Sunday, July 05, 2009

Dressmaking


I don't know why but I agreed to make a bridesmaid's dress for my brother-in-law's girlfriend. I think it was probably pride :) Don't want to admit that it's beyond me.

So, I took Tina shopping and we chose Butterick pattern 5134. Only to discover that it's been discontinued! Argh! It was the only pattern we even remotely liked so I called around and tracked down a copy at The Cloth Shop.

Then I put together a muslin of just the lining part to see if it was the right size.



It was almost right, just a bit snug around the waist so I added four centimetres and started on a full-scale test version.

It took 4 hours to put the bodice together yesterday! Blimey! The pattern is rated as "easy" but I would think that'd mean a beginner could make it and this definitely isn't beginner. I guess it's not that hard, but cutting out the flimsy fabric and doing the gathers was kinda fiddly.


So I'm really pleased with the way this has turned out so far. The gathers on the bodice aren't great but I did them a little differently on the sides of the midriff bit and they look much neater. I also learnt that it's a bit dumb to use white overlocker thread under black chiffon, it's totally visible - dammit.

Anyway, tomorrow I've got to add the skirt so Tina can try it on again on Wednesday. And then I have to do it all over again in the real fabric. Phew!

2 comments:

Gay McDonell said...

WOW - your bodices look fab! Pattern ratings are so far from the truth - they ought to be shot!

Corinne W said...

Hello nice blog