The Dila Dress

 

Not quite sure how I would describe this design. Monastic? Faux angelic? Gray Gardens? I can tell you it is very comfortable, cool and flow-y,  and I like it. I think it will be great for summer days when I am in cool air conditioned areas, like the market or for summer evenings out. It is the Dila Dress from Notches patterns. 

Pattern:  

This pattern, the Dila, from Notches,  is very versatile and a great value for the money paid. It comes with 27 design options. What I made and you see here is what we call locally, "the full boat", the long dress with the v-neck and long sleeves. You can make a short dress, and even a blouse with this pattern. You can vary necklines and sleeves on all.  I look forward to making a sleeveless blouse with the Dila design as I really like the shape of the raised waistline and the hidden seamline of that waist under the band. That shorter top  may look a bit prego but I can get away with that and would suggest that it would be great for ladies in waiting.  The waist gracefully dips from front to back. 

A bit about the designers at Notches: One, Evelien, is an architect, publisher of numerous sewing books in Europe, and was a designer/pattern maker for the Belgian sewing magazine, "La Maison Victor" for several years. 

Britt, the other half of Notches, has a degree in journalism but also studied design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. She wrote the "Big Sewing Guide" book for Maison Victor and developed men's and children's patterns. This is a really strong team here! I love their designs. I found their directions very clear and logical, the logic being often the issue for many indie patterns. I recommend. 

Just a reminder to research your sources with indie patterns. There are hundreds out there today, some good, some not so much. Remember, anyone can call themselves anything so do your homework when plunking down your cash. 

Fabric:

This dress was made from my favorite: Kaufman Essex yarn dyed linen/cotton blend. It is a pale lilac warp with an ecru weft, very soft in color. I always have a stack of Essex colors on my shelves, ready to sew. I buy them on sale whenever I see them. They are now being carried at Joanns. I've always paid around 12.99 or close at local quilt shops or online. When they hit the floor at Joann's they were priced at 6.99 a yard for one week. I stocked up. Watch for the sales. This is a great basic for pants, tops, dresses, you name it. I sew with it all the time. I pre-wash it and throw it in the machine on cool delicate after construction. It holds up beautifully and requires little ironing. 

Construction:

The magnificent detail on this dress is it's sleeves. Please go to the website to get an even better picture. Here is why: my short arms don't do them justice. Every pattern I make, I end up taking out two inches of length. After making a mockup of this sleeve in muslin I knew i had to do the same here, but where and how? Starting at the top, the sleeve consists of blank space, then two big pleats, more blank space, then 3 big pleats, THEN a circular section , all bias, then the cuff. 

If you look at the garment on the website, you will really appreciate the importance of the circular piece next to the cuff. It turns the sleeve into a lantern shape that is quite distinct. I did a half inch tuck above the first group of pleats at the top and then another half inch tuck above the next group of pleats. This gave me my two inches to remove. I know I could have gotten all mathmatical with resizing all the pleats but I just wasn't up to that. So, I sort of missed out on the drama of the lantern effect, but it is still a beautiful sleeve. The sleeve has a strong cone shape. 

ETA 1-10-25:  In reality, I always prefer 3/4 length sleeves and almost always alter a pattern to fit me this way. I do this for comfort and to have the sleeve out of the way as I cook and clean and sew my way thru my day. I found these cuffs drove me nuts. I was not wearing the dress after a while because of this and recently decided to deal with the issue because I love the dress otherwise. Yesterday I cut the cuffs off and tossed them. Then I removed a half inch from the bias area above. I serged the edge, turned it under a hefty 1/4 inch and stitched it down leaving and opening for a 1/8th inch elastic. I ran that thru with my fasturn, easy peasy, and closed the opening. It now fits more comfortable and is just the right length. It still looks good. Just FYI. 

I did no other adjustments before construction. I did go in after the fact and reduce the waist by a couple of inches. The bodice is very wide and boxy but you know I am very narrow there so for most of you it may be just fine. I like boxy bodices but it was just a bit too much for me so I pulled it in. Next time I will reduce the width by a couple of inches before cutting.  I made the smallest XS size. For comparison's sake I normally take a size four in a top.  I really like the way the band covers the gathering on the bodice,  very pretty. 

