Who Wore It Best?

You know those tabloid mags where there is a photo spread of women celebrities titled, "Who Wore It Best?" That's exactly how I felt when doing the semi-formal dress. DD#2 modeled it before the dance yesterday (okay, it's not her best pose by far), then I modeled the same dress today. To be fair, she's not giving her best pose, and her posture isn't very good in the pic. When the shoulders are rolled forward, yeah, you're really going to exaggerate any folds that were there to begin with. She wanted out (and wouldn't stand up straight)! No pics and to get going to the dance.

I've also included a pic of the dress back. It definitely fits DD#2 better on the back. I criss-crossed the halter straps connecting them to the back of the dress. The dress code was not that clear if a halter tied at the neck would be appropriate or not. In addition, anything that ties at the neck is uncomfortable for me, so I figured DD#2 would find it uncomfortable as well. Please bear with my ugly little scar. What is really noticeable are the red dots from the stitches. The plastic surgeon gives it three months to fade. Heavy duty makeup to the rescue! It's summer time, and I'm baring my shoulders.

Based on her second muslin which needed just a few minor tweaks (releasing the front side seams near the band and adding a touch of width (a mere 1/2" via more gathers) on the halter piece, I thought the fit was nailed. This is a case where the fabric will throw off almost everything done in the muslin. The cotton muslin certainly doesn't have the same drape, nor fit, as the fashion fabric. Here's the cotton muslin:

I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON! When possible, buy double the fabric needed as the actual dress if one can afford it. Especially if it's not fabric you normally work with. Or similar dressy fabric until I know my fancy fabrics well and what will work with particular styles. (The last time period when I regularly made semi-formal dresses was between 1985 and 1988.) The dress fabric was purchased on sale at 50% off. It could still have been done VERY affordably by purchasing double the yardage. Still far less than a RTW dress. This is definitely another case of being a jack-of-all-trades specializing in only one or two fabrics definitely hurt this project.

The fashion fabric made the style more difficult. The tucks were too poofy. I converted the tucks to gathers. More acceptable but still too poofy. I removed some width at the upper side seams to reduce the gathers on the skirt portion of the dress. The tulle overlay and fashion fabric sewed up like a dream, but less gathering is a must with the fabric I used.

What would have worked better? Princess seams with a touch of gathering on the halter top piece. Far less gathering on the front skirt piece. Also, I realize now the edge of the halter strap next the arm/armpit should have been cut deeper. It's too high. I think this also contributed to an excess of fabric a/k/a fabric folds on the final dress. I even added batting in the bust area where the gathers are located to fill out this area. Think sleeve heads? I created "bust heads".

I did finish the dress on time with 45 minutes to spare. When DD#2 got home from school, she tried on the dress right away to make sure it fits. Only to hear, "Mom, can you take in the side seams at the waist a little? I want the band to be a closer fit." (Sigh) "Okay. That will take me an hour." That required me to open up the lining, restitch the side seams, seam rip the halter side seam due to my construction process, then reassemble. I could not alter the halter top within the time frame, so I created a tuck on the side seams of the halter portion. This was acceptable and not that noticeable. It worked. However, it contributed to too much fabric in halter. Here's a pick of the side seam tuck above the midriff band.

DD#2 is an A-cup. I tried to get her to "stuff" the halter. She wouldn't hear of it. She was happy "as is". For that I'm thankful. But from a fit perspective, the fashion fabric threw things off for me. If I had been on the ball with things, I could have cut a new halter front and replaced it on the dress. But it's just a terribly busy time of year. You can tell my C-cups are are working the dress a bit better.

There were a few things I liked doing that made the dress so pretty IMO. One was the centered zipper with hand-picked seed beads. There is no way I'd use an invisible zipper on this close fitting dress. I find invisible zips don't stand up to the stress of a dress like this. Lots of dancing and stress on the CB seam makes the zipper area ripe for malfunctions IMO. I like all-purpose zips for this reason.

