Second Choice

A couple of weeks ago, the Marin Symphony produced another wonderful concert, which meant that I had the perfect excuse to finish up my Ceil Chapman dress.  But as you can see, I did not wear the dress.  Instead, after a minor catastrophe, I had to run home and to change.  This dress is what I came up with.

Everything on the Ceil Chapman was completed in plenty of time, although getting into the dress by myself was problematic, even during construction.  But that did not really concern me.  I was going to Mom’s anyway for pictures, so I figured an extra pair of hands would solve the zipper issue I was having.  But I was wrong.

Before you yell at me for attempting to use an invisible zipper with a bulky seam, I should tell you this was a metal vintage zip.  And I have had no problem in the past using them with fairly bulky seams because they are sturdy (another one worked beautifully on this dress).

But even after all the ends were tucked in and tacked down for stability, it was no longer possible to zip the zipper on my body.  With the waist stay, it should have been easy.  

The dress fits, but the darn invisible zipper just cannot make it past the seam bulk at the waistline on the body.  It works on the sewing table, although I need to get a running start at it – but that is normal for any invisible zip.

The project has been put away until I process how I want to proceed.  I think the only solution is to rip out the zipper.  I just hope I have not trimmed too much away from the corners.  Anyway, this is a job that must be done in the daylight - it is hard enough to see black thread on black wool in the best of circumstances, and I am going to need all the help I can get!

So, I am rather sick to my stomach about it at the moment, but hopefully a bit of time will give me the courage to do a little surgery on the dress.

Wish me luck!

Dress:  Made by me, Butterick 5814

Wrap:  Vintage, gift

Shoes:  Via Spiga

Earrings:  Givenchy

Red Velvet, The Reveal

Here is my new red velvet cocktail dress!

This is what a vampire would look like in the daylight.  My goodness – I am so pasty I glow.

My mom found this Persian lamb (it’s synthetic) jacket that was a massive mess.  One sleeve lining was completely detached – thankfully someone thought to safety-pin the lining to the jacket so they were not separated.  The other was half ripped out.  The pockets were pulled apart, and some of the side seam was even ripped open.  What the heck?!  She wanted me to fix it, but I really do hate mending of any kind.  It is ridiculous, but when a store-bought garment button falls off (and let's face it - they ALWAYS do), it takes months, sometimes years for me to stitch it back into place.

It still is not perfect – I actually found another ripped seam at the back of one of the sleeves after I left for the day – whoops!  But it was not very noticeable since the lining is also black.  Thank goodness for small favors.

But I do want to say that whoever decided to massacre the insides of this garment should be very ashamed of themselves.  I guess it could have ended up in Goodwill’s garbage, so it could be worse.  There is still some work to be done, but I have lost the motivation for the time being.

Creation is fun – mending, not so much.  Am I the only one who feels this way?

And I forgot to mention that I added a back vent to the skirt (although I will bet that some of you that are familiar with this pattern already noticed the alteration in my post discussing the skirt construction) – those simple slits always make me paranoid that I am going to show more than I want to.  

Have you ever seen someone wearing a pencil skirt that does not realize that back slit ripped open during the day?  I do not wish to be one of those people.

By the way – that silk organza added to the back skirt pieces seems to have done the job – no baggy bottom at the end of the day!  Or perhaps the velvet is simply more stable than a woven wool  . . . I may never know.

Now I just need to add a couple of ribbon hangers to hang the dress properly.

It sure is nice to have a back seam zipper on this dress – it is so easy to slip in and out of!  Thank you Gertie!

Not too shabby for some leftover yardage and an unfinished dress that was beginning to look like something the 1980s would have rejected!

Dress:  Made by me, Butterick 5814 (sleeves c/o Simplicity 9025)

Coat:  Vintage, borrowed from mom (if I have to mend it, I get to wear it)

Hat:  Made by me

Brooch & Earrings:  Grandmother’s

Shoes:  Nina

Red Velvet, Part 3

The bodice is what really makes this dress, in my opinion.

Something to keep in mind is that the neckline is very low cut.

Just a note:  the diagrams for the front bodice boning seem to be incorrect.  The picture indicates that the boning channel should extend beyond the dart, but that would smoosh the boobage.  The instructions are correct, but I like to just scan the diagrams and can be very lazy about reading every word of the directions - and I assume I am not the only one out there!

Also, my pattern tissue indicated a "placement line for lining," however, I believe that line should be used to place the boning pieces.  The lining will be placed along the seam line once the seam allowance is pressed under.

And then there were those added sleeves to contend with.  

The bodice construction leaves the lower half of an armscye available for sleeve stitching with the upper half completed by a finished sleeve cap.

Once the front and back sleeve pieces were stitched together, I sewed the upper portion of the sleeve and lining, fabric right sides together, leaving 5/8” seam allowance free at either end.  The velvet portion of the sleeve underarm was then sewn to the bodice.  

The lining underarm was stay-stitched and clipped so that the raw edges could be turned under and hand-stitched in place for a clean finish.

And then there was the waist seam – I really did not want to have it visible, even from the inside.  With my addition of tulle and the multiple layers of velvet where the drape was attached, there was absolutely no way to make it look pretty.

