It has been many months since I started working on my black dress, and it's finally starting to come together. I've been focusing on the bodice for the last couple of weeks - the skirt is actually almost finished, save for the pocket detail. It's the fit of the bodice that's really been causing problems. The bodice shaping on the left is the final version - on the right you can see some drag lines around the upper bust and armpits, as well as some unhappy puckering from the center front side of the princess seams.
No matter what I changed, the princess line on the center front bodice was puckering in a bad, bad way in every muslin I've sewn. Since the side panel is supposed to have the extra ease and puckering is a sign of too much ease, we knew that the center front panel needed to have more ease taken out.
To fix it, we took a teeny dart out of the center front princess line, which gave a total of about 1/2" of ease on the side panel - much better! When I sewed it together, all of the puckering above the seam smoothed out, and although you can see it's puckering below the seam on the side panel, I think that's a combination of fabric, pressing, and how many times it's been sewn together - the first sewing is usually the smoothest, and this was the second time for these pattern pieces.
No matter what I changed, the princess line on the center front bodice was puckering in a bad, bad way in every muslin I've sewn. Since the side panel is supposed to have the extra ease and puckering is a sign of too much ease, we knew that the center front panel needed to have more ease taken out.
To fix it, we took a teeny dart out of the center front princess line, which gave a total of about 1/2" of ease on the side panel - much better! When I sewed it together, all of the puckering above the seam smoothed out, and although you can see it's puckering below the seam on the side panel, I think that's a combination of fabric, pressing, and how many times it's been sewn together - the first sewing is usually the smoothest, and this was the second time for these pattern pieces.
After I was happy with the princess line, I sewed around half of the neckline at 5/8", clipped, and turned the seam allowance under. I'm really, really happy with the resulting shape. It's wide and deep enough to show a bit of collarbone and just a shadow of cleavage, but high enough to be appropriate for work. And I think the curve where the front and back neckline join is quite fetching.
Now all that's left is to draft some pockets and fit the sleeves. Hooray for some major forward progress!
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