Overall? The dress was okay. Another learning experience. Certainly not the best dress I've made by far, but good practice and knowledge learned for eventual prom dress constructions. I need to make more fancy dresses to get more practice with fancy, synthetic fabric again. Moving on to the stole and purse this week. It's Prom Weekend 2009!

I leave you with a pic of the dress on the couch right after I finished it. I think that's exactly where I like this one best ;) .

Down To The Wire!

I worked on the dress all day Wednesday. All day Thursday. And will likely work on it all day today. My deadline is 3:30 today. It must be done.

It pains me to be a slow sewer, but I accept it. It's who I am. My house is a disaster because of it, and pizza will probably be ordered for dinner tonight.

My son's baseball coach stopped over Wednesday afternoon with 5 minutes notice with a birthday gift for him. And my house was far messier than usual. Talk about embarrassing.

Here I go...heading down home stretch. Pics forthcoming tonight.

A big thank you to Kim and all other bloggers for their prayers for my MIL. She is doing better and will likely be transferred to a rehab hospital today. She probably won't be staying there long and will be able to get home within a reasonable amount of time. Can't keep a good woman down! She was finally out of her bed walking around yesterday.

Second Muslin

It was beautiful! 95% perfect, in fact. Just a few minor tweaks here and there. Today I'm finishing cutting out the dress and starting to sew it up. DD#2's semi-formal is on Friday. Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!!! I'm just hoping there are few musling-to-fashion fabric fitting issues.

The Seal of Approval

I received the Bossy Chick's (aka DD#1) Seal of Approval tonight. She was trying on her prom gown, tried on my wedding jewelry, and put on the stole. I wanted to double check the fit. Usually if it fits me it will fit her, and it does. Notice the updated pic has the buttons (attached with pins at this point) that I'm going to use. I'll take a trip to the fabric store tomorrow to get the same button in a smaller size to create a train loop for her dress.

It really looks lovely on her and the stole is perfect for it. The dress is slim fitted with a low back and the length of the stole just covers the dip in the dress back. She needs a little help in the boob area to create the right angle for the dress cups so I gave her the stick-on cups I bought from Frederick's of Hollywood eons ago. Told her, "I hope they still stick!" We certainly don't want any, uh, "wardrobe malfunctions".

Also, I cut out the new dress muslin for DD#2. That was all I was going to do, but actually was able to sew almost the entire muslin. Just need to attach the front to the back and insert a temporary zipper. Things are moving along and progressing smoothly, but very busy with little downtime.

It's been a long day, time for bed!

This is so dumb!

I'm just finishing cutting out the material for the prom dress purse and semi-formal stole for my daughters and decided to do some quick Internet surfing looking at prom dress styles while eating my lunch.

I checked out this link, and what I found there is so dumb for two reasons:

1. A return to modesty is some school districts and,
2. Using Victoria's Secret-like models for prom dress fashions.

Addressing No. 2 first...since when do high school students mostly have C or D-cup boobs? I have also found this to be an issue when DD#1 (B-cup) was trying on prom dresses. To fill out most prom dress styles appropriately, a C-cup would be just about right. A D-cup in the right bra style would provide for one heck of a view in regard to cleavage.

Most high school students I know (that would wear many of these slinky styles) are not cup-spilleth-over kind of girls. My feeling is many of these models are surgically enhanced, while most high school teens are not.

On to No. 1, our public school district has adopted a "uniform" dress code. More like uniforms really. Set colors, set styles. Little variation. The semi-formal dances at school require all dresses to have straps and no cleavage. At the present time, this does not appear to apply for the prom which is held elsewhere. So many of these styles are strapless, including the shorter ones. I feel very sorry for the big-boobed girls. They are going to have such a hard time finding nice styles with no cleavage. I told DD#2 that is not something she has to worry about. Nosey DS#1 (12 years old) asks, "What is cleavage?" I was wearing a low-cut top so I smooshed by boobs together and said, "THIS is cleavage." Boys are so funny that way. Clueless on girly things. I mean, they know what it is, but don't know these things have names. I have met boys that have NO idea what a barrette or bobby pin is.

