Sunday, November 17, 2013

I guess I'll let him live (LOL)

OK, today I can laugh about it, but yesterday I was in tears.  All the time I had allocated to sewing was spent cleaning up soot and ashes.  It's amazing how much ash can fly out of a shop vac in just a split second!  Fortunately, my cabinet doors to the fabric cabinet were shut, but everything I had out (I'm still unpacking) had/has a fine layer of ash all over it.  I guess I'll continue to clean as I go.  Not much else I can do about it.

I did make a little progress yesterday.  I usually trace all of my patterns, but I probably won't mak this dress more than once, so I just cut it out.  I did trace the front bodice sine I wasn't sure how I wanted to do a FBA on this.  I knew I would want to rotate the dart into one of the pleats, so this is how I ended up doing it.


This pattern has the typical Vogue method of sewing in the lining, which I don't like.  It seems that the shoulder seam never looks quite right when I try to insert the lining and then join the shoulder seams last.  I prefer to use my standard method which joins the side seam last.







So, I've got the front completed and the back bodices sewn to the skirts.  The pleating in the front was more time consuming than I anticipated.  It's fairly simple, but then getting the top and bottom to line up is extremely difficult (Well, maybe not if you're a much more accurate sewist than I am.)  I think I ripped this out 4 times and this is the best I could do.  Fortunately, it will be covered with a belt, but I like to know that it looks good.  At least this is pretty close.

I like the way the pleats form the front of the bodice.

Today I would like to finish cutting out the lining and sew it together.

On another note, Stitcher's Guild is starting up for the next SWAP (Sewing with a plan)  This year it is 11 garments.  3 mini packs and 2 wildcard.  You can find the official rules here.  For the last several years, I have attempted SWAP and failed miserably.  In fact, last year, I don't think I even completed one garment from my proposed SWAP!!  So, looking at it that way, I can only succeed in improving my progress from last year!!  Plus you can use a few items that you already have made, so I am planning to use this dress and the pair of pants (that still need hemming) that I made last weekend.  Are any of you planning to SWAP this year?  It officially starts in December, but you can actually start sewing and planning now.

2 comments:

Linda L said...

Glad you are able to laugh about it now!! Your dress is really looking nice.

Mary said...

Nancy, that color is going to be wonderful with your coloring. Glad you are laughing about the shop vac incident. Did you go shopping as a reward?