needle monkey musings

Today we’re going to talk about trousers! I started sewing up the pieces for my dummy pair of Vogue 1388 trousers yesterday afternoon and then spent an hour or so more on them this morning. I cut out the bits in a straight size 14 a couple of weeks ago and then left them in a heap on the living room floor whilst I had the flu! Now they are all put together except for the waistband, I need to do the hems and roll-ups and I haven’t hand-stitched the faux welts on the back yet.

But, these are the first trousers I’ve made since a pair with an elasticated waist about 20 years ago at school, and this is the first time I’ve made a zip fly. There seems to be a lot of negative hype about sewing a zip fly, but I really didn’t find it too bad at all! I guess the Vogue instructions must be pretty clear.

I also did my first flat felled seams this morning, on the inside leg seams, and I love those! They were fun! I did a scruffy Hong Kong finish on the crotch seam - it looks ok, but I could have done it more neatly if I had done it properly instead of just sewing the binding on in one go, effectively top-stitched on both sides.

But as I say, these are a practice pair before I cut into some nice wool tweed that I got in the John Lewis January sale, so I can be more attentive in that pair. Things I expect to change in my wool pair include the size.

So, I’m trying to make a very special dress for myself, and I’m falling at the first hurdle! Can anybody help me fix my princess seams?! I started with New Look 6341 which has princess seams that seem to fit ok. I then raised the neckline, and will be having cutaway(?) front shoulders, but the back is crossover straps. Since it’s a special dress and I’m actually making a toile for once, I wanted to try to improve the fit of the bodice but I don’t seem to be getting it right. I have already shifted the seams a chunk - pinching about an inch out at the armscye but there still seems to be a bit of pooling above the bust and a load of it below... What shape should my pattern pieces be for these weird curves?! Am I an odd shape?!

Helpful feedback welcome!

I’ve been eyeing up the cover dress from the Japanese pattern book Stylish Dress Book: Wear With Style for a while, hunting out every version I could find on all the webs, whilst imagining my own version in my head. Finally, Santa brought me a copy of the book (in English - phew!) and so the time was ripe for me to have a crack. This is the (short) story of my first dress E.

Cover photo above from amazon.com

I say first, because although there are some modifications in this first version, I think I would like to have another go with more radical modification. Like a zip! But more on that in a mo.

The inspiration

I used to have a little black dress that straddled smart/casual and I’ve worn it heaps. It was only about $20 from a cheap clothes shop in North Sydney and I’ve had it around eight years. I love the fit of it. It has a bit of a scoop neckline, is fitted on top and then has, I guess, an empire line, with some small inverted box pleats where the skirt joins the front bodice. It has single welt pockets and I like to have pockets in a dress. And it’s short. Like, I-kinda-feel-uncomfortable-wearing-it short these days! So dress E was planned to be a replacement for that lovely old LBD, with a smidge of extra length.

Modifications

And so the modifications I made to the basic dress E pattern were:

I lined it as I wear skirts and dresses with tights more than with bare legs.

I drafted a new neckline directly from my old dress, as well as pulling in the shoulders very slightly (around 5mm) to match.

My old dress had no sleeves and I tend to wear sleeveless dresses, so I omitted the sleeves. I didn’t change the shape of the armscye much, but did make the shoulder “straps” slightly narrower to match my old dress.

I cut the size 12 which is for a bust measurement of 36 1/2″. Mine measurements are a tiny bit bigger but the few reviews I could find suggested that I’d be safe in a 12. In fact it was pretty voluminous and I pulled in the side seams by about a cm, so reducing the overall size by around 4cm.

The pattern has patch pockets but a) I’m not a fan of patch pockets and b) I fancied the challenge of making welt pockets which c) I think look really smart. I haven’t actually done these yet - not quite feeling brave enough and allowing uni work to be the procrastination factor for these! Perhaps they can be a mini post of their own…

My Dress E

So here it is!

The fabric was from B&M Fabrics in Leeds, the main fabric being (I think) some kind of a polyester blend. It’s beautifully soft and heavy and has a nice drape, and I think it has a bit of stretch. It doesn’t crease very easily but still seems to iron well (it remains to be seen if it irons well out of the wash!) The below photo is more representative of the colour as I see it, a very dark charcoal or even black, with a faint pinstripe.

I’m really pleased with the finish on the inside back with the facing. I folded over the bottom edge and then zigzag stitched it, before sewing it onto the lining piece.

The fabric has a twill weave, which is one of my favourites.

I need to get a photo of me wearing it to give you an idea of fit. In lieu of that, here goes…

I think this dress looks nice from the front, the bodice fits quite neatly and although my pleats are not very accurately done, they still look good. The back looks pretty good too, although I think it might look better if the seam was dropped closer to the natural waistline as it sits a little high - I guess the trouble with dropping it might be that it’d be harder to pull on, but having said that, there is plenty of room in the front…

The trouble with the fit is evident in the side view, when it really does start to look like I’m expecting. And I’m not. The skirt flares away from the body a lot, in particular on the front, where it drops in a diagonal line from top to bottom. Things I think might help with this are:

using a less bouncy fabric

making a more fitted lining

reducing the width of the back skirt pattern piece

continuing the stitching on the box pleat down closer to the waist

I might try this last option as it’s easy enough to continue the stitching line, although I’ll do it in a contrast thread first off as it’s almost impossible to unpick black thread from this fabric - the stitches really disappear into it!

Another solution to the maternity-look that a friend suggested was to wear a belt, but with this fabric and shape, the belted dress looks a little too much like the pinafore I wore for primary school!! Not quite the look I was going for (but then neither was expectant mother, I suppose!)

This was a pretty easy dress to make, even with adding the lining. There are minimal instructions in the book but having made a number of lined dresses in the past, I mostly sewed it without looking at the book. It was a quick make - I finished within a week, which is quick for me!

Ultimately I’m going to call this an 85% success! I think I could happily wear it and forget the few qualms I have, but I would be nervous of someone asking when I’m due!! I’m pretty sure I’ll make it again, although with some tweaks.

What I’d do differently next time

If/when I make another dress E, I would pull in the shoulders a little - there’s a slight gape at the centre back neck and I reckon the shoulders could stand to be pulled in towards the centre by around 2-2.5cm. I always thought I had wide shoulders after years of swimming, but sewing appears to be telling me otherwise! It might be that this could be fixed by using a smaller size pattern piece, so I would definitely look at the size 8-10 pieces next time, measuring finished sizing from the pieces themselves before deciding what to cut.

Also, I need to find a better way to line it, as I think the lining has added volume. I imagine it would be possible to draft a fitted lining that would work with the more billowy main fabric, but I’m not sure how it would be done… I guess a separate front bodice and skirt, and maybe use gores(?) or a more A-line shape in the front and back skirt pieces rather than having the bulk from the pleats and gathers? I’m sure this would work if I added a centre back or side seam zip, but it would seem a shame to loose the ease of a zip-less, over-the-head dress like this!