It was a bit convoluted, but I managed to treat the bodice bemberg as half underlining, half lining.

The two front bodice pieces are supposed to be basted together along the side and bottom edges and treated as one.  But I wanted to keep the bottom portion of the lining free until after the skirt was attached.  As a fix, I left the bottom bit free until the side seams were completed.  This required the side seams to be sewn from armhole to just over an inch from the edge with the lining and fabric as one piece.  Then I flipped up that portion of lining and pinned it out of the way while the remaining lower bit of side seam was sewn.

Some people may not like the amount of hand stitching involved with the lapped lining pieces, but it suits me just fine.  After the skirt was attached, that front bodice lining was sewn into place, at which point the back lining could cover that side seam raw edge.  The puzzle pieces just needed to get placed in the proper order for everything to fit together.

And with my hacks, the inside looks just as pretty as can be.

What I really do not like about the instructions is that the back opening zipper does not utilize the lining to cover the zipper.  Instead, it has the raw edges sewn together along the entire back opening before the zipper is inserted.  This leaves a funky bit of folded fabric that cannot be hidden very well at the neck edge.  I have come across similar instructions on Vogue patterns before, and know to avoid them, even if I have to rethink my methods of construction.  That is not to say the method is incorrect - I just personally do my best to avoid it!

I used a lapped zipper application and hand picked the seam.  I could have easily used an invisible zipper (and actually had the proper color on hand) but I really am beginning to prefer the old-fashioned look - big surprise, I know!

The final touch was to add a grosgrain ribbon waist stay.

A walking foot sure would have been helpful - there was a fair amount of swearing at my fabric.  But I did have an easier time with this velvet than I did with this project!

Red Velvet, Part 2

As I previously mentioned, my yardage for this project was extremely limited.

That old adage, measure twice, cut once was something I took to heart!

In fact, I laid out the pattern pieces multiple times, took pictures, went to bed, and tried again the next day.  But no matter what I did, those bias sleeve pieces were not going to fit – darn it!  I ended up shortening them by 2” to squeeze them in.

Once I was sure that it was possible to make the dress with this fabric, I drew out a very rough sketch of my chosen layout.  As I cut each piece, I crossed my fingers that I had not forgotten some important piece of the puzzle.

The instructions use an underlining instead of a lining.  I decided to follow them, just for fun.  I often have an issue with straight skirt linings showing when I sit down, and the underlining takes care of the problem.  And change is fun!  Also, this made it possible to mark my lining instead of the velvet which is so much easier!

For the back skirt pieces, I added an extra layer of silk organza (between the velvet and bemberg lining) as an experiment.  I am hoping that the crisp fabric will keep the skirt from bagging out.  I will let you know how that goes.

Because the upper skirt back is not cut on the grain, I added another strip of organza to stabilize the opening.

I did have to piece the second cut of the drape.  Thankfully, this does not show on the final dress!  Because the velvet has a whole lot of drape to it, I underlined the upper drape with two layers of tulle from the stash.  I probably should have used netting (the coarser stuff) but I did not want to make a special trip to the fabric store. 

 And that is the skirt!

Red Velvet, Part 1

This crushed velvet has had quite the journey.  I purchased what was left on the bolt from Beverly’s before my local store sadly went out of business.

I used it to make a cute little purse for a Christmas gift years ago.  And then I found the perfect cocktail dress for the fabulous fabric, or so I thought . . .

My idea of what the dress was going to look like and the reality were, well, extremely different.  Here is the painful proof.

This is/was Vogue 2943.  I had grand plans, really I did. 

Somewhere along the line I lost all interest because the pattern/fit/choice of pocket interfacing just was not working properly.  Oh well.  You just can't win every battle.

I did have a yard of material left, plus some large and small scraps.  But it was not enough for a dress, no matter how clever my cutting layout might be.  A skirt was a possibility, but I really wanted to be completely ensconced in velvet.  

That poor excuse for a dress was going to have to be sacrificed for the cause.  (Can you tell I have been reading Gone With the Wind?)

Surprisingly enough, it was not all that painful to rip the dress apart.  I was expecting a few tears, but it was somewhat liberating to admit that the UFO was never going to be finished.

It probably comes as no surprise that I love Gertie’s Butterick pattern line (I sincerely hope we will see more designs in the future).  And the dress pattern should look wonderful in red velvet.

Next step . . . muslin.  With extremely limited yardage, a muslin was absolutely necessary.

And as much as I love a cocktail dress with tiny sleeves, they are not very practical at this time of year.  A sleeve substitution was necessary.  

Of course, the brilliant Gertie has mentioned that she is working on a three-quarter length sleeve tutorial!  But I just could not wait.  (Although I am very curious to see how she goes about adding length to the sleeve.)

I pulled out an old pattern with three-quarter sleeves.  Well, I got very lucky, because the sleeves happen to fit the dress pattern perfectly – almost as if they were meant for each other.

I am just hoping that this fabric is not cursed and that the project will succeed.

So, for now, it is back to the sewing room!