A couple of bum dresses (probably!)

It's been a long time since my last post. Yes. In that time, we've emptied out the furniture from our downstairs into my patient parents' garage, taken up the flooring, had builders in for a week, done activities week at school AND attended a funeral and a wedding in the same week.

So you'll have to forgive me for not managing to keep the blog up to date.

I've made a pair of dresses recently that took a huge amount more thought than normally goes into a dress.

The Neoprene Dream:
So apparently sewing with neoprene (that's wetsuit fabric in case you need a translation) is in. I found some in a remnant bin and decided I may as well jump on the trend.

I was still on the afterglow from my Coletterie Pastille dress, so I decided to have another go. The grey neoprene would work brilliantly!

Having read on blogs about full bust adjustments (apparently to overcome the saggy back that I often suffer from), I decided to give it a go. I followed instructions on a blog, sewed the front bodice up to myself and bingo. Madonnas boobs. The bust point was too high. So I wimped out and took it to my amazing sewing teacher. Who said the words I dread from her: 'unpick it and start again'. Ugh. I did. She was right. It IS better.

But I hadn't factored in the fabric. Neoprene doesn't really press. Darts don't really work:
I pressed those darts. Like crazy. And they still look like that.

I'm told that non-sewists would never spot this, but I am trying not to wear clothes for other people. So it is enough that I know they're rubbish. 

Also, I stitched down the facing. And the neoprene can't take it! See the stitching line?
Could I say it's just a feature...?

What do you think? Other than the rubbish pressing and the visible facing stitching, I love this dress. There's definitely less back sag:
That's with me TRYING to make the back look saggy. Win!!

At the very least, I've done the adjustment on the pattern now, so I can make it with a better fabric next time. I'd love to say I won't be sewing with neoprene again, but I have an amazing pink bit in my stash... 

On to the fabulous waste of the most expensive fabric I've ever owned!:
It is a silk prom dress. Made from the same pattern that I made my bridesmaids dresses from.

Terrified to cut in to it, I obviously sought the advice of my sewing teacher again. She said the other most dreaded words... 'Make a toile'. Ugh. What a waste of time! Make the dress TWICE?! But, I'm a good girl. I did it. And it was fine. So I ploughed on. And the finished garment sits on my hips like a barbie dress. It is ridiculously unflattering. 
You can see the current state of our house in this picture!!

One day I might get this dress out again to play with the fit, but the hours I've spent on it in the last few weeks... I will not be picking it up again for a LOOOONG while.

There has been a sewing success recently, but I'm saving that for another post!!

What do you think? Are these two as disastrous as I think?

Emily

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More from France

Image
I have a couple of makes from the Summer to share with you... Flowery culottes! I totally love these!! I used the trousers from the Holly (ByHandLondon) and just shortened them. They're quite flattering, but that's partly because they are a bit too tight, so I have to hold my tummy in the whole time. Yep, no secrets here! The blouse above is a refash from a charity shop. I downsized and unpicked the sleeves. I wear this all the time - for work and casual. *poser alert* And here is a blouse that I made from simplicity 1538. I've made a shirt from this pattern before and I've since donated it as I hate it. Bad colour, bad shape... But without the sleeves and with a soft, drapey viscose, I like this a lot more. It's a cute green, white and orange flowery print. I wear it for work approximately weekly. Being on holiday with my family, they were pretty keen on getting involved in the photography... Dad - directing the photo shoot. Mum - demonstrating how to pose using a ...
Read more

Baggy jeans waist - fixed!!

Image
I've been absent a while - work totally took over. But I finally did some sewing yesterday! It is minor, but it needed to happen. Let me explain. I have a big bottom. And a fairly small waist. Which means that I almost always get a huge gape at the small of my back, where my trousers are too big. But u can't go down a size or my bum won't fit! Yesterday Mr M. and I popped down to Kent to see my baby sis who has just started Uni. And about 10 minutes before leaving, I decided I couldn't deal with the gaping any longer!! It is cold, uncomfortable and unflattering. So I did this: Decided roughly how much elastic I would need to get the waist to fit better. Use seam ripper to rip a hole on the inside. I decided to cut it under the belt loops as the stitching will be visible, but this did make stitching much trickier later on! Tuck elastic in and pin it firmly. The first time I did this, the elastic pinged away, so then I pinned it all along the length. Use a safety pin to p...
Read more

OWOP day 3!

Image
Hi from day 3! I made this from a budget bedsheet from Dunelm! I wore it for the first time for our engagement shoot in June, then for our pre-wedding BBQ at Ma 'n' Pa's house, then today! I really love the pretty flowers on it. I adapted this a little bit - it has a bodice a size smaller than the dress. I have a really tricky body - narrow shoulders and waist, with big hips and bust. That means that fitting is a big pain! I took the back seam in a bit, which made it narrower at the shoulders without losing anything from the bust. I'm not sure if that's the right way to fix it, but it appears to have worked! It gave me an opportunity to wear these incredible shoes that I had to fight for in the shop. Unfortunately they're so high and painful that I only made it to break time before switching to flats.  Awkward car park picture Our engagement shoot was on a pick-your-own farm! Tomorrow's outfit is made from the exact same pattern (duh - it...
Read more