Finished Project - One last summer dress

On a trip to Fabricana in early July, I was supposed to only get some swatches of fabric for a special project...But of course, I fell into the remnant bin and came out with 3 random pieces of fabric.

One of them was this pink/purple cotton with a mix of tie-dye and batik print. I couldn't resist. I knew it was going to be my last summer dress of the year.

 

The piece was fairly small (about 115x140cm), so I had to keep it simple. I really wanted an easy dress, the kind that you just slip on on hot summer day, that's effortless and breezy, and doesn't need any addition. 

It had to be sleeveless, but I wanted to be able wear it to work, so I ruled out spaghetti straps, and I didn't want something too loose or flowy - the fabric has a nice body and wouldn't really work as well with a flowy shape anyway.

I had a lot of criterias in mind but couldn't decide on an actual silouette.

I actually looked at a lot of dresses online, hoping to pinpoint what I really wanted, and thinking I would know it when I saw it, which didn't totally happen. Eventually though, i decided it would have a v-neck and some sort of a mock-wrap bodice - I couldn't do a real wrap since I didn't have enough fabric.

For the pattern, I decided to go with pattern 108 from April 2010 of Burda magazine, which matched my idea of faux-wrap with the under-bust seam. The main design detail on that pattern are the pleats, which I removed completely by taping them out on the pattern piece. The pattern starts with size 38, so I had to grade down to a size 36.

For fit alterations, I did my usual:

-Sway back alteration

-forward shoulders adjustment

-back shoulder dart to prevent armhole gaping

-took in at the the center back seem 

-lowered bust dart by 1.5 cm

For design changes I:

-left out the sleeves and didn't add seam allowance on the armholes, so that the shoulders would end up a bit narrower.

- designed a low neckline in the back.

 

I wanted it to be a fast and simple project, aka, no muslin. I've been using the swedish-type tracing paper, which is great for pattern fitting, since it doesn't tear.  I was able to check the fit by pinning the pattern pieces together and putting them on, and it was actual quite good right off the bat.

I didn't have to adjust the bust length as I often do, and I didn't need a small bust alteration either. There were actually some pulling lines under the bust, which I managed to get rid of by lowering the bust darts about 1.5 cm.

I cut the fabric and basted all the piece together to check the fit in the fabric. The fit of the front was actually very good, if only a little loose, but I was ok with it.

I decided though that I wanted the neckline a little lower, so i recut it.

Then I proceeded to sew the garment for good.

Unfortunately, once all sewn back up, i realized the neckline was now massively gaping on the right side. Not sure what happened, I cut both side symmetrically, or so I thought, but somehow something went wrong. To fix that I had to slip the left bust piece to hit higher on the righ side, to get rid of the gapping. This meant I had to take in a good 2cm on the left side below the bust seam, tapering down to nothing at the hem, to accomodate for the now offset pieces.

In the end, the fix worked. The dress is slightly more fitted than I originally intended, which is actually fine as I can wear it without a belt. It does mean that the main front piece is now technically a little off-grain, so i guess the side seam could start turning after I wash it a few times. This is a pretty sturdy cotton fabric with no stretch though, so I'm hoping it won't happen.

The neckline ended up slightly off (the point of the V is not quite centered), but it's not too noticeable.

I did french seams on the inside and finished the neckline and armhole with bias tape and top stitching - I'm actually quite pleased with my finishing of the neckline point, it's very neat.

In the end, I'm very happy with this dress, it's pretty much what I had in mind (even though I wasn't quite sure what I had in mind). the faux wrap is barely visible (but I know it's there! )

I made sure to complete this dress just before flying to Montreal for a long week-end at the end of August, as I knew Vancouver weather was already getting too cool, and that week-end might be one of the last opportunities to wear it before fall came.

These photos were in fact taken last tuesday on what seems to have been the very last day of summer, as the rain has now started to fall on Vancouver.

 

Bias Tape Finish for Sleeve Hem

I was looking for a neat way to finish the hem of the sleeves on my tunic, and because I like to experiment a bit, I decided not to follow Burda's instructions. So instead of simply turning the seam allowance in and sewing in place, I tought I would use Amanda's technique of bias tape finishing.

