Ho hum readers....I'm sure no-one (at least, those who know me) is under any illusion about the sewing mistakes I sometimes make and this dress is one of them. I'm not afraid of admitting my mistakes however and I can only hope to learn from them.
I used the Colette Peony pattern for this dress. (I LOVE Colette patterns by the way - all the mistakes that occured in the making of this dress are caused by me, and me alone). See how lovely and slimming it is on the model on the Colette website? Notice how they DIDN'T chose to make it in a baby wale pale blue corduroy (that I think looks ALOT like this....)
Being too eager for my own good, I made a broad shoulder adjustment to the bodice, which is probably NOT the thing to do with this kind of slashed neckline. You can see in the photo below that the neckline just sticks up off of my shoulders and into the air.
While I was at it, I also lengthened the bodice by 2" which proved to be far too much. The waist is now down by the top of my hips. Also, the front darts reach up way too high and I may as well applique some arrows on to the ends just to be sure that everyone knows that they are pointing straight at my nipples. Nice.
My thoughts :
Perhaps I cut a size too large? It's a bit loose.
Maybe my shoulders aren't as broad as I think they are? I did make a muslin and it seemed very tight across my shoulders and I did only widen them by 5/8" on each side.
There's no excuse for the very poor fabric choice. Must do better next time.
Have you made this dress? Care to offer any advicce?
Oh dear, I'm going to have to stop writing now. I can't bear to look at these photos any longer.
Hehehee! Well you did give me a very good laugh, especially the bit about embroidering arrows. Then I scrolled down and saw the 'Pin it' button at the bottom and thought, now which of those photos would I choose and what would be my caption??
ReplyDeleteI do love a good sewing mistake post.
Sorry it didn't work out though :(
If you could be bothered taking it apart and cutting it all down to size it might still work out? Or... salvage some fabric for some cute kids' clothes :)
:)
ReplyDeleteNah, it's going in the bin! The fabric is giving me nightmares and I want it out of the house.
Bahaha!! Thanks for this post, you made me laugh out loud. It's lovely & hilarious. I should post the next f' up I make in my jewelry or something. Could be good for the soul ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's one way to look at it Stina!
ReplyDeleteAh, gotta love these "learning experiences." I might be in the middle of one of these right now, although I still have a small hope that I could turn it around?
ReplyDeleteLooking at these photos, I think you just went a size (or maybe two) too big (I find Collette patterns run a bit large, myself). It might be worth trying again in a smaller size, after you've purged any residual negativity caused by this version. :-)
Ha! Terrific post, you are very brave to share your mistakes. As someone who has sewn a lot and made lots of mistakes, I agree - the fabric was your main mistake. The darts aren't a terrible problem - next time baste them by hand and fit first before stitching on the machine - you could have made them shorter. But corduroy is not forgiving when ripping out seams - leaves a mark.
ReplyDeleteYou can recut the waistline to fit, not too hard.
The neckline is awkward, but you could try adding a few pleats - this would also soften the neckline and add an interesting detail. A printed belt is a good idea - the fabric is so flat it needs something going on!
Keep sharing - I really enjoyed your spoonflower post. And, I love my microtip fiskars!
Thanks for the advice anonymous! I'm sorry I don't know your name to thank you properly. Yes, most of it is fixable (and I think a different fabric would help the situation ALOT) but I'm still unsure about the neckline. Like you say, I could put in a couple of pleats, but then I'm wondering if I'd just end up with more lines pointing to the nipples!?!? I will come back to this dress eventually but I think I need to let some alteration ideas sit and stew in my brain for a little while longer. Your suggestions really give me some things to consider. Thanks again!
ReplyDelete