an indie love affair with sbcc, bhl and tilly!

I wish I had been able to make more for Sewing Indie Month, as I would have loved to make another By Hand London Georgia Dress or tried something from DIY Dixie, but I guess travel and Me-Made-May got in the way a little. But don't be too disappointed! I do have something fun to show you to end Sewing Indie Month; playing with patterns and tutorials by Skinny Bitch Curvy Chick, By Hand London, and Tilly and the Buttons!

By Hand London Circle Skirt action shot! And in the background is my pretty fabric closet curtain. 

After my success with SBCC's Lemon Drop Top earlier this month, some folks suggested I try their Tonic T-shirt. And I thought, "how about pair it with a circle skirt? I've wanted to try the By Hand London Circle Skirt App! I could combine them to make a sleeveless red dress!" Well... that didn't work so well. The waistline would not lay right, and my added pleats to try to fix it only made it worse. 

It may look nice here on the hanger... but it's lying to you!

I was able to salvage the skirt using the waistband pattern piece from my Elle Pants, and learned that the Tonic T-shirt has a great fit, so I sewed a straight-up Tonic T-shirt in lovely black rayon jersey. I love this t-shirt pattern! But now my outfit needed something else.....

...like a matching Brigitte Scarf from Tilly and the Buttons! I was going to wear it as a cute headband, but once I added the shoes with this outfit I felt a ponytail bow was the perfect finishing touch! It has this fun 50's vibe! 

... or is it a little bit Drizella/Anastasia from Cinderella? :)

image souce:http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Drizella-Anastasia-cinderella.jpg

a little more georgia...

First of all, some exciting blog news: I REACHED 10,000 PAGE VIEWS TODAY! I still think it is so incredibly cool that people all over the world are interested in my sewing adventure. The sewing blogger community is just amazing, and I feel honored to be a part of it!

But moving on...

In response to a comment on my last post, I thought today I'd go a little bit more into how I went about troubleshooting my Georgia Dress bodice fitting troubles.

Here is my first attempt in a size 10:

I have a 36" bust, so I fall right in between the the US size 8 and 10. While the cups fit ok in shape and volume, the princess seams do not fall over the bust apex as they should, the side seam on the left is way too far back, and as you can see there is at least 4 extra inches of fabric on the right side seam. The size 8 really didn't look too much different, this time with more like 3 extra inches, even though according to the envelope the finished garment measurement is 35.5", that's 1/2" less than my actual bust measurement. Knowing that I needed to loose 2-3 inches, I decided to go right to the size 4 with a bust measurement of 33.5", 2" less than the size 8. I should mention that with these test garments, I have not taken in 5/8" seam allowance on the top and bottom, so the bodice when finished will actually be 1 1/4" smaller vertically. The size 4 pattern pieces looked very narrow, so to try to add a little more height to the neckline, and because my difference between high bust and full bust measurements is 2-3" (c-cup range), I did a 1/2" Full Bust Adjustment as recommended on the By Hand London Georgia Dress Sewalong.

On a side note: I was really surprised by how much I like this blue floral fabric as a bodice! Maybe a blue floral bra-top or bikini in my future?

As you can see the fit is much better, and the neckline while still low is not too low after considering the 5/8" seam allowance.  BUT I was seeing some sagging around the bust apex that I could not press out, a little easier to see in the second picture:

Of course I did my fitting without a t-shirt and cami underneath, and the sagging was even more prevalent without that tiny bid of added width from the extra shirts. Looking back to the By Hand London blog post on bodice fitting, it looked like the image demonstrating the need for a Small Bust Adjustment:

Image from http://byhandlondon.com/blogs/sew-alongs/12031569-georgia-dress-sewalong-3-full-small-bust-adjustments-fba-sba

There was too much volume in that area of the bodice. So that's why I decided to try the size 4 without the FBA, obtaining a higher neckline by only using a 1/4" seam allowance on the top instead of the 5/8". It seemed to work! 

My black sateen from Mood.com sewed up beautifully, and pressed nicely to lay smooth over the shape of my bust.

I used my final muslin as the lining, and after all that leg work it came together perfectly!

The instructions call for sewing the straps on both the front and back of the bodice by sandwiching them between the lining and main fabric. I opted to only attach the front at this point, knowing from experience that I will have to shorten the straps quite a bit once I'm able to try on the near-finished dress. At that point, I'll sew in the back of the strap by hand. 

I hope to sew up a test garment for the skirt this afternoon, so expect an update soon!

georgia woes

I've got my pattern, got my fabric....  but no Georgia dress yet.  Per the sewalong instructions, I made a muslin of the dress bodice, and while I'm glad I did... it's been quite the ordeal! I've made FOUR versions thus far!

Three of my four bodice test-garments.

I measure in between the US size 8 and 10, so for my first test I cut a 10. I used what I assume is a quilt cotton that I got from my mom's stash, that has a small amount of 2-way stretch, similar to my sateen. Once I got it on... it was like 4 inches too big! So I cut an 8 and still too big by 2-3 inches. This seemed odd, as the finished bust measurement given for size 8 on the envelope was smaller than my actual bust measurement!

Knowing that I needed to shave off a number on inches, I cut a size 4 next. The 4 would in no way be wide enough to cover my C-cup bust (WAY too much cleavage!), so I did a a 1/2" FBA as shown in the sewalong to try to add a little more height. The sizing worked both around and in bust height... except the shape of the cup was way off! So frustrated! How could I get the bodice to be snug enough around, yet high enough to cover my bust, and still have the shape of the cup lay smoothly?!?! So I went to bed.

Today, with fresh eyes, I tried again. I made a straight size four.  (That's a finished bust measurement supposedly 2.5" less than my actual bust measurement..... makes no sense!) The cups laid nicely and the bodice was just right around. To add a little more height to the neckline, I've decided to sew the neckline with a 1/4" seam allowance instead of 5/8". I hope this will give me the coverage I'm looking for without sacrificing the fit. Now I'll have to be careful when grading out my size 4 bodice to the 8/10 waist and hips, and will probably do a test for that as well.

I signed up for this project to try to learn how to better fit for my body. To be honest, I don't feel like I've actually learned anything useful for fitting other garments in the future, except to keep trying different things until you get it right, even if what ends up right doesn't make any sense!

On a side note, don't you love that test fabric? Folded up on my fabric shelves, I would never have picked it for a garment! But once cut and sewn into a delicate fitted bodice like this, the floral really kinda shines! So I've decided to use my final test-garment for the lining of the dress, and have plenty more for something blue and floral on the outside in the future.