My first strapless dress, mermaid-style :) Vogue 8766

I decided a week ago that I was going to make this dress for the Natural Fibers Contest on PR.com. Though this pattern is labeled as "Easy", it took quite a few hours for me to finish it.  I'm sure this is due to my inexperience sewing this type of dress. I usually sew with polyester/spandex, but I know I need to expand my sewing horizons :) This fabric is 100% cotton (I'm pretty certain its quilting cotton, I got it from the clearance section at Fabricville).

A couple weeks ago, I was checking out project photos on PR for this pattern, V8766, and one reviewer referred to it (in view B) as a good "mermaid dress"( here). That immediately caught my attention because my wedding dress was a mermaid style. I went out to Fabricville and bought the pattern and found a nice quilting cotton (both women who made view B, used quilting cotton, so I was gung-ho to find some!) Here is the other review. I wish I would've decided to do the contest right away, because I would've had more time to sew it and do a proper blog post and review on PR. Oh well! :) My review on PR can be found here.

My "Mermaid-style" wedding dress :) <3

**These two photos wearing the cardigan were taken June 9 after our evening service @ church. It was more appropriate I think :)
I prefer these black strappy shoes also. I bought them at Payless Shoes a couple of years ago and they seem to go with everything!

Fabric is like a cat-magnet. They just can't seem to resist cozying up to it :)

Caper making herself at home, must be the pretty floral print :)

Boris on my sewing basket :)

Trying to steal the spotlight :)

I had to get Dan to take photos of me this morning before he had to work, as this was the only time we could take some outdoors (I was just not photogenic indoors last night!). I took this one inside to show the fabric better.

Close-up of the ruffle. I was a bit unsure about how it would look, but I LOVE it! I find it give a bit of a Mexican flare. :)

Inside of the dress. I basted the lining inside, then stitched-in-the-ditch on the outside through the bodice and skirt seam. I slip-stitched the lining to the zipper.

Yes, I know this photo is sideways, my computer was having issues...

This is how long the ruffle piece is before gathering. I tried to gather it the "proper" way (by using 3 rows of basting stitches) but was finding it difficult. Enter my good friend Google :) The page I found, showed how to gather by sewing zigzag stitches over a length of emery floss (I used twine). This technique made my life SO much easier!

             


         This is what I had my sewing machine set at. 4 being the zigzag stitch. :) In retrospect, I think I could've had the stitch a bit tighter, but it worked fine :)

Sewing over the twine. Oh! I must mention, I used my "N" foot. It has a groove in the middle that made it really easy to guide the twine. I was able to sew the entire length of the ruffle without piercing the twine (which would not be good :)

 All pinned up before basting. I found it very helpful to pin through the twine to further secure the gathers.

I know its not the easiest to see, but trust me, the gathering turned out really well! The ruffle is my favorite feature of this dress, and I want another dress with it! :)

Call of the Wild

Yes, I've sewn yet *another* version of Vogue 1314. I couldn't help myself! :) As another PR reviewer put it, "there's something addictive about it". I'm going to put it aside for now and move onto something else, but I'm certainly *not* ready to retire this pattern!

Review on PR here.

I realize I'm standing next to a "do not shovel snow against this fence" sign! Note to self: Next time be more aware of where I'm posing
for photos! Oh well :)



Good news, the weather here in Nova Scotia is finally getting warm! It was nice to not be freezing to death when we took these (well, Dan took the photos and I tried to look pretty, I even painted my nails red for the occasion :)




I was getting rather bored of posing indoors! It's just *sooo* much nicer outside (even if the outdoors is just in the parking lot behind our apartment building :).

I must note that for this version I left out the lining. The fabric I used was also a Polyester/Spandex knit (like my last two). This fabric in particular seemed very stable, so I chose to leave out the lining. After wearing it, I conclude that I don't think a lining is absolutely necessary (depending on your fabric of course).

The obligatory "Vogue Pose". Notice my cat, Caper, wants in.

Oh Caper! She often likes to join me when I'm on the couch. I guess she didn't realize I was posing for the camera and it wasn't cuddle-with-Rikki-time!