In Conclusion:

Bottom line: This is a fun dress. ( See my edit regarding the sleeves above.)I think it may have its own time and place but will look great once there. Every year my daughter and I like to go to the giant and wonderful Sunapee Craft Fair in New Hampshire. This will be perfect to wear for that, also for family cookouts and such. I will fill the neckline in with some jewelry. It all just makes me feel rather festival! In reality I am off to replace another zipper for a client. Do give the Notches designers a try. They have some really lovely designs that are very well made, with that definite European vibe. There will be more Dilas to come............Happy Sewing... Bunny

Two tops and a hat!!

 Sounds like a title from Dr. Suess! Alas, it is just what I did during my blogging hiatus.  Sewing continued in that time and as it always has been, proved to be a great solace. Here is what you missed. There are two repeats and one new design so I won't get too deep into the weeds. 

 Here we go with another Eureka Tee from the Sewing Workshop. This one is made from yarn dyed Brussels Washer linen by Kaufman in the smallest size. It is, I believe, my fourth iteration. As far as fit, my sis says I need to make it narrower. I'm OK with the wider style of it all but will try a narrower fit next time around just to see what happens. I have a muslin and may just baste out some width.  What you see above has been worn and washed a couple of time as I am finding it a great summer top. 

 I decided to embellish this simple top by pulling the threads. I knew that the warp and weft were different colors and this could be interesting. The thread pulling was easy and I pulled five threads to get the effect of one row as you see directly above. If you look at the rows in the pic above this one, the smaller pic, you will see the thread pulling looks quite different. The washing had an effect on the look of the pulled threads and actually all the fabric. It didn't appear to shrink but it got "crepe-y". I'm ok with it but just be aware that if you want to keep the crisp look of the pulled threads you can either further hem stitch them  or hand wash this fabric.  Either way, I think it is a nice feature on a simple top that begs for detail. 

Construction on this was as suggested in the pattern: machine stitched, pressed to the side and serged for a finish.  Further details on my original Eureka tee can found here: The Eureka Top

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Next is my attempt to jump on the ditsy print bandwagon with second make of a sixties sort of tunic. This busy print makes it very difficult to see the details of the design. This is Butterick 5861, OOP, a classic tunic.  The fabric is 100% rayon in a crepe type finish, what was called "crepon" back in the day. It is well starched  in these pictures as it was extremely slippery to work with and I had to give it a couple of coats to make it a pleasant sewing experience. It has not been washed out yet so it all looks a bit "puffy."

You can see there is detail on the shoulder yokes and on the bib type inset at center front. I decided to do my own thing there which in hindsight was great looking but a total waste of time. You just can't see it among the tiny, busy print. It was fun and challenging getting it done, however. 

 

 Instead of plain bias strips the pattern recommended, I chose to make little knots in the center of each strip. I made bias tubes, knotted them, and cut so the centers matched up when places on the garment section, which here are the shoulder yokes.  Here is the bib inset:

It was very tricky binding the opening of this. I veered off the reservation to figure it out but it came out ok. 

Tunics cut me in half but if I wear a sash or belt they can work and bring the eye to my waist. I made a small wrap type sash for this top. 

It is bias cut, wraps around obi style and has a couple beads on the end to weight it down. 

The cuffs easily fit over my hands but don't look big so I did not elasticate them. 

To see my original effort on this tunic click here. It is quite different. I feel on this one I put too much work into to it for the fabric that it is. It will look ok with some jeans. In the end, I did enjoy the study in embellishment. 

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Last but not least, the one item made specifically for our vacation. In its short life it has already flown the friendly skies, covered my head as I avoided poisonous jelly fish in the North Atlantic, been mushed into a crowded knapsack and  protected the once cancerous skin on my skull. It has been a real work horse once home as well and I am wearing it everywhere.  I LOVE my bucket hat. 

