Sunday, May 23, 2010

Complicating a simple pattern

I have found a way to turn a "quick sew" dress into a more time consuming project.

I decided I wanted to do some sort of embellishment to the waist insert for KS 3760. It was one of those ideas that popped into my mind last weekend and the more I thought about it the more I was convinced I should do this.

My idea was to make pintucks and use that with the waist insert. I made 1/4 inch wide pintucks with 3/4 inch spacing between them. The design idea was to imply stripes.. I am not sure that I actually achieved the true look of stripes but the pintucks were vertical and does give a different look for the waist insert.

I had no idea how time consuming the pintucks would be. I would mark, pin and sew the tucks; repeat; place the pattern on the pintucked fabric to determine how many more rows of pintucks to sew. After completing the pintucks, I then attached underlining fabric. You can see the attached waist inserts below:
I then underlined the front and back skirt pieces and basted to the upper portions of the dress. After basting the side seams, I tried on for fitting purposes. I had to take up the front skirt darts and decided to trim the center back seam in the upper back area as this was going to be too wide in that area after I insert the zipper.

So dress upper and lower pieces are attached. I found two great invisible zippers to use and have to decide to go with the lavender or stay with the beige, the same as the dress background.
I learned from the fitting session that I may need to take deeper seams at the waist area down to hem.

The dress calls for armhole facings which I have cut out and fused with interfacing. I may decide to use bias tape instead. So next steps are:
  1. Insert invisible zipper
  2. Sew side seams
  3. Attach armhole facings or bias tape
  4. Hem

I really like the look of the dress and there is a part of me that wishes I had just eliminated the embellished waist insert. I probably would have a completed dress now. Yet this is why I sew to design and make garments my way! Later.

8 comments:

  1. I really like the look of the pintucked waist and it will make your dress stand out. I know it took a lot of time but once it's finished and in the closet you will be happy that you took that time the next time you pull it out to wear.

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  2. You know that I know what you mean. I always tend to over think and over complicate patterns, making more work for myself. However, I still feel that those personal touches add so much more to the finished project. Yours is going to be beautiful!

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  3. Hooray for self expression, love the pin tucks and fabric.

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  4. Oh, your embellishment looks very nice!! Once the dress is finished, you will be happy you have done all of the extra work!! This is going to be a cute dress!!

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  5. You'll have a pretty, and unique dress when finished. Sew on.

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  6. I think your idea of adding pintucks to the waist is really lovely. It's nice to be able to add a special, personal touch to a dress.

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  7. I think the pintucks are a great way to embellish the dress. Like you said, this is why you sew to design and make garments your way. Taking a easy pattern is the way to go when you want to add something special to the garment. Now this simple pattern is unique. Looking forward to the finish.

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  8. The pintucks are a nice addition! I went through a serious pintuck phase a couple years ago.

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