Dress progression

DH had to work late last night, so after CURVES, shower and dinner I spent some time in my sewing room working on the Simplicity dress. I basted the side seams together for the bodice to try on before inserting the sleeves.

I was thrilled at the fit!!!! I had some concerns about the overlay piece which is attached to the midriff. When I held the bodice piece up the ruching (overlay)seem to sag and I thought I am going to have this sagging and not the look as shown on the pattern. Once I tried on the bodice then stretch of the knit across my body made the overlay ruching do what it is suppose to do. Whew! I thought that perhaps the weight of the knit would pull it down; thankfully it doesn't. This confirms why knit patterns are drafted smaller than wovens and allows for fabric stretch. The shoulder fits beautifully and the gathers under the bust area I am finding are flattering. I will use 3/8 seams through the waist area as this felt a little snug. The bodice area's 5/8 seam allowance worked well.

I want to make another dress from this pattern, perhaps with short sleeves and a contrast midriff. I am on the prowl for the perfect knit fabrics.

I will insert sleeves next, add neckband then attach the top pieces to the skirt. I am really excited about this dress. As others have noted on their blogs, this seems to be the season for dresses. I think my next sewing projects will include another dress from this pattern, a wrap dress, a shirtwaist dress and my all time favorite sheath.

Fabric for Simplicity Dress

I purchased this fabric last summer at the National ASG Conference in Washington, DC.

I purchased it from SewKeysee. This is a small family business out of Florida. They have a few patterns for knit fabrics only. They had some great knit fabrics for sale. This is a beefy slinky knit. It was so easy to cut and it sews great. I am using a Stretch Needle and regular polyester thread.

I have sewn a lot of slinky knits over the years. They are not all equal. I have had some that were extremely thin and when you sewed them up the weight of the knit pulled down and fabric became thinner. It was horrible to sew with as well.

Other slinky jknits knits I have purchased were like this one in that it had some body to it, cut great and sewed up perfectly.

This is the first patterned slinky that I have ever purchased, all others were solid colors. The background is black and has beautiful fuschia, coral, yellow and green colors.

The company, SewKeysee, does not have a website. However they advertise in Threads, Vogue and Sew News. I think you can email them and request samples. I can tell you I wish now I had purchased more of this piece and had purchased more of their knits. They truly were great quality.

Simplicity Dress

I really made some headway with my sewing today. As I just posted I completed the Kwik Sew top. I started on the Simplicity dress. I read two reviews at Pattern Review for this dress pattern and both reviewers gave positive feedback. I read the instructions and decided to not follow them. My way will allow me to adjust the fit with the side seams. Their method has you sew the bodice front and back shoulders and side seams. Then attach neckband and insert sleeves in the round. You then attach the overlay to the midriff piece-front and back, then sew side seams of the midriff/overly and attach to the bodice. You then sew side seams of the skirt and attach to midriff. Thus if you need to fit any thing you will have to undo a lot to do the fitting.

My method is to sew the front overlay to the front midriff piece, attach the midriff to the bodice front. Do the same for the back bodice and midriff/overlay. Then sew shoulders together and insert sleeves using flat method. Then attach neckband. Then attach front and back skirt to front and back pieces already sewn. Then stitch side seams from end of sleeve to end of skirt.

If I have to adjust anything after that I can just undo the side seams and take up or let out. I will baste side seams before sewing to sew if there are adjustments needed. Hopefully not.

Here is a photo of the knit fabric I am using.

I am about 50% complete, I have sewn all the upper front pieces and back pieces together. I have sewn the shoulder seams. I will then attach neckband and sleeves. Then I will attach the skirt and do the side seams, hem and I hope to have a fabulous fitting dress.

Top is complete!

For such a simple top, it took me way too much time to complete it. I just could not get in my sewing room to work on it as I wanted. I finished it this morning and I am happy to say I did start sewing on the Simplicity dress.

Below are a few photos of my completed top. The fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics. Ann calls this fabric-Monet Knit. I thought when I received my fabric it was going to be a bear to sew with. NOT AT ALL. It really did well. This is somewhat like a lightweight buttermilk knit, maybe like single span.

The KS pattern calls for long sleeves or sleeveless. I wanted 3/4 sleeves so adjusted the long sleeve pattern to fit. I used a medium through the shoulders, neck and upper chest area, tapering to large from bust down. I ended up taking an additional 1/4 inch seam through the armscye for a better fit. I added a CB seam to allow for upper back as well as swayback adjustment. I like a CB seam as it allows for taking a deeper seam in the back if necessary.

This pattern was easy to sew and the instructions with KS patterns are so easy to follow. The drawings add an additional support if you need them. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

Front has gathered center front seam and ends close to waist line.

Another view of the front.

The back view with center back seam.

Almost only counts in horseshoes

I have almost completed the KS top. This should be an hour sewing project once you have cut out the top. That is if you have uninterupted time. The top is finished except for the hemming. After sewing sleeves in and then sewing side seams, I decided I needed to take an additional 1/4 inch in the sleeves to bring shoulder in some and just a general overall fitting adjustment for the upper chest and shoulders. I am pleased with the outcome.

This top looks good in this fabric and I am pleased with the overall look/style of this top. I will make some additional tops, well at least one more.

Hope to post the completion soon!

Actually sewing!

I was able to get some sewing in this morning, yeah! I started on the KS top with the front gathers. It is similar to a top that Nancy W reviewed at Pattern Review. Hers was a Simplicity pattern I believe, but the technique of sewing the gathers were the same.

Thus far I have sewn fronts together, sewn the gathering stitches, applied the seam binding (twill tape) by pulling the gathering stitches to match key points on the tape and then stitched the tape with gathers into the seam allowance. I have applied bias fusible tape to front shoulders to allow for reduced stretching when sewing shoulder seams. I also applied fusible bias tape to front and back necklines as they will be turned and stitched down.

