I Made the Dress, But I Didn't Make It Work


The dress is done, so there's that. But bad fabric cutting and extra fullness (mine and the dress') killed it. I will show it on me at some point but Sundays here are not the days I want to model for the camera. Trust me, you don't want that either.

So, before I come clean with the ugliness, let's explore some other points.

The morph of the two patterns (S2281 and S4122) worked out well and I may even revisit it in the future. After the pain has left my memory. The part I don't like isn't from the morph, but from S2281 alone, but more on that in a bit. I like the open, wide-yoked neckline much better than the original S2281 design. High necklines and me don't get along. I didn't want to lose the pleated raglan sleeves from S2281 but I also wasn't willing to put even more time into re/creating them for this morph. Maybe another time.

This is the inside view. I ditched the waistband "facing" cuz ... well ... fiddly poly fabric and unmotivation (Now a word. You're welcome.). I did interface it and with that, it's more than stable enough. The yoke is faced, and interfaced.



I edgestitched the yoke ...


... and the waistband, and all my seams lined up great so yay for an accurate morph.



Here's where it starts to get ugly ...


Good lord ... was I drunk when cutting that fabric? Let this illustrate how cutting single layer can be a project saver. And, more importantly, how not can be a project killer.

I admit I'm usually an eyeballer ... that is, I lay out my pattern pieces and align by eye and not by ruler. This is NOT because I don't know the importance of accurate grain. It's because I have excellent spatial skills. Not a brag ... it just is. (On the other hand, I can't carry a tune in a bucket.) And because of those spatial skills, most of the time I'm spot on. Except when I'm not. As you can see below. To be fair, this looks a lot worse in a still photo with the waistband hung up on some dressform phantom than it does in real life. But even then, she ain't purty. And I have no excuse except that I'm human and not everything that comes out of my sewing room is rainbows and unicorns. ;-)


And to add insult to crooked injury ... look at that first photo again (below for convenience) ... I inadvertently lined up the bodice and waistband pieces so perfectly that YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE THE WAISTBAND. Hahahaha ... if you can't laugh, you'll scream. :-)


But even if I had perfectly cut fabric, I'd still hate the result. Because of the bustle butt. Yes, Bustle Butt. I'm trademarking that one. Why did I think I'd want (or need) gathers across my backside? Again I ask, was I drunk? If my front was as flat as Zillie's, it might even be passable. But my tummy is anything but flat and my actual side view in this dress is ...well ... let's just politely say thick and leave it at that.


About the only good thing with the result is ... remember that side invisible zipper I was dreading? Well, it turned out perfectly ...


... because I didn't need it! I sewed one sideseam for real and basted the other to see if I really needed a zip. And I didn't. Whew. Dodged that bullet.

IF I wear this dress for real, it will be with an overlayer to cover the Bustle Butt (tm). And that atrocious fabric cutting.

At least this Doomed Project From Hell is done and I can move on to something, ANYTHING, else. :-)

Have a great week!

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