Sunday, September 18, 2016

Sewing Bee–Round - Bias Dress

Woof. This dress wrecked me. It’s not a hard dress, it’s not super technical or anything, but those arrows. . . and fitting everything on fabric on the bias . . . and more matching of arrows . . . yikes.

So here’s the backstory. I was pretty annoyed with this challenge for a few days. I actually could not sleep one night because I was so worried about figuring out a stupid pattern. In my head, I kept thinking of flowy, billowy, clingy bias dresses. I am not that gal, I hate slippery fabrics and hate wearing them. They always feel cold to me and I’m an Alaskan. I do not enjoy cold fabric on me. Then I realized that “bias” is just how you are cutting it. Ding, ding, ding! Once I got over that hump, I realized that Burda had tons of simple bodices that I could add a circle to and be done. Then, I realized that back in 2012, I actually made the perfect pattern for this dress. Really, my only change was to make there be a CF seam, length it, and to, of course, cut everything on the bias.
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I spent so much time getting these arrows to match. So. Much. Time.
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Under some sewing miracle, the side seams also match. This was not planned, it was just good luck.
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There is a slight hi-low hem and the waist seam also goes down in the back.
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This is a canvas from Cotton + Steel. Yes, a canvas. And it still spins like this! It’s a great fabric.
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I did not line it because it was so pretty. I love how the inside makes chevrons too.
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I bound the sleeves and neckline with bias strips.
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I totally nailed this invisible zipper. The chevrons match, you can’t see the zipper, and there are no ripples or bumps at the end of the zipper.
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I love how each chevron is unique because they are not all arrows meeting in the middle. My favorite is the gold metallic dots that meet in the middle.
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I pinked every seam and pressed almost all the seams open so you can see the fun chevrons on the inside too.
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This was the original pattern. I added 8.5” to the peplum to make it a dress. I lowered the neckline by 2 inches and I left off the sleeves.
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I spend so much time on my knees marking the skirt panels on this fabric. I had to move them over and over again and try to fit everything on this fabric while making sure that the stupid lines matched. You can see I barely had enough fabric.
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Woof, indeed. Even with all the hard work, I do really love the dress.

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