Sunday 17 July 2016

It's been that kind of week

You know, THAT kind

So there I was, trying to get the blackbird dress finished for a friend's birthday party. The bodice is lined, with the sort of lining which you sew on round the neckline and armholes and then pull through, so that all the edges are neatly finished. I'd never tried this before, but was pleased with the end result.

The zip should be put in towards the end, but because I was using an invisible zip I decided to do this step earlier. So I attached the skirt backs with about 2.5cm / 1"of stitching, and put in the zip. Then I laid the dress out flat.

All was not well (see top left)

There was a twist in the left shoulder of the bodice. I thought that I'd just zipped it up wrongly, so undid the zip and turned the left back though, so that the shoulder was flat. And got this.

All was even less well

I'd managed to twist the zip while in the process of setting it in, and the only solution was to unpick one side completely and start again. While on a very tight deadline.

And the really annoying thing? I've got form in this area. I've made exactly the same mistake before, with the Vegas Night dress back in 2012. Which coincidentally I was making to go on a night out with the same group of friends. On an even tighter deadline.

Lesson learned - if going out with these friends, do not try to make a new dress! I wore New Look 6070 instead.

On the plus side, I can now reveal the Secret Sewing Project. Earlier in the year I was thrilled to be asked if I'd contribute something to this year's Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge 2016. The result was the 'Rosalind dress'; Butterick 6877 in a fabulous double-helix print cotton.

The secret's out!

The full details are on Marie's A Stitching Odyssey blog here. It had its moments, many of them involving pattern matching, but I'm really pleased with the end result. A huge thank you to Marie and Kerry for the invitation.

The Rosalind dress

7 comments:

  1. Oh my heavens! I LOVE your dress! The print is adorable and the pattern you chose to make the dress out of is perfection!! What fun!!
    Blessings!
    g

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    1. PS...you did a fabulous job lining the back pattern on the dress up!!!

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  2. Oh no! I hate doing things like that. It takes forever to wrap your brain around what you did wrong and yes, it always happens on a deadline. I love the dress you made for Vintage Pledge, it's soooo mid-century. xx

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    1. Thank you Cate! I'm really pleased with the Vintage Pledge dress, but it's far too warm to wear just now! If only I had something sleeveless, in a thinner cotton, perhaps in a bird-related print (sigh)!

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  3. I found your blog through your beautiful creation featured on The Stitching Odyssey. I love the fabric for this dress as well. I've never heard of that technique with the lining, it sounds a little ominous! I've tried to make a dress on a deadline and things just went wrong, I learnt then that it wasn't the best idea, there's always a problem whether it's the sewing machine playing up or the pattern itself, it's always the way! XxxX

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    1. Yep, dressmaking can always sense when you're on a deadline! Hope it didn't put you off too much!

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