My first dress

In case you're wondering...yes, I was on the beach. In March. With a sleeveless dress on. And high heels.

I can assure you that I whipped the cardigan back on pretty quickly (and the furry boots), even before the pictures had finished - although the sun did show its face a few times, it wasn't the warmest day. It really was the perfect excuse to get the new dress on while we were away for the weekend! Apologies for the somewhat creased effect in the pictures - I wore the dress out first, so it had a few hours of wear before I got some photos taken. That did mean that it had proved it could go out and about without falling to pieces though, which is definitely a good thing!

This is a closer up view (with cardi!) - do you like the neckline?

Let's be honest, it's a bit of a warmer weather dress - a bit more sunshine would definitely have done it more justice - but I just couldn't wait to wear it!  Thanks for joining my first-dress journey!

Finished: New Look 6184

Good news - the dress is finished at last!  It has been slow progress at times - life sadly getting in the way of sewing - but I've made it!

The final bits that I needed to do were the zip insertion and the hemming.  The zip is a lapped zip, and I was very aware that this one needed to be good, as it runs the whole way down the back of the dress and so it would be glaringly obvious if something goes wrong!  I took the time to baste it in - and I'm glad I did, as I discovered that one side of the dress had somehow crept up and was slightly longer than the other, so I had to do some adjustment at the waist to get it to match again.  A good save, I think!

I think the lapping was a success - the stitching was nice and even, and the zip almost disappears into the back from a distance, which is what I was hoping for.

I also inserted a little hook and eye, to pull everything together at the neckline.

Finally, I needed to hem this skirt to just finish everything off.  As the skirt is very straight, this was pretty straight forward - much easier than hemming a more pronounced curve.  It's great to get the garment all finished off nicely!

I've not taken any photos of me in it yet.  We're away at the weekend, so I'll see if I can get the hubby persuaded to do a little photoshoot for me!

Notes for next time:

This is definitely a dress I'll make again.  The shape is really flattering, and I really like the neckline - it's effective and not at all revealing, without being old fashioned.

I do need to do some thinking about the back for my next attempt - although this dress fits perfectly at the front, there's a bit of gapping in the back of the bodice.  It fits the lovely Matilda perfectly on the back, but unfortunately I'm not quite as long and sleek as her!  The gap isn't too noticeable but it's something that I'm aware of, and it would be nice to get the fit perfect.

Thanks for joining me on my journey through making my first dress - hopefully the first of many!

Work in progress: New Look 6184 (4)

After a busy few weeks, it's been nice to get back to some sewing this evening. I've made good progress with my dress - let's be honest, it's always a lot quicker doing straight seams and a few darts - but it's nice to see it coming along quickly! I'm a bit impatient so it's sometimes good to have that instant gratification of having moved things along.

I was ready to pick up the skirt of the dress, and after cutting it out with the new rotary cutter (whoop!) I got my chalk marks made and got to the sewing. Four darts needed to be included in the front and back sections, as for the top part. This helps give the waist the fitting required.

As the skirt is quite narrow, it needs a 'vent' in the back - I've always called it a split, but the pattern says vent, so I'm not going to confuse myself! The pattern suggests actually basting the vent closed while you're working - to give it a crisper look when you have it finished. Although I'm not too conscientious on the basting, I did do it in this case - it wasn't any extra effort and it never hurts to actually do what the pattern tells you...!!

Here's the back of the skirt - with the vent and the back seam sewn.

I then sewed the front to the back, and that was it! As it's now coming together, it seemed like the ideal time to fit it to my lovely model (still unnamed - I dread to think what I'll be like when it comes to naming children...).  The skirt was reassuringly fitted, yet enough room to twist around in, so it looks like my gung-ho attitude hasn't resulted in any disasters yet!

At the moment, it's just a two piece...but hopefully next time I'll have progressed to sewing the top to the bottom and then adding the zip!

Work in progress: New Look 6184 (3)

I've been away for a few days - hence the inadvertent hiatus from blogging.  Before I went, though, I managed to progress a bit further with my dress.  Although it's taking a while, at the same time, I'm pleased with how it's going - and I really feel like I'm learning some new skills as well.

This was another one of those 'new skills' things - the bias binding at the arm holes of the dress.

I have used bias binding before, on my summer top, but as I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear, I was winging it a bit.  That pattern had called for double fold bias binding (although it didn't actually say so, might I add!) and so the single fold bias binding I bought had to be folded again and ironed.  The pattern this time actually said 'single fold bias binding', so I finally knew what I should be looking for! I've actually yet to see double fold bias tape here in the UK - and when I spoke to the girl in Fabricland, she said she thought it was an American thing!

