New Dresses

Hello again, and thanks to everyone who has commented on my blog thus far.  It's like an unofficial fan club.  My 15 minutes of fame.

During my Bali Belly days at home, after I had watched enough TV and caught up on enough films, I made some dresses. 

You may remember my pink skirt I made with gifted fabric.  Around the same time I also made a wrap dress out of the first bit of fabric I bought when I knew I was going to be getting a new sewing machine. 

I call it my merry-go-round dress

I used Butterick 5030, and made it to a size 14.  This is my way of sewing without making a muslin.  If I make it bigger I can just take it in and adjust the pattern ‘down’ so to speak.  Not a perfect way of sewing but faster than making a muslin, and cheaper with the current price of cotton in the UK. 

I’m quite long in the body, so I added an inch to the bodice in length and that is about all the adjustments I had to do.  It fits me almost perfectly.  If I made a muslin I would adjust the back to compensate for my slight sway back and make the bust a little larger, but I’m yet to master a full bust adjustment so that is for another project. 

I also made the McCalls 5975  inspired by a former project of Gertie's from last year. 

It was made with an online fabric purchase of gun metal grey jersey, which wasn’t quite what I had in mind, but lovely all the same.  Initially I lengthened the bodice too much (I can’t remember if it was an inch and a half or more… I AM long in the body after all) but I really couldn't be bothered to unpick the seams and fix it, and I put the sleeve pleats in the wrong place, which I did fix.  All I can say, is i love my unpicker/seam ripper.  It is every stitcher’s best friend. 

I also made a belt using Casey’s tutorial and some materials from my local fabric store (not actual belting, but something that could do the job) and a belt buckle from the local market which has lovely notions to covet and buy.

the little munchkin in the background in her beloved box bed in the corner of my sewing desk

I also want to make a little brooch to go on it and possibly do some beading on it, and thought of making a little rose or some kind of flower.  What do you think? 

As soon as the sun shines again (and I've finished the hems) in North Devon and I am not at my day job, I’ll make an effort and take some pics of them on my actual body and not my dress stand.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to everyone out there who inspires me to keep on sewing. 

Cheers

Cyd