Simplicity 3809: All dressed up and no where to go

Well, I almost finished my new pirate costume in time for the last weekend of Sherwood Forest--which was this weekend. Pretty good considering I started it on a Saturday and took a day off of work to try and finish it. Instead, I wore my trusty red and brown outfit that I've worn to the last three Renaissance festivals including the one this past weekend.

Melissa is so gorgeous! Why can't I be gorgeous too!

I do think my back view is rather nice though. :-)

Back to the new pirate costume: I pushed myself too hard. I know better than to do that, but I did it anyway. I had a complete meltdown on Friday night after it took me a stupid hour and a half to put the trim on the chemise sleeves, and then had to take my dog out again, and then came back at 8:45 and the thought of installing the grommets on the bodice was too much, because I can't pound grommets at my apartment since I live on the third floor, so I would have had to pack everything up including Lulu and schlep it over to Kenneth's first-floor apartment to deal with the grommets with Lulu horsing around and me in a terrible mood.

I used a burgundy poly-silk blend duvet that I'd bought a couple of years ago for my stash. It took me all day to cut the pieces of the bodice out on Saturday. There are four pieces for each side of the bodice, and you have to cut interlining and lining for each one, so it was a marathon of pinning pattern pieces to fabric, cutting fabric out, unpinning pattern pieces from fabric and pinning them to different fabric, rinse, and repeat. It was so tedious.

The silk is a changeable silk, which is burgundy but shines black in certain lights. I cried a bucket of tears Saturday night when I got ready to start sewing the pieces together, because one of them shined burgundy and the other shined blackish-burgundy in my crappy light, and I thought somehow I'd folded the fabric wrong and cut two clones of each pattern piece rather than mirror images. Does that make sense?

The duvet...

See how the piece on the left is a different shade than the piece on the right? I thought I'd totally screwed up.

In the morning I realized it was all okay, that you can't fold fabric wrong in such a way that one piece will be right side up and the other will be wrong side up. But my meltdown did result in a fun conversation with my downstairs neighbor, who was sitting on the steps outside while her dog pooped. She is a creative person too and we had a lot of fun talking about project fails and trials and tribulations and the whole creative process, and in the end we were both laughing.

Well, here are some pics of milady wearing the almost finished outfit (sans grommets in the bodice).

Look at how well I matched the seamlines of the front and back pieces!

It turned out nicely, despite my meltdown. I am really proud of my craftsmanship on this outfit, except for the chemise for reasons which will be obvious when you see the picture. I'm not sure I ever want to work with sheer handkerchief weight linen again. It was a nightmare--it stretched out way too easily even on the grain, kept snagging in my scissors and I even bought new scissors to cut it. Snagged in the machine, though I changed my needle to an extra fine needle. My friend Kristine kindly gathered the bodice to the yoke for me after I tried twice and the thread broke on me or came loose both times. I've never had that happen before, even when gathering lots of yardage of heavier weight fabric.

So Kristine gathered the chemise to the yoke, and then I attached the facing to the yoke and cut the slit in the front and... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The edges of the split yoke got stretched as I was stitching them...

...and in a spectacularly glaring fail, the points of the split and the yoke don't match up.

But in the end, I just didn't like it. I'm glad I didn't buy fabric for it. I decided I'd go for more of a musketeer look, but now that I've (almost) finished it, I think the bodice is wrong for musketeer.

I'm glad I decided not to trim the skirt. I still plan to use it in a musketeer costume. I just have to find a good pattern for the bodice or jacket that I will pair with it. It's not a total loss. It's just the bodice I ended up not liking. 

In conclusion:

The Challenge: Make a new pirate/musketeer costume

Fabric: Chemise - handkerchief-weight linen swag from Goodwill Outlet; bodice and skirt - poly-silk blend duvet from Goodwill

Pattern: Simplicity 3809 for bodice and skirt, vintage McCall's 6359 for chemise.

Notions: Gutermann thread, cable ties for boning, zipper, lace trim for bodice and chemise.

Hours to complete: Three full days and four evenings after work before meltdown stopped project on the brink of completion.

Total cost: Duvet: $7.99; Trim: 10 yds gold Venice lace, $27.00, lace trim for chemise, $13.00. Notions: gold thread, burgundy thread, and zipper, $9.00, cable ties for bodice boning, $2.75. Pattern: $1.00. Total cost was around $60.00. It's amazing how much more expensive it is when you add trim.

Fits of rage: At least one per day of work on this project. However, I just swore and cursed up a storm to get myself through them, rather than throwing the project into a crumpled heap in the corner. Two complete meltdowns complete with ugly sobbing and dog licking tears away from face.

Was it worth it: Yes, because it takes a long time to get good at sewing and everything I make is a chance to improve my craftsmanship and a step towards getting better. Not crazy about the money I had to spend on trim and notions, but that's part of it. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't. I'm extra glad that I didn't buy fabric for this project. The project is still salvageable because I really like the skirt. I don't know what I'm going to do with all that leftover Venice lace trim though!

I might make a skirt to go with the bodice, and finish the bodice up, and try to sell it in my etsy store to help recoup the costs of this project. 

My lighthouse dress: McCall's 5094

I am so excited about my newest sundress! It's the second one I've made from McCall's 5094, but I haven't taken pics of the first version. I had to do a lot of reverse engineering on the first one, and I will have to do some on this current one, but I'm not sure if I have enough leeway. The first one I made from a size 14, and I think the bodice pieces stretched a lot and I didn't sew the shoulder straps on correctly.

