The Tropical Wrap Dress : Here it is!!!!

So for the benefit of those of you that don't follow my Facebook page, I got the bolero all sewn up on Saturday in time to wear to the party on Saturday night (so much hand sewing!!!).  HOWEVER, we had monsoon like conditions on the weekend with howling winds and lashing rain, and while it wasn't cold, it just wasn't the right weather to be wearing this ensemble.

Sad face.

Luckily, the sun has come out since so I was able to get all dolled up and take these photos to show you the end result.  I am so pleased with how it came out, words can't even begin to describe it!

TA DA!!!

Excuse my slightly squinty face... 

I made the bolero by adjusting a pattern I already had - all I needed to do was redraft the front pieces, which was pretty easy, then add a mandarin collar.  I probably could have done a better job on that bit, because I have never done a collar like this before.  I just did a straight piece, but I think it could sit better if it had a slight curve in it.  Never mind!

The detail you probably can't see from this photo is the brooch I used as a clasp.  The pattern envelope doesn't show how they intended to fasten the bolero - no buttons or frogs or hooks and eyes.  I toyed with the idea of adding a frog, but couldnt find one ANYWHERE.  Then I came across this brooch and I knew it was perfect:

Its a vintage brooch with rhinestones and enamel, and while its probably seen better days I couldn't resist it!

Here is the back.  I really like the way that the green bobble trim on the edge of the bolero defines where the bolero ends and the dress starts.  I was originally thinking I would wear the bolero green side out, but it was just a bit too green for me... its still possible though, and I might wear it that way at times...

I just love the way that the rayon feels on - it drapes beautifully!

The whole ensemble is so comfortable to wear and I feel so glamorous in it.  I need someone to throw an outdoor party - possibly in a tropical location - and invite me quick!!!

I also had this gorgeous hair accessory made by the fabulous Mira Mae at Berry Bombshell.  Mira Mae has been making hair clips for a while and has FINALLY decided to open a dedicated Facebook page on which to sell them.  You should really go and like her page here and have a look at her gorgeous hair pieces.  The hibiscus flowers she used match the ones on the fabric PERFECTLY!

Sadly though, when I got home I realised I had forgotten to put on these gorgeous vintage earrings that I had purchased especially:

Aren't they just so precious!  They are made of porcelain, and I'm going to try really hard to remember to wear them next time!

So what do you all think?  Was it worth the 5 weeks work?  Was there anything I should have done differently?

Beccie

xxx

The Tropical Wrap Dress is DONE!!!

After working on this for four weeks (which is a new length of time record for me) I finally got the dress together on the weekend!  I still need to make the bolero, but the dress is done!

There was a bit of a mishap though...  I discovered what happens when you iron over your plastic tape measure...

Yep - it goes all melty and stretches and the printing transfers ONTO YOUR FABRIC!

Sigh!  Luckily its on the lining of the skirt so hopefully no-one will notice....

Anyway!  There was a lot of hand sewing to be done on this dress like the hem for instance:

And sewing on press studs, and other finishing bits that just couldn't be done by machine, so I spent a fair bit of time sitting on my butt in front of the television trying to pretend I was doing something else.  It was all worth it though, because after several hours effort I ended up with this:

I am so happy with it - to me its a really good effort to replicate a pattern without the pattern!  And like I said up the top, I am yet to do the bolero, but I'll have that done this weekend.  And serendipitously, I have been invited to a party the following weekend where the host would like us to wear green accessories - green accessories will go PERFECTLY with this dress!!!

Oh, I just realised I forgot to tell  you about the halter strap!

I put the dress on and put pins where I wanted the halter strap to attach, then I got out the tape measure and measured from one pin around the back of my neck to the other pin.

Then I made a strap that was green one side and parrots the other side, and put a button hole at each end (yes, I cheated and used a machine made buttonhole - I know!)

Then I sewed two lovely buttons on the inside of the bodice.  This way I can wear the dress without the strap if I want, or with the green side out, or the parrot side out!

So what do we all think?  I'm looking forward to getting the other piece of the ensemble finished and putting it all on - I think its going to look amazing (even if I do say so myself!)

Beccie
xxx

Sew Grateful Week : A Grateful Project

Ok, so the idea for today's post was to talk about a project I've done with gifted fabric or a gifted pattern, or with something from a giveaway I've won...  I don't have any gifted things, and I haven't won a giveaway, so I thought I would just do my next post on my Tropical Wrap Dress!!!  I'm sure you'll all be grateful to hear what went on with it over the weekend!

First things first, I inserterted the shirred back piece in between the two layers of the front bodice pieces (the tropical fabric piece and the lining piece).  And in doing so I forgot to add the other half of the tie that ties the dress together.  Sigh!  So I unpicked a bit and sewed in the tie.

