A Few Anna Pictures

I did indeed get to wear my new dress yesterday morning for our breakfast date with friends, and it was a lovely day.  I got Hubby to snap a bunch of pictures.  But first, a few more details about this dress that didn't go under construction notes:

*  My muslin was a size 6 bust, size 8 waist and hip with a 1" swayback adjustment, and as you know, I felt it was a little large.  So for this dress I made a new, size 4 bust/size 6 waist bodice muslin.  The fit was great - as long as I didn't need to move.  At all.  And I do tend to move quite a bit.  So I made a second muslin in a straight size 6 with 3/4" swayback adjustment, and that's the size I've landed on.  Obviously, I didn't bother to muslin the skirt.  I could probably go back up to the 1" swayback adjustment, but it's OK this way too.

*  On the day I finished this dress, the fit was really great, but I guess I was having a "skinny day" yesterday - it felt a little loose!  Can't win for losing!  But I really like it, and it's good to know I can fill up my tummy while wearing it :-)

**EDIT**  I forgot to mention for those of you who have yet to try this pattern:  according to the envelope, my waist falls into the size 8, but this size 6 waist feels fine on me, and I abhor any tightness around my waist. Granted, the waistline seam hits a tiny bit above my natural waist.  I wanted to include this to give you guys an idea of the fit.  I still struggle with knowing what size to make when I'm trying a pattern for the first time, and always look for this kind of information online before making my muslin.

*  While the skirt felt like A Lot Of Fabric when I was making the dress, it felt very light and floaty while wearing it yesterday - to the point of me wondering whether it was hanging correctly.  And I even had a slip on underneath!  I felt a tiny bit exposed.  But I always seem to feel this way in my home-made dresses and skirts - I wonder why?

OK - pictures!  These were all taken in the Lurie Garden next to the Art Institute.

posing

from the back so you can see where it hits the calf

action shot!

and a closer look at the print

Even though this fabric is cheap (and I mean that in both senses), I really love the print.  The background is a very pale yellow-green, with feathers and roses in dark blue-grey, dark and light olive green, pink and fuchsia.  When I bought it I had no idea what to do with it, but at $3 a yard, I couldn't pass it up.  This dress ended up being a great match, because the structure of the bodice doesn't break up the print.  There's a big rose on my right shoulder (which I put there on purpose) - but sadly, my hair is covering it up in every single picture!

Anna Tea Dress: Construction Notes

For the last week plus, I've been working on another Anna dress, this time with a full gathered skirt.  Should be nothing easier, right?  Well, figuring this thing out nearly did me in!  I had to take a break of several days to ruminate on it. 

The problem was that I wanted my bodice to be underlined, but my skirt to be lined - hanging free of the zipper, if possible.  That problem was compounded by the fact that my outer skirt and skirt lining pieces were not the same width, so I couldn't just smack them together and gather them as one.

So, because I intend to do this at least once more, and because it may help some of you out, I took lots of pictures (after I was done) and I have lots of notes.  Fair warning:  this is going to be a long one!  And you probably won't get to see the finished dress for a few days because I'm hoping to wear it on Sunday when we go out for brunch with some friends.  I know, I'm a tease. 

The Process:  I'm writing this out step by step because I intend to use this post as my instructions for the next time I do this.  So while it may not make for entertaining reading, it will be useful and more concise than I usually am!

Bodice

1.  Cut outer pieces, and underlining pieces, for bodice front and backs only.  (Underlining is white cotton batiste; outer is loosely woven cotton lawn.)

2.  Baste underlining to outer at 1/4" all the way around each bodice piece.

3.  Mark darts on underlining; sew up center of each then sew darts.  (Sew only to 1" below top of release pleats on front so stitching doesn't show.)

4.  Interface facing pieces with very lightweight fusible tricot. 

5.  Sew shoulder seams of bodice; finish on serger.

6.  Turn under sleeve hem and hand stitch to underlining.

7.  Sew shoulder seams of facing.  Finish outer edge only on serger.

8.  Attach facing to bodice.  Grade and clip curves, then understitch all the way around the neckline.

9.  Sew side seams; clip curve then finish on serger.

At this point the bodice is complete, with unfinished edges at the center back.

Skirt

1.  Tear off two pieces of fabric for skirt, 29" long by width of fabric.  (My fabric here was approximately 60" wide.)  Cut one piece in half to create a center back seam.

2.  Tear off two pieces of batiste for skirt lining, 26" long by width of fabric.  (My batiste is 45" wide.)  Cut one piece in half to create a center back seam.

3.  Sew side seams of both skirt and lining using French seams.

4.  Make three rows of basting stitches at the top of both skirt and lining (separately) at 3/8", 5/8" and 7/8".

5.  Make a mark on inside of bodice 1.5" toward center back from side seam, because the front bodice of this pattern is significantly narrower than the back. 

{pink marking is barely visible}

6.  Gather outer skirt to bodice, matching center front and lining skirt side seams up with markings from previous step.  Baste in place.

7.  Gather lining on top of skirt, matching in the same way as before.  Baste in place.

8.  Sew over basting to create waist seam.  Serge all layers together, trimming away excess.  Press seam up toward bodice.

At this point, the skirt and lining are attached to the bodice and all center back seams are unfinished.

Finishing

1.  With serger, finish center back openings all the way from the outer edge of the facing to the hem edge of the skirt, making sure not to catch in the lining.

