Whenever I Feel Blue, I Start Breathing Again

So, it seems like forever since I last posted.  Probably because it has been forever (I'm not exaggerating, either.  Five weeks and forever are totally the same thing.).  Life has really been living up to its reputation lately and requiring constant attention which leaves little time for sewing and less for blogging about it.  So I consider it a major accomplishment to have completed Vogue 8615 (a very modified version).

I actually started another version of this dress a year ago, and it's still a work in progress (story of my life).  That version is for Christmas, and I'd always thought of this as a more formal dress.  But then I tried on this dress at H&M, and it was the most wildly unflattering thing on me ever.

The waist was too high.  In order to get some more length in the skirt, I sized up, so the top was too big.  And it was mustard yellow.  Not my best color.  But I became obsessed with the idea of a 3/4-sleeved, full-skirted dress that was warm and soft as a t-shirt.  And then it hit me.  Vogue 8615.  But in a doubleknit.  This is the exact opposite of the advised fabric for this pattern (think shantung or taffeta).  Doubleknit can't even pretend to have the crispness of these fabrics, but having seen the H&M dress, I knew that the fabric would work with this style dress, although it wouldn't look like the picture on the envelope.

I had already done all of my pattern alterations when I started on my silk shantung version last fall.  These included a full bust adjustment, a shoulder adjustment and enlarging the sleeves for my fuller upper arms.  Since I had fitted the dress as a woven, this allowed me to treat the doubleknit exactly like a woven when sewing it.  Well, except for one place, and I'll get to that in a minute.  I'm really pleased with the fit, although I'm rethinking the ballet neck because I'm looking a little well-endowed in all of my pictures.  Trust me, certain objects that you see in the picture above appear larger than their actual size (and I'm not talking about my legs).

And then we get to the back.  I'm really glad that I've been taking pictures of the backs of garments.  I'm going to have to start doing this during the fitting process as well, because I might have realized how badly I need some sort of alterations.  Partly that's my refusal to do a sway back adjustment most of the time (which I really need to get over), and part of it is just my body shape, but there's also definitely something going on with my fitting.

You can also see that the sleeves are a little baggy.  That doesn't bother me so much, and there are a couple of reasons that this happened.  This is a stretchy fabric, and it looks like the sleeves have stretched out because of my elbows.  Now, the sleeve itself is supposed to be really fitted per the pattern, and I can tell you that when it's made out of a woven fabric and lined, it is fitted.  Really, really fitted, and I suspect that this played a part in the drooping as well.  Or more to the point, how I dealt with the fitted sleeve in order to hem it.  Let me explain.

When the dress is made out of a woven, the sleeves are fully lined, and the sleeve hem is finished by sewing the wrong sides of the fashion fabric and the lining together at the sleeve hem.  You then turn the lining to the inside of the sleeve, understitch and hand sew the sleeve lining to the lining of the bodice at the armscye.  Since lining the dress would have defeated the purpose of wearing what is essentially a long t-shirt, I wanted to finish the sleeve by turning the hem under and stitching.  Well, the sleeve is so fitted that it is too small to fit around the free arm of the sewing machine.  Or at least my sewing machine.  So instead of figuring out something that didn't require the distortion of my fabric, I just stretched it around the free arm and figured that it would spring back when I was done.  Now that I see the pictures from the back, it didn't spring back so much.  Here's what the inside of the sleeve hem looks like.

Another thing that I had to figure out when I decided not to line the dress was how to finish the neckline.  I ended up constructing facing pieces using the bodice pattern as a guide.

You can see in the above picture that it's a pretty narrow facing.  That's because the neckline is so wide.  If I'd made the facing any wider, it would have had to have been tucked into the top of the sleeve, and I would have had a much more difficult time tacking it down.  To draft the facing pattern, I traced along the front and back neckline edges and then extended the pattern piece down 2 1/2 inches.  The bodice has seams at both the center front and back, and I wanted to avoid adding too much bulk, so I trimmed the seam allowance from the center seam and cut both facings on the fold.

Because the facing wanted very badly to roll to the outside, even after it was understitched, I tacked it down to all of the interior seams. 

So, all in all, a very successful project.  Will I make it again?  As I mentioned above, there's a half-finished, emerald green silk shantung version up in my sewing closet.  That's for Christmas.  I'd also like to take a stab at this with the v-neck mirrored in the front.  I love a wide v-neckline.  I'm not sure what's next.  I might put together a denim skirt, or perhaps get started on my Thanksgiving dress.  I'd better figure that out soon, because I'm starting whatever it is tomorrow.