WIP: Floral Crescent Skirt

The weather is Sydney has been absolutely glorious! Mid-20s. Beautiful sunshine. Today is supposed to get to 32 degrees celsius which, to me, is hot! But it has made me very productive. I've been line-drying lots of washing (oi). Going for walks. And planning my Spring/Summer wardrobe.

After finishing my Lonsdale Dress last Saturday I wore it to church on Sunday and was super pleased. During the week I bit by bit cut out another crescent skirt, this time in a light to medium weight cotton.

My first crescent skirt was a bit of a disaster - the denim was too heavy and poor quality. It is still bleeding colour in the wash!

My Dad bought me a trestle table to use as a cutting table and it has made such a difference to my productivity.

Today is also the last day of the school term so I've promised Miss Six we can go to her grandparents straight from school for a swim.

Finished Project: Lonsdale Dress

Pattern: Sewaholic's Lonsdale Dress. I followed the Sewalong but finished very late. The sewalong was awesome!

Fabric: Cotton voile underlined with white batiste. I bought the fabric from Spotlight when they were having a 30% end of roll sale. The pink in the fabric is a coral pink but husby lovingly tweaked the pics to boost the colours of the landscape and turned the pink to fuschia. I didn't have the heart to explain that, ummm, the focus wasn't the landscape :)

There were lots of new to me techniques for this:

1) Muslin fitting - This was the first time I made a muslin and made substantial fitting changes. I usually do a tissue fitting.

- sway back adjustment

- took in along the top of the bodice near the underarms - slashed and lapped. In retrospect I think I should have gone down a size in the bodice and done a FBA which may have solved the gaping I had. I'm not sure.

- took a kind of scoop out from under the bust to just before the waistband.

2) Underlining - The voile was a bit sheer so I underlined it with white batiste - the white brought out the white in the main fabric.

3) I used my blind hem foot for the first time. Normally I would hand sew the hem. It's not perfect but I think I will use the foot again, especially for such a large hem.

I bound the centre back seam edge with bias binding. I didn't want to zig-zag it -- no faster way to look home eccy -- but I couldn't find seam binding anywhere! The bias binding is ok, probably too heavy. It's only the second time I have finished a seam this way and I think I'm getting better! Next time will be it for sure!

This dress is so comfortable! I am a C/D cup and I'm not wearing a bra and I didn't feel at all like I was going to have any indecent exposure and I felt surprisingly supported (probably TMI but I thought may some other gals might be interested in whether it was suitable). I'm broaching 40 and have breastfed two babies and this dress is totally wearable.

Sloooooow Sewing

Yes, I've been quiet here. And I'd like to regale you with stories of my adventures but alas the last 6 weeks have been spent nursing sick children and sick husband and sick self. Not much sewing happening at all.

But, I have made good progress on my Lonsdale dress. The sewalong just finished and I'm only halfway, but that's ok because I envisage finishing this weekend. I've seen some really beautiful dresses from the sewalong though!

Source: sewaholic.net via Jane on Pinterest

Sewing the Lonsdale has been rewarding because I've tried new things and learned a lot. I made my second ever muslin and my first major pattern alterations which included:

1. Taking in the centre front seam of the bodice under the bust to get a closer fit.
2. Taking a tapered horizontal tuck out of the back bodice to accommodate my sway back/scoliosis. This was the major revelation for me. It has really enhanced the fit of the dress on me and solved problems I commonly get with RTW dresses. And that's why we sew right?
3. Slashing and lapping the pattern on each side, about halfway between my armpit and my centre front where it was gaping. I was a bit annoyed about this one because I don't think I transfered the measurements from my musling properly and I still ended up with some gaping which I had to take out with a dart on either side which I think look a bit odd. And in retrospect I probably should have sewn a smaller size and done an FBA...but I am right on 2 inches difference between my bust and my upper bust measurement.

Anyway, I am pretty pleased with the fit of the bodice and it gives me shape with no bra which I was surprised about.

This was the first time I underlined a dress too. I am using a cotton voile which is semi-sheer so I underlined it with cotton batiste which is nice and light.

Tasia's sewalong was great. She added in all sorts of tutorials on fitting, different seam finishes, hand-sewing, underlining...It has been brilliant!

P.S. Wondering what happened to my Sewaholic Crescent Skirt? I finished it, and I wear it a lot! I'm going to make another one for summer and this time hopefully get it right.