No pattern here! Everything I looked at just wasn't quite right, whether a pattern or retail. Brim too wide, too narrow, etc etc etc.  Just when I gave up, a few days before leaving on vakay, I was in a local retailer and I saw this gaudy little number above. It has the shape I was looking for, one that fit my petite head. I tried it on, score! I bought. It might look cute with my periwinkle linen dress and I could use it to make my own bucket as well. 

I proceeded with a stash of oaktag, my padded smocking board and some heavy yelllow headed pins to copy each section of the hat. Pattern ready !

I inspected the guts of the original hat and after interfacing my khaki twill, tried to proceed in a logical order to duplicate its construction.  I self lined the hat with more twill. The original used a cotton lining. 

Row upon row of topstitching on the brim!

In the end, I think I got it. I plan to make more for winter, warmer fabrics instead, maybe with ear flaps! I will make a hat with a wider brim as well. 

This has been a long post. Thanks, if you have managed to work thru to the end. It is what I worked on while not blogging. I thought of you all during that time and knew I would eventually get back to you all and let you know what I was up to. I have lots of plans for future projects and the queue is long. More to come!

McCall's 8220, Something Different

 

There is a lot that is different for me with this top. First the V neck. I rarely wear these as they are almost always way too low in patterns but this one worked out nicely without any adusting. 

It is McCalls 8220, one of their 2021 designs and suggested for wovens. It has a wide, boxy cut and dolman sleeves that are quite puffed. I like them pushed up a bit. As often happens with Big Four patterns, it is poorly photographed for the pattern cover. The garment is pushed back with the shoulder seams not settling where they should to give that half-tucked look. This is not a half tuck top. It is short and boxy, nothing extra to tuck so why fake it? That makes the top button pull the bodice out of whack, oy......

This line drawing gives a far better depiction of the pattern. Bust fullness is accomodated with gathering at center front. There was plenty enough to accomodate my bust, particularly given the width of the top, but with the fabric I chose, it literally steamed out as I pressed the garment. It wasn't shrinkage but more a matter of shaping. When I took class with Claire Shaeffer we did a lot of shaping with steam to hide construction details. On my top you will see no gathers but if you saw it up close there is a roundness in that area that appeared as I pressed the garment with steam and high heat for linen.  

*ETA: Just want to add that the gathering at the bust is very akin to a sleeve cap, at least it was in my size. It steamed out as I pressed.

Notice on the pattern that the full sleeve version which I used has far less side seam height. These are serious dolman sleeves. This is a great pattern to disregard some fit issues. 

Fabric:

Beautiful fabric purchased online  from Stylemaker fabrics. It comes in some glorious colors but I have been wanting to put some more red into my life. It's a good color on me, particularly if it is not a solid blob, but more softened as it is in this print. The fabric itself is yummy, a mid weight 100% linen but towards the lighter end, perfect for a top or dress. I might line a dress. This washed and dried beautifully and could easily avoid ironing but of course I did iron throughout the construction process and the end.  It's interesting how over the years I so often end up using Kaufman fabrics. 

Construction:

 This was an easy make and could even be made easier. It is clearly a top that I discovered, after installing my buttonholes, that could have just been a pullover. You could just stitch those buttons on and pull it over your head. 

The seams were stitched, pressed to the side and serged. I have been doing more of that lately, encouraged by Linda Lee of the Sewing Workshop.  This pattern has the band shaped to the neckline and center front. I had a bad experience with a Vogue pattern last year with a similar neckline that was just an on grain strip. If you ever see that in a pattern with this sort of neckline, it WON'T work. 

It was a journey to find the fabric for the binding, which was easy to assume was black but it really isn't. It is a wine-ish colored deep brown. Believe it or not, I found the exact color at Joann's in a 100% cotton. I prewashed and it worked out great. If you look in the pic in the middle of the facing there is a tiny line of stitching. This is where I stitched in the ditch of the piping to secure the facing. It does not show at all from the public side. 

