Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Normally I have at least one daughter with me for Easter with a big family dinner at home.  This year all of my children and their families have gone their own way, so I had dinner out with my Mom and Sister.

I just wanted to share what I decided to wear for Easter services this year ~

My Vogue 1370 dress ~ all the information about the dress' construction is here. May I also say that in the past there was some serious foundation garments worn with this dress, as well as, some serious sucking in of my stomach. Now I'm only wearing control top pantyhose under the dress and can't believe how much better it fits. 

It's starting to warm up in my neighborhood so I went with something a little different. Normally I wear something pastel for Easter, but this year I wanted something a little more dramatic.

I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Easter Sunday filled with family, love and a little bit of the God you serve.  Me, I'm making a big bowl of popcorn and heading to the family room to watch The Ten Commandments because it just ain't Easter if Moses doesn't part the Red Seas!

...as always more later!  

Vogue 1370 Finished!

I'm just going to let the pictures speak on this one because you've seen all of the construction posts...and after that was is there left to say.  You all just want to see if the dress fits and works so here it is...

So following the advice given, we took to the sidewalk outside my home to take pictures during the cloudy/overcast part of the day on Sunday.  They all came out crappy.  Seriously crappy.  Most were unfocused...none worked on the Canon Rebel.  The outside shots included in this post were taken on my iPad.  The pics by the Christmas Tree were taken inside with the point and shoot.  To me they look the most like me...sad right?!? 

I will honestly tell you that I'm about disgusted with the Canon Rebel and the learning curve.  I would box it up and send it back BUT I keep thinking that if I finally get my act together some day I WILL be able to take pics by myself with the tripod and remote that I now own...something I can't do with the point and shoot.  So the Canon sits while my daughter and I will go back to taking pics with the point and shoot.

Honestly I need to lose 10 lbs for this dress.  There's a lot of sucking in going on here.  I have lost ten pounds recently due to a diet change dictated by my doctor.  But this dress is still tight.  I don't know what I did when I was making the pattern alterations because it was based upon my TNT dress. If I were to make this dress again, I would add an inch to the center of the dress front pattern piece to give me the additional needed space...if I make it again...which I highly doubt...not because it's not a great design but because this dress is so distinctive.

This fabric picked up every piece of lint around.  Of course it wasn't noticeable until we took these close up shots of the design features.  Will definitely have to lint roll this dress before wearing it out in public.

Back shot - I'm loving the inserts and the addition of the houndstooth to the sleeve bands, however, that invisible zipper could be better.  Please note that there is no vent in the hemline of this dress and walking around taking pics in it was fine.  I will have to see how this works in my everyday life.  Also in full disclosure, I will probably wear solid black heels with this dress at work...but when I wear the dress to church, the houndstooth heels will definitely be worn with it.

I've already moved onto constructing pieces of the Crazy 8 wardrobe...just wanted to share photos of me wearing the dress.  I think the dress has a lot of potential and if you're up for the challenge of sewing 14 pieces for a sheath dress...go for it!

...as always more later!

Slow Rolling on Vogue 1370

I know that I'm known for knocking garments out 1, 2, 3 and I've been seriously slow rollin' on this one.  I don't know if its because I made so many fall/winter garments so early in the season or if life is just squeezing out the desire to sew right now.  However, I can tell you that I could have finished the dress this weekend if I'd been sewing like I normally do.  I chose to take my time and not let sewing be the focus of this weekend.

I did take pictures of various parts of the construction and they are included here.  Modeled photos will show up sooner or later... 

The neckline was large and stretched out 

so I added a basting line to the neckline

Then after pulling the threads, I pressed the neckline 

back into shape.  This is just one way to do this.

I decided I wanted more houndstooth to show on the sleeve.

Inserting the lining into the dress shell

Adding rayon seam binding to the dress's hem

I had no more black ambiance lining

so I used a steel blue instead

Front of the dress lined

Still need the sleeves added 

and the dress hemmed

Back of dress with a curved zipper 

that somehow works when the dress is on.

