Week 5 of 17 - Part 3

Well the air conditioning was finally fixed this morning and I've been in air conditioned splendor all day.  However, to hedge my bets I took a trip to Wal-Marts for fans.  How is it that I never leave that place without 18 more things than I came in for?!  Does this happen to anyone else? *LOL*

Lunch with my mom and daughter...plants placed on the balcony...several of the 18 things I didn't go to Wal-Marts for...and it was boiling by the time we got home!  Thankfully the air conditioning was working but I was pooped.  A late night, an early morning and too much heat meant I needed a nap!

So I finished the dress up later this evening.  Here is a headless shot...just didn't feel like hair and make-up:

Some stats:

Fabric:
black/white doubleknit print from Fabric Mart
white ponte knit from fabric.com

Notions:
20" invisible zipper
4 yards of black satin piping

Construction:
1.  Additional space was added to the abdomen and hip area by slicing through the center front line on the front pattern piece and spreading 1/2" (in the abdomen area) to 5" at the hemline.  This was also done to the left side front piece since it is secured to the dress at the side seams.

2.  1/2" was added to the center back of the dress piece.

3.  Sleeve pattern was altered to accomodate my bodacious biceps and lengthened from the original cap sleeve.  One sleeve was cut from the black/white print and one from the white ponte knit.

Sewing Changes:
*I added piping which is not included in the original design.  But since I used two different fabrics, I felt I needed something to define and tie the two fabrics together.

*The dress pattern is shorter than I like so I ended up serging the hem and leaving it.  You can barely tell that the hem is unfinished.

*The pattern instructs you to use bias binding to finish off the front edges of the dress.  I used a roll of unfolded bias tape that I had on-hand.  I encased the piping by folding the bias binding around it.  All of the bias binding was then hand stitched down.

Another shot of the dress:

I won't be wearing this dress this week...we have some pretty important meetings and I need to look banking professional...so I won't know how it will wear.  However, even with my alterations the dress is close-fitting...alot more close-fitting than I normally wear my clothing.  Because of that, I don't know if I will actually use this pattern again...although, it is a different type of dress than I normally make.

All constructions pics, can be seen in my Flicker Album.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get to sew more or all of what I had actually planned.  Which is funny because this time I thought I planned conservatively...only 2 garments instead of the 4 I would normally have thought I could make.  But it is one more finished garment in the closet and available to wear to work...so I'm grateful!

...as always, more later!