Finished V 8380

Dear friends,


Happy Sunday ! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

I have finished the V 8380 after working on it yesterday from like 10 am til 1 am.

I will share some pictures with you. Sorry there are none 'on me'. I don't have a good mirror that I can use to help with photos, nor a Tripod. I should get both !

Facings and casings !!

Finished article !

The inside

                                    Very pleased with the inside and especially the waistband.

You know what ? I learnt ALOT making this dress (under stitching, catch stitching, pressing with a tailors ham, seam finishing to name a few), and I really enjoyed the construction of it. And I am totally totally stoked with how it came out. I was particularly worried about the empire band, but it is lovely and neat.

I learnt with this dress, (and the Ginger that I made back in August) that I have body issues ! I have made everything so large that I am having to make lots of changes to make the clothing smaller to fit me. Note to self - use actual measurements to make the clothes ! I have another Ginger on the go at the minute in Polka Dot fabric, I will maybe finish that up tonight as I am on a roll. I am going to make sure that I dont make the fit too large on it !

And I learnt that I actually DONT LIKE V8380 in this cotton poplin fabric on me..... I look like I am wearing a burlap potato sack. I love the shape but I feel the fabric is too stiff and does not flow. I am still considering whether to make the dress in silk as I think the flow of the material would suit this dress and its gathers better. That is a decision I am going to think about because silk is expensive and if I don't like the final dress I will have wasted cash.

This dress is going to be recycled and will be reborn into Butterick B4461, as there is plenty of fabric and ribbon to use from the V8380; B4461 with its ribbon trim seems almost serendipitous.

Friends I am not sad, I LOVED making the 8380, and it taught me alot. But I don't like the fabric as a dress, I would have struggled to get any cardigans (a staple for me) to match, and I don't want to look like I am wearing a sack.

What do you think ? Have you had any garments you made where once you put them on, you thought 'NO' ? Have you had any fabric disasters ? I would love to hear about them - if you felt you wanted to share.

Well, thats all from me today,

Have a wicked day

K xxx

V8380 update

Hello people

Happy Friday !  We made it !  YAY !!

So - tonight I have been working on the bodice of V8380 and have sewn on the facings, and under-stitched (thanks Helen !). I have also pressed the facings HARD and with plenty of steam to make sure they stay on the inside.

I have also sewn the casings for the ribbon ties and stitched up the right side.

So far sew good.

A little bit of bad news, the armholes are just a little too big, but I plan to wear the dress with a cardigan anyway so it wont matter so much, I just need to make sure that I fix this on the pattern before I make my next version  using silk charmeuse.

It is the last sewing school tomorrow and I am hopeful that the dress will be finished by the end of the day and I can share with you the finished article. I still have to work on the empire band and the skirt to finish up, but hopefully they should be easy after the bodice, right ?       ;-)

In other news I have treated myself to booking Monday and Tuesday off work, to sew and relax after a pretty hectic month. I am also meeting up with my oldest friend who is visiting from America with her husband and her 2 year old daughter who I have never met ! I cant believe how quickly the time goes, really I cant !

I hope you all have happy weekends, full of love,

MWAH

K xxx

More V8380

Dear friends,

I have managed to sneak in a little bit of work on the V 8380 dress after a well hectic day at work.

I have cut and pinned the refashioned facings to the right side of the bodice to check for the fit and have taken some pictures to 'show and tell'.

                              (please excuse the AWFUL pics - had to use flash - you know how it is)

Newly drafted facings :-)

PHEW ! The facings seem to fit perfectly. 

I am quite hopeful that I will be able to get the bodice finished tomorrow. Especially after the help from Helen on my previous post. I really want to work on the sewing machine right now but its probably a little loud for 10.50 at night. Plus I gotta get up for a busy work day tomorrow, so probably should go to bed rather than sew !

In other news I got a package from Sunni (thank you !) which included this wrist pin cushion. I have been using it this evening and love it !

What time is it ?

I also received some new Colette patterns, which I will share some other time.

I hope you have all had a good day, and remember - only one more sleep until the weekend !! WOOP WOOP.

Night all

K xxx

Facings

Hello people,

Almost made it to the weekend ! Yipppeee !  :-))

Tonight I have been working on making new facing patterns, as the original bodice has been altered so much the originals no longer fit.

Just checking if anyone has any tips for creating new facing patters, not sure I have done mine correctly ? Basically I used tracing patter to trace the armholes on the amended pattern, with a width of about 2 inches all the way through the width of the tracing. Does that sound right to you ?

Also the pattern talks about under-stitching the facings and illustrates this with a picture that means absolutely nothing to me (like AT ALL).

