Sew Chic 7401 - the Myrtlewood

Have you ever had a project that you Just. Couldn't. Stop.  That happened last night.  All of the pieces were prepared and the dress was ready to be assembled, and I just HAD to do it.  So I did!

I wore it to church today, and got some very positive feedback from those who knew it was in progress.  I'm very happy with the way that it turned out.  Mitch was dubious about it when I started the project, but he really loved it when he saw it on this morning.  It a winner!!

I'm making a funny face, but you can see the dress better in this shot.  Turns out that I really love the bow after all.  I'm so glad that I took y'alls advice and put it on!  It really makes a difference in the look of the dress.  And I don't feel frou-frou in it.  Actually, wearing it was a total pleasure today.  It is comfortable, easy to move in (and jump in Logan's Primary class!) and since I made it in a cozy wool, I was the only person who was warm enough in church today.

Let me tell you about this pattern.  It was designed by Laura Nash at Sew Chic (formerly Nostalgic) Patterns.  You can get your own here, as well as peek at her other wonderful designs.  This pattern is beautifully drafted and the instructions are very complete.  Since diagrams aren't included, I did refer to my trusty Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing to help me out with the sleeve gussets.  I'd never done them before and wanted a pictorial reference.  Laura's instructions were spot on though and I'd have done fine without the diagrams, I think.  The only place I had a little trouble was in assembling the hip sash. It is pleated and then basted onto a stabilizing layer of lining fabric, but I never did figure out what I was supposed to do with the fashion fabric at center front as there didn't seem to be a seam allowance there.  Since the FF is cut on the bias, I just seamed it with the tiniest SA possible and then stretched it to fit the underlayer.  It worked out fine.  I'll write a  more complete review on PR, but that is the gist of it.

I added a full lining with the help of Connie Long's Easy Guide to Sewing Linings.  I initially thought I'd use the quick lining method, but the front facings are cut on, so I ended up doing a traditional sew in lining.  It went in beautifully, and I am feeling pretty good about the skills right now!

Here is the lining.  It is so awesome.  I'm going to be adding a lot more linings from now on!

Whew!  I was really starting to feel like this project was lagging, so I was so happy to really get jazzed about it yesterday.  Tomorrow, on to some tops and a new month - with new goals!  Onward and upward!

Myrtlewood muslin

Well, I got the muslin for the Myrtlewood dress put together.   It took me quite a while, mostly because the kimono sleeves have underarm gussets, which I've never done before, so I took my time trying to learn how to insert them.  I'm definitely going to need more practice before I do the real dress!

I'm just doing the bodice, since the skirt is a simple straight skirt, and I'll just tissue fit that.  I am pleasantly surprised at how good the fit is out of the envelope.

According to the envelope measurements, I am an 8, but that is based on my upper bust.  Since the design has a bit of extra ease at the bustline, I don't think I'll need an FBA, but there are a few drag lines around the bust I'm not sure about.

Sorry about the blurry-ness, but you can see the lines that point to my bust point, right along the line where I might add a dart if I were to do an FBA.  What do y'all think?  Side darts and kimono sleeves don't seem like a good combo to me, but I'm not sure of another way to fix those lines.

I did let out the back darts just a smidge, based on my tissue fit on my dress form, who is slightly bigger than me.

I think it looks pretty good in the pictures, so I think I'll keep it this way, but I'll be trying it on a lot as I go.

I did manage to get all of the other things I need to make the dress at the MLK sale at Hancock.  I decided on a dark brown dull satin for the hip sash and coordinating dark brown lining and buttons.  I also got the shoulder pads, which I needed for the tissue fitting. They make me feel like a linebacker.

Here is how it looks without them.  Yeah, I'm thinking I'll get used to them.

Conveniently enough, the copy of Connie Long's Easy Guide to Sewing Linings that I ordered last week arrived yesterday.  I'm planning on using her "quick lining" method to line this dress.  My wool fashion fabric is beautiful, but it sure is itchy!

ETA (1/19 @8:10AM) So after staring at these pictures this morning, it occurred to me that maybe those drag lines weren't pointing to the bust, but actually were pointing to the shoulder!  I noticed that although I don't like the shape of the bodice without the shoulder pads, the fit is actually better.  So, I let out the shoulder seam a bit.

Look!  I think I fixed it!  Thoughts?