I really think shirring this piece was a good idea.

Here is the tie.  One side of the tie is the tropical fabric and one side is green

That was one half finished.  On with sewing the skirt!

I don't think I've complained about rayon yet, so I'm going to do it now - its a shifty bugger!!!  You think you've got it all pinned together right and then you cough and the bloody thing has moved!!!  It is a lovely fabric though, I love the feel and I love the drape, I'm just not 100% in love with sewing with it yet.  It probably doesn't help that I'm making a lot of this up as I go along.  Rayon lovers out there - any suggestions for me?  (I'm looking at you Esz!)

So the skirt consists of a front left piece, and back piece, and a front right piece.  The front right piece is the pretty bit with the tucks and the draping.  The other two bits are basically a pencil skirt thats not sewn together on one side.  I made up the front left and the back pieces and sewed them together and hemmed them (although I just pinned it, cause I'm not convinced its straight yet).

You see, that hem looks crooked... but it could be that my headless helper is on a lean... I'm undecided.

Then I tackled the pretty front piece, which actually consists of three layers of fabric.  The tropical fabric, then cream that the rest of the dress is lined in, then the green which is the lining for this piece.

I sewed more bobble trim on, and then sewed the layers together, just like I did for the bodice.  Then I pinned it to my headless helper and played with the pleats on the right hand side.  Then I pinned the bodice on the top so I (and you too) could get an idea of what the finished dress will look like

This photo reminds me that I really need to finish the little red wool and polkadot satin bolero thats hanging forlornly on that hanger.... so sad!

I still think I need to have a bit more of a fiddle with the waist pleats on the skirt front but you get the idea.  Not that you can see it from this view, but I really like the way the green shows up on the draped bit on the side of the skirt.

I feel like I didn't actually do much with it on the weekend.  My sewing time was reduced a bit, but so much thinking is going in to the process at the moment that its really slowing me down!  There isn't that much left to do really, so this weekend I hope to have the dress finished and the bolero started.

Then it will be on to sewing the giveaway skirt - one of you is going to be soooo lucky!!!!

Beccie
xxx

Its Coming Along!!

As per my last post, I spent a few hours last weekend re-drafting the pattern I came up with for the Tropical Wrap Dress to fix the bits I wasn't happy with.  It was actually way easier than I anticipated!

Old idea on the left, new idea on the right!

I kept the dart at the top (to accommodate my larger-than-a-B-cup boobs) and moved the pleats to the side.  It was so simple that I'm surprised I got it wrong the first time - anyway, you live and learn!  Thank goodness I made a muslin!!

I also added about 6 inches of width the the front skirt piece, but I didn't re-muslin it.  I'm confident it will be fine.

I then cut out all my pieces.  This took a while as I had to cut out the dress twice - once for the tropical print rayon and once in a vanilla colour rayon for lining.  The lining will enable me to hide seams and boning etc, and make the dress less see-through.  It will also stop my 'pop-of-colour' fabric from showing through.  More on this next week!

Here are the fabrics I'm using - vanilla rayon on the left, gorgeous tropical print rayon in the middle, and the 'pop-of-colour' lime green on the right.

Now!  To integrate the pop of colour into the rest of the dress, I decided to add a bobble trim to the top edge of the bodice pieces.  I'll be adding it to the front wrap of the skirt too.  In the past I've just hand sewn the trim on later, but I didn't want to do that this time - I wanted to sew the trim in the seam.  I fiddled around a bit and worked out how.

This is what I did:

1. Sew the sew-in interfacing to the lining fabric...

Rayon is a soft drapey fabric and this part of the dress really needs a bit of support, so I added a couple of inches of sew-in interfacing.  I sewed it at a foot-width from the edge so the line of stitching would not be visible on the finished piece.

2. Sew the trim to the right side of the dress fabric...

This took some thinking to make sure the trim would be the right way up on the finished piece... I'm not sure what this says about my thought process, but anyway!

I stitched the trim on at 5/8ths of an inch, which is the seam allowance.  And I used the zipper foot so I could get right up close to the edge of the trim.  If I was using ric-rac or something like that I could have just used a regular foot.

3. Sew both pieces together...
I didn't get a photo of this bit... sorry... but its pretty straight forward.  I left the zipper foot on and made sure that I was right up close the the bobbles once again.  It was a bit painful, and I did it   V  E  R  Y   S  L  O  W  L  Y.

4. Turn through and iron...
Ta da!!!

IT LOOKS SO AMAZING!!!!!

Even if I do say so myself...