Any comments/ideas would be greatly appreciated  -  if you felt you wanted to share.   :-)

***UPDATE  Delightful Gertie (and her new blog for better sewing) has provided info for making facings on her blog - you can read about it right here.***

The reason I am not waiting until (the final) sewing school to ask the tutor re these questions is because I am supposed to have made a good old attempt at finishing the bodice before class. So far things don't look good on that score, and I only have until Saturday morning to get it shipshape.

Oh well, wish me luck ! I do have a seam ripper after-all, may as well get used to using it, ha !

K xxx

Sewing school no.3

Hello !

Here are some pictures of my efforts so far. I am making this...

I dislike any pics of me, but had to take a couple to show you what it looks like on. Please do not view whilst eating !! I may put you off your roast, lol

Actually, I just had a roast and therefore now was probably not the best time to take a picture of myself.

But - here you are. I just sat and tacked extra on the side seams (I adjusted the pattern too large !), and the casing for the ribbon. I will be using the ribbon shown in the photos, I fancied a contrast rather than making the ties from the same fabric.

Here are the adjusted bodice pieces (the skirt, ahhhhhh thats another post !)

I have actually added too much on the sides, but the tutor showed me a neat trick for grading around the arm and neck. I was all for adding the same amount all the way around, but she said I should add an amount on each section to measure the same for smaller sizes.

I am having trouble explaining, so you can see what I mean here...

I measured the distance between each size line and added that amount to the pattern. See, I can explain better with a picture   :-))

This is the bodice pinned together - you can see my tailors tacks !  Very exciting ! Also the gathers I made.  I well love this fabric, it is a cotton poplin from Heathcotes in Tiverton. The ribbon is a deep chocolate brown, also from Heathcotes.

Then I tacked it together and added the ribbon....

And here it is on !!

Ta Da !!!!

(sorry about my bra poking out !)

I am excited about this - I am super pleased with how it looks already and I cant wait to finish my exams and get cracking with this dress. I cant wait to see it all  made up !!  I am already planning a second version, in silk charmeuse, I think that would look gorgeous !

Well, I had better get on with some more revision !

I hope you are all having a cracking Sunday.

MWAH

K xxx

Sewing school no.2

Hello friends !

I hope you have all had a good week ? I was at sewing school again today, and was actually very excited to  learn some new skills.

I have learnt how to adjust the bodice and widen the empire band and lengthen the skirt. I have also learnt how to make tailors tacks. I thought they would be very time consuming, but found that for me anyway, they are quicker and easier to handle than chalk lines.

After last Saturday I was worried this project would be not so great due to sizing issues and lack of confidence. Also the fact that I was cutting and sticking all day did nothing to ease my worries.

But !!  Phew, it was not in vain. there a few people at my stage so I didnt feel so bad. I actually cut into fabric today, learnt how to do gathers, and tacked together the bodice part of the dress. And it actually looks pretty good. I am very happy !!!

I WILL take pictures to show tomorrow - I promise ! Its dark now, and the light is no good to show the colour of the fabric.Ill show the bodice at this stage so you can see how I am getting on. I still have loads to do, but feel confident as have made great shakes today. Now yet started on the skirt, facings etc. Guess ill need to make new facings as made so many changes to the bodice. Hopefully that is not a hard job as I would like to get started once my exams finish (week Monday !!!  ARGGGHHHH !! )  I think I just need to trace a couple of inches around the armhole, but I am sure it wont be as easy as that    ;-))

Well, best get cracking on this evenings tasks !!

K xxx

Sewing school

Hello people

I went to sewing school today ! Very exciting.

I didnt feel quite so excited at 7 am this morning, but once I got there it was perfect.

I am making Vogue 8380 - white view, (I LOVE all the versions I have seen sewn up of this style)

                                                               Source

.......... and I spent THE WHOLE DAY altering it. The whole day !!! Can you believe it ? One lady in the group has totally finished her garment ! I started cutting paper at around 11 am and did not stop til 3.30 pm. I will take some pictures to show you the alterations tomorrow. I am making it as a maxi dress, and I will be quite excited to see the end result.

I totally cant wait to see my classmates makes too - I will ask them if I can take some pictures next week, didn't want to scare them all by getting the old camera out on the first day.

I am not making a muslin !!!  This feels frightening but the tutor has lulled me into a false sense of security by tissue fitting. If I didn't have exams in 2 weeks that I need to study for, I would make one up tomorrow. It feels quite liberating though not making one.  I feel like a naughty kid ! I have made more muslins than anything else since I started to look into making my own clothes so its nice to miss that step for a change.

Going to see how this tissue fitting malarky works before I knock the muslins on the head though. I quite like the safety of the 'practice run'.

Sorry no pics for you today, but I will share my alterations with you tomorrow. I used pretty much a whole sheet of burda pattern paper making the adjustments. And I didnt have time to trace the pattern, so I had to cut the original, which I didn't like at all. I love that pattern so much I will buy it again, to trace if I want to make shorter versions.

Hope you are all having a cracking weekend.

K xxx