Aunt Of The Bride Dress

It's done!

 It fits! 

Yep -it's a shock to me too!  The first garment I have sewn for myself in  - I'm estimating here but - at least twenty, maybe thirty years. 

Luckily for me, there must have been some sewing-knowledge residue in my brain because although I narrowed the fabric choices down to one plain and one print, I chose the print.  With ten gore seams in the skirt,   the print happily hides any all the  inconsistencies in my seaming.

Yesterday, the only  task remaining - besides hemming, were the sleeves.  Set in sleeves.  Forgotten, from my sewing past, was the knowledge that  sleeve caps are much fuller than  sleeve openings.  Caps  require   a  gathering stitch  to reign them in.  This  I forgot until I attempted to pin in the sleeve.  My first thought was  "What the heck?"  Then somewhere from the far recesses of my sewing brain, I remembered - 'got to gather in the sleeve cap'.  I remembered too, that sleeves caps from my sewing past were a source of pride.  No shoulder-top puckers announcing 'homemade'  for this seamstress.  In the past, that is.  Could I reclaim my former glory?

 Not bad.  Again, thank goodness for print fabric.

The zipper looks good.

 

 I liked the big,  noticeable pull  on this zipper but, in the store, didn't notice  that it opens from both ends.  Good for a jacket, not a dress.  So I set the stitch length long enough to miss hitting the zipper teeth, then bar stitched over the zipper just atop the bottom opening.  Hope that holds.

The dress was quite large through the waist.  That  required the re-seaming of ten gore seams to reduce it in size.  And, although I can live with it,  I feel the waist sits a bit too high.  I should have known that might happen  because although I am quite short, I do have a long-ish waist.

The bodice is a bit  low  quite revealing.   The lace there is my bra.  That's low.

 Some bit of sewing info wasn't recovered from my brain  in time to alert me to this issue. The pattern should have been altered before cutting.  Now I'm left with trying to rescue the situation with  a little insert of matching fabric.  But since I intend to wear my When Debbie  Met Sally sweater over the dress for my niece's wedding, the insert can wait.

All in all, I am very pleased.  It turned out better and  was far less frustrating/disastrous  than I expected.

What did I learn?  I can still do this.  Prints are the fabric of choice until my skills get back up to snuff.  I might not actually need a size 16 pattern.  I should probably buy a dress form.

When Debbie Met Sally should be finished today.  Everything finished a week before departure date.  well done!  Oh  - I  still need shoes.