This is the simple treetment for the hem edge of the sleeve, just folded up over elastic to make the gathers. 

Here you can get an idea  of how deep those dolman sleeves are and how wide this bodice is cut. I did no attempt at pettiting here. I have plans to make another by fall. I believe I will cut in a half inch on each side and go up and remove some depth from that armpit area as well, probably a half inch. I plan to make the next one in a nice white and gray knit stripe , a  barely 1/4 inch stripe. I think it will be really effective with the design. I also think I might add some very slight shoulder pads as well. 

In Conclusion:

I really like this top. I love the fabric and welcome the cut, color and style, something different for me.  I look forward to making it again and I know I will wear this a lot throughout the summer. It will definitely be cool and comfy. Without the piping and making the button band permanently closed it would be an even easier sew. I highly recommend.

One of the many public gardens and beautiful churches found throughout the islands. This one is in Angra de Heroismo and much larger than this small segment. The sign announces a tour later in the day.  Happy Sewing,,,,,,,,,,,,Bunny

A Tale of Three Tops

 

In the week and a half that followed the making of the batik Eureka top I made two more, each quite different from the first and each with it's own story. Bear with me as I go thru their individual dramas here. I won't be focusing too much on construction as you got that on the first batik version and can read all about that here.  Instead, I will tell their stories. 

Far right:

This is a knit version of the Eureka top. 

 First, pardon the horrific lighting on this photo. Now, more importantly, pardon the fact that I even made this top. Here is my story. I was in Joanns walking the aisles hot with triumph on the little Eureka top and itching to make another. I thought I'd try a knit as that is what the top was originally designed for. The knits all looked rather blah.  As they hung together, draped on their boards, this one, with its gray background and blobs of color called out to me more than the others. This was the one.  Those blobs were interesting, colorful, and the gray background would go perfectly with fabric I had at home for some matching cargo pants. Let's go to the cutting table. Done, on to home. 

I washed the fabric and set it aside for the moment and dealt with other distractions.  Was the fiber poly or rayon or a blend? It was a very thin knit and very very drapey. The knit section is all mixed up so it could be anything and I forgot what the bolt said. I got my receipt and looked up the sku on their website and was mortified. It was part of a whole collection of prints called various names but all together as "African Print Fabric." They were called Kente fabric, Ethnic fabric  and Global fabric.  Seems my sideways blobs were the continent of Africa. I never felt so stupid in my life but more importantly I had this awful gut feeling that this fabric was not mine to sew.  Hubs walked by it later and I asked him what it looked like and he said " a continent", which one,  " Africa".  OK.  So I thought and thought. I know I did not want to appropriate that fabric for myself and apologize for my ignorance to all my sewing sisters. They did have similar fabrics in the store, which I found on a later visit, but this bolt was in a totally different area with the knits. Here's what I decided. I am going to make this and figure it out as I do.  I'll comment a bit on the making and wearing first. 

Above you can see I used the selvedge to make the collar binding which is a french fold binding to the front of the garment. It took a bit of fuss to  get things to lay just right but not too hard. 

I also utilized the selvedge to add a small pocket on one side. You can also see here the sleeve cuffs.  I ditch stitched them at the top and bottom as I did on the batik but they insisted on drooping open and looked awful. I tamed them into submission with a bit of  Steam A Seam Lite mid cuff and it hangs nicely now.  As I am making this my mind is coming up with various ideas of the best and final use of this garment. 

The hem was stitched on the edge as well as in inch further up.  I gave this garment my best efforts. 

Not far from my home is an organization that specifically helps women in need for various reasons. One of the groups they help are new refugees. They take donations of clothing and I have often donated there as opposed to Good Will and SA as I see it go directly to these women in need. I know for a fact that they are helping out a large group of Somalian women and their children, refugees. I will donate my top there, along with some other summer clothing. It makes me feel good to see it go to one of them. When I did hiring at the axle factory years ago, I dealt with Lutheran services and many "Lost Boys" and other refugees from war ravaged areas of Africa.  The women would come for interviews in their beautiful ethnic garb and wore the most magnificent large smiles. I always remember their smiles. How they could muster them after what they had been thru......any way, I will donate this shirt and a bit more to the organization that helps this community and I feel good about that. 

