Monday, July 06, 2009

Butterick 5347


...or why I hate invisible zippers!

No seriously, I like the dress! The hardest part was inserting the blankety-blank zipper and I know that was entirely operator error!

When this dress first appeared on Butterick's website, I knew I wanted to make it. I liked the clean simple lines...the fact that it would work well for summer yet be professional enough for my office...and being a girl who likes a little bling...just a little...I could see one amazing button at the neckline of the dress.

I decided to use View A for this version because I preferred the rounded neckline over the v-neckline. I also think this dress will make a great jumper for fall. Construct it out of a tropical wool or a wool crepe, add a lining and wear it with a turtleneck and boots and it will be awesome! So even though it is a little too distinctive to make again for a summer dress...I will try to fit a version of it into my fall/winter sewing.

Now originally I planned to make the dress from this yellow paisley print. And that was my plan until I laid the fabric on the cutting table and realized that I had purchased just 2 yards of 45" wide fabric...ummmm, it wasn't happening. I CAN NOT get a dress out of 2 yards of 45" fabric. 2 yards of 60" fabric - YES! The other...no way! So what to do? Since I had abandoned the idea of a third B4980 jacket in the yellow linen...I used that instead.

Some stats:

Fabric:
2.5 yards of yellow linen
2 yards of Ambience lining

Notions:
3 yards of beige hem tape
22" invisible zipper

Construction Changes:

*The hem on the original dress is pegged. While this is a very slimming look, I know that I look better in an A-line skirt. So I extended the side seams from the waistline adding 2" to both the front and back pattern pieces.

*I also added a lining. It was added after I tried the dress on and realized that I could see through the linen. I made new pattern pieces for the lining and sewed it to the facings and then hand stitched it down to the zipper.

*Added an invisible zipper instead of a center back zipper like the instructions say to do.

That was it. This is a pretty easy sew. When I looked up this pattern on PR, I found several examples but what struck me was that someone said they didn't add a button, they left it alone and wore the top of the dress with different pins. That really stuck with me because I love pins and have quite a few of them. I loved them pre-Michelle Obama...especially love them now!

So a few examples of the different pins that I can wear with this dress:




Pearl view



Green floral

More pics of other choices are in my Flickr album!

This weekend I finished up two more pieces of the Gelato Collection. I still have three more to go. I just refuse to not use the yellow paisley fabric...so it will become a straight lined skirt. To me it seems to be taking forever to finish this collection especially since I know what I want to work on next!

As always...more later!


31 comments:

  1. You look fabulous! That color looks great on you!

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  2. I love the pin idea so you can change the embellishment of the dress depending on your mood.

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  3. Wonderful dress - and I love the idea of changing pins. This could also be a necklace dress, if you're a necklace person.

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  4. Your funny I can't believe you think this project has taken you a long time. Seems to me you burn right thru this project. Love the yellow linen in this dress. So fresh and pretty. Love the collection of pins on the front. Very cute.

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  5. Very Pretty! You should take off your glasses for the pictures. The glare hides your sweet face!

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  6. I love the idea of using different pins! And I love your choices.

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  7. Nice dress. Interchangable pins for closures is a great idea.

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  8. Very nice! Beautiful construction, and I like your idea to add the interchangable bling at will.

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  9. Beautiful dress, beautifully made, and the color is just fabulous on you. I love the pins too, what a great idea.

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  10. Love,love ,love the yellow and the idea of wearing a pin instead of putting in a button. Wow! Are you ever sewing up a storm!. Hope you had a lovely July 4th holiday.

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  11. You look fabulous and I love the pin at the neckline....

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  12. Love the yellow dress. I like the open gold broach the best, I think, although they all look great so I guess it will depend on what you throw over it. You are gonna look so cool this Summer. g

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  13. Great idea accessorizing with pins like that. I think maybe I need to add some pins to my collection...

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  14. You look fantastic in yellow. I need to make something similar for myself because I have a few vintage pins that don't get enough wear - if I had to fasten my dress with them, they'd come out of the box more often.

    Fabulous, as usual.

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  15. I love an opportunity to wear my fabulous brooches! Great pattern.

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  16. Love the dress and neckline pin. That is a beautiful color on you, Carolyn. Wonderful job!

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  17. Great dress! I just love all the colors of this collection. Nice idea with the pins.

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  18. Gorgeous color. Dress looks wonderful on you.

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  19. I've been watching the creation of your gellato collection and am just so impressed! You can really rip out the beauties at a magnificent pace. Bravo! What an inspiration!

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  20. This color looks superb on you! Gorgeous!

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  21. This dress is on my short list too. Did you actually use the pattern and alter or did you take the pleat design detail and draft it onto your TNT pattern? I think I'm going to just steal the design detail, cuz I hate having to alter patterns when I already have something so similar that fits.

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  22. A fantastic dress! I love the different pin idea and what pretty ones you have pictured here.

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  23. I'm sure the skirt will be just as fabulous as the dress is. You must be the best dressed in your office.

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  24. Now that is fabulous - I love the idea of changing out the brooch to make it different everytime you wear it. You look great in it!

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  25. Your dress is a great backdrop for highlighting your pins. I love the colors of the fabric you are sewing these days. The yellows, greens, and creams. It looks like your are putting together a nice "SWAP" wardrobe

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  26. The way you finish the inside of your garments is just awe-inspiring! Great attention to detail!

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  27. This is one great collection! The dress is smart and the jackets are perfect summer coverups.

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  28. I guess you should know that it's because of you I'm sewing again. I had convinced myself that at my middle-age (complete with middle-age spread), sewing was in the past.

    I love reading about your adventures--yes, even with an invisible zipper--and enjoy the fact that you take pleasure in sewing and creating nice things for yourself.

    A jacket is still in progress on the desk, the skirt's hanging on the door--all getting ready for my son's wedding in two weeks. Of course there was nothing at the mall, and I'd been reading your blog and this gave me the encouragement to reacquaint myself with an earlier pleasure: sewing.

    I just wanted to say thanks.

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  29. Carolyn, I always enjoy reading about your sewing adventures. You are a true inspiration. I do have what is probably a beginner's question.....what does a "pegged hem" mean? Why would it be more slimming (I need all the help I can get there!)

    Thanks!

    Teresa

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  30. What a fantastic dress! I love how you customized it with different pins! It's a show stopper!

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