Simplicity 2659

Danye's wedding bolero is finished!

Her inspiration garment was this one

but she wanted cap sleeves and more coverage in front.  I think we came pretty darn close!

You can see the lines a little better from the back.  We used Simplicity 2659 as our starting point, but eliminated the pleats on the collar, shortened the sleeves a little and reshaped the back hemline to reveal the buttons at the back of the dress.  I also omitted all the topstitching and fully lined it.  The sleeves are kimono style and the collar is in one piece with the front pieces, which was the trickiest part of the assembly.  It was actually quite easy to sew.  My walking foot made this slippery fabric much more manageable.

I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get the structure of the collar, but all it took was some Pro-Weft interfacing!  The fashion fabric is taffeta, which is crisp on it's own, and the Pro-Weft adds just enough body to give it structure without losing softness.
Danye will be able to pick it up Friday, and I hope she's as pleased with it as I am!

Simplicity 2659: The muslin

I've got a few weddings this season that I am sewing for.  The first upcoming is actually just some alterations to a bridesmaid's dress - I'll show you that when I finish.  The other is a bolero jacket for a lovely bride who found her dream dress, but needs to cover her arms and shoulders, as it is strapless.  I'm making her a bolero to wear over the dress.

This is her inspiration photo, although she wants her sleeves to be cap length.  For the pattern, she has chosen Simplicity 2659, which is an OOP wardrobe pattern with a short bolero with a wide pleated collar.  I'll remove the pleats from the collar, shorten the sleeves and shorten the bodice in back to reveal the buttons along the back of her dress.  I whipped up a quickie muslin to determine the exact changes we'd need to make and to check for fit.

Isn't she cute?!  The fit is great out of the envelope - how awesome is that!  The two folds under her bust are just from the tucking I did in back, not a fit issue.

Here you can see that I folded up the sleeve and CB to the length she wants.  Other than eliminating the pleats on the collar, these are the only changes I'll need to make, so as soon as I finish the bridesmaid alterations, I'll cut this out.  The dress came with a wide, long sash that Danye won't be using, so I'll be cutting the jacket from that.  Fun!