I also had to remember to sew in the tie on the skinny side of the front bodice piece so I can tie the finished dress closed.  Its hard to remember these things when you are a) not working with a pattern and instructions; and b) you are distracted by how awesome what you are doing is looking!!!

I also had a fairly big debate with myself last week that could be titled 'To Shir or not the Shir'. 

I just cannot stand it when you are wearing a top thats either strapless or a halter, and the back piece falls down!!!  Drives me MAD!!!  I could put boning in the back to keep it up, but I really didn't want the bones to show, and I'm pretty sure that with this fabric they would.  That leaves shirring, which is time consuming, and creates other issues with the straight skirt.

I decided to go with the shirring option, so I spent about an hour doing this:

My shirring is far from awesome looking.  Its just so hard to get the lines straight when you have to pull at the fabric all the time!  But I'm happy with the end result.

Unfortunately it was right about now that I had to stop sewing, so this was all I got done.  I would have loved to get this finished, but its the kind of project that I want to really sink my teeth into, take my time, and not take short cuts.  That said though, I'm really hoping to get the skirt on it this weekend!  Then another weekend for the finishing touches (like hemming - blech!) and the bolero.

And I've already started sourcing amazing accessories too - more to come on that later!

How do you think I'm going - do you love it as much as I do?  And what do you think of the lime green?

Beccie
xxx

New Year : New Challenges

January may almost be over (nearly) but last weekend I started my first sewing project for the new year - and its a doozie!

I decided to push myself and my skills to a new level (hopefully) by trying something new.  I've decided to try and create a dress using just the pattern envelope, and not the pattern.  The beauty of doing this is that the back of the pattern envelopes have, in the very least, line drawings of the garment, or, if you're lucky, outlines of the pattern pieces.  So you have a pretty good idea of the shapes that make up the garment.  I'm hoping to use this as a stepping stone between using patterns, and being able to make reproductions from photographs and illustrations.

This is the pattern I picked:

The other reason I didn't just buy the pattern is:

a) its incredibly rare; and 

b) therefore very expensive.

The dress is an actual wrap dress, not a faux one, so it ties on - which means no zipper!  I'm also going to make the bolero, but not the shorts and bra - no-one needs to see that!

I have little to no experience pattern making, but what better way to learn something than to just having a go at it!

Beccie Makes A Pattern - Step One
First up, I took out a pattern that I've done a full bust adjustment on so I know it fits me really well and really closely to my body.  I made it up in some cheap-ass lilac cotton that I bought specifically for making muslins out of and proceeded to cut it and pin it and draw lines on it:

Beccie Makes A Pattern - Step Two
Then I layed the piece on my work table, and before removing the pins, I marked the pleat lines, and darts, and any adjustments I had made, and then I cut the centres out of the darts:

Beccie Makes A Pattern - Step Three
Then I recreated these fabric pieces on paper:

I had some issues drawing in the pleat lines but didn't have any liquid paper... just ignore that bit!

While I was playing around with paper, I also made the skirt pieces.  I used the skirt pattern from a wiggle dress pattern that fits well.  Then for the front wrap piece with the drape bit on one side, I traced one side of the skirt pattern, then traced one of the pattern pieces from my four-gored circle skirt pattern so I would get the curve and the drape.

So that was it, my pattern was done!

Then I cut it all out of more lilac coloured fabric and sewed it up so I could see how it went.  This is the end result:

Now there is no point undertaking a project like this if you aren't going to be critical of what you've done.

As I see it there are three things that need to be fixed:

1. The folded drapey bit under the bust.  This has been created because the pleats I put in the bodice are in the wrong spot - they should go to the side rather than to the waist...
2. The pleats in the front skirt.  I thought with the pleats from the bust coming to the waist that they should meet at the waist seam, but that doesn't give the right effect.  The front wrap piece needs to be bigger to accommodate a larger pleat AND they need to be much closer to the swag on the side.
3. I think the swag should be bigger, but that might be taken care of when I make the above adjustments.  If not, the contrasting fabric I'm going to line the front wrap piece with will make it stand out more.

This all means that this coming weekend I'm going to redraft the front bodice piece and the front wrap skirt piece.  It shouldn't take too long, and I'll reassess how the muslin looks when I'm done!

Oh, I didn't show you the fabric!!!!

A gorgeous rayon covered in parrots, and flowers - LOVE!

Isn't it beautiful!  One of the people that follow me on my Facebook Page asked me if I could send her some, which of course I did!  And guess what - she's making a wrap dress too, but one from the 1940s!!!  Won't it be fun to compare the decades???  You can follow her blog here.

So, any comments, hints or tips on my progress so far?  I'm looking forward to getting right into it this coming weekend!

Beccie
xxx