Sunday 4 August 2013

Lisette 1878- Diplomat dress, take 2

I worked my way through the cutesy fabrics and now I'm finally on to some cheaper stuff that I got on a whirlwind first visit to Spotlight (=Jo-Ann Fabrics).  I had immediately envisioned a long sleeve version of my first dress in a cozy, sleepwear-like plaid flannel.

I'm also trying to slow down a little.  The first wild projects careening through my head are taken care of and I thought before I move on to the next ones, I need to actually start doing something well.  I have a host of Liberty fabrics in mind for upcoming attempts and I don't want to mess them up! (Heh - although that said Ebay pulled a trick on me and some fabric I ordered went to my parents house in the States!  So much for doing that dress for awhile...)

So on this dress I wanted to focus on matching up the plaid (arrrrgh no one told me that flannel sticks to itself, and shifts around, and never matches!)  and also on making a wide-shoulder adjustment.  I stuck to the same size 8 even though it was small because this fabric has more give than the muslin, and with the wider shoulders it will fit much better since the shoulder area was the main problem.  This time I also wanted to do the facing correctly.

Other than the plaid really not matching up that well (I tried!), this went smoothly.  It's definitely easier to do a project the second time around - I had a lot more confidence and there were no surprises.  With the shoulder adjustment - I added 2 inches across using the Colette online tutorial - it still pulls slightly in the front chest, but the back chest feels better.  If I hadn't done this I think the long sleeves would have been uncomfortable.  

For some reason I also placed the zipper in too low, so until I get around to sewing in the hook and eye, it gapes a bit.  Since it's winter that doesn't matter for now, I'm always wearing a cardigan over it. (But it's quite obvious in the pictures.)

I do like this dress now that I'm better at making it, but I don't think it's anything special - not enough to do again.  I've read a few posts by those incredible sewing bloggers creating multiple variations on each dress theme, but I haven't found a pattern I like that much yet.  I'm looking forward to getting on the bandwagon and trying out some of the popular things I've seen up lately!

It's taking awhile to get coordinated enough to photograph my projects - trying to get quicker at it but I've chosen to keep everything chronologically accurate even if I'm behind a bit on posting.



No comments:

Post a Comment