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My third Eureka based top, but this one is quite different.  I have been ooo-ing and ah-ing over the Sewing Workshop Gardenia Dress for some time.  I went on a great fabric buying trip last week and wanted to check yardage and details on that pattern in case I actually did get to make it. The more I looked at the pattern the more the Gardenia dress looked like the Eureka top with a few changes. Could I knock it off? Do I dare try? WTHeck and get out of the way!  I studied the details and measurements. I definitely didn't get it exactly but close enough to have a cute top called whatever. When I was all done I compared and I did get a few things wrong but dang, I think I got a pretty cute top out of the attempt. 

First I lowered the neckline by about a half inch in the front to the shoulder seam. I then redrew the pattern front and then divided it into two pieces with that division being about 2 inches to the right of center front. Each piece  had 2 1/4 inches of fabric added to it. This became seamed together and made into a big tuck. I stitched my tuck down like a zipper fly which you can see if you look closely. It is included in the neckline binding. The Gardenia does not have big binding like this and it is not secured down.  This gives it a lighter look than my top. 

On one side of the garment, my left, there are  four tiny tucks between that large tuck and the side seam. Inserted into the big tuck and the side seam is a bias tube that pulls and gathers the excess fabric. I had to open this side of the top with wedges to extend it out about 3 more inches. At the hip, the Gardenia is 8 inches bigger than the Eureka.  I made those tucks and wedges from about an inch below the apex down to the hem. . The tucks are a fat 1/8th inch and about 4 1/2 inches long. You can barely see them in the pic. There is a lot of comfortable volume here but controlled by this tie.  I LOVE this top. I am going to redraw the tissue neatly today and plan on making more. It is not quite the Gardenia, but it is a nice top and could be a dress if need be. Most of all, I had a blast making this pattern work. It was a really enjoyable after noon of brain work, looking at the pic and transferring it from my brain to a new tissue. 

ETA: The fabric is Brussels Washer Linen from Kaufman. It is 55% linen, 45% rayon, easy to sew, easy to wash and maintain. 

I can't thank you enough if you have made it to the end of this blogpost. Like I said, lots of story here. I am now moving on to a batch of undies for myself and than I am going to start on some summer pants. I have lots of fabric to play with and McCalls 8099 which looks great on those I have seen it on. Fingers crossed!.

I'm doing co-ordinates! Who knew?

 

Being home combined with a brand new 4k ultra HD TV with what seems like 3000 channels has me watching a lot of sewing on Youtube and Prime. I have barely made a dent in what is available. There is so much I like on there and some I have seen that is downright awful but most is pretty great. One of my favorites is the work of Peggy Sagers. I love how she shops the big designers, picks one of their garments and in some cases even buys the garment and then shows how to easily sew that lovely designer look yourself. Recently I chanced upon a program for something she made knocking off an Eileen Fisher "cropped poncho". It was part of a three part casual summer look. I loved it and it was right up my alley. The three piece look fit right into the clothing I am making right now, basics from classic summer fabrics.  Now let's be real here. Have you ever seen me make co-ordinates? Uh, no. I am an inspired creative, get an idea and hit it. Wear it with some basic from my closet and go!  This was a 3 part gig here and I loved every part. There were straight, full pants and I have just found my Sure Fit Sloper after being lost for 2 years. There was a tank top, sort of fitted, and that was on my very to do list. And, then, there was the "cropped poncho" on top. It was a great look and I wanted to make the whole shebang. I never want to make the whole shebang. 

Now came shopping my resources for the three fabrics. I knew I needed a good white linen for the poncho. Check! I had plenty of that. Linen's my thing.  Next,  two more pieces. I decided on a lighter weight linen with a bigger stripe and darker gray background for the pants. The tank would be a gray and white seersucker, that classic summer fabric known for it's comfort, crisp look, and easy care. But a quick check on the yardage showed that the new tank top I developed, longer and more fitted, was not quite enough, so I found another piece of seersucker with a slightly larger stripe in the exact same colors. They worked great together and once again, necessity fueled my  creativity and I think you will like the results. 

