Monday, December 20, 2010

Changing Horses Mid-Stream

No new photos in this post because the camera battery died, but then again there's nothing much to show.

Last night I got the sleeves sewn onto the dress. I removed almost all the ease and managed to get the little remaining ease in without problems. That hardly ever happens on both sleeves Then I tried the dress on and looked in the mirror.

And I didn't like what I saw. I still loved the fabric, and the general idea of the dress. I just didn't like where that idea had taken me.

I thought about what I didn't like, and it came down to this: I liked the raised waist seam, but my seam wasn't raised enough. It landed about an inch below the bra line and it needed to be almost even. Also, the piping. I copied that detail from a dearly departed vintage dress, and I'm sure I'll try it again at some point, but it wasn't working for me here. Also, I think the piping was a smidge too big, and because of that, I couldn't get it to be completely flat.

Looking in the mirror, I felt vaguely . . . upholstered. Not a look you want on your wedding day - or any day, for that matter.

So, what to do? If it had been earlier in the evening, I would have spent more time thinking. Seeing that it was after 11:00p .m., I took my sharpest scissors to that pesky waist seam, and cut the dress apart on either side of the piping, ditched the piping and pinned it back together, giving myself a 1/2" seam allowance on the bodice and less on the skirt.

Tonight I sewed, pressed and tried it on, with fingers crossed.

Much better. I do need to re-fit the skirt slightly since my butchery raised the hip curve a bit, but that's not a big deal.

The lines on my previous photo show the new seamline, and how it will (hopefully) fit once I'm finished.

I also had a really good idea about the back of the dress, inspired by a skirt in the January issue of Burda, which of course seems really promising, and which of course I did not get, since my subscription ended in December.

2 comments:

velosews said...

I congratulate your eye for detail. There's so much I see in my sewing when I take a few pics during the process.

SEWN said...

I can't wait to see it!!!!! Will we see it before the wedding day?