Vogue 8666 - Wearable Muslin Finished

...and I learned alot from making this dress...

1.  Undergarments are my friend.  The proper ones really make this dress work...using my regular old work undergarments...ummm, not so much!

2.  I know why no one else has reviewed this pattern because there is no way that this dress would stay up on your shoulders without some assistance.  It's working poorly in this dress and I have figured out a fix for my Birthday Gala Dress.

3.  That I can't wear this 'wearable muslin' to work - I need a date to wear this puppy!  It's showing some serious cleavage!  And everything I put under it to make it work wearable...ain't working! *LOL*

Seriously tho' here is a pic of the dress and me in full hair and make-up:

Now some stats:

Fabric:
Black doubleknit from Metro Textiles

Notions:
9" zipper
black knit binding

Construction:
After the extensive pattern alterations, the actual sewing of the dress was a let down.  I guess there is a lesson there but I did take a few liberties. 

*First I omitted the waistline fisheye darts.  I don't do abdomen darts...so there was never any chance of them being in the dress. 

*I also omitted the darts in the back...again I don't do darts that point to the fact that my behind is so well endowed. 

*I also omitted the lining.  I know that I should put a stretch lining with a stretch fabric and didn't have any that I thought was up to par with the dress.  Instead I used more of the knit binding to finish the neckline edge, as well as, stay tape to insure that it didn't stretch out of shape.

*I was concerned about the apex of the hip seam somehow reinforcing the width of my hips but with a lot of steam and several good whacks with my clapper, I slapped those seams into submission!

*The alterations to the sleeve totally worked!  I have to admit that I'm a little proud of that fact...

Now a few things I will do differently. 

1.  The Birthday Gala dress will be lined.

2.  The lace in the back will have a button closure and some kind of tie to hold the shoulders together.  I don't want to fidget with the shoulders all night.

3.  I am going to add a little more flare to the skirt bottom so it will have a little swirl factor.

4.  I am looking for a lace with an embroidered edge so that I won't have to hem the sleeves.

5.  I will need a new extra hold all-in-one, as well as a higher pair of strappy black sandals. I think I'm going to need a little more height to carry this dress off successfully.

The great thing about making the wearable muslin is that I got a great idea of how I actually look in this dress and how I want to proceed.  It will hang in the closet waiting for an opportunity to come out and shine...so here's one last look at it.

...as always, more later!

Vogue 8666 - Pattern Alterations

I'm making this version of the dress to see if I want to use this pattern for my Birthday Gala Dress.  It is a slim fitting dress and the pattern only goes up to a size 20 so alot of pattern alterations were needed to get this to fit my body.

Of course I started these pattern alterations with my TNT dress pattern.  I know this fits so why reinvent the wheel!  However, I usually slice my sleeve pattern pieces down the center and add a seam to add width at the bicep area of the sleeve.  But since I want lace sleeves on the Birthday Gala Dress, I really wanted a one piece sleeve so that I don't have to piece the lace.

Sleeve Alterations:
So the sleeve alterations were the most involved in this project.  The first thing that I did was to lay the sleeve from my TNT dress pattern down on the cutting table.  Then I placed the sleeve from the V8666 dress on top of the TNT sleeve.  On top of that I placed a piece of pattern paper ~ making a pattern sandwich.  I traced the sleeve cap of the V8666 sleeve and the sides of the TNT sleeve (for the bicep width) onto the pattern paper.

After I had the new sleeve pattern, I did a tissue fit and realized that it was still a little tight.  So I sliced the sleeve pattern from the hem to 1/2" below the top of the sleeve cap and spread the sleeve to add another inch.  I added paper and taped it down.  Then I put another piece of pattern paper over this sleeve because even though the bicep width was now perfect the sleeve hem was way too large!

For the third version, I traced the sleeve cap and the sides of the sleeve down an inch past my fullest bicep measurement.  Then I started to remove some of the excess width from the forearm and sleeve hem. 

I did a few tissue fittings with the pattern until I had the correct width at the bicep, the forearm and the sleeve hem.  Pictured below is the final sleeve pattern piece that I will use for the wearable muslin version of the dress. I believe this piece will work with the lace for the Birthday Gala Dress, too.

Now a disclaimer ~ my sleeve pattern is a little skewed looking.  It does not look like the perfect pattern pieces that come out of the envelope...BUT it is perfect for my arms.  So if it looks a little funny, that's because it's fitted to me!

Front & Back Pattern Pieces:

The Front and Back pieces were less involved.  The main front piece was easy to copy.  Making the pattern copying sandwich, I placed the center front lines of both the TNT dress pattern and the V8666 pattern pieces together, laid a blank piece of pattern paper on top and traced a new front pattern piece out.  The same procedure was done for the main back piece, too.

The side front and back were a little more challenging to enlarge.  But basically I just added two inches to the sides of each piece to make them work. 

Normally, I would lay the two pattern pieces (main front & side front) together to insure that they will work together.  But this time the front side is so curved that I couldn't tell by laying them next to each other...the same with the back and side back pieces.  I was just hoping that they would work...though that is what muslins are for, right?!

So the pattern pieces were all cut out and serged to clean finish them...I will have more on the construction process later.

As a parting shot, here are two shots of me wearing the vest with the black turtleneck, as well as, the black ltwt stretch wool pants from my SWAP collection.

side view

and front view

...as always, more later!