Regardless, I'm very proud of my craftsmanship on this dress. Ignoring the fact that the pattern on the midriff is upside down, and I sewed the midriff lining onto the dress inside out. But I've learned how to press seams, clip curves, and trim seam allowances, and it makes a hell of a difference!

Even though I'm proud of the craftsmanship, I need to fix the pattern mainly because the shoulder straps are placed too far out on the shoulders to hide bra straps, and they slip down my shoulders.

See?

And they need to be moved closer to the center back.

I had to stand weird because Lulu was hogging the foreground.

Here's a closer look at the strap placement.

This is what happens when you try to take pics with a doggie by your side:

Photo bomb!

Ah well. I am proud of my craftsmanship on this dress. It's not perfect, but I feel like I'm close to getting good enough to sell my homemade dresses on Etsy. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Butterick 5708 attempted: Is stupid and rage-inducing

Well, since my Christmas dress actually defeated me in spite of my best efforts, I decided to do a little stash-busting.

I bought Butterick 5708 at Joanne's when Butterick patterns were on sale 10 for $10.00, and figured it would be perfect for this pretty, pretty lighthouse-printed fabric I found at a thrift store a few years ago.

I didn't have quite enough for the dress, so I bought a coordinating solid at Joanne's to use on the upper part of the bodice. CUTE CUTE CUTE

Omgosh, this pattern. This PATTERN. It, like Butterick 8160, looks GREAT on paper. In reality, it's terribly designed. I will say, I noticed several bloggers who were able to make this dress and it looked great on them and they said it was easy. This wasn't the case with me, so basically I'm ranting but if you want to try this pattern, go for it.

Several bloggers who made the Butterick 5708 dress mentioned that the shoulders seemed to be made for a linebacker. Since I have wide shoulders, I wasn't really concerned about it. But I should have been. I tried on the bodice before I lined it and maybe I did something wrong when I cut the pattern out, but the fabric in the front and back gapes and bunches up terribly when I tied the sleeves.

And this is another thing--this bodice is a BITCH to try on for fitting purposes, because you can't really pre-tie the shoulder straps and then slip it on. It has to be worn to tie the shoulder straps properly, and even then you really need to have a helper tie them for you (which I didn't have) to get them tied evenly on both sides.

Nevertheless, I realized as I was trying it on for fit that I was going to have to cut down the bodice as best as I could because it was way too huge. That meant I had to take it all apart because, and this is something else people mentioned--the way the bodice is constructed means that you can't do anything but take it in at the sides once it's sewn together. If you need to fix the fit in any other way, you have to take it completely apart.

I was trying really hard not to freak out, so I gamely deconstructed the bodice and retraced everything to a size 14, which was the smallest size of the pattern. I couldn't do anything about the neckline, unfortunately, because the fabric was already cut and I didn't want to buy more. It takes TWO AND A HALF YARDS of fabric cut out the TOP (contrast) part of the bodice pattern. 

Vintage ashtrays are fun pattern weights. I wanted to buy vintage flower frogs in different colors to use as pattern weights, but that would have been expensive.

Sewed the damn thing back together. Which, sewing a midriff to a v-shaped bodice is SO MUCH HARDER than you'd think. "Stitch to the large circle and then pivot." Oh no. First you have to figure out how to pin the pieces together, then figure out how to deal with all the fabric that's bunched at the point of the V where you're supposed to pivot, then you turn it right side out and realize you're going to have to redo it because, duh, all the fabric got bunched up.

What I had to do was sew each side of the midriff to the bodice separately. There was no pivoting. It worked out well, but was a really frustrating learning experience.

Ugh, hateful pattern.

Anyway, finally got the bodice and lining sewn together and as I was trying pressing the seams flat after turning it inside out, I found myself cussing it out and repeatedly exclaiming "I HATE THIS!!"

SERIOUSLY??? Trying to press the seams flat on the shoulder straps was traumatic. One long, drawn out, barely controlled fit of rage.

Listen. I admit I'm prone to fits of rage when sewing, but when you are hating every bit of a project--END THE PROJECT. I'm stubborn and I am also thrifty and I didn't want to waste this cute fabric that I won't be able to replace, but I should have trusted my instincts because this was all a waste of time.

Thank goodness I had enough leftover fashion fabric to make a new bodice from a pattern I've done before and really love: enter McCall's 5094.

And behold, the new bodice:

Isn't it pretty?? God, I hope it fits. The first time I made this pattern, I made it in a size 14 and ended up having to take it in 1.5 inches on either side of the center back seam. This one I made in a size 12. I feel like the straps could be a little longer, but on the first one I made, the straps were way too long and I had to take those in too.

I am really working on improving my craftsmanship, and I'm really proud of my work on this bodice so far. Except for the fact that the pattern is running upside down on the midriff. And the fact that I trimmed the seam allowance connecting the upper bodice to the midriff and THEN realized I'd forgotten the midriff lining. But I fixed that, and proved that I COULD stitch in the ditch. And then realized I'd accidentally sewn the midriff lining on wrong, so that the wrong side is now showing.

Guess I won't be selling this in my etsy store after all.

But listen--when I first started sewing, I didn't know about trimming seam allowances and clipping curves. I didn't know about stay-stitching. Now I stay-stitch all sides of all pieces, because I've experienced too many stretched out necklines and armholes. The added benefit is that the stitch line serves as my guide for the seam allowance, which is wonderful because before I could never sew the 5/8" allowance consistently. It would waver from 5/8" to 4/8" to 6/8" and would just make me sweat with anxiety. Now that I know about trimming allowances and clipping curves, my necklines and armholes are nice and smooth. After I get a few more dresses under my belt, I might actually be ready to start selling what I've made on etsy. :-)