Mother of the Bride Dress Done

The Mother of the Bride dress is done!  (well, except for the hook and eye at the top of the back zip).

Pattern Description: Asymmetrical draped one-shoulder dress embroidered with colored beads or in my case bling/crystals. To be made out of velvet, crêpe or Jacquard fabric. This is the dress for the mother of the bride aka my sister in law. She is also walking her daughter/the bride down the aisle and I must say, I cannot wait to see my two dresses together!

Pattern Sizing: Sizes 42, 44, 46, and 48. I made size 46 which equates to about a size 8 in RTW "hips" and 14 in RTW "bust".

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes. Yipee!

Were the instructions easy to follow? Instructions? There were no instructions. Only pattern. But the pattern was wonderful and the pieces fit perfectly. The entire process of this dress was 2 steps forward 1 step backwards. I'd do something, then realize I needed to do something else first, so had to rip out and re-do. For instance, I sewed the lining in before the zip and realized I needed to add the zip, at least before I sewed the lining to the neckline.   It really helps to think about several steps at a time and how they all will fit together. 

I first made a muslin and fitted it. I had to take a lot of fabric out of the bust as there was enough fabric for someone with at least a C cup. She was a large A/small B. I did this with 2 "dead" darts which are darts in the pattern, but not on the finished dress 

Below is the original pattern

You can see all the notations on the pattern. Match points to other areas are labeled alphabetically and there are notations where things are pleated or gathered. When making this bodice, I just followed those notations on the pattern, and it all came together perfectly and fit to the rest of the garment nicely.

Some pleats and gathers had to be omitted when I removed fabric with the "dead" darts.

Here's some construction details in making the muslin and marking the pattern.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I loved that it is a narrow sheath dress, the one shoulder, and the bling option. I originally looked at this pattern for myself, but then thought, how nice the mother of the bride would look in this walking her daughter down the aisle. This dress will not overwhelm the bride's dress, but my sister in law will be stunning on her own too. They will compliment each other.


The most difficult part of the dress was the draped shoulder. (And I thought that would be easy)  Trying to figure out what was needed with only the picture and a couple of square shaped pattern pieces.  I decided not to underline or line the drape so that it would fall nicely. There was also a piece that I assumed was for the back which the front part of the upper shoulder drape was to fit to. Here's an inside bodice view.

 I did a lot of hand sewing on this dress and the drape and bodice to get it and the pleats just right. You can see some of my traced markings where I had to let the muslin out a bit. For this reason try to use tracing paper that is close to the color of your fabric, but still visible.  However, on the bridal gown I used white on white... which was only visible at a certain angle, but that's another story.

That reminds me, I did have to raise the armholes about 1" as they were low.

I put the zipper in by hand. I thought about a side zip versus a back zip and went with the back because I felt there was already too much going on on the sides. After basting in the zip I used a small back stitch/pick stitch with double waxed thread to sew in the center zip. I still need to put a hook and eye at the top. Because of the angle of the back, there was no way to get the zip all the way to the top. 

Fabric Used: I used silk jacquard for outer fabric; silk organza underlining, and china silk for the lining. I used the selvedge edge of the organza to stay the neckline.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I love this dress and would love to have an opportunity to make it for myself. If you fairly advanced this is a great dress. The dress itself is not too difficult and fairly basic, but the no instructions I feel makes it advance.

Conclusion: I am so happy with the way this dress turned out. 

 

Simplicity 1651

My dress to my niece's wedding is DONE! 

My review and all the details can be found here PatternReview

Short Post

How can anyone not have fun with these kids!

What's blooming in my garden

Youth Sewing IS Hip

Here's a nice blog entry of the January Teen Class I taught at Road to California.

This sunday my "regular" ASG - LA teens and I are meeting and we are going to make a t-shirt.  The girls have asked to do sleeves and knit.  I don't want to tell them that both can be difficult because I learned, what they don't know.. is better!  I'll take photos and post next week. This will be our first regular meeting this year as the previous have all been "camps" at various sewing and quilting events.  It will be nice to have the  smaller group of about 4-6 girls.  They are all so talented and fearless.  This year I'm going to concentrate on techniques and give them more instructions instead of just trying to get a project completed.  I want them to end this year with a good sewing base so sewing on their own will be easier.

I've also been working on my Sew Easy Knits  website.  It was transferred over to me and we ended up losing the content and pages, so I've been trying to rebuild it AND learn how to use Yahoo.  I think I got it "good enough for now", but really do want to revamp it a lot more. 

In July, I'll start working part time!  Yea!  I'm really excited because this means I will have more sewing and fun time!  It's a sort of semi-retirement before I actually do retire.  I'm thinking of expanding my teen sewing to weekly, but think I should take the summer and enjoy my half-time before I fill up my days.  And I got some cleaning and re-organizing to do.

My sewing goal this weekend is to finish the mother of the bride and flower girl dresses! 