I got right into the pants. They fit quite well despite the sloper being a couple years old. The style is straight down from the hips and a pull on but really not too gathered. I think this  is a new Covid milestone, my first pair of pull on pants. Let's not even go there.  I was looking for quick to make and the top of the pant would not show, period. I got that. It took me one morning to put these zipperless babies together. 

Then came the tank. That took some fanagling and I developed the pattern from my last one but it fits very differently, more coverage and more fitted. I liked it.  I think I got the two different seersuckers to work pretty well. 

Now it is time to make the cropped poncho. I am excited about this and can't wait to show you all. The poncho will have some machine heirloom stitching on it if all goes well. I'll sample things first. It will be the first time I get to model a co-ordinated outfit for you. I may be on to something here! ............Stay safe and stay healthy...........Bunny

The Periwinkle Linen Dress

The Dandelion Dress served as the muslin for the Periwinkle Linen Dress. I love them both and they  are really both quite different as you will soon see. They are both made from New Look 6866 with original alterations  to change the silhouette and hem finish. I was inspired by the garment you see here. With the Periwinkle dress I went for simple, letting the fabric shine.

Pattern:

New Look 6866 is a flowy, summery maxi dress that the pattern describes as  "five styles with length and neckline variations." They are all sleeveless and the necklines are all lovely. I went for the high front neckline and the V back. This is a fabulous basic pattern with lots of design ease but it fit me well in the upper chest/shoulders so I am very happy with that. I flat pattern measured and there was no need to do an FBA for my C cup. I will get on my high horse and say once again, this is design ease, that extra room, not a mistake in drafting the pattern.  You want big and flow-y, you get bigger and flowier than the basic pattern block.  Design ease..........



Fabric:



The computer does not do this fabric justice. It leans toward lavender and I used lavender thread to sew it. It is a yarn dyed linen/cotton blend, a fabric I have used many times and think is one of the best values out there. However, I am stymied. I want more of this periwinkle but did I look at the bolt end for info? Just quickly to discern that it was Essex linen from Kaufmann. Now, when I go to the color charts, I can't find this color. I can find Cadet but that is blue and I have some of that. This has a green selvage. I am going back to the quilt store where I bought it to see if they can help and hopefully order some more. You can never have too much linen. It is the fabric that will be in style forever.

Another issue with yard dyed fabrics, well let me stop right here! Just in case you don't know what a yarn dyed fabric is here is an explanation: Yarn dyed fabrics have the yarns/threads dyed before they are woven into fabric. This allows you to have all of your weft threads one color and your warp threads another color. It gives a lot of character and depth to the fabric. If you've seen iridescent silk dupioni, you have seen a yarn dyed. Kaufmann's Essex blends are often  a colored linen thread and a white or black cotton thread going the other way. Back to the issue---I wanted to topstitch this dress, all over. It is hard to make prominent topstitching on yarn dyeds. Which thread do you match up to? Doesn't  matter the match will disappear and the non match will sort of look yucky. Either way, they just don't stand out. Above you can see some samples I did. On the right is the thread I was using for the construction, a lavender periwinkle color. You can see it just disappears in a regular stitch. In the middle, same thread with a triple stitch. I don't think it looks that good and my machine does a great triple stitch on other fabrics. On the left I tried a darker thread, really no improvement. I made the executive decision to not topstitch this dress anywhere. I liked it's soft look and was going to go with that. 

I also used a white  100% cotton voile to underline this dress. I did a "flat lining" in the method you see here. It worked out perfectly. This made the dress very  comfortable. I wore it today in 100 degree heat to a "backyard" wedding. The dress kept it's looks all afternoon and was spot on for the occasion. 

The facings were fused to cotton woven fusible interfacing. 

