Monday, August 9, 2010

From fail to frankenpattern

OK, so I started McCalls 9583, but somewhere along the path I took a wrong turn, and ended up with this:

I guess my brain was not firing on all synapses that day, since I forgot how to do the lining trick for a sleeveless bodice that lets you finish the arm and neck holes, and ended up with something I couldn't flip right-side out.  I have done this correctly before -- I need to go look up the tutorial, clearly!  At the time I was thinking that I just needed to unpick the side seams, so I did that, then got distracted and sat down a little while later and sewed them right back up!  So I vented a little and picked them out again ... except I picked out one of the princess seams in the bodice by mistake.  It was one of those where you stretch one piece as you sew, and I just couldn't get the pieces to line back up properly so that I could re-sew them.

At this point, I might or might not have cried.

At any rate, that version of the bodice ended up in the trash.  I had enough fabric to cut only one more time, but no idea how close it would come to fitting, since I didn't get that far.   So I dug through my pattern stash and came up with another pattern that had darts similar to Butterick 6574, where I have the fit pretty much worked out.  That pattern was McCalls 7245:
... and that almost worked.  The resulting dress fits pretty well if I haven't eaten breakfast yet.  But I won't choose between my clothes and my regularly scheduled mealtimes, and given what an atrocious job I did matching the plaid in the back (no photo -- you'll have to take my word for it) it really wasn't worth the amount of disassembly required to let out the seams.    Not sure what to do with this now.  Goodwill? Etsy, where perhaps I could recoup the cost of my materials, at least?

So, I made another version, out of a bedsheet I picked up at Goodwill a while back.  I love a good cotton percale, and I really like the print, too.  There's perhaps $6 of materials in this dress -- and it is fully lined!  I overcompensated and added a little more than was needed to the waist of this one, but being a little loose doesn't bother me the way too tight does.   The other modifications I made seem to be spot-on.    I'm pondering making this again, and if I decide to, I've got a black fabric with white dots and an embroidered border picked out for it.  And I might even go back and try the bodice for McCalls 9583 one of these days.  But first I'm going to be practical for a change and fill in some gaps in my wardrobe ... more on those projects when they materialize!




7 comments:

  1. What a great dress - I love the tie at the neck!!

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  2. Your dress is beautiful. I admire your determination not to give up.

    Trudy
    www.sewingwithtrudy.blogspot.com

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  3. Excellent! I love the end result.

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  4. Beautiful dress! Way to go for not giving up! :)

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  5. Thanks, y'all! Unfortunately, more than one take is the norm for me: I can't seem to assess fit from a quick muslin, so I don't even try that route any more. But usually I do at least finish the pattern I started! I

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  6. Oh my goodness, I am going to be searching high and low online for that pattern, I LOVE it! You did an awesome job!!!

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  7. What an awesome job! I swear, I just picked up that same sheet at Goodwill about an hour ago. I can't wait to sew with it!

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