If you've seen any of my other blog posts, you may have noticed I like to use hockey pucks as pattern weights. I *hate* pinning and cutting with scissors. I find it rather tedious, so unless necessary, I prefer to use a cutting mat & rotary cutter.

Most of the hockey pucks I have are from Value Village Thrift Store. This Halifax Mooseheads puck is the only one I paid full price for. Souvenir from last weeks (amazing!) game.

Boris on my lap as I was sewing :)

I took this shot of the cats when I was at the ironing board, thinking they were so cute wanting to be close to me as I worked! Then I noticed they were in front of the fridge giving me "that" look...

Stretch stitch #15 :)

Since I've already posted two reviews of this dress, I don't need to repeat most of it. One thing I did do differently this time though, is narrow the skirt slightly. I pinned it while wearing and then used a fading fabric marker to dot where I wanted the new seam to be. I used a Fashion Ruler to true the seam (I think that's the right terminology :)

I basted the seam first (not shown) and then used a stretch stitch as shown on the above photo (#15 on my Brother Sewing Machine). Then simply trimmed along the new seam line.

I've had difficulty in the past hemming narrow sleeves, but this time I discovered a much easier way. I pulled up a sleeve on a sleeve roll and turned the hem up (I wanted 3/4 length sleeves). In my case, I turned it up 1" and pressed.

Next I took the sleeve off the sleeve roll and opened out the pressed area, turning the fabric in to meet the crease, pinning all the way around. Press again and let cool.

Here I'm opening up the hem to insert a strip of "Steam a Seam Lite" (I think it's called "Lite 2", sorry, lost the packaging!). This stuff is great, as I find the polyester/spandex fabric slippery to hem. For this hem, I cut the strips lengthwise as they were too wide.

This special type of fusible web stretches with knit fabric (regular fusible web does *not* stretch with fabric!)

Press with lots of steam and it makes topstitching sooo much easier! I suppose you could try it without topstitching, but I like the look of the two rows, and the extra security of stitching :)

Another bonus of "Steam a Seam, lite 2" is, it helps to prevent unsightly "tunnelling" which can occur when a double needle is used on knit fabric (the fabric kinda puckers between the two stitching rows). Seems like I get that more often than not (tunnelling, that is), even when I try different needle sizes :/  Wash-away-Wonder-Tape also works well too, but this stuff is cheaper :)

One more thing: this is the first time I've used a Teflon foot. Made sewing over clear elastic so much easier! Here I'm using clear elastic for the gathers. This time I basted the front and back pieces together before sewing on the elastic to gather, which helped a lot. The instructions say to gather each side separetely, but I was a little impatient.

Thanks for checking out my blog post :)

New Look 6097

If this fabric looks familiar, its because it is :) ! I had recently used it for a version of Vogue 1314  I was so in love with this fabric, I decided to get more and use it for New Look 6097. Although, I'm decently pleased with the outcome,  I won't be sewing this pattern up again anytime soon. My review on PR here.

I am just *smitten* with this fabric! I can see myself being lame and buying more to make yet
*another* dress :)

Chewfoot on my fabric. He likes it too :)

Correction, I won't be sewing the *top* part of this pattern anytime soon. I really like the skirt with the great pocket detail (I highly recommend including the pockets :).

I had originally planned to sew this dress without the pockets but after reading so many favorable reviews on PR, I decided to include them. I'm so very glad I did, because they were one of the few redeeming qualities of this pattern. The pockets went together pretty well, though it took a bit of extra time for me, reading over the instructions carefully and taking my good 'ol time constructing the pockets to make sure I was doing it right.

A few reviewers noted that the bodice took some adjusting, but there were plenty that found it "perfect". I rather naively assumed I would fall in the majority and would have little altering to do.

Boy was I wrong ...wrong, wrong, wrong! (Did I mention wrong?). I've *never* been so frustrated with a bodice pattern! I figured at most, I would have to take in the side seams, but unfortunately, it wasn't that  simple :( . I decided to forego the cuffs and narrow the sleeves (that were quite baggy) and make them 3/4 length.