Anyway, DD#2 tried on her sister's dress that was purchased last December. She really liked the style and wants me to copy it for her. It's strapless with a draped piece of fabric over one side of the front and a fabric flower on the other side. This brings me to my recent aggravating issue.

She says, "Can you copy this dress?" I sure can. The little drape and flower too. Then she says, "Can you make it halter style?" (I thought she wanted just little skinny spaghetti straps on it.) Okay. Did we not agree on the original style? That would mean no drapey piece and flower. She's just not getting it. I think the problem is she never really knows what she wants.

I have 12 days! 12 DAYS!!! Enough to make me sweat. I hate deadlines. But I'm doing what I can with the purse and stole and getting the little things out of the way.

Back to work.

Muslin on the Model

Here's DD#2 wearing muslin 1.1 tonight.

I think I'm going to add more gathers under the bust. Just a tad. The pattern was drafted to fit, but I think just a little more width by adding some gathering would be more flattering and make her A-cups look a little bigger. On the flip side, no cleavage is allowed to be shown at the school's semi-formal so all girls in the IBTC should consider themselves lucky. They can get away with a v-neck halter! She's only a freshman so I'm sure she's not finished "growing".

Never mind the bad muslin sewing...noticeable tuck in the right front near the armhole LOL.

I'm using her RTW top from her sports banquet last fall shown at right as my guideline. Also thinking maybe the straps could be a little thinner at the top shown on the muslin so it's more like the RTW top. Looking at the McCall's Hillary Duff dress pattern (5748), the straps on that one seem thinner too. The straps on her dress will criss-cross in the back and will be attached at the top back edge. They don't have to be like that, but I have "neck knot" avoidance. If I have that, she will likely have it too. She's a fussy girl that way like her momma.

Any other design/alteration advice would be greatly appreciated. Maybe others will see things and/or recommend things I'm not noticing.

Well, enough of muslins right now. Waiting for my other daughter to get home from her date with her boyfriend so I'll work on cutting out some fabric.

Semi-formal dress muslin: Version 1.1

Two pics here...



Fugly muslin Version 1.1 at left.

Fugly muslin Version 1.0 at right.

DD#2 has not tried on V 1.1 yet. I just finished attaching the new upper front to the dress last night. I think the style of 1.1 will be much more flattering on her figure. The deep v-neck will narrow her upper chest and shoulders, the curved midriff band will be slimming design detail.

The next fitting is tonight, after dinner.

My mobility is returning! After a very sore Wednesday and Thursday, my incision is healing nicely and my right upper back/shoulder area is feeling really fine. It was difficult cutting a new front Wednesday night with my rotary cutter. I was trying to use more of my body weight than arm weight when cutting the new front. The fabric was single layer and thin so that was good.

The Semi-Formal Fabrics

First off...the purse and shawl/cape fabric and lining. White crepe-backed satin for the lining and a white/silver brocade. The pic below shows nice detail of the silver accent.

And now...the dress fabrics! To the right is the lavender dress fabric. It has a slight shimmer to it. At right is the skirt overlay part of the dress.

















And then both together--the tulle-like fabric over the dress fabric:

Which brings me to my next question. DD#2 wanted the overlay fabric on the entire dress. I told her that probably wouldn't be a good idea. She might have the little nubby crystals against her skin near the top edge and when her arms dangle at her sides. She's weird about those things.

I advised fashion fabric and overlay on the skirt portion or maybe the band and skirt portion only. So what do you all think about this?

In addition, my next question is, should I baste the overlay to the fashion fabric and treat as one layer? Or would it look better if both were free-hanging and hemmed separately. If the latter would be the case, would you hem the overlay slightly longer than the dress? I see that sometimes.