I have a few Christmas pieces that I want to sew...but they are simple and may or may not make an appearance on the blog.  Most of the pieces now clamoring to the front of my brain and begging to be made are simple separates.  Garments that will go with pieces already living in my closet, so they will probably be quick sews.

I know that my blogging has been scanty of late and this will probably continue through the end of the year. Lately I just don't feel as if I have much to say and since I'm also not sewing, there aren't any blog posts.  Just don't want anyone to be concerned if it gets quiet here for a minute, I'm not giving up on blogging just taking some time to recharge.

To all who celebrate, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope it's filled with love, family, good food and afterwards time to sew!

...as always more later!

Vogue 1370 - Construction Notes

After getting all of the alterations made to the pattern pieces, the cutting out process was just as involved.  There are 14 pattern pieces for the dress all of which must be cut in a flat fabric layout.

The silhouette of the pattern, as well as, the inserts attracted me to this pattern.  I don't think the fabric chosen for the pattern by Vogue was the most stunning or achieved the most dramatic results.  I always saw the pattern in black and white, literally.  Black and white is on trend for fall and this combo produces the dramatic results I think this pattern needs.  So I started with a black double sided wool crepe from Mood.

There was some deliberation over whether to use the scraps of the black 'n white houndstooth wool used in this skirt and this dress...or a black 'n white lacey piece from the collection.  Seriously this piece has been in the collection so long that I have no idea where it came from especially since it's not tagged.  I was leaning towards the houndstooth, then when I was thinking about how I would wear the dress, I remembered my houndstooth shoes and that settled the matter. 


Once all of the pieces were cut out of the black wool double crepe, I cut out the houndstooth pieces. I fused a lightweight black fusible interfacing to the back of the houndstooth scrap prior to cutting the insert pieces out. I wanted to insure that the houndstooth and the wool crepe pieces were the same weight. Also since most of the insert pieces are curved the interfacing will help them hold their shape and assist with stabilizing the seams when sewn to the wool crepe pieces.

I started assembling the back of the dress first. Honestly I did this because the backs are smaller pieces. Putting this dress together is like doing one large jigsaw puzzle and it's important that you not force the pieces together. Each piece has to meet at either end or you throw the center back or side off.  This is NOT a pattern for a beginner or an advanced beginner. You definitely need some sewing experience to handle assembling this garment.

Which brings me to a comment that Nancy asked on the V1370 - Pattern Alterations post, "Could you not have taken your TNT pattern, traced it off, and then sketched the insets on it, just like the Vogue 1370?"  Actually I never even thought of that. That is a viable alternative.  However, I think it would be just as much work as the method I chose.  Even if you'd used either method, I still say that this is an intermediate to advanced sewist's pattern.

Left side with insert

Right side with insert

As mentioned in the construction post I did omit the dart in the left back piece. Although I thought I would make a pleat where the dart portion appears in the lower back so that it would match the insert piece. That didn't work. I ended up removing the pleat and had to hand baste the pieces together to make them fit before sewing them together with the sewing machine. I highly recommend basting sections to anyone else attempting to sew this dress. It gives you so much control and allows you to make sure that the pieces work together easily.

My other tip to anyone making this dress would be to use a lot of steam and liberal use of your clapper. Mine got a serious workout to help seams stay open and flat especially in the areas where the inserts merged. This steam/press was integral to making the inserts work in the dress. That and clipping the seams in stressful spots. I added quite a few more clips in the seams than the pattern instructions suggested.  Having added interfacing to the inserts, I was less worried about clipping those seams and weakening them than if the pieces hadn't been interfaced.

Finally a shot of the front of the dress with the inserts...

I made one change to the sleeves.  I added a 2" band of the houndstooth fabric to the hem of the sleeves. It lengthened the sleeve and made it hit a place on my arm that I like.  It also added some more of the houndstooth to the dress...a design feature that I wanted.

The rest of the dress will be assembled as per the instructions.  I'm adding a lining. However, since my wool crepe is thick I won't be using the fashion fabric inserts as the pattern instructions suggest, instead I will be using lining fabric to minimize the bulk in the back neckline area that I don't want.  

