I bought some fabric!

I've been trying very hard not to buy any 'new' fabric this year (vintage or other second-hand fabric is acceptable), and have mostly succeeded. The only yardage I have bought was for a specific project, and has been made up. Unfortunately, I can't claim that this was down to iron-willed restraint - I just don't allow myself to go into fabric shops!

No!

I have even created what I call the 'Stash Shop' - images of fabrics in my stash, alongside possible pattern choices. These have been printed out and pinned to a noticeboard in my workroom. I find this approach less restrictive than my old MakeNine/UseNine attempts, but when I'm thinking about a new project it acts as a useful reminder that I have plenty of choice already without going out and buying anything.

Part of the Stash Shop

My next project from the Stash Shop is to finally use a length of cotton which has featured several times on this blog, but has never got as far as being used. According to the invoice I found folded inside, it was bought in February 2020. After a lot of thought, I had settled on making Butterick 5556, but was never really happy with this choice so nothing happened.

Not entirely what I wanted

Looking at it again, I decided that I wanted something with a fitted bodice, but a wider neckline and much shorter sleeves. After considering and rejecting various patterns I have made already, I decided that Butterick 5748 was the best match - but it needed more shoulder coverage.

Closer, but still not right

I had recently bought Simplicity 3662, and decided that the grown-on sleeves were exactly what I want for this dress.

Getting there

Yes, I could have just used 3662, but I would have had to redraft it to fit me, which seemed silly when I already had a very similar bodice pattern which fits perfectly. Then I remembered that Tasha of Tasha Could Make That had a video on merging patterns like these two - the link is here, and the video is excellent.

I started with the back piece, as this was easier. The two fitted together perfectly, but there was one issue. 5748 is cut on the straight grain, but 3662 is not.

Note the grainline on 3662

I assume that there's a good reason for this, presumably to do with fit. Tasha mentioned in her video that she always matches the grain, so I decided that the simplest solution was to mark the grainline on my new piece to match 3662.

The front pieces are more complex, but again matched well. Even the bust darts were almost the same size - note the word 'almost'!

The two fronts

I used the neckline of 3662 but made it higher at the front, for reasons which will become apparent later in the making process, and started on a toile. This was when I discovered that the front side seam was shorter than the back. Luckily I was able to fix the problem by reducing the bust dart to, ooh, about the size of 3662's dart!

In line with my ongoing sewing goals, I want to do something a bit more complicated than just make up a mash-up dress in this cotton, and this is where the purchase comes in. I wanted some plain fabric in a toning colour, but was expecting to have to concoct it myself using white cotton and fabric paint. But to my amazement, when I went to the fabric shop to buy paint, I found a cotton poplin in a very similar colour to the background of the printed cotton (the brown stippling over the top makes it look darker), and a similar weight to boot. Half a metre was actually cheaper than a jar of fabric paint which was a less good match - it would have been silly not to buy some!

I could hardly believe my luck

Half a metre in will hopefully lead to far more out

The next stage is drafting the extra details for the dress.