Friday, June 4, 2010

In the Nick of Time

Looks like I won't be naked at the graduation. ;-) Here's the finished dress (B5488). And I was in bed by 1 AM (usual time for me).



Overall, I'm happy with it. I'm not 100% thrilled with the repeat of the large motif down my center front but that's a fabric issue that I had no control over so I'll live with it. If *I* had been designing the fabric, I would've spread out those large flowers more. But no one asked me. ;-)

It's very bright, isn't it? (That's bright orange in case your monitor is reading it as red). I'm planning to wear some orange sandals with it. That is, IF the UPS man delivers them before we leave. The tracking says they're out for delivery so fingers crossed. Yes, I procrastinated on ordering my shoes too. ;-) If they don't make it or don't fit, I'll wear either white or black sandals I already have. UPDATE 10:15 AM: They're here and they fit!

I used a coordinating print for the neckband and I also added sleeve and hem bands using this same print. I didn't want the neckband to get entirely lost in the print and I think this slight contrast works well.





As I mentioned earlier, for the muslin I did not make any alterations to the pattern other than blending to a larger bottom-half size. For the final dress, I tweaked the neckband by pinching out a very small "dart" on both the front and back pattern pieces, to tighten up the neck opening without affecting the seam where the pieces attach to the dress body. I knew this tiny alteration would stop me from fiddling with the neckline all night.

After evaluating the muslin, I decided I would sew the top seam of the raglan sleeves with a smaller seam allowance near the edge to give me a little more bicep room. Instead, for the final dress I just added that little bit on in fabric when I cut the pattern. Same affect but without the need to remember to sew a different seam allowance. One less thing to remember when you're sewing to a deadline is a Good Thing. Don't ask me about forgetting to cut the back On Fold so now I have a useless and pretty much invisible CB seam. ;-)

I ended up adding 6 inches in length to the bottom of the dress, some of that extra length is the 3" hem band. I added 1-1/2" to the sleeve pattern pieces and also added a 1-1/2" hem band, for a total of about 2" additional length on the sleeves after subtracting seam allowances.

Here's what my sewing table looked like when I finished last night (and still looks like now). Not too bad, right? Lots of other crap I need to put away, though, that is entirely unrelated to this dress. And I see my Stars & Stripes project peeking out from under the muslin bolt on the left. Poor neglected quilt. But I have a dress to wear!

28 comments:

  1. Debbie, You do like living on the edge! I kept checking in every day to see if you got it finished. (very suspenseful) It looks great. Enjoy the day!
    Helen

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  2. Bravo- see you had time to spare.

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  3. It looks great! The print is so fun, and the style is so breezy. Great for summer! Have fun at the graduation.

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  4. Hooray! Very cheerful and tropical. You did it!

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  5. I adore this dress. Orange is a great color!

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  6. Great job, hope you enjoyed your evening in your new dress.

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  7. Eeee! I love it! Such a perfect summer dress for graduation. I particularly love the contrasting neck, arm and hem bands - they really make the dress pop. Nice work! :)

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  8. Hooray for having a dress! You finished early by my pathetic standards, and you even got new shoes! Have fun at the graduation, and don't cry too much.

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  9. I love the dress and bright colors! You'll be a proud, fashionistic mom! I have the same dress (different fabric, of course) cut out and ready to sew this weekend. I sure hope it turns out as well as yours. Enjoy graduation!!

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  10. I'm laughing because today I also have a son graduating from high school, and this morning with my coffee I thought, "Hmmm....can I sew up some of that Japanese cotton into a skirt today..." Of course I did, and I'll be wearing it in a few hours. This is what we do!

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  11. Cute! Where did the fabric come from?

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  12. Another Bravo here, you got it all done with time to sleep too!

    Many times I have just gone from 1 day into the other without leaving my sewing room. I do find as I get older (and I am very old) than my brain shuts down at around 3am....everything moves slower, concentration is at the 'zero' point, this is when it becomes dangerous and disaster is around the corner waiting to pounce.

    I found my HP blouse pattern, similar style, I also found a similar dress in a Burda Plus. Nice!

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  13. the dress turned out fabulous. Enjoy it.

    Lois K

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  14. Love the way the dress turned out - now I must get this pattern - to make as a top. My lifestyle is WAY to casual for a dress!

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  15. You are one of those people who work extremely well under pressure. And lucky you--your dress turned out to be so totally cute! Have a great time at graduation.

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  16. Well done on meeting the deadline! Always nice to have a new dress and..new shoes :)

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  17. Yay :) Great job finishing the dress on time. I love the bright colors,orange is my favorite color this summer!

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  18. Beautiful, I am happy for you that you finished it in good time AND the sandals came, good job!

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  19. You got it done, yay! I hope you didn't cry too much at the graduation. :)

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  20. Cute dress--love the bright colors too. Congratulations to your son too. Milestones for both boys!

    Lynda in LV

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  21. Right down to the wire! I love your dress! I hope you enjoyed the graduation! I thought the muslin looked great on you, I'm sure the dress was even better!

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  22. This is my second comment on this post, but I had to pass this on. At my son's graduation last night I was chatting with a mom who also had a graduating son, and I complimented her dress. Her daughters all yelled,"SHE MADE THAT LAST NIGHT!"

    Cracked me up :)

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  23. Anna - Hilarious!!

    Nancy - The fabric is from Fabric.com.

    Everyone - Thanks so much for all the comments! The graduation is over and done. I cried. I smiled.

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  24. I really like this fabric. I think the bands look great. I wear a lot of orange a lot of green, but I haven't found a fabric with both of them. I would gladly steal this from you.

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  25. I doubt you'd have been naked but it's nice that you had a new dress to wear to graduation. Congratulations on both the dress and the graduation.

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  26. Love the dress, and I hope the graduation went smoothly!

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  27. I am about to start this same pattern and so interested in your review. Love this and think the matching print detail on the yoke and hem is brilliant. So impressed that you were this creative under a deadline.

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  28. Glad all worked out in the nick of time.... such a fun and lovely dress.

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Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

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