violent voile

This is the absolute cheapest, not to mention most horrendous, voile that I could find in Seattle. I bought it at a certain 'big box' store (as they are called in these parts). When I paid, the dear cashier commented what a great print it was and I couldn't help but tell her exactly, well, that it was horrendous and the cheapest that I could find.

I am ready to make a toile of Vogue 1573 in the actual weight fabric that I intend to use. May I stress, this is not the fabric that I intend to use for the final version. No way. I'm just serious about making sure that when I do cut into that beautiful Italian cotton voile that what I make is going to be something that I will wear. Surely there is no quicker way to put yourself off home dressmaking than to rush through it and produce a ... significant waste of funds. Experience is always invaluable.

And to that end I am prepared to sew with this violent voile. Maybe I'll use the wrong side instead.

slide and pivot

Sewing has continued apace here as well. That pace has been slow, almost glacial: my sewing progresses incrementally, one small task by one small task. After attempting a chiropractic full bust adjustment on the Vogue 1573, I decided to go a gentler method with 'slide and pivot', following the directions in Nancy Zieman's Pattern Fitting with Confidence.

In (very) short, her method involves sliding the pattern piece along whichever dimension you are altering and then pivoting at the relevant intersection of sewing lines. For example, I wanted the shoulder to be a half inch narrower so I traced the pattern, then slid it a half inch along to the right, thereby narrowing the shoulder.

Next step was to place a pin at the point where the sewing lines for the shoulder and armscye intersect and pivot the printed pattern sheet to the left until the printed bodice side seam and my traced bodice side seam met each other. Then I traced the new armscye. This did have the effect of apparently raising the underarm but Nancy promises that this will be ok. I also did an adjustment to add a half inch to the bust. You can see above where the various iterations of the underarm have been.

I really like this book and Nancy's style of presentation. It's quite easy to follow and very reassuring. The great benefit of this method is that it does not change the shape of the armscye at all so there is no need to alter the sleeve cap. At right is my initial (yellow) full bust adjustment laid on top of the 'slide-and-pivot' version. Slide and pivot does give more room which is what I was needing. Next up, another toile!

fba

This makes me think of chiropractics for dressmaking - a full bust adjustment. Lo and behold, over at Sew, Mama, Sew! there is a tutorial about altering the Amy Butler Lotus Dress for a full bust (thanks Regan for the tip!)

Work has continued on my Marimekko version of the dress, I have only to complete the binding on one sleeve and work out the hemline. (Initially I thought that I would need to add extra fabric to achieve a good length but that doesn't seem now to be necessary - thankfully).

But I tell you, opening a sewing pattern has turned out to be the equivalent of opening a can of worms, and all because of one issue - fit. It turns out that commercial sewing patterns are designed with a B cup bust in mind, so if you're a size or two larger (unh, or three or four larger) buying the pattern that matches your bust measurement will give you a garment designed for a very large person with a small bust. And that doesn't fit.

I was really lucky this past weekend that a friend's mother was visiting and shared some of her dressmaking and fitting expertise with me on this toile. It's the DKNY Vogue 1573 dress, made up in some scrap fabric that I have had lying around forever. (Actually, I got this fabric for free at a yard sale; the same one where I bought the fabric for my roses quilt. It came in dozens of strips which I sewed together into sheets of fabric; hence my toiles have seams all over the place. Not to mention that sometimes I get confused when sewing and put the seams on the outside (observe under the bust).)

Susanne made some great alteration suggestions which I'm really excited to try out when time permits. I've also borrowed and requested a few books from the library and even found a couple of gems on my own shelves. I pick books up at the thrift store all the time if they are on a topic that interests me and then find them again six months later when I need them.

Getting immersed in all these fit and alteration issues has my head spinning a bit. Do you know that great sensation when you can feel your brain stretching to understand something and integrate that knowledge? It's really exciting and interesting and challenging but a bit of a distraction from the actual sewing. All for the better though if I can just get a dress that blasted well fits.

making the grade

At about the same time that I did my dressmaking course I also did a pattern drafting course. It focussed on taking some basic pattern blocks, drafting to fit your size and how to make changes to the block for different styles.

What I know about pattern grading is that which appears to be self explanatory from a multi-sized pattern: a size 10 is not just an allover reduction of a size 12 (although I guess for some very simple patterns pieces it may be, like pockets). And the 'everything-must-be-more-complicated-than-it-appears' voice in my head says that the interval between sizes would probably not be constant but rather proportional to changes in frame that accompany changes in size. And I'm sure that there is some arcane pattern drafting knowledge about these things (can I find it at the library?) and expert pattern drafters who know all of these things.

Having said all of that, I graded the size 14 bodice pattern down to a size 12 by just following the intervals and putting lines in what looked like the right places. Why did I have to do this? because the size range in my packet was 14-16-18 and there is no 8-10-12 on the market at the moment (besides which, I don't want to pay for it again).

* A-ha, thanks wikipedia; yes, there's an algorithm for it. *

voile

Ooh, my pattern arrived in the mail. And I jumped the gun a bit and went out and bought fabric. So it turns out, upon receiving the pattern and closely reading the fine print on the back, that the recommended fabrics for this design are chiffon, georgette or crêpe de chine: basically, a lot of drape. And not so often made from natural fibres (although you can get silk chiffon or wool crêpe).

After consultation with a very helpful sales assistant at Nancy's Sewing Basket, I've decided to try out some Italian cotton voile. It's hard to tell from the photo but this is actually an extremely dark blue and there are two bands of the floral across the bottom of the yardage (which will be the bottom of the skirt).

I will also need to line the dress and am considering using Kaufman Radiance, a cotton/silk blend. Anyone had experience with this? or with sewing voile? or pronouncing it? and will I have to make french seams?

a decade in the making

This sewing pattern dates my dressmaking aspirations.

I took my first (and so far only) dressmaking course at the CAE when I was twenty-four. Then, as now, I was inspired by wanting to have clothes in my wardrobe that fit.

This pattern is dated 1995 and is one that I had in mind way back when and decided to look it up again. I remembered that it was DKNY and that the dress pictured was in a coin-spot print. Thank you internet - Vogue 1573. Thank you ebay, it's on its way in the post.

It's a bit hard to tell from here whether options A and B are the same shape-wise, just from different fabric. And while I can't see myself making a lace dress, perhaps an eyelet cotton of some sort which would require a slip underneath.

Anyway, I've taken a bit of a gamble here - the only size available online was this 14-16-18 and I'm not sure whether the 14 will be too big. I'll be doing another toile (or two).