2.  Fuse Knit Stay Tape to zipper openings. (1.25" wide ivory)

3.  Turn facing to the outside (RS together with bodice)  and stitch along center back (I used a 1/2" center back seam to give myself a little more room, as determined when trying on the dress at this point.)

4.  Turn out facing and press.  Continue pressing under center back seam allowance from neck edge all the way down to hem edge of skirt.

5.  Press skirt lining seam allowance under separately from outer skirt.

6.  Sew center back seams of skirt and skirt lining separately, RS together.  Finish lining opening by stitching down the turned-back seam allowance.

7.  Insert hand-picked zipper.  My zipper is an invisible zipper because that's what I originally planned to use.  But I realized that using a hand-picked zipper would make the construction a whole lot easier with the interlining/lining thing, while enhancing the vintage vibe of the dress.

8.  Try on dress to determine hem length.  I changed plans here again too:  my original intent was to have a deep hem to finish just below knee length, which is why I tore off my skirt pieces at 29" long.  But when I tried on the dress, I really loved the mid-calf tea length, so I decided to use a narrow hem.

9.  And I got my most successful narrow hem ever by doing one simple thing:  I pressed my hem back by 3/16" (less than 1/4" but more than 1/8") all the way around.  The biggest problem I've had with my narrow hem foot is keeping the feed a consistent width from the edge.  By pressing it back first, that problem was eliminated.  I also set my needle at 3.0 - one notch right of center - to get the stitching right down the middle of the narrow hem.

10.  Finally, create "hem" for lining by using a contrasting color thread and the "scallop" stitch on my machine, set at a stitch width of 7.0  and stitch length of 0.7.    Cut away free edge once stitched.

Whew!  If you made it this far, you're a trooper!  And if you followed the links, you saw that I relied heavily on tutorials by Tasia at Sewaholic.   I have learned so much from her site over the last year or so, I'm thinking of going all the way back to the very beginning of her blog and reading it like a book!

Anna Almost-Wearable Muslin

But let's get real - I'm already wearing it, so there's not a huge chance I'm going to change my clothes!

I finished this up this morning, after working on it bit by bit over the last week.  The jury's still out on this, and if I do make it again, I'll have to make some more changes.

The only changes I've made so far are to go from a size 6 at the bust to a size 8 at the waist and hips, and a 1" swayback adjustment (a half inch either side of my horizontal line).

According to the pattern envelope, I should be in a size 2 for the bust, but I wanted room for my shoulders and I don't like to be constricted.  Also, I didn't want to grade across 3 sizes from bust to hip, and I think I do need the room of the 8 in the waist and hips.  The bodice feels a bit big though, so I may scale it back to a 4 next time.  I'll also need to take some length out of the bodice over all - maybe 1/2" - and a bit more in the swayback, 1/4" or so.  As it is, I'm getting some "lumping" around my waist where the bodice meets the skirt.  I tried to capture it for you, but the combination of my on-its-last-leg camera and this crazy fabric I used make it a little difficult to see:

let's pretend we don't see that weird wrinkle you-know-where

you can see that the front is still a bit shorter than the back

Things I did differently from the instructions:

1.  Interfaced my neck facing with my very lightest interfacing - I wanted a bit more structure there.

2.  Pressed the waist seam down rather than open.  Let's face it:  you just can't get away from Gravity.  It was going to end up that way eventually, so I just pre-empted it.  I finished the two seam allowances together with the serger.

3.  Tacked my facing to the shoulder by stitching in the shoulder seam ditch for 3 stitches - a nifty trick I learned from the Pattern Runway Kimono Dress instructions.

4.  Understitched my facing to the seam allowance, then trimmed it to about 1/4".  (This is, of course, after clipping into the curve.)


Things I didn't do and wish I had (aside from the fit issues):

1.  A full lining.  This fabric is one of the more supple quilting cottons, and it feels a bit lightweight to me.

In the Beginning Fabrics:  Bloom Modern, Seeds Red

2.  Stabilize my zipper opening.  Honestly, by the time I got to the zipper, I was getting kind of bored.  I really just finished the dress to get it off my coffee table.

3.  Taken more care with my hem.  The fabric is so busy no one will notice the terrible job I did, but I know it.

4.  Lengthened the skirt.  I only hemmed it to about half the height recommended in the instructions, and this "midi" length hits me mid-knee.  I'm only 5'4"  people!  I wanted it a little bit longer to coordinate with the vintage vibe of my cool shoes:

Conclusion:

It's OK.  I don't love it and I don't hate it.  I'm not sure yet if I like it enough to do the work it needs to fix it, and if I do, it will be a while.  Right now I'm ready to move on to something else.  I like it slightly better belted, but I don't have a belt to go with these shoes.

I'm sure you've also noticed that these pics are a little hair update.  I'm not at the point yet where my second-day hair looks as great as the first, but I've definitely got a lot more curl going on than I did a week ago!  I'm really loving this method so far.

this picture is about the hair

I want to give a big shout-out to Pam at Paint Box Polish for turning me on to Turbie Towels - thanks Pam!  I bought a couple a few days ago and tried it out this morning for the first time.  Between the Turbie Towel and the diffuser, my hair was dry enough to work with in about a half hour!  Go get one, people!

NATURAL!! I still can't believe it!