Finished Project: A bodice NOT cut on 'centre fold'.

#selfie :P

I have always cut my 'front bodice' pieces on the 'centre fold' as instructed by the pattern, and so far have not had any issues with prints landing on awkward places. Example...

Source: Dave Hughes Tweet:

Carrie Bickmore got flack for wearing this dress on the @theprojecttv last night. 

Do you see something rude? pic.twitter.com/el630J0e

.... I'm thinking the designer intended it that way cos I doubt they would miss *that*! I also see a crab and an alien.

Gorgeous dress.

When I started cutting out the bodice for my 'Christmas Party' dress, I had my front bodice on the centre fold but could not find a flower arrangement I was happy with. The flowers on this fabric vary from small to large and are scattered about. 

I didn't want to end up with a front bodice with mostly 'white' and little flowers, or flowers smack bang on my lady lumps so I did something different - I didn't cut on the centre fold!

The collage below shows:

• Pic 1 - My fabric
• Pic 2 - Option 1 if cut on centre fold - not enough big roses, bit meh

• Pic 3 - Option 2 if cut on centre fold - three big roses... but something still not right
• Pic 4 - Bodice if cut away from centre fold. Me likey.

To do this, I had to trace out another pattern piece as if it were the actual front bodice, use the 'centre' of the bodice as the grainline, un-fold the fabric and measure-measure-measure my grainline.

It is trickier than cutting on the fold, but I am far happier with how the flowers are arranged on the front bodice now. I deliberately placed the large rose up on the chest/shoulder so it looks like a corsage.

I didn't have enough fabric to play around with the pattern placement for the back bodice because the remainder was for my gathered skirt so I had to make do with the fabric left over from the front bodice.

Doesn't look too bad though.

The pattern I used for this dress is old faithful M5845 (oop). I've made this bodice many times with a circle skirt, wiggle skirt and it's original skirt for myself, but never a full gathered skirt.

I did make a version with a full gathered skirt once, but that dress was for my sister and I always envied her version, so I decided to make myself one too!

Isn't my sister gorgeous! Dress blogged here. 

I used the same size pattern pieces, except I made an adjustment to the shoulder line. I took off 1cm.

I followed this tutorial by Anna (::Paunnet::).

The M5845 bodice is dart central. A total of 16 darts on shell and lining. I used this tutorial  by Rochelle (Lucky Lucille) to trace my darts the easy way.

It was a bit hard to do this technique on the lining because the chalk didn't stay on the polyester, but on cotton, it's perfect. My darts have never been so straight!

The fabric I used for the shell of the dress is a cotton sateen I bought from Spotlight. You know by now how much I love florals, so I just had to have this.

The lining is red sunsilky polyester.

I decided to line the bodice only. I think I'm going to skip the skirt lining from now on unless it's a fitted skirt.

Inside the bodice lining...

I handpicked the zipper, french seamed the side skirt seams...

...lined the bodice, added a white grosgrain ribbon waist-stay,
 hand sewed the hem (yes!! I hand sewed 2 meters of hem, took 1 hour).

Summary: Floral 'corsage' dress.

Pattern: M5845 bodice, self drafted full gathered skirt

Size: Size 6 bust, 8 waist

Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Spotlight), 70cm sunsilky lining (red)

Notions: Dress zipper 16" (hot red), Gutermann thread (800, 156), 1m grosgrain ribbon (white), bikini hook (1)

Time: 8-10 hours over 3 days, didn't really keep track, only remember that the bodice was finished in record time of 3.5 hours
Cost: Fabric $25; Lining $10, Zipper $2; Grosgrain ribbon $2; Bikini Hook 50c

Techniques used: 

• French seam
• Darts
• Lined bodice
• Gathering
• Handpicked zip
• Blind catch stitch on the hem 

Pattern Modification/Adjustments:

• Shoulder line adjustment
• Side seam allowance 2cm
• Raised back by 5cm
• Lowered front neckline by 2cm

I'm so happy with how the bodice turned out, my favorite feature of the dress is the huge 'corsage'.

