A Wild Hair

Yeah, of course the mojo came back on the LAST DAY of my vacation, in the form of the Metropolitan Verano dress from Hot Patterns. It's a quick sew, made quicker by the shortcuts I used (more on that later), and although it's nearly done, it's not quite all the way finished. I still have sideseams and hems to stitch, but I'm not in a hurry because this fabric screams summer and I'm not yet ready to don the bright prints. Although with the weather we're having now, that feeling may only last another week ... and a tube of self-tanner for the fish underbelly legs. ;-) 

I'm not happy with the neckline. I really need to remember this with Hot Patterns and do some slight redrafting before I cut fabric as I seem to usually have problems with their neckline widths and facings. The depth of the vee is OK here, but the facing wants to roll out. I'll probably end up topstitching it into submission and make a note to eliminate the facing altogether next time. (Hopefully topstitching will work and I won't have to eliminate the facing ... i.e., frog stitch ... this time.) I'll also draw the shoulder edges closer to the neck and have them meet in a more round shape rather than forming a "corner." I'm using a straight size 12 here, which really should not be too wide for me. And technically, it's not. It's just not shaped the way I prefer. But really, if that's the only thing I have to adjust, I'm not going to complain.

As for my shortcuts ...the line drawing below shows CF and CB seams. Totally not necessary as the seams are 100% straight up and down, so I eliminated them and saved myself some layout width and sewing time. Speaking of the cutting layout, the envelope calls for 2-3/4 yds of 60" wide knit. I had 2 yds of this print and ended up with enough scraps for a cami or a couple pairs of undies, which means I used far less than 2 yds for my size 12 pieces. I never believe cutting layouts and fabric recommendations for any pattern line so this doesn't bother me and I'm only noting it here for posterity.

Other "shortcuts" involve changing the construction order to make twisting the front come later so I could keep everything flat and easier to handle for the earlier steps.

There's only one review of this pattern on PR and both the reviewer and a commenter mention that the pattern runs big and the waist seam hits lower than expected. I think I've solved this by (1) cutting the straight 12 instead of morphing to 14 or 16 below the chest and (2) using a 1" seam allowance to join top and bottom pieces. I'll also be using that 1" seam allowance for an easier and faster elastic casing instead of following the instructions.

I haven't actually tried it on yet so all of this may be wishful thinking, but I didn't want to end my sewing time today on a bad note so I'll save that step for the next sewing session. Maybe tomorrow night if I'm not too exhausted after catching up at work.