Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Annie's Dress part 1


I've finished the bodice now and am waiting to find out whether she wants rhinestone buttons on the front or not. I can sew them in at the end, but if I sew them in now, the backs will be covered by the strip that wraps around the CF.












Last week Annie came over and we fitted her muslin. Everything will fit well after taking in a little in the side seams. The problem is that the gathering is causing "pooching" in the front. I think I will change that over to pleats










This fabric is like a poly charmeuse. It ravels terribly, and shows every press mark. Once the garment is finished, I don't think there will be a problem, but when I'm pressing seam allowances, the edge lines show through on the front. Therefore, I am using a seam stick (I made this out of a closet rod and covered it with white muslin) to press open the seams. This really works well.

I've been thinking a lot about what to do about that zipper and have decided to bind the edges. I am going to "stitch and flip" the skirt, so that when I hem it up, I can stitch to the underlining and the stitches won't show on the front of the fabric. This will leave one raw edge all the way down the back (before hemming it) so I will bind it with a hong kong finish. At least, that is the plan. Now that I have the bodice finished, the rest should go fairly quickly and easily. I will probably baste the skirt to the bodice before I sew it and have her try it on to make sure everything lies the way I want it to. I never have occasion to wear a dress like this, so it is fun to make one for someone else (who obviously has a much more exciting social life than I do, even if she is only in 8th grade!) Of course, that is the blessing of youth, is it not?

3 comments:

Elaray said...

I agree about the pleats v. gathers; not that you asked ;) Pleats offer a little more control over the fullness. Annie is going to love this dress.

Meg said...

Lookin' good. Ditto me hating that ravelly poly charmeuse stuff!

Summerset said...

Looks good so far! Yes, pleats would look nicer - at least you can iron them flat and still have the fullness.