I read somewhere that the only reason the pattern companies design the pattern piece to be cut on the centre fold is so they can save paper (and money). 

If I ever work with fabric that has scattered prints everywhere, I will use this technique to cut out the pattern pieces so I can control where the prints end up. 

What about you guys, do you ever not cut on the fold? 

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Finished Project & Pattern Review: Oh New Look 6723 you're so fine!

You're so fine, you blow my mind, hey New Look!

Last week I received an invitation to my cousin's sons' 2yo & 4yo costume birthday party. Yay!

I love costume parties and I have been to enough costume parties to know that all the costumes available are basically lingerie or poorly made polyester nightmares. I'm not a fan of either so I decided to make something myself!

Ideas that I tossed around included characters with different hair to mine such as Annie, Dorothy, Barbie.. so I could wear a wig. I like wigs. Then I remembered that I am getting my hair done up the night before for the work function, so it would be a waste to not get another day out of a salon do. 

I settled on Minnie Mouse so I could wear ears with my hair and be easily identified by the kids and adults. I ordered my Minnie Mouse ears from eBay and they arrived a day later, on Saturday, which inspired to start on my costume. 

I went to Rathdowne Fabrics and bought 2m of spotty red cotton ($5.95/m) and 2m of polyester lining ($2/m). Since I would only wear the dress once or twice as a costume, there was no point shelling out for the top fabrics. While waiting patiently to get served, I went through all my patterns in my head and landed on the New Look 6723. 

New Look 6723 in cotton.

I've admired this pattern for a while now, first time I laid eyes on it was on Flickr, 11 months ago, before I got into the blog scene.

It was only recently when I revisited that photo that I realised it was Cindy of Cation Designs! My sewing hero! It was before she was blogging so click here to go to Flickr to view the pic.

The fabric that she has made the dress in is the same fabric I made the M5850 with! Uncanny! Cindy told me this and linked me to a photo on her blog for "Not Quite OWOP post" and I thought to myself  "I swear I've seen this photo before.. but where?!?"

Haven't blogged this dress yet... it's finished but I still consider it a UFO. Want to add a few more things to it...

So back to the pattern, 6723, I thought that making a costume out of it might be a good way to test the pattern and if I liked it, I could make a version from evening fabric for upcoming housing awards (yep, 3 weeks away and still no dress) and something for the work Christmas party. Best idea I ever had while queuing.

I was really excited to get started on a new sewing pattern, and excited that it was an easy pattern where I wouldn't be glued to the instructions. After struggling with Burda all these weeks, I was in need of something easy to lift my sewing spirits. One day later I ended up with this...

How cute is it!! The bodice is just gorgeous <3 You are probably thinking the skirt looks full.. I replaced the skirt with a full circle skirt so it would look more like Minnie's dress.

The bodice has princess seams so it was quick to put together - no tailors tacks! 

One odd thing about this pattern - the front bodice was not cut on the fold... not sure why... I went along with it anyway and I ended up with half dots on the centre of the bodice which bothered me. To fix this, I stitched the two front pieces on a smaller seam allowance so the dots would appear whole on the bodice. Crisis averted! 

I wasn't too lucky when it came to the back of the bodice. As you can see it's a dotty mess. 

I had to take the back seam in heaps, but even if I didn't I don't think the dots would be perfect anyway as I didn't bother sussing it out when cutting the pieces out.

Pattern Review: New Look 6723 (bodice only)

Size: Size 8

Fabric:

• 1.75m cotton 
• 1.5m polyester lining

Notions: Invisible zipper 22" (black), Gutermann thread (000)

Time: about 8 hours
Cost: Fabric $12; Lining $4; Zipper $5; Pattern $6 (half off sale)

Techniques used: 

• Narrow hem on the sewing machine
• Princess seams

Pattern Modification/Adjustments: 

• Smaller SA on front bodice so dots would not be cut in half
• 3.5cm SA on back bodice
• Replaced skirt with self drafted full circle skirt 

3.5cm seam allowance at the back... dots joined weirdly.