 I really should have made a muslin first, of the bodice at the very least. The skirt was fine, though I did end up taking it in 1/2" on each side seam which was a very easy adjustment. I can definitely see myself using the skirt pattern again and using a different bodice pattern with it. I'll adjust the skirt tissue piece for next time.

I'm not completely satisfied with the crossover of the bodice, and anyone getting a close look would notice how imperfect the side-seams are as well. The resulting neckline is a bit lower than I'd like. If I wasn't so smitten with this fabric, I would have been tempted to scrap it. 

After so many great reviews of New Look 6097, I'm disappointed that I had so much grief with it. But hey, it happens! Just because a pattern works for a lot of people, doesn't mean it'll work for everybody. I'm sure there are patterns I've loved that have caused headaches for other sewers!

I wouldn't tell anyone to "not" try this pattern, considering how many women have loved it (and I honestly intend to use the skirt/pockets pattern on another project. I will give a "proceed-with-caution" warning. And do yourself a favor and make a muslin first (especially of the bodice). It'll save you a lot of frustration :)

Boris, helping to keep up my morale as I sewed :)

***Update, April 29, 2013***

Last week when I wore this dress to church, I used a safety pin to hold the wrap bodice in place. It was better than nothing, but not ideal, as the pin kept shifting around, and was visible at times, ugh.

Before wearing it out again, I decided on a much better solution: sewing in a snap closure. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of using tailor's tack's to mark the area for snaps, but in case there are those who maybe hadn't thought of it, I figured it would be helpful :)

Please note, I am a rookie trying to give directions here. I did my best to explain, but you can probably tell what to do by merely observing the photos. My apologies if I'm less than clear :)

I have to be honest, I took these photos *after" actually sewing on my snap (I was in a rush to sew it on so I could wear it to church yesterday morning) so I decided to do a "mock-up".

#1 First of all, try on dress (not shown) and pin bodice in place for desired coverage :). I inserted a pin next to where I wanted the snap to be.

#2: Next, push a threaded needle through both bodice sections at the exact spot where you would like the snap to be (it would probably be more accurate if you did this while wearing the dress, be careful not to poke yourself! :)

 I think I used about a 18" length and knotted the ends together, doubling the thread.

#3 Next I cut the threads to take the needle off,
and knotted the thread ends together. Here, I'm pulling the loop up  so when I cut the length in
 half, I have long thread tails. Cut thread length in half.

So now each side of the bodice has a tailor's tack marker so you can easily tell where to place
 each side of the snap to sew in place :)

Step #4 Sew each snap on facing bodice sections. See more below...

I tried to place the snaps a little further away from the neckline, so they would be less likely to show while wearing.

I don't know if it matters which side of the snap goes where, but I placed the socket side on the front of the left bodice section and the ball side on the inside of the right bodice section.

And voila!

This simple little snap made such a HUGE difference! I was so comfortable wearing this dress :) No fear of any mishaps, and my modesty is kept intact! :)

Vogue 1314, Take 2 :)

Yes, I've done it again! Sewn Vogue pattern 1314, that is :) I was particularly inspired by another PR member, mimig. Her version made me want a summery dress in a floral print. I was at Fabricville a few weeks ago and this gorgeous fabric had just come out as part of their Spring line.

Look at the gorgeousness! With the lining (not so pretty but functional :)

As soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew I would be using it to make this pattern again. Not to sound like a cheap-skate, but I admit, I usually buy fabric on sale.  However, I was so gung-ho to make this dress, I couldn't wait! Well, I didn't buy it at *full* price since I have a membership card at Fabricville. Members get at least 20% off reg price, but I frequently take advantage of the buy 1m, get 2m free sales :) It's still winter here in Nova Scotia, Canada, but before you know it, it'll be time to break out the Summer wear! I'm ahead of the game :)

Not quite back-shot :)

I think I should have made the dress a touch longer, but oh well! I'll keep that in mind for the next project :)

Even though its sub-zero temperatures (as in Celsius, not Fahrenheit) :) at the moment, come summer brings,  well... summer weather! And around here in NS, it's not only hot, but hot and humid (some days, disgustingly so). Ugh, I could sweat just thinking about it! I knew if I was making a tight-fitting dress for summer, it had to have very short sleeves. I really liked the cap sleeves on McCalls 6243 (made earlier this year), so I adjusted Vogue 1314 to be similar.

