Revisting the Past

Remember the urban caftan? Don't worry if it's slipped your mind.

It's that Built-by-Wendy shift dress sloper I modified with a boat neck. You may recall I was traumatized by the invisible zipper (which turned out to be unnecessary because the thing was such a sack) and the construction process. Also, the boat neck fit all wonky.

Well, despite this I've worn the dress on a few occasions. I mean, there are nice things about it and, if I applied my standards of perfection to all my hand-made items, I'd never wear anything. Really, what would be the point in that?

Besides, people have told me on numerous occasions it's very chic.

A few days ago, one of my work colleagues asked me if I'd made it. Turns out she's been sewing since grade 7 (she's now nearing retirement) and, while she was friendly, made it clear that the dress needed some fitting finesse.

In 10 minutes of pinching fabric and studying my frame, thank you life-time experience!, she managed to advise me (using pictures on sticky notes) exactly how to fix it with minimal effort.

Don't misunderstand. It still took an hour. But I darted the back by 1 inch on either side of the centre seam and shortened the boat neck by 1/2 inch on either side - without undoing a single seam. Note: I've never done either of these things before... Turns out I don't look bad in boat necks after all. As long as they're really narrow (like my shoulders).

Is it perfection on the inside? Um, no. But it's way less bad than I thought it would be (which is what stopped me from trying), it was easy to do (without looking at a single book) and it's made the dress look SO MUCH BETTER.

Like now, I am totally going to wear it all the time.

So, maybe I should revisit my fitting "failures" more often? I think I am learning.

Bodice Ripper

Welcome to another episode of "Kristin Complains Sews". In today's show, K tells you about her first Built By Wendy dress made from the Shift style sloper discussed previously.

After careful planning (aka determining the things she thinks she can pull off), she opts to turn it into a mash up of a) a few styles in the Dresses book and b) the contents of her own imagination.

What crazy times ensue!

This zipper took 3 hours to insert. The white line denotes where the fabric has been abused in the aim to make the invisible zip lie correctly. Even more stupid: It's strictly cosmetic. The shift can easily be worn by putting it on "shirt style".

K likes to call the finished product "urban caftan". Urban she may be, but this is her first caftan ever. Why does she decide to go so adventuresome? Well, the shift dress unaltered has that rather extreme (she discovers) "a-line from the boobs down" thing happening. The muslin of the original sloper alluded to this, but the boat neck on the urban caftan really drives the point home.

(Note to viewers: K does not look good in boat necks. Formerly, she suspected this. Now she has proof.)

Furthermore, while it's vaguely less depressing (she supposes) to make something too big, than too small, it's all a huge pain in the ass when you're trying to fix it. Stretch fabric, strangely, it makes everything stretchy. Even after re-sewing the side seams at 1 inch (rather than the .5 inch she started with), the finished product has a decided "sack" shape. Chic sack, to be sure, but sack nonetheless.

Here's what she likes about it:

• The length of the sleeves (really the whole fit of the sleeves) and the hem. Note: The hem is turned up at .5 inch and isn't turned under, i.e. the overcast seam is there for all to see. That's because she cut too much off the bottom. For some reason, K likes to cut 5 inches off the hem of every dress prior to hemming, just to see how it flies.
• The indigo wash of the denim. Very classy.
• The fun bias tape, the tone of which is continued by the mustard hem top stitching.
• The fact that she "made this up" - albeit with a lot of assistance.

What she doesn't like:

• Blame it on Mercury retrograde (she will deny suggesting this at a later date), just about everything that could turn the construction of a simple frock into a seam-ripping misery, actually occurred. Kind of takes the edge off the 3 hour project. This one clocked in at 20 hours if you consider the pattern drafting.
• K doesn't care if Wendy suggests that the loose shift will skim curves attractively. She says, if you have boobs you should consider proactively showing off your waist.
• The boat neck - her choice to construct, of course - is really not a good look. She did narrow it to suit her frame - nothing worse than the boat neck that highlights the bra straps - but still not so flattering.
• The fabric was vaguely nightmarish to work with, for no discernible reason. It's fraying right through the overcasting stitch that runs over absolutely every raw edge. Yes, that did add a lot of extra time to the project - especially as the tension on K's machine opted to go all insane for a few hours - and it will probably go stringy after washing 2 times. Dry cleaning, anyone?
• It's kind of monolithic - at least on the hanger, without bare legs to provide contrast. It really is one of those dresses that looks horrible unless it's on.
• The invisible zipper - albeit her first ever - was a freakin' bitch and without constructional merit. Don't need it. But it was a great learning experience. K suggests when you decide to sew in your first invisible zipper, don't make it 22 inches long. That's a lot of stitch ripping. Note also: K read many sources about this application, before giving it a go. Turns out it's critical to understand the term "wrong side of the zipper" before getting started. Also key, pick a source and stick with it. All the gurus use their own methods, and those don't converge well.
  

Has anyone else made one of the Wendy dresses from this book? Thoughts or feelings? How would you style this?

Update: Just tried this thing on again and I have to say the fit is NOT GOOD on me. I really need to take another inch off the back seam but that would mean having to rip out the invisible zipper yet again and I don't think I have it in me. Also, the boat neck pops out a bit at the centre chest (above the breastbone). It needs a small dart - but that would look totally weird on the front of the dress collar. Sewists, pls advise: That would look weird, right?

Never mind this is made in stretch fabric - I should have cut the small - or at least, next time, I should cut the seam allowances off of the pattern I drafted. On the centre back, I probably need to cut off the seam allowances and then some. Oh, I should mention, I already cut an inch off of the back for this pattern - based on the sloper back being too puffy. If I need to cut 4 inches off the back centre seam, it stands to reason I''m in the wrong size altogether, yes??