Construction:

Here are the changes I did for this dress, some of which were not done in the Dandelion dress. I wanted to reduce the volume a bit. You will see the difference:

* My usual petite shortening in the upper chest. 

* Raised the armhole 3/8ths of an inch at the side seam tapering to nothing at the notches to hide my bra. 

* Reduced the front width at center front by a half inch. 

* Reduced the back width at center back by two inches. 

* Reduced the "bumpouts" one inch from the Dandelion dress bumpouts. 

* Flat lined the garment which meant all vertical seams, really only 3, were able to get a Hong Kong finish. This was nice. The HK finish was on the hem edge at the top, the facing edges and all of the sides seams as well.  By flat lining I was able to catchstitch my hem and facings to the voile underlining. 

                                  

Another thing I did was to do a diagonal basting of the underlining to the dress, front and back,  after it was flat lined. I also basted diagonally on the  area where the upper hem edge would be. I let my dress hang out on the dress form for a couple days before doing this basting and trimmed as needed, not much. 

 The darts in the dress were made to include the flat lining. A line of basting was done down the center of the dart on the lining to hold the two layers together while the dart was being sewn into the dress. The hem band is just the linen layer so no special treatment on the hem darts. Just mark those top and bottom edges of the hem band.

The picture above shows where the seam gets ditch stitched to secure the hem band to the dress. This is done on the right side of the dress.  I think failure to do this will cause the wide hem to billow and this holds it flat. It also sort of bolsters the shape of that side seam bumpout.

I did have a screw up, totally my fault. In my unbridled enthusiasm I did not read my pattern instructions. Heck, I just made one of these although it wasn't lined. After the dress was flat lined, hung out, and the lining hand basted diagonally to the fashion fabric, I stitched together the shoulder seams. I bound the edges of the facings with the voile, stitched them together and attached them to the neckline. Next was my favorite, understitching the facing with the triple stitch a la Nancy Zieman, all well and good. Nope. Seems now I can't stitch the armholes and turn them. I looked on line for some sort of magic I knew nothing about to solve this. There is none. I was too late for magic.  I slept on it. What to do?  I refused to rip out triple zigzagging on this lightweight fabric. 

Luckily, this fabric and lining are quite lightweight. I did a wide bias binding, understitched with the triple zigzag, turned and pressed, pinked the edges so no bulk, and catch stitched down to the facing. I think it will pass. It doesn't add bulk and is neatly finished. 

Another issue that came up was the refusal of the side seams to lay flat in the curved bumpout area. I decided to catch stitch them down. I so love to catch stitch.  This actually helped reinforce the shape.

Here they are, all catch stitched, tamed and tidied. Now it was on to catch stitching down the facings but only under the arms. The rest of the facing is free floating.  I also catch stitched the upper hem edge. I just can't stop catch stitching once I get started!

The inside is all finished and pretty! No topstitching in sight, volume brought down as desired, fit is spot on, life is good. The dress is fitting snug on my form as I am a size or two  smaller now than I was when I made the form. 

In Conclusion:

Once again, I am really happy with this pattern and the changes I've made to it. I look forward to making it also as it is designed, as a long flowy maxi dress maybe in the view with bow in front and in a softer fabric, perhaps a cotton lawn print. I will be on the lookout for that. In the meantime I think I am putting aside my beloved skirts that are my  summer staples and joining Team Dress! It's just such a comfortable, cool way to go. I highly recommend this pattern and love the way the dress is draped from the bust and shoulders. Flat pattern measure first and make a muslin. Do not assume the pattern is too big. You decide if you want the design ease that has been put into it. I like it either way. I love the full volume of the Dandelion Dress and also the more conservative look of the Periwinkle Dress. I will say that whenever I wear the Dandelion Dress in public people stop and compliment left and right and ask where I bought it. We will see what happens with the Periwinkle dress. I like that the  Periwinkle look is a great foil for my jewelry too. 

And just in case you missed the last post here is another pic of our recent house guest:

Happy sewing!......Bunny