Adjusted sleeve with the help of McCalls 6243.

To adjust the sleeve, I traced the sleeve curve of McCalls
6243 and kinda redrew where I thought the line should be on V 1314. This is the first time I've done an adjustment like this, and I'm not sure what the "proper" way of doing it is, but it worked OK for me :)

In the photo to the right, I have the re-drafted front top-half laid
underneath the Vogue front pattern piece. Can you tell I'm an amateur? :) And in case you're wondering, yes, those are hockey pucks that I'm using for pattern weights :) A *very* helpful tip I picked up from the "Tips" book put out by PatternReview.com. I despise pinning, so I almost always use hockey pucks and a rotary cutter.

Chewfoot on my lining :)

 Anyone else have cats that like to make themselves comfortable on your fabric and/or pattern tissue paper? This here is Chewfoot (yes Chewfoot, as a kitten he liked to chew on Dan and I's feet, hence the name :)

This here's the lining. It's called "power mesh". Likely meant for sports-wear I suppose. Chenille from PR used it for her dress, and I thought it would be perfect for warm weather :)

  For this dress I used clear elastic to do the gathers. ggf2005 on PR used it for hers, and I figured if its good enough for an expert, that's good enough for me :) There are great tutorials online on how to use clear elastic, so I won't elaborate. Below are photos taken during the process :)    

All pinned up :)

Elastic and fabric both marked with
reference points.

Stretching the elastic (but not the fashion fabric) whilst sewing.
Clear elastic makes it easy to see the markings on the fabric :)
P.S. I'm just using one hand here because the other is taking the photo.
I definitely used both hands while actually sewing :)

Resulting gathers with clear elastic :) So much easier than hand-gathering!

*Note* I probably should have gathered each side of the front and back separately (as per pattern instructions) to have the most even gathering, and it would have been easier to maneuver the elastic with one layer of fabric instead of two, but I was just a *little* impatient. I think it worked out alright, though I think I'll gather separately next time :)

 In the pattern directions, they want you to "stay" each side of the front and back piece separately with seam binding before sewing the front and back piece together, but since I didn't follow directions, I used a pretty (and non-bulky) lace seam binding on one side since I gathered the front and back as one unit.

Pretty lace "stay".

Caper curled up on my sewing desk :)

What can I say? I love my kitties :) Here is Caper (I named her Caper because I'm from Cape Breton, and I thought it was cute :) The cats like to keep me company while I sew.
    

Caper stole my chair while I was pinning the lining to my dress. 

Faded Ottawa Senator's puck :)

 The pattern has you bind the neckline, and I did the same for the armhole since I didn't want to use a narrow hem. I thought it would make a nicer finish, but it ended up being a bit too bulky for my taste. I'll have to think of a better way for next time, or maybe use a thinner fabric for binding.

I like to use hockey pucks to help set pressed seams. Hey, it works for me! :)






I under-stitched the armhole facings similar to what the directions have you to do to the neckline. I found it was easier to under-stitch from the inside as I trimmed the seams too much beforehand :(. The other arm was way worse! Turned out alright though in end :)

From the *wrong* side :p

Under-stitched armhole facing.

 I  mistakingly stretched a spot in back on the neckline while sewing on the neckband :( Its a little wobbly-looking, but once I pressed it and turned it to the inside, it wasn't as noticeable. It didn't bother me enough to take out all that stitching :/

I used steam a seam on the neckline, but it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped :( It wasn't laying flat enough, so I topstitched with a double needle, and it helped a lot.  It doesn't lie completely flat, but since its in the back, it stretches to lie flat over my upper back and my hair covers it too :)


Steam as seam was helpful for my lining hem however :)

I just love the look of topstitching with a double-needle. Gives it a more RTW look :)

Yay its done! I can see myself using this pattern again (and again, and again...)

Boris doesn't like to co-operate with the camera! But I love him just the same :)