adjustments. NONE. It fits very well at the neck/shoulders and the armscye is like, perfect.
Both dresses are made from rayon challis from Fabric Mart. I only had 1.5 yards of the snake print so it got a little dicey. I ended up having to do bias tape for the armholes from solid black challis. The floral print doesn't have pockets because pockets took a lot of time on the first one. I spent about 4 hours on dress 1 and exactly 2.5 hours on version 2.
On BOTH dresses I miscalculated the width I needed on my bias tape and it doesn't cover the serged stitches. Oops.
The facings were sewn on, seams pinked, under stitched and I stitched in the ditch at the shoulders. I serged the loose edge. I will still need to tack it in a few places as it wants to move when I'm wearing it.
The pattern calls for 1/4" elastic but I used 3/8". I added 1/2" at the waist seam to account for the difference. Oh and it's kind of short. I don't know how long the finished length is but I know the hem is 1 1/4" and I did a 5/8" narrow hem. It's not too short but it's short.
And for kicks...
My daughter said "Mom, that's weird". hahahaha!
I'm going to be traveling but do have a couple of posts scheduled; a collage of my Mini Wardrobe and my July wrap-up.
Have a happy sewing weekend!!!
