As previously featured, I am making myself a Space Invaders dress out of this pattern. I am still not sure what to do for the contrast. I'm heading to JoAnn's this weekend to see what they've got for me. I'm sure I can find a solid to match the aqua or light blue, but I would still prefer a print. I guess we'll see.
In the meantime, I started on the non-contrast components of the dress. I didn't get too far with the actual sewing because the contrast comes in early, but I can at least show you what I've got so far.
First up: due to the various lengths and added contrasts of this pattern, there are several cutting lines on the dress' skirt.
Some people like to just cut out whichever pattern they're using at the time and will just buy the pattern again if they want a different view. I'm cut from a different cloth (ha, ha). I just pin where the cutting line on my view is and cut very carefully.
A common complaint I have about Simplicity and New Look patterns (owned by the same company) is that they are, shall we say, overly generous with their fabric allotments. This is after I pinned out the dress:
Look at that! Look at all the waste! I hate, hate, hate wasting fabric! This is so common with these pattern companies that I've gotten in the habit of not buying lining - there's usually enough leftover fabric. And there was more than enough this time:
Still a lot (not alot) left, but not so much that it makes me angry. Enough that I'll save it for some nerdy future project.
Next up is the modifications I made. You'll notice this pattern has skinny straps, which I dislike. I want the dress to be able to cover my bra straps! I just happened to have McCall's 5094 (I made a cute dress in view F last summer; perhaps I'll feature that at a later date), so I used the straps from D/E/F. These are the same width at the opening and closing as the original, but they curve out to be nice and fat. They're also a little shorter, which is good, because dress straps usually end up being too long on me.
Kitty approves.
I also skipped the pockets. Don't get me wrong - I dislike not having pockets to store my phone or keys in when I'm oot and aboot, but they never ever look good. It's not that I'm sewing them wrong or something - even in purchased dresses or skirts, they look weird, wrong, and they tend to bulge. And I've got big hips, so I don't need any more bulk in that area. So I suck it up, store my stuff in my purse, and my hips look as thin as they're ever going to look.
To omit the pockets, I just lined up the pocket against the skirt front, making sure the dots and the tailor's tacks lined up - et voila, pocket-less dress!
The last thing I did last night was pleating. I will gladly admit that while I'm a big fan of how pleats look, I am not the biggest fan of sewing them. And it doesn't help when the pattern is printed incorrectly.
You see the pleat line for size 6? Well, this is for sizes 6, 8, and 10, and there's no lines for sizes 8 & 10. I think this was just a misprint, as the front of the skirt just has a pleat line with no size marked. Harumph. I proceeded as if it was for all sizes, just like the front. Here's the back, after I sewed in the pleats:
So now I'm at a standstill until I get the contrast fabric. *grumble*
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