It’s been a while

I've picked up Butterick 7598 again, after a long break. Far longer than intended: I got stuck on the trim placement, then the height of (a very hot) summer didn't seem like the time to be working on a black dress, then the longer I left it the more daunting the trim issue became.

I finally decided that I needed to at least have a go, and guess what? Once I actually started, it didn't seem that bad after all! If anything, taking such an extensive break has helped - it allowed me to look at the project with fresh eyes.

This is the state in which the dress has been languishing on a hanger since July.

It had practically become part of the furniture

I tried it on, and discovered that the trim on the front only needed minor adjustments to make it look level. I also discovered that the shoulder seam is actually slightly back from the shoulder. This went a long way to explaining why positioning the front and back trims an equal distance from the shoulder seam had produced such a messy effect!

Once I had marked the true shoulder position and pinned the front trim in place properly, I was able to put the dress back on the dressform, and get to work on the back. I only pinned trim onto one side of the back, I can measure it to do the other side.

Back trim

I did, however, go to great lengths to make sure that the back and front trims were level. Years ago, I got a tiny spirit level keyring in a Christmas cracker, and put it in my workbox on the basis that it might come in handy sometime. And finally, it did!

Obsessive? Me?!

Next, I completed basting the front and back trim into place.

All tacked on

It was impossible to pin the trim onto the sleeves while they were part of the dress (and shaping the top row round the sleeve head is going to be very tricky indeed), so instead I just thread marked where it should be at the sleeve seam.

Orange threads mark where the trim should go

Once all this was done, I could unpick the basting which has held the dress together for over three months. I was very grateful that I'd thought to use different coloured threads for the seam allowance markings and the actual seams - it made unpicking much easier!

The next jobs are to make some more trim strips, and then to sew the trim to the bodice front and back. Hopefully without the project stalling again.