Behind the Seams - The Dress

Colette Crepe

I had originally bought this fabric to test a pattern, but that didn't happen.  Then I remembered that I had a copy of Crepe.  I've always wanted to make this dress - a woven wrap dress with a lovely sweetheart neckline?   Yes please.  

But - that isn't what I ended up with.  And not for lack of trying.  I traced crepe - because that's what I do and matched the bodice up with a double darted bodice I have that fits well.  Then I tried to make it fit on my fabric.  I'm guessing my now - you know it didn't work.  

BHL Elisalex

So, then I turned to my Elisalex bodice, because while I've never made that tulip skirt and had it look good on my hips - I love the bodice!  It fits well and flatters.  So - I took a page from Carolyn's book and layered my pattern pieces, I put the center front of Elisalex on the bottom, then put the Crepe over it, topped by the tracing paper - of course, I didn't think I'd blog this, so no photos.  

Then - I made a new tracing of the center back.  Keep in mind that Elisalex has armhole princess seams, not darts - and it works for me.  My changes were only made to the center sections - the parts that went to the shoulder.  Once I had that new back - I literally just drew a new v and went with it!  The bodice is fully lined.  

Butterick 5930

Of course, I stupidly cut out the bodice pieces before even making sure the skirt pieces would fit on my yardage.  And - as Murphy's Law would have - they wouldn't fit.  I did not want the skirt that I generally put on the Elisalex bodice, nor did I want to put the Lilou skirt on this bodice - I wanted a full and flirty skirt.  There is a huge stack of patterns on my cutting table and Butterick 5930 was in my line of vision.  Hmmm - wonder if it will fit.  The skirt is pieced and has princess seam lines.  I measured the pieces of my bodice and the skirt and adjusted as necessary to make the seams line up - not that you can tell in this print!  

I was able to cut most of the skirt pieces (and by most I mean the center front and back pieces, but no side pieces) from the yardage I had left.  

There were large pieces of fabric - that were almost big enough.  So - I pieced in some fabric to make it work!  I couldn't even get JB to see what I was trying to show him while taking the pictures- again - it's all about the print!

I hand picked the zipper.  I think this is the 3rd hand picked zipper I've done and I really like doing them.  I will admit - I'm still not perfect at lining up the top of the zipper.  

Because my bodice fits and falls at my waist - the skirt hung even and I was able to turn up a 2" hem.  I put pockets in the dress and then put in a machine blind hem.  Because - print!  

I stretched myself a little bit making this dress - changing things, layering patterns and drawing what I envisioned.  Piecing fabric to get enough and basically just making it work.  I really like this dress and I'm glad to have worked through it and added it to my closet!

The Dress

Honestly - I don't love the photos of these dress.

Honestly - I'm not loving much these days. 

But I do love this dress - it's full and twirly and was perfect to wear to a wedding.

This dress is completely different than the dress I had in mind when I bought the fabric.

This dress is a mash-up of patterns, some drawing to get what I wanted.

The bodice is a modified Elisalex and the skirt is from Butterick 5930.

I plan to do a 'behind the scenes' post to show you close ups of the front neckline. 

The bodice of this dress is lined and I hand picked the zipper. 

How about a last photo of JB and I all cleaned up and ready to go to a wedding.  

Black & White Collection - Dress 2

before we went on vacation - way back at the end of April - I started 4 black and white dresses in the hopes that they would make up the bulk of my vacation wardrobe.  Sadly - I didn't finish them before we left. 

 

this dress is a mashup of the Elisalex bodice and the Lilou skirt.  Gotta say - this skirt is a fabric hog!  I had to add a seam to the center front and back of the skirt to make it work thanks to the stretch in my fabric.  The fabric, is a stretch sateen that had been in the collection (thanks Carolyn!) for many years, most likely purchased at JoAnn Fabrics, and I want to say I had 4 yards and used all of it! 

As I've made this bodice many times - it's an easy sew for me.  As the fabric was quite thick - I didn't line it.  I sewed it up with my sewing machine and pinked all the seams.  It's not couture folks - but it's a nice dress.  I finished the neckline and armholes with bias binding and the hem with wide lace.

 

I made sure that all of the dresses in this collection have pockets.  which I am sticking my hands in and hitching the hem up here. 

 

The beauty of having a bunch of black and white print dresses is that I can wear any color cardigan/jewelry/shoes with this dress - but for some reason I tend to pair this one with pink.   I have to wear a cardigan at work as we have a no-sleeveless policy.  

 



This dress is cool, comfortable and easy to wear.  It swishes around and feels very feminine.  I'm glad I combined these two elements - although I'm not sure I'd do it again - just because the skirt is such a fabric hog! 

Sew Dolly Clackett

 I finally sewed up the By Hand London Elisalex dress.  Obviously without the tulip skirt.  I spent 2 weekends of sewing time working on the fit of the bodice.  While the bodice fit straight out of the envelope - there were some problems.  The main one being that the princess seams did not go over my bust where they should.  They were off to the side by quite a bit and there was pulling across the center front. 

The first thing I did was an 'unauthorized' alteration.  I took the side front bodice piece and I drew a line from the pivot at the underarm to the waist and sliced that open, then I spread it about half an inch right across the fullest part of the bust.  I moved the center front off the center by 1/4 of an inch and reshaped the neckline.  Muslin #2 still had pulling across the front.  Next set of alterations was a proper full bust adjustment adding 3/8 of an inch. 


I ended up making one more set of alterations before cutting into my fabric - but at this point, I honestly don't remember what they were.  I know I slashed and overlapped the back bodice from the armhole to the neckline edge.  I did that in 3 different places and removed about an inch and half.  I did this because the back gaped around my shoulder blades.  Again - not sure if this was authorized - but it worked.  I could still raise my arms and the back didn't gape.

 After 2 weeks and 4 muslins, I finally traced and muslined the tulip skirt.  The back fit great - but the front wasn't fabulous.  Might be because on my body that tulip skirt isn't really exaggerated - I'm that shape. 

I used the skirt from McCalls 6503.  It's a full A-line with 2 pleats.  Rather than use the pleats from the McCalls skirt - I used the box pleats from Elisalex and the shape of the McCalls skirt.  Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job blending the two - need to smooth that out for the next version. 


The fabric is a cotton print that has been in the stash cupboard for a long time.  The background is light pink, there is some dark pink, green and white in the print.  I think the white cardigan is a little bit bright with the print. 

The bodice is fully lined.  This dress is comfortable and easy to wear.  I think for my next version I will lower the front neckline just a bit.  I do want to try this bodice with a pencil skirt. 

Hopefully - I can do a bit more sewing in a the upcoming weeks.  I need some cute, loose dresses for an upcoming vacation in Maui.  Hopefully I'll have some desire to sew after work in the next couple of days. 

Thanks to Dolly Clackett and Sarah at Rhinestones & Telephones for the inspiration and prodding to finally sew up Elisalex.   I can see many many skirts added to the comfortable and flattering bodice - Anna, Flora, circle - just to name a