And Even More on Butterick 6049

The saga continues on this dress, but I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. I was up sewing until 12:30 last night and I'm down to the homestretch.

Daughter tried on the bodice yesterday and the poufs at the sides of the bust are more pronounced in the fashion fabric than they were in the muslin, likely because of the multiple layers. She didn't mind but I want perfection, darn it! This dress definitely needed a full bust adjustment for her but I have no knowledge of how to do that with the style of this bodice, so once again I just flew by the seat of my pants and added darts to the sides of the bust. I also sewed the white bust sections together for an inch or so at the front to make it a little more modest. Daughter is so busty that you could see through her cleavage almost to her waste. Ok, bit of an exageration, but you get the point. She is coming over tonight for a final fitting.

In the mean time I have the skirt assembled and attached to the bodice. I can't say how much I love the inset pockets on this dress! I think because of the full skirt it is the perfect place to carry your cell phone and a tube of lipstick. I may end up making another version of this dress (not the halter version) for myself at some point. Note to self - try on daughter's dress to get a visual before deciding. And get a second opinion. As cute as it is for a younger adult it may be a little over the top for grandmas like me.

Although it is rated as "easy" I have a ton of hours put into this dress. This is because I am taking my time trying to do everything as best as I possibly can, focusing on technique. "Got a job big or small, do it right or not at all". I decided to look up inserting the zipper because I didn't buy an invisible zip (not that the pattern called for one) and I haven't inserted a standard zip in forever. I looked in three different books (Vogue and two Singers) and found three different ways of doing a centred zip. So what do I do? A hybrid of all three techniques! lol I am happy with the finished zip. I even changed thread to match the different fabrics on the colour blocking.

So now the dress is hanging on Gertrude to give the skirt a chance to do any stretching it feels is necessary. All that I have left is a couple of hours of hand sewing. The lining needs to be hand stitched down at the waistline, hooks attached at the top of the zip and the neckband, and finally hemming.

The hemming is going to be a bit of an ordeal. This is a big circle skirt, which means a small hem is necessary. Daughter and I are at a bit of a disagreement about the finished length of the dress. My thoughts are that because the top is quite va-va-voom (on her at least, much moreso than on Gertrude) and because it is a circle skirt, there needs to be some length to the skirt to balance that out. I think the Marilyn dress is the perfect example. She, on the other hand, wants something short because it is supposed to be for a pin-up themed party at a public downtown place. Apparently the one putting this shindig together is wearing a corset. Perhaps this is a generational divide? I think too sexy looks trashy, but there are plenty of examples out there including this black one in today's paper. This leaves me with a big dilema. The best way to properly shorten the dress is to cut it short and use a 5/8" hem. But I really really don't want to do that, because that is irreversable! So what I am thinking is I need to do it full length, do the 5/8" hem, and then tack it up shorter for her event so that it can be let back down. I'm thinking that is easier said than done because of the shape of the circular hemline. And I need to have this done by tomorrow. Arrrgghhh!