Saturday, July 18, 2020

The Summer Of No Pants 2020 (post 2)

Round 4: Sewing a dress with an elastic waist. I tried in June '16, and Summer '17 and Fall '18.
(Red dress: cut the sides straighter, hence fuller, but forgot on this black dress...So Far, the Blue dress (2017) has fit THE BEST...)

This dress fabric is from Aunt Laura (who BTW, says she's no longer my Aunt- what do you make of that???) - She wanted me to sew it with 1) elbow sleeves, 2) elastic waist, and she wanted 3) the sleeves to have a contrasting white cuff and the waist to be white as well....But the more I thought about it, the more my mind said "You'll look like you are dressed like a waitress or a maid"...not that that would be a problem, it's just that I wanted a nicer dress, not a costume this time around. So I left off the contrasting fabric...although, I'm thinking about designing a "belt" that could be buttoned on...


 ~The fabric is a “Brother-Sister” from Hobby Lobby.
~I used my go-to pattern, the retired Simplicity #8071  =) 
~POCKETS! I gave this dress 2 full-sized pockets...I LOVE them. I forgot how nice REAL packets are!
~The sleeves on this pattern are on the slim side- always have been- even when I was young and thin, the sleeves were uncomfortable, so in making this dress, I added to the width and length for a better fit.
~The zipper is a invisible zipper, set in the back.  Afterthought: I wish I'd placed it in the side, because of the fabric print...oh well.
~And I lengthened the bodice 2.5 inches, so I could have a waist.
 ~I added 3 casings to the inside, and ran 1/2" elastic- I was careful to not stitch the elastic into the zipper, so that if I wished I could take it up, let it out, or redo it.
~Because I made this dress with sleeves, I added an extra inch of fabric to each shoulder BACK, and pleated it to make it match the front bodice.  (but I did not pinch out any pleats- just let the elastic take care of that)

 *SONP not is officially happening this year, but I like to sew, and wear cute dresses & skirts anyway, so I'll just do my own thing....

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