Dress is complete

My dress is finished except for a hook and eye and sewing the sash. It took me most all of the weekend to complete. Mostly due to my complicating a fairly simple dress pattern.

I decided that I wanted to line the dress though not offered with this pattern. I had to use the dress pattern pieces to cut out a lining. I wanted to attached the lining to the facings, so redrafted the necklines of the lining pieces adding 1/4 inch seam allowance to attach the facings. See below:

I then attached the lining unit to the fabric unit at the neckline.

I sewed the neckline, then sewed the linings at the armscyes and then pulled the lining inside out through the shoulder. I then inserted the zipper at the center back. The pattern called for a side zipper but I preferred using the center back. I was able to acquire a perfect matching invisible zipper for this dress. The next steps included sewing the center back seam below the zipper, sew the back seam of the lining up to the point where zipper bottom would end. I then sewed the lining side and fabric side seams in one continuous seam.

I should have checked the fit before sewing the side seams; normally I do this as second nature. Yes, you know the outcome! I had to redo some seams due to fit. I did a FBA but obviously was not sufficient. Thankfully there are front princess seams that I let out ending up taking a 3/8 inch seam through the bust area of the princess seams. I also let out the side seams from under arms down to waist line, resulting in a 3/8 seam allowance. This gave me the extra I needed for the bust area.

The pleats at the neckline is what appealed to me about this dress. However, I think that the pleats pull apart oddly when worn due to a full bust. Some of this may have to do with the thickness of the fabric I used. A softer, drapey fabric may lay different. The fabric I used is a stretch cotton fabric. Suggested fabrics include cotton.

I like the look of the dress now that it fits better. The fabric I used I am afraid is going to wrinkle more than I like. Some people can wear natural fabrics with wrinkles and all, and they do not look disheveled. When I wear something like this, I want to iron the garment every hour and I feel like I look like a mess.

This was great project to learn how to redraft areas of the dress for the lining and the facings.

Next up is the jacket that is part of this same wardrobe/coordinates pattern. Tomorrow is another vaca day and I have plans to start the jacket in the AM! After this I am making some knit tops for some quick gratification, I hope. I need some more knit tops for suits as well as for casual. After that I will tackle the Vogue 1026 dress.

I will post photos of the finished garment tomorrow.