༺ Stitching Stories: A 'Round the House Wrap Dress ༻

*whew*

Am I ever so glad that this dress is done! I have never had so much trouble putting together a sewing project before ~ not because it didn’t come together easily enough, that wasn’t the problem ~ it was because I just couldn’t get the dang thing to sit right!  (┛◉Д◉)┛*rage*

I suppose this is where experienced seamstresses look pointedly at their muslins and toiles {“twahl” for those of you that don’t “sew speak”, so to speak.  ; P}, then at me, then back at the neat little muslin sitting on the dress form…..

Yah.  Ain’t nobody got time for that! Least ways, I don’t.

I found out that the bodice of my 90% completed dress was not fitting correctly because of my nursing bust size, even though I’d measured the pattern and thought that it would fit. The design of the back of the neck was not working for me either. It wouldn’t sit right no matter how I adjusted it ~ up or down!

Getting the dress to fit required a lot of what my coding Mister calls “hacking”. In my sewing world however, hacking involves taking a sharp pair of scissors to already sewn seams and hacking the bajeebies out of the fabric along strategically drawn chalk lines.

I cut roughly two inches out from the back of the neck, and lopped off three to seven inches from the sleeves, then hemmed the skirt up by five inches. It was a risk that the whole thing would fall apart if I snipped too much, or in the wrong place, but it paid off as the dress sits much better around the neckline now. 

It isn’t all weird and bunchy like it was before. I don’t quite know what was happening, but the back of the dress sat really high up on the back of my neck, and it was making the darts sit in the wrong place, which was making the bodice puff up really strangely above the bust.

Of course, getting it to work took a lot of extra fiddling, which took a lot of extra time, and I ended up taking way too long on this project. Plus, I’ve been sick as a dog for the last week, which means May is officially up and I didn’t manage to get my other project ~ a winter blouse ~ done this month.  (TT ^ TT)

So, only one more project ticked off the great Sewing All the Things challenge of 2015, but at least it actually happened because I was worried there for a moment that I would end up having to toss the whole dress.

                                              ~ The source of much trouble! ~

Next question ~ does anyone want to purchase this pattern?  It will come with all the original pieces of the pattern, the original instructions {taped, because they are falling apart}, the original envelope, and also a copy of the bodice, sleeve, facings, waist inserts, tie, and pocket pattern pieces all traced onto Polytrace {similar to Swedish Tracing Paper ~ it’s a soft, woven fabric-like paper}. Basically, I traced off everything but the skirt, so you can work straight from the pattern copy.

If you would like to buy the pattern, along with the the Polytrace copies for $20.00 AUD, please email me with your Paypal address and mailing address, and I can send off an invoice which will also include whatever the P+P will cost. 

~ Project Details ~

• Year: 1948
• Pattern: Simplicity 2275
• Fabric: 2 1/2 metres of red and green sprig floral of poly-cotton{?}. I have no idea about the fibre content of this fabric as my Grandmother gave it to me.
• Notions: None, is a wrap dress.
• Time to complete: Three weeks
• Make again? Nope. I really don’t want to make this dress again. It was just such a hassle to get it working properly that I really don’t want to go through all of that again. I like the dress, but not that much.
• Wear again? I will, but I think it’ll probably be in my “around the house, running errands, going to playgroup, etc” wardrobe. Which is okay with me because I need more vintage around the house clothes anyway.
• Total Cost:  $0.00 ~ yay for stash busting! 

Have any of you had sewing dramas with almost-but-not-quite-failure projects before?  Would you seam rip to make it work, or try ‘hacking’ it up? Plus, how great are my new shoes ~ right?  (ノ ゜ω゜)ノ

xox,

bonita


༺ ♡ ༻

Vintage Bow Hair Tie | Me Made, May 2015 {tutorial here}
’Round the House 1940’s Wrap Dress  | Me Made, May 2015
Hunter Green Swinging Heels  | eBay


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