It was not going to work for me...or my sister, so I scraped the blouse completely. (I can reuse the muslin for other things.) However, I was able to finish the raw edge of the collar. I used a two-tone ribbon tape:
My solution:
I set out to upsize and alter a 1960's sailor blouse pattern. This included moving and adjusting the bust darts--a trouble spot for most of the women in my family. The long and the short was, I was too gung-ho and really didn't do near as fantastic a job as I thought I had. (This is what one gets when they wing things and try to adjust at least three different patterns in the same afternoon.) It was not going to work for me...or my sister, so I scraped the blouse completely. (I can reuse the muslin for other things.) However, I was able to finish the raw edge of the collar. I used a two-tone ribbon tape: With the tape, I can wear it reversibly...plain or with the tape showing. The collar, due to this, does not have any closure on it, so I will have to use either a safety pin or a brooch to secure the ends of the collar. I also had what I planned as a tie to go with the blouse (as the whole intent of this blouse was to go with my 'Anchors Aweigh' skirt) cut from the same material as the skirt. I ended up basically roll hemming it on the machine with a roughly 1/4" hem. And immediately decided it was really probably a little too long for my short figure. My solution: And that is how I salvaged a flop. I'm fairly pleased with these results--even though I should have liked the blouse to work out... --Racheal--
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The first one was basically a test dress. I started with a 1940's pattern which needed some minor sizing up. Truth be told, up front, I sized it up too much! I added width to the "waist" (the bodice) and the waistline/skirt. A) I didn't need to add in the waist, it was full enough. B) I did need to add in the skirt/waistline, but not nearly as much as I did. Each skirt panel needed roughly 1/2". I put more like 1 1/2"! This resulted in my center back seam being offset nearly two inches. An issue that was not discovered until I had the dress entirely assembled and the extra material cut off. So, yes...I am going to have to wear a dress with a weird back seam. It took me way too long to make the dress...I cut it out one day and by the time I got to it a day or two later, I wasn't really in a sewing mood, but started anyway. I was also sharing a sewing machine with my sister, who needed a different color thread on it--and her project was a paying one, so more important than mine. ;) It wasn't a hard dress in the least. Just slightly frustrating because when I fitted it, I felt like I was wearing a potato sack. By the time I finished it, I was a little happier with it and contented that with a good, wide brown belt, it will look fine and nobody will be able to tell the difference...except for that back seam I mentioned earlier. I did have to put one half of the zipper in twice...a mistake I probably could have avoided if I had taken a little more time. The last thing was the buttonholes and buttons on the sleeves. I just used a couple of shirt buttons from a man's shirt. I planned for the second dress to have short sleeves; partly because I knew there was not enough material for them, partly just because I wanted short sleeves. The short sleeve the pattern included was not going to fit (I have always seemed to have hefty upper arms), so I took the long sleeve and just folded it up and up and up until I liked the length. It worked just fine and due to the make of the dress, the sleeves don't bind at all. Construction was basically identical--only with a lot less trouble, so I won't rehash all that. Let's just say that the skirt could have been cut just a wee smaller...but really I'm fine with it being slightly big around the waist. Belts are wonderful things. ;) I can say, in conclusion, that I have two new wearable dresses and very likely a new favorite dress pattern. I may even wear the red one for RWWII this year if I won't wear it out first! --Racheal-- |
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