Dress in progress: petite pleated toile

This is the toile/muslin for a dress that I’m making for my sister.  (Burdastyle 02/2013 #112)  It might be a while before we find time to get together to do a first fitting.

This is in the size for women who are 5’3”/160cm in height, which is good as it means I won’t need to add length which I think might be tricky with this pleated design.  I used tailor’s tacks to mark all the pleats.  There wasn’t a waist marking that I could see on the non-pleated side, so I think this is the side that might need adjustments.

It feels different making something for someone else.  You do feel a bit of pressure to get it right and you hope that they will like it.

This is such a striking design, so feminine with lovely curved lines - I really hope I get to make it for real in a beautiful fabric.  

In the meantime I’m pre-washing fabric and daydreaming of what to make next for myself.

Making the Celebrate dress

This is the first dress I’ve made that’s suitable for the autumn/winter season.  I actually started planning this in the summer when I got the August 2012 edition of BurdaStyle magazine.  I really liked the bodice - the pleats at the neckline and the long sleeves which has two darts at the top and is flared at the sleeve hem.  The dress has a pencil skirt which is very elegant looking, but I decided against making it and went for a flared skirt instead.  I don’t think pencil skirts look good on me, and I have to run for the train!

The adjustments I made were:

• moved the apex of the front darts
• the centre front seam is slightly curved (imagine a princess seam).  I reduced the curve (by about 1-1.5 cms at it’s highest) to make it a bit more shallow & blended it to the neck and waist
• increased the bodice at the waist and blended it to the armhole
• increased the skirt at the waist to match the bodice
• lengthened the skirt by a couple of inches

The needlecord is lovely to touch and has good body.  But for the hem - to reduce bulk, I used bias binding to finish it off.  The dress is quite formal looking, so I chose a yellow gingham bias binding to give it some ‘pop’ and to make it a bit fun as well.  (Even if I’m the only one who knows it’s there.)

This dress will be worn over the holidays - to celebrate another year (nearly) over & looking with hope to the next.

View high resolution

celebrate dress:

• pattern: bodice - burdastyle #121 08/2012, skirt - Butterick 3731 (1970s),
• fabric: needlecord, lining,
• notions: concealed zip, bias binding (yellow gingham for hem)

Making the contrast dress

One of the things that I wanted to make this year was a dress that can look like separates - one that has a contrast to the bodice and skirt.  I’ve seen many lovely ones including Mena’s statement necklace dress and what I wore’s ray of light dress.

I cut the bodice from a Liberty Tana Lawn, which I bought in Edinburgh (Crafters’ Ceilidh).  The print design is very busy, so I thought a block of  colour for the skirt would be a good contrast.  I found a cotton that perfectly matched the lovely teal colour that can be found in the print design.

The pattern is a contemporary one - Simplicity 2444 from the Project Runway series, but the shape of the neckline and full skirt has a retro nod to 1950s/early 1960s shapes.  The diagonal pleating detail in the skirt is really lovely - ‘architectural’ almost, and the plain colour fabric really sets it off well.  The skirt is my favourite part of this dress.

I always have to redraw the waistline when I make dresses - as there is a one size difference between my bodice and skirt size.  I’m learning slowly what I need to do to try and resolve fitting issues with bodices.  I moved the point of both sets of front darts one inch higher. 

There are still some improvements I can make to the front bodice pattern to make it fit better, as I’d like to use this pattern again to make other variations of this dress.  I found some good instructions on how to eliminate darts, so I might remove the outer darts as I don’t think I need the extra shaping.  I think also I could also redraw the centre front line about 1cm in at the neckline to eliminate a little excess fabric there.

This is the first garment made on my new Singer sewing machine - which is lovely.

Spring will be here soon, and I’m really looking forward to wearing this dress.

View high resolution

• pattern: Simplicity 2444, 2010
• fabric: Liberty Tana Lawn (bodice), Cotton (skirt)
• notion: zip

• pattern: Vogue 8728, re-issue of Vogue 5702, 1946
• fabric: cotton broderie anglaise
• notion: concealed zip

• pattern: McCalls 6834, 1979
• fabric: cotton
• notions: concealed zip, elastic

• pattern: Butterick 3731, 1970s
• fabric: poly/cotton
• notion: concealed zip

• pattern: Simplicity 6099, 1973
• fabric: printed cotton gauze
• notions: ribbon, snap fastener