Tuesday 26 October 2010

Sewing clothes again at long last!

I decided to take a break from the quilt and make some clothes! Not least because it's suddenly got cold and I need to sort out some more appropriate clothing. So I decided to make a floaty going out dress. Sensible.

I did have some reasoning behind this - I'd planned to make it on Saturday and wear it that evening to a party, so I wanted something quick and well, party-ish. The pattern is Simplicity 3539, View B, which I've made before, so I knew it would fit me and what alterations I needed to make to improve on the first iteration: add a back seam and a swayback alteration, lower the bottom of the armscye a little, and take in a small tuck between the yoke and front to eliminate gapping at the front of the armhole (should ideally do an FBA, but the fit is very loose so I just fudged it...).

Unfortunately I was a bit ambitious to try and make it in a day (mainly because I didn't get up until midday...), so I'm now making it to wear this weekend (my husband is taking me away for a long weekend to a surprise location!). I cut everything out on Saturday, so today was sewing day (in between long Skype calls to my family in the UK).

The dress is now pretty much constructed, I just need to sew down the facings and hem it. The armholes are also currently unfinished, as I'm deciding whether to add some sleeves or sleevey frills. I also will be making a self belt/sash so it will be a bit less muumuu-ish on me.

Oh, I also need to unpick the bottom of the centre back seam and re-sew it in a rather less ripply manner...

Here's a close-up of the front yoke:

And I got to use my serger at long last! Not entirely sure this is the right stitch to be using for this purpose, and not entirely sure that the tensions are quite right, but hey, it's FUN.

And one final picture - the clouds cleared over the last couple of days, and there's snow on the mountains again! (and yes, I do need a camera with a better zoom (it's my hint for a Christmas pressie...)