I found this tutorial, which was really useful in explaining exactly how the binding should be used.  I read through this a few times, and suddenly the instructions in the pattern finally made sense!  It was amazing how much more confident I felt in getting the arm holes finished - I just wished I'd done that the first time!

Here's how it's done...

1) Open out one fold of the bias binding, and pin it to the right side of the fabric around the arm hole.  Then sew along the fold in the binding, keeping as accurate as possible on the fold that already exists.

2) Then fold the binding again, at the sewn edge.  The binding will look like a continuation of the armhole.  To ensure it folds under as evenly, under stitch as close to the edge of the binding as possible, stitching it to the fabric below.  This gives the fabric a natural turn, so that the binding can then be folded under.  If anyone is watching the Great British Sewing Bee, May Martin did give a little tutorial on under stitching in week 1 - I felt very pleased that I could do what she was talking about!

Before under stitching

After under stitching

3) Pin the binding to the inside of the armhole.  You can then baste the binding to the fabric from the inside if you want, before top stitching the binding to the fabric from the right side of the fabric.  The basting would allow you to see where the binding actually was, so you didn't go over the edges - although I didn't bother with it.

Ta-dah....!

So, apart from the zip, the bodice is now completely finished!  I'm getting there - soon all I will need it somewhere to actually wear it!

In other news, when I bought my dress form, I also got another few bits to make my sewing life easier...

The rotary cutter and self healing mat were an absolute revelation. I suppose I had been a bit dubious before about how much better than scissors it really would be...but wow. Consider me convinced.  I am absolutely loving them - I just want to cut out stacks of fabric now!  Although I'm sure the feeling will wear off soon!  Lets hope not before the dress is finally finished...!

Work in progress: New Look 6184 (2)

The latest on my dress...

Once I'd sewn the darts at the back of the bodice pieces, the next stage was to actually sew front and back together. Although I know I should make a muslin...let's be honest, I just cut the pieces out and hoped for the best! When I did my initial measuring, the pattern implied that I should be one size, when I looked at the pattern pieces themselves, the amount of easing they allow for is very generous - it was going to give me a full 3 and a half inches of easing, which to be honest, isn't the look I go for on a dress like this! So I cut the smaller size, which would still leave me with about an inch, and hoped that I was doing the right thing.

Once I got the bodice front and back pieces sewn together, I did a first 'try-on' (with my hubby holding the back closed - always a good look!), and it actually fitted perfectly. The whole concept of having the 'easing' in the pattern is worth remembering when you're starting out - depending on the fit that you want, ensure you read the actual measurements on the pattern rather than the sizes on the back!

The next task - which was pretty time consuming - was to prepare the facing for the neckline. I ironed on the interfacing...

...and then sewed the pieces together to get my rather amusing looking neckline!

Then I finished off my exposed edge with a zigzag stitch, and attached the facing to the bodice of the dress.  Although this required a bit of footering about ensuring the right sizes were facing and the curve and seams were in the right place, it really was a brilliant way to finish off the neckline.  To be honest, this was the thing I couldn't quite work out about the neckline - how would it get finished in that 'shop bought' sort of way.  Neckline facings are the answer...!

Once the actual facing was attached, it was time for some understitching. Another quick Google search was required for something I'd never done before, and this Sewaholic demo came to the rescue. The little stitches in the facing are so cute...I'm enjoying them, even though it'll only be me who sees them...!

The next thing I need to do is do the bias binding for the arms - this is another one where I've found a fantastic tutorial so that hopefully I'll really know what I'm doing - that's certainly the plan anyway!  One for the weekend I think...

Work in progress: New Look 6184 (1)

After making my new years resolutions, I've finally made a start on my first ever dress.  I bought the New Look 6184 pattern in a sale in Calico for the very reasonable price of £2.95, along with a couple of others.  It's similar to the dress that I wore to my cousin's wedding in the summer - I really liked the style, so I thought it was a good make for my first dress!

I used the fabric that I bought in America in JoAnn - at last!  As well as cutting my pattern pieces, I've also dutifully transferred my pattern markings - usually I'm not very good at that part, but I'm determined that on this dress I'll do my best to get all the markings transferred so that I get my darts in the right place etc.

So far, all I've done in terms of sewing is the front bodice piece, as you can see above.  It looks quite massive in that picture, but as you can see, it's because there is a bit of sewing to do in the front to get it into the nice fitted shape that looks so good on the model!

I sewed my two darts in, and they came out well - nice and sharp.

 

The next bit to do was the neckline.  This is a pleated neckline, which I really liked.  You make the pleats by folding, and then basted to ensure that they stay in place.

Now that they're safely in place, I've had to leave it, but I'm hoping I'll get more sewing time in at the weekend, and have some progress to report soon!