Sunday, 21 July 2013

Dress #1, Lisette 1878 - the Diplomat dress

I repeat, I didn't know muslin wasn't considered proper dress material!  So dress #1 was made out of muslin with lime green edging and a lime green sort-of invisible zipper.  In the whole excitement of having the equipment, the tools, the fabric and time, I had not really thought about the results - actually having a wearable item of clothing.

Cutting was first thing in the morning, and I followed the directions up til I had to use interfacing.  I watched some online videos about interfacing and got that done, and to my shock by midafternoon the only thing to do was install the zip.  I wasn't sure that I could do it so I took a break and had tea and watched another video.

End result: it's wearable!  I wore it to work the next day and got some compliments.  Not perfect by a long shot - I didn't finish any seams and the zip is not quite stitched straight.  The facing on the v-front somehow got stuck and I thought it looks quite nice so I left it that way and didn't do the vertical decorative stitching.

We did a little outdoor photo shoot to celebrate.



In terms of size I had no idea what to expect.  I'm about 34-27-38 and I went by the final bust measure and cut a size 8.  I could have sized up one.  I sewed the side seams with a 1/4" hem instead of 5/8" and that made it fit.  Other than that, the shoulders are tight but since the sleeves are short I can still move around ok.

This dress is actually pretty great to wear all winter since I layer under and over it.  Probably it won't withstand the test of time in my wardrobe but my enthusiasm at making something I can actually wear is enough to tide me over for the time being. 

No comments:

Post a Comment