Wedding Attire Progress

The wedding gown is essentially done!  I really wish I could share it with you... but, I can't.  I also almost finished the flower girl dress, and sadly I cannot share that either since I used the same fabric as the wedding gown. (I promise to share pictures of everything as soon after the wedding!)   BUT, I did make good progress to the outside of the mother-of-the-bride dress, and I can share it with you. This is a close up of the bodice.  I need to add the lining and attach the "sleeve" on your right.  Marfy has no instructions, so I'm just guessing, and playing, and looking, and rearranging, but I think this is it. 

I love the fabric and I love the dress!  I want to make this dress for me!   There will be some sort of bling on the ruched/gather square.  Either a broche or some sort of bedazzling.

Here's a full view.  I love the seams in the front.  I bought some ivory china silk for the lining, but I think I need something closer to the color of the dress.  I think it will be too difficult to make it perfect so no lining peaks out and to make it easier on myself, I'm going to get some lining that closely matches.

Now, for MY dress.  I like this pattern and the version with the twisted peep hole.  I got two fabrics.

and I've cut out the top one which is a silk charmeuse and have basted silk organza underlining, but the bottom one is still calling me. (It looks l ike a water color painting)  The bottom fabric is a sheer silk that I will underling with a lime green so that the yellow and green pop.  I may make the dress from both (I still have 5 weeks) and then choose one.  Which one do you like?

I have signed up for a weekend fitting class with Judy Kessinger through the local ASG.  So tomorrow morning I'll be out of the house early to take an 8AM class on tees, and then sunday on pants.  I'll take lots of photos.

Happy Sewing.. have a great weekend!


 

Mother of the Bride and Flower Girl Progress

I have completed and fitted the muslin for the mother of the bride.

 A few comments: Marfy patterns are beautifully drafted. The pattern came in a folded piece of paper with a label, no instructions,  and no seam allowances.  The pattern has alphabetical match points and a few other notations, but that's it. 

First I made my muslin:
laying the pattern on the muslin fabric, and then with waxed tracing paper traced all the stitch lines, grain lines, notches, darts, pleats, center front, center back. 

With a permanent marker I marked each piece, top, bottom, arrows, the alphabetical match points, what piece it was, who it is for, and size.

I thread traced each seam, grain line, and dart.

My seam allowance was about 2" because I wasn't sure how close the size I got would match up to my sister in law. 

then I based all seams together, matching all the alphabetical points, guessing here and there, and it all worked out.   Every seam and point matched up perfectly and it came together nicely.

It will look much better in a softer fabric.  I let out the side and back seams a bit, she tried it on, and it fit pretty good. I had to put in a few dead darts where there was extra fabric in the bodice. I took it apart, made my dead darts, trued up the seams and the grain lines, and it's ready for the fashion fabric. We will be meeting on saturday at International Silks and Woolens to look for fabric.

 When making your muslin, be sure to extend your grain lines to the seam edge.   That way, if you make changes and have to true up the lines, it's easier and more accurate with the longer grain line. 

Next on the to-do list is the flower girl dress.  I chose this Vogue pattern because I like the little cap sleeves
The dress will be knee length since she's only 2 and I think it will look better being shorter (a two year old needs a twirly dress!)  I will be using the same fabric as the wedding gown.

Since kid pattern sizing runs large, I made a muslin of the bodice which I will fit this weekend.

I made it the same as the others except I didn't tread trace the seams and I used a little wider 3/8" instead of 1/4" elastic in the sleeves because that is what I had.  But I will use narrower in the final dress. 

Fabrique Fabric, Plano Texas

When I was in Dallas a few weeks ago at the ETA Conference, a couple of the local ladies told me about Fabrique Fabrics just north of Dallas in Plano.  My friend and I went up there and OMG... I have never seen so much beautiful fabric all in one place.  Los Angeles has lots and lots of fabric, but you have to weed through the crap... Not at Fabrique!  This is what I bought

...and I'm still stalking their website.  On Tuesdays, they have free shipping!   Every week they have a special buy  AND they give a 20% ASG discount... most places give 10%, but they give 20! Every person in that shop knows sewing and can answer any question intelligently. If you ever happen to be in the area, you MUST stop by this shop.  And if you have a 3 or more hour layover, grab a cab and go!  You won't regret it! 

The silk tweed in the middle is more pink and cream, with some blue and is going to be a jacket constructed Chanel style.  I'm taking another Susan Khalje class this summer and will use that fabric.  The knit in the lower left, looks fun and may be a wrap dress.  the sweater knit I'm thinking a short sleeved version of this Silhouette Pattern (I've seen this top in person and it is way nicer/cuter then the envelope photo).  The double faced wool, for some interesting unlined jacket, and the silk in the upper right... I think that would work nicely for the mother-of-the bride dress in the previous post. 

I just finished up a couple of garments and posted reviews on Pattern Review.  The links are over in the column to the right.  Happy Sewing!