And for some reason, she has the crazy idea that these dresses are gathered at the top edge of the skirt portion when examining the Hillary Duff McCall's dress pic as well as her muslin based on the Simplicity one. I keep showing her the line drawings and explaining there's a reason why they're not gathered at that seamline. It would be too full. Most people probably wouldn't want gathering at the side seams because it's only going to add "fluff", rather than a slimming silhouette. She's having a mental block with this style. She doesn't realize that the dresses are designed with tucks in certain places for a reason. Most women do not want to look heavier. She's just not grasping that design concept well.

Anyway, I really want this dress to be nice on her. Hopefully later today I can draft the halter front and see how that looks on her as well. Time is going to fly.

Down and Dirty Muslin

Here's my Simplicity (well, not really...see below) fugly muslin I whipped up today for DD#2. It's on my dressform. Our figures are similar in certain areas, however, she's more broader across the upper chest and back. Guess that's what softball pitching will do sometimes :) .

Technically, I self drafted this pattern from the photo/illustration on the cover. I didn't realize at first that the curved midriff band is only attached at the top seam as a flap. It's really not a band. However, I like the way I drafted it better. I don't want the flap sticking out in this area. In addition, I originally had the pleats stitched down 1 1/2" from the seam. Upon closer inspection of the pattern, the pleats should end at the bottom edge of the band. So I seam ripped the pleats right up to the seamline. It looks much better this way and was looking quite odd stitched down.

Here's the muslin right now on the above right.

I wasn't going to fuss with the straps on this muslin and just cut some 1/4" ribbon as pretend straps. The only alteration I had to do was let out the side seams a tad. DD#2 does NOT like things tight. The girl is no fashion diva and lives in sweatpants, sweatshirts, tees, and sports shorts. Jeans are like a dirty 5-letter word to her LOL. She never wears anything snug or tight. So this dress feels...not so good to her. Her comment, "It's snug!" Well, it IS supposed to be a little form fitted from the band up.

I do think halter straps would be more flattering on her though. We're going to experiment with 1" straps simulated with 1" ribbon tomorrow. If that doesn't look quite right, we'll try a halter top change. If the halter style is a better look on her (which I think it might be), I'll just modify the pattern. The halter style is more slimming for her upper body.

On to other news, on Sunday I found out I'm a great aunt, for the first time. How about that! I have to cut out the material for a baby quilt and embroider it. Minky on one side, cotton flannel on the other. It will be so cozy!

In addition, Robin and Laura both posted/emailed me regarding my Sunday Night Question thread about the annoyance of TOO much info. I have to agree with this. Some companies are sparse with info, some go overboard. I know, I know...you can't please everybody. But going back to the Big 4 pattern instructions, that's probably why I generally like them Not too much, not too little, and I change/supplement with info in my sewing library or actual experience.

Looking forward to three sewing packages in the mail. One includes elastic needed for DD#2's flannel, embroidered softball pants, cotton batiste to line some capris I was supposed to make last summer, microfleece for sewing projects for a fundraiser softball dance, boob tape and other sewing/fitting gadgetry for DD#1's prom dress, etc.

Tomorrow I'll post the fab fabrics I purchased at JoAnn's for DD#1's dress, shawl and purse. BTW, can anybody recommend a great shawl/coverup pattern for a fancy semi-formal and prom dress? I'd like to make one for both to wear.

ETA--I apologize in advance for not posting alterations/pattern drafting info. I'm testing out a few concepts by making dresses for daughter, my friends and/or their daughters. Will get back to you all on that.

No Big News.

No big news on the homefront. Last night I custom drafted a pattern to copy this Simplicity dress (green version/lower right) for DD#2's semi-formal in May. Today I'm adding in the appropriate amount of ease and creating the lower skirt portion of the dress. I'm hoping to have a muslin done by this weekend, and we'll need to shop for fabric. Hopefully, JoAnn's will be having a good sale because there's nowhere else to shop for special occasion fabric. I don't trust shopping online for her. She has to feel the fabric first to make sure it's not "itchy" or whatever. Working on business "stuff" too.

More later.