This is a complicated sew. I was wrong to suggest that it wasn't.  I've put about 8 hours of pattern alterations and cutting out the fabric into this and now another 8 hours of construction and I don't have the dress together yet. There is at least another 8 hours because I have to cut out the lining and stitch it together. Then assemble the dress and add the lining, finally doing all of the finishing touches.  I'm going to clock a good 24/25 hours before I finish this dress...so it's not an easy sew at all.

I'm not sure that I will do another post on this dress prior to it's reveal.  I think anything relevant can go in that last post.

...as always more later!

Vogue 1370 - Pattern Alterations

This pattern appears to be a simple silhouette with a few inserts.  Let me start out by saying, yeah right! *LOL*  There are 14 total pieces for the dress that includes the front and the right and left back pieces. I look at a pattern by comparing it to my TNT dress pattern because I always think of that as the basis to make any changes to a new pattern.

Vogue 1370

I started with a Vogue size 24. I can honestly say that if I hadn't had my TNT dress pattern to compare the pattern to, I would be lost.  There are quite a few inches difference between Vogue 1370 and my TNT pattern...which I know fits me with the right amount of ease and the correct proportions for my body. 

There were a number of alterations made to the patterns:

Changes to the front ~

1.  After laying all of the patterns on top of my TNT dress front pattern (which is getting pretty worn and will need to be traced again soon) there were so many things to change.  Trying to match the notches and dots on the pattern pieces, made me a little crazy, but I had to see how the dress was suppose to go together before I made any changes to the pattern pieces. It truly was a big old puzzle!

2.  After getting everything laid down, I started on one side and worked my way across.  I pinned the center front of the pattern pieces to the center front of my TNT dress pattern to use as a guideline and an anchor.
  

3.  This dress is short.  There is a 5.5" difference between the hemline of the pattern pieces and my TNT dress' hemline.  At first I was going to just add it at the hemline but then I decided to use the lengthen/shorten lines and add the length proportionally.  2.5" at the lengthen/shorten lines and 3" at the hemline.

4.  Thank goodness I had a plan because the alterations were really extensive all together especially on the front.  It took way longer to make them than I originally thought it would. I wanted to be accurate so the final dress will fit correctly.  Also, I needed to make sure that I added in all of the inches I needed without distorting the original style of the dress.

5.  Changed the dart where it appeared on the original right front pattern piece to where it is on my TNT pattern.  I just drew a new dart onto the pattern tissue after I'd enlarged the side seams so that they matched my own. But I didn't change the dart on the left side pattern piece ~ it fell into the same place on my TNT pattern, so I left it alone.

6.  There was only one piece on the front that I didn't change - #3 the insert piece.  Hopefully that won't bite me in the butt later! *LOL*

Changes to the back ~

*The changes to the back weren't quite as extensive as they were to the front.  It was more making sure that the left side and right side pieces were correct and adding a few inches to the sides.

*I also used the lengthen/shorten lines to add the 5.5" to the dress back.

*There are different changes to the left and right side back patterns.  One side required more changes than the other one did. There is a dart in the back left side pattern piece that I'm not transferring.  I don't normally use darts in the backs of my dresses and I won't in this one either.  This is a personal design choice. Another sewist may choose to use the dart.  I just hate back darts pointing at my bodacious behind. 


Final thoughts...
There was a lot of pattern alterations involved in taking this pattern from out of the envelope to matching the dimensions of my TNT pattern.  I used a lot of tape and small pieces of tracing paper.  There was so much work that I only did pattern alterations this weekend, never even turned my sewing machine on.  It took time because at times I stopped to think through what I was doing and I knew that I didn't want to rush the process.

Also, when I went to pull the fabric for this garment I ran into a small challenge. I couldn't decide between the black 'n white houndstooth or the black 'n white lace for the inserts.  I turned to Instagram for opinions but I'll ask here too since I haven't cut anything out yet.

Here is the collage. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments on which combo you'd choose and why.

Top left - black double wool crepe and houndstooth

Bottom right - black double wool crepe and lace

I will let you know what I finally decide since I'll be cutting the dress and sewing it next weekend.


...as always more later!