This bodice has a beautiful neckline.

I really like how fun and bright this dress is. It's on my wire mannequin right now in my lounge room and it's a delight to look at. 

When I make the 'evening' version, I'll need to make some adjustments to the bust, it gapes a little bit. I was thinking about taking it in at the centre where the two 'bodice front' pieces join. Do you guys have any suggestions?

When I wear this to the kid's costume party, I might wear a black top underneath so my skin is 'black' like Minnie... if it's a hot day I'll use Hollywood Tape so I don't flash anyone when I reach over for the salad.

The belt is great because it hides the 'half' spots where the skirt and bodice join. Also hides the mismatched seams at the zipper. I have to admit, I didn't pay too much attention when it came to matching the back seams. All the other seams are fine though.

I give myself an 7/10 for this dress. I stay-stitched, understitched, ironed and measured grainlines carefully. I sandwiched the zipper between the shell and the lining using the machine instead of hand-stitching, still looks great, clean machine finish (tutorial here).

Ooh, I have white gloves (from a Super Mario costume) that I will wear on top of the black opera gloves and will also buy a yellow pair of socks to wear on the day - yellow shoes are out because it's an Asian house so we will be taking our shoes off at the door :P I'll post more pics after I attend the party.

In conclusion, I give New Look 6723 pattern 9/10. 

• It's easy enough to make without instructions
• It's simple yet elegant
• It has different options for sleeveless/short sleeve/long sleeve 
• It has different front bodice/neckline options and also a purse pattern
• If the multisize gave me a smaller size - 6 - it would be perfect. An 8 should have fit me perfectly at the waist, but I read on the instructions that there is 6.5cm of ease or something built in?!

I will definitely be making this dress again. New Look, I like you! 

Update: Photos of me wearing this dress at the costume party are blogged here.

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'Bagging' Tutorial: How to sew lining in sleeveless dress bodice.

The first time I attempted to line a sleeveless dress myself, I did so following this great tutorial by The Slapdash Sewist.

I have been using this technique for ever and it is a very easy way to achieve a clean machine finish - no handsewing at all! 

Here are some photos I took while I was lining my dress and an attempt at a tutorial.

1) Start by sewing the dress fabric bodice together as per pattern instructions, joining the back and front bodice by the shoulder only. Do not sew the side seams on dress fabric.

2) Sew the lining of the bodice the same way. Do not sew the side seams on lining.

3) Join the dress fabric and lining together at the neck whole and arm holes, making sure the RIGHT sides of the fabric are facing together. See pic below.

Pin the dress fabric and lining together at the neck whole and arm holes. Do not pin the sides!

4) Sew the dress fabric and lining together as pinned. Trim off your seam allowance and clip your curves!!

5) Reverse the bodice to the right side by pulling the two back bodice pieces through the shoulders.

Pulling the two back bodice pieces through the shoulders.

Bodice is now reversed and seams are now on the inside.

Bodice should look like this, with the neck and arm circles sewed up but side seams still open. 
Now is a good time to understitch!

6) Now we pin the side sides. Pin the 'back' and front' bodice dress fabric together and do the same for the lining. After you pin the seams, you should be able to flip the dress fabric over the lining and the seams should be in between the two fabrics.

After pinning, stitch down the side seams.

After you pin/sew the seams, you should be able to flip the dress fabric over the lining and the seams should be in between the two fabrics. Arm hole should be joined now.

Clean machine... 

...finish! 
Completed dress blogged here!

Here is a list of other online tutorials and helpful information that I have come across during my sewing adventure:

• Inserting invisible zipper - video tutorial
• Inserting invisible zipper between dress fabric and lining - clean machine finish - my attempt at a tutorial
• Half Circle Skirts
• Full Circle Skirt calculator
• Full Gathered Skirt
• Draft own Peter Pan collar - Gertie's YouTube tutorial (part 1, part 2, part 3) 

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