Kiss of the Spider Woman

Although this dress didn't turn out quite as expected, I am happy with the result.

First off, the pattern is very fitted.  If I were to make another version, I would probably use a smaller seam allowance to give a bit more ease to the finished dress.

There is just something about negative ease that makes me nervous.  And while I am getting more comfortable sewing with knit fabrics, I'm not sure I will ever get over that particular issue that is very common with patterns drafted for knit fabrics.

The other "issue" that I came across was rather unexpected.

I always remove a wedge of length in the back bodice for fitting purposes, but this dress makes me think that I should have taken even more length out of the back.  

Or perhaps it's something else.

The collar of this dress is extremely tall.  Really, really tall.  I would say that I have a long neck, but this was almost too much for me.

And the reason why is that darn invisible zipper (at least, I am pretty sure it is).  Anyone who has worked with an invisible zipper knows that they do not bend at all.  So that zipper is working almost like a piece of plastic bonding that will not let the length of the back collar fold.

I would hazard a guess that if I hadn't inserted an invisible zipper at center back, the collar would just flatten out to fit any length of neck you might happen to have.  What seems to be happening here is that the inches of zipper in the collar are very stiff, but further down the back, the invisible zipper is able to puff out around my mid-back.

So if you plan to insert the zipper, it's just something to think about - you may want to fold the collar so that it's a bit shorter unless you have a very long neck!

The other disappointment is that I do wish that I had a little more yardage and could have added a few inches to the overall length of the dress.

But really, I do love the overall look of the dress.  And adding to my Halloween themed collection is always fun!

Dress:  Made by me, Vogue 2064
Shoes:  American Duchess "Marigold"
Earrings:  Nicky Bulter

Metallic Webs

It's time for the annual Halloween frock.

I purchased this fabric last year along with the ghost knit that I made into a DVF reproduction wrap dress for last year's dress.  When the fabric showed up, I realized that the metallic spiderwebs were printed on top of a black cotton knit that was obviously stretchy, but the printed bits were not.  That meant that once the fabric was slightly stretched, the webs were going to look a bit broken.  I wasn't sure how that was going to look, so I put it aside and went with the ghosts and forgot about the webs at the time.

But this year I thought that I should make something with that spider web fabric since it was still sitting around, so I pulled out a few patterns from the stash.  There were a few options that would work for the look I was going for, and in the end, I went with Vogue 2064.  One of the main reasons for that choice was that the pattern includes a center back zipper which I figured would minimize the amount of stretching of the spiderwebs.

The dress design has interesting seaming, although it gets a bit lost in this fabric print.

But the pattern goes together very easily.  My main issue was not quite enough yardage to get the length that I wanted, so cutting the pieces out was the most aggravating part of the process.

And I am happy to say that this sleeve is nice and fitted (unlike most knit patterns that I have used) so I am definitely going to reference this pattern piece for future projects.

I went ahead and used an invisible zipper as suggested by the pattern after fusing a strip of interfacing the the back opening edges.  Interestingly enough, the metallic spiderwebs did just fine with an iron (although I did use press cloth because I didn't want to press my luck!).

Everything really did go together quite easily.

Because I wanted to save as much length as possible, I just serged the hem edge and folded up the serged bit for a narrow hem.

As with most of my knit projects, I prefer to hand sew the hemlines (skirt & sleeves).  This avoids stretching the edge out, not to mention that I enjoy a bit of hand sewing.

The dress is quite body-con, which is not exactly what I was going for - but to be fair to the pattern, it does look fitted on the pattern envelope.  I was just thinking that a 100% cotton knit was not going to be quite so clingy as a rayon/spandex, for instance.

I was considering this to be a wearable muslin since it's a very niche print that isn't going to see a whole lot of wear, and it was the perfect excuse to try more of a contemporary silhouette than I generally choose.

I am not entirely convinced that I will be making another version in a less holiday themed print, but the dress did turn out great . . . it's just not exactly what I had in mind when I started it!