I had to stop at that point and hope to resume sewing this afternoon.

Sewing Today-42807

I finally got in some sewing time. Not actually sewn anything together yet. I did finally get the serger set up to begin the KS top. I had the perfect brown serger thread to use and got the stitches set and ready to go.

After that I cut out Simplicity 3775. I am making the short version like the one the model is wearing but I am going to use 3/4 inch sleeves. I had to make a FBA-5/8, forward shoulder, swayback and shortened the skirt pattern by 1.5 inches. I fell in love with this pattern and have read two reviews at Pattern Review with both sewist having good success with the dress. One did not use a knit, but peach skin and lined her dress. I was impressed with the look of her dress. She couldn't say enough good things about the ruching. It is suppose to be slenderizing and the look of her dress on her proved to be so. So I am going with the ruching effect as well.

I have not found the photos I took of the fabric I am using to make this dress. It is a lovely knit with the right stretch for this pattern with some body without being too much! I hope!

So when I finish the KS top, I will be ready to make the dress. I am hoping both garments will be completed quickly and will then be ready to tackle an eyelet blouse with lining. Stay tuned.

Sewing, when does one do this?

This week is a busy one with no real time to sew. I really hate that! I have gone in the sewing room just for a brief time yesterday and today prior to leaving for work. At least I am thinking about it.

I had to stay late to work this evening due to a meeting with our Board of Directors, at least the Executive Committee. Tomorrow night is our CAB meeting for our ASG; actually it is a special meeting to finalize the standing rules. Thus no time to sew again or even exercise. Perhaps Thursday!

I will go in the sewing room in the AM to re thread my serger to get it ready to make the KS top. I am really hoping that this will turn out well.

I want to make some skirts, yet I am having a hard time conjuring up exactly what I want to make. I see some of the fuller, summery, cotton looking skirts but just not sure that they will look good on me. I tend to make the fitted, straight skirts which look great on me and are what I need for work. "Sometimes a girl just wants to have funnnn!". Meaning I want to break out of a rut.

Kwik Sew and Simplicity

The KS pattern I will be sewing is pictured on this previous post. I am making the knit top and will make it with the sleeves but I shortened mine to 3/4 sleeves. This is the fabric I am using.

This photo does not do the fabric justice. It is much more interesting in "real life". I acquired it from Ann Steeves with Gorgeous Things Fabrics. I made a few pattern fitting adjustments and then cut out the fabric today.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo.

This is the dress I am going to make from a nice knit I purchased last August at ASG. I am making a few fitting adjustments to this pattern as well. I was going to post a photo of my fabric but cannot currently locate it in my files. It has a black background with truly colorful coral/orange and green flowers. I am going to make mine like the model is wearing.

Skirt decision

I have after setting it aside for a few days, decided I am going to redo the waistband of the skirt. The wide waistband, though a unique feature, just does not work on me. As Vicki suggested in her comment, wear a top over it.

Wearing a top over a high bulky waistband did not work. Perhaps because of the knit top. But something looser still does not quite work either. But narrowing the waistband will make it less unique of course but workable and I believe wearable.

This change will have to wait though as I want to work on two other projects-one a knit top and the other a knit dress.

Sewing is an adventure

Sewing is an adventure with the ending being happy and sometimes not. I have shared with you my sewing adventure with the Eva Dress circa 1945 skirt. Now that it is complete, I am happy that it is . BUT-----the skirt is just not flattering on me.



In the first and second grade, I was the second tallest kid in the class. My mother always said I had long legs. Somewhere after the second grade, I was no longer the next to or even the tallest person in class. Today I stand flat footed at 5'3.25". I have worn heels most all of my adult life as they are dress appropriate for my professional job. Thus with those heels I am 5'5" to 5'6", thus I think of myself as tall ; nonetheless I am short legged and petite pants or short length pants fit me well. Shorter skirts flatter me more.


I am regular waisted; i.e. not short or long waisted but yet don't fit the petite waist length so I am either long waisted petite or regular waisted short person. So what the heck is my point????



The skirt waistband is full in front tapering to narrower at sides and back. The skirt below the waist hits me right at the top of my tummy and the point of the godet lies right on the full part of my tummy--not a good look. My godet does not fall in nice folds as the pattern drawing shows. Not sure if this is because I did not cut it on the bias as I thought I had or if it is the fabric. I thought because my fabric was soft it would drape nicely but it doesn't. The website for this pattern suggests fabrics that have more body and perhaps weight which would make it hang differently-maybe? Sometimes I can pull off the look of longer skirts without making me look wider and shorter, especially with boots with heels. This skirt does make me look wider and shorter.



The fullness of the waistband at front comes up further up my torso than I thought it would. In retrospect I fitted the waistband to me but did not attach it to the pattern when pinfitting so if I had done this at that point I might have picked up on this fact. I am debating about removing this waistband and redrafting to make waistband narrower and perhaps that will salvage the skirt.



I am not truly disappointed with this pattern, the pattern is a nice one. I am just disappointed with the end results on me.



This sewing adventure was a learning experience. I worked through with some help the insertion of the zipper into a side dart. I read on another blog-Summerset's-about using bias tape for hemming full skirts which was new idea that worked well for this skirt. I got to practice and hone my pattern adjusting skills. I don't feel like I wasted fabric as it was leftover fabric that I had used in another more successful project, so fabric has depreciated in value if you will.



I now have to decide to move on to the next project(s) or redo the waistband to see if I can make the skirt more suitable for me. Sewing is an adventure as is life.



Here are some photos of the skirt. I did a review at Pattern Review last night.
Full view of skirt.


Close up of waist band.


Side dart with zipper insered.