I also wanted to have the side seam nicely finished as well, and because I didn't do french seams to start with (don't ask me why), I figured I would also do a bias tape finish on the seam allowances, rather than my usual zigzag stitch.

Because it's actually more of a shoulder drop than an actual sleeve, the sleeves hem line is basically aligned with the side seam. So I decided to finish the sleeve hem line and the side seam allowance with one long piece of double folded bias tape made out of the same wooven (cotton) fabric.

This method is probably not the best way to go, but again, I thought I would try something different, and see if the end result was ok.

So this is how I did it (hopefully the photos are clear enough):

First I used a basting stitch on the hem line to make it visible on both side.

I measured a piece of bias tape that would be long enough to run from the bottom hemline along the side seam, all the way around the sleeve's hemline then back along the side seam to the bottom.
I unfolded one side of the bias tape and pinned it's fold mark to the hem line, right sides together. I started at the top of the sleeve (the shoulder) and worked my way around the armhole. I left the rest of the bias tape kind of dangling on each side for now. Then I sewed in place and pressed.

I removed the basting thread, and trimmed the seam allowance on the sleeve and the side seams.
Next I folded the bias tape over the seam on the right side, then turned the garment to the wrong side (inside out) and folded the tape again over the seam allowance. I pressed to hold in place.

Next I turned the tape to the inside and pinned in place on the right side.
At this point I also brought the dangling pieces of tape to the inside, and pinned about 2 inches of it to the seam allowance below the armhole to make sure it would align correctly. Then I topstitched the tape in place, about 3/8 of an inch from the hem line.

After that I pinned the rest of the tape to the side seam allowances and sewed in place.

Finally, I topstiched across the base of the armhole, joigning the start and end points of the sleeve's topstich for a neat finish.

And voila ! I am pretty happy with the result, as on the inside it creates one clean line from top to bottom. On the outside you can't see the difference from a simple folded hem.

It does make the seam allowances a bit thicker, obvisouly, but not so much that it would bother me. I used 1" double folded bias tape but maybe that's too wide and 1/2" would have been better.
On white fabric it doesn't show so much but I am thinking it could be a nice way to finish a garment with contrasting color on the inside (that only you know about !).

Anyway, feel free to let me know what you think of this method. Do you think it's a waste of time or that there are better ways to finish, or do you think in this case it works ?

Making My Own Bias Tape and Floral Silk

I have been very inspired by Amanda and decided from now on to finish my seam allowances with bias tape rather than the zigzag stitch on my machine. For my current projects, I thought I'd make my own bias tape from the extra fabric I had.

The first time I tried to make bias tape was actually over 10 years ago, for a linen dress that I never finished (probably didn't have as much patience back then). I had to fold it all by hand, and burnt myself with the iron many times, never succeeding in getting both sides even and eventually gave up on even sewing it onto the garment...

So with that memory in mind, I was psyched when I discovered the existence of this little gadget and how much easier it would make the whole process.

I went to Dressew and snatched a 2-pack with both the 1/2 and 1" maker for a couple CAD. They didn't have the Clover brand, but I thought the one I got would work just as well...
I was not impressed by the variety of bias tape they had though, not an incredible amount of color and/or fabric to chose from.

I also picked up a measuring gauge for .99 (my first inch-measuring device ! Everything else I have is in cm...) and an adaptable zipper foot for my machine (for $.25 !), that looked thinner than the default one I have and might allow me to sew closer to the zipper for "even more invisible"zippers...

Back to the tape, I am working on 2 different projects at once (photos coming soon). For the top I made bias tape from the same fabric, and for the skirt I used a scrap of black stretchy cotton I had in my stash.
I actually used two different method for the cutting process, the one from Colette Pattern's Tutorials, and this one form Prudent Baby, which makes the whole cutting and sewing much faster...

As a side note, the fabric that most attracted my attention this time around at Dressew was these gorgeous silk chiffon slod for $14.99/m:

I don't think that I am ready yet to try my hands at sewing silk but it would certainly make beautiful dresses or tops, with styles such as these:

BWOF March 2010 and February 2009

BWOF July 2008 and July 2006