the final act - the finished Crepe Dress

I thought about writing the skirt section, but really, nothing interesting happened other then I took out a lot of fabric both on the sides and from the bottom - when I say a lot, I mean about 5 inches of each skirt seam - obviously not near the waist area, but further down - and about 8 inches in length.

I don't think it looks tarty though. Looksie ... I even found some heels to wear even though I have worn heels 3 times in the last 3 years, well 4 times now :-)

Another view from the side and back, please ignore the dying tomato plant, I have a new one.

Now, for the lining. One of the challenges was the opening to feed the tie through. I ended up sewing the seam allowances of the lining and the outer fabric together in order to create a stable non-fraying hole. It can be seen on the top on this picture. I also finished of the seam allowances of the skirt section by wrapping the lining around - a bit like the Hong Kong finish. I think Karen from Did You Make It wrote about it a while back ... obviously hers was neater.

As my final act in making this dress, I hand-stitched the bodice lining to the skirt section with a slip stitch. It's not totally neat, but who cares. I think it look great :-)

Now that it is finished I feel a little lost. I know I should get back to stash busting ...

Crepe Bodice or we're getting somewhere

You know why I don't particularly like muslins? Because by the time I got the fit right - or rightish, let's face it, I have little idea how things are 'supposed' to fit - anyway, by the time the fit is doable I have lost all enthusiasm for the projects. I have in fact got several skirt muslins ready to go, I have even paired them up with all the correct fabric and notions and yet they are sitting nicely in their little bag waiting patiently for the muse to return ... sigh.

I was determined to keep going with this project so here we are.  I cut the lining on the bias, so that the front piece has a bit of stretch like the gridlock fabric. It also stabilised the back piece where it crossed over. Originally the cross over is on the bias and now on the lining it runs with the grain, so hopefully it'll be less likely that it stretches out on that bit.

The original crepe dress is not lined, but due to the poly I really really really needed it lined. I was going to interface the whole neckline, but the bulk was a bit too much, so I just interfaced the tip of the V to ensure stability. Also I pinked the seams within the lining, because both fabrics frayed like mad ... is one supposed to finish seams that are within the lining?

I under-stitched the neckline and changed the darts of the lining into pleats to allow more movement - I think I might have read that on someone's blog, but I can't remember where.

I have made the ties out of the lining material (a ivory cotton sateen from Spotlight) and attached them slightly higher then the pattern asked for. It worked better on the muslin, so hey, who am I to question the muslin. Next up - the skirt :-)

the Crepe Dress Muslin

this is the step that I was most afraid of: THE FITTING

muslin #1 - the front

according the the size chart my bust was a size 4 and my waist a size 6, so I cut a 4 on top and then graded it up to a size 6 after the bust darts. It actually fitted quite well once I took in the side seams under the bust dart (to a size 2 ?!?). I wasn't all that impressed with the neckline, so it is now v-shaped instead.

The back was very baggy and had lots of fabric folds everywhere. I was feeling quite defeated, because no matter how much I took out it didn't really work. Gridlock is a substantial fabric, add to that the lining, I almost gave up until I looked at the pattern pieces.

There is a lot ease in the shoulder section and I seem to have a small back (judging by previous dress and shirt endeavours), so I copied the arm/ shoulder section from the front to the back. Below is a picture of the modified back laid atop the original back.

muslin #2 - the back

It now has the modified side seams, the changed back and I took another 1/4 inch out of the shoulder seams. This picture still shows a fold in the front under the girls, but after trying it with a variety of bras, I decided to stop messing with it.

I added the waist tie to get a better idea of the fit. I think the back is much better.

I wore it around the house for a few hours to get an idea whether I cut out too much ease, but it seemed fine. Now that I cut out the bodice and the lining though, I wonder whether I left enough ease to compensate for the fact the the gridlock fabric and lining will be much thicker then the ex-table cloth that I used a s a muslin ... sigh, well, we'll see.

the hunt is over - the Crepe Dress

I fell in love with Colette's Crepe Dress last year, because it seemed so neat with it being wrapped in the back. I bought the pattern and was super excited - wanted to start then and there. I found Gertie's sewalong and thought it was just great, someone going through all the steps on how to sew it.

And then I read ahead ... and Gertie said that she was on muslin #3 before it finally fitted ... and I kinda deflated when I read this. The thought of not just 1 or 2 but THREE muslins, each made by someone who clearly knows what she is doing, in my mind it spelled disaster. Obviously the dress must be very hard to fit and maybe I should do it when I know more about fitting and so it went into the pile of someday maybes.

Except, now I think it might make a good winter dress with the Gridlock fabric. So I pulled it out and thought I'll just try and see how it goes, because really, what is the worst that can happen. There are a few issues however, so I am not sure whether it'll actually work:

a, I need to have it fully lined (the poly problem) and the pattern calls for facings instead. Gertie underlined it completely and used facings, but that would be way too much bulk. So lining ...
b, the fabric requirement on the back says 4 1/5 yrds, I have 3 meters. However I am short, it's a winter dress worn with tights, so it can be kinda short too ...
c, my sewing mojo tend to vary a little when I am working on something that is hard ... hopefully it'll be finished before winter finishes in September :-)

I am surrounded by muslins or the journey to match fabric with pattern

After I had finished all the frantic birthday sewing I felt my sewing mojo ebbing away a little and I felt utterly utterly uninspired by my stash. Enter Tessuti and their gridlock fabric.

I thought it might be a nice break from the Stash only sewing that was slowly zapping all the fun out of my sewing adventure. I was truly excited when the package arrived not 2 days later and looksie how beautifully they wrapped it :-)

In the meantime the fabric has popped up on several blogs around the world. Karen from Did You Make That made a jacket out of it  and I think Sew Brunswick is making a dress. There is a competition attached to the fabric, but to be honest, my sewing skills are not up to this sort of playing, so I picked it mainly to check out Tessuti without paying 30 odd dollars per meter.

I want to make a dress out of it, but because it has quite a bit of polyester in it (at least I assume that poly is short for polyester, showing my general ignorance here), it needs to be fully lined. I made a bodice muslin for both New Look 6935 View A and Butterick B5181 View A.

I like the New Look one (pictured above), but as I was about to begin the second muslin I realised that the fabric is too heavy even without lining for those patterns. It's got to be a dress with short sleeves that I can wear in the Queensland winter with some tights and boots. The hunt through my pattern stash is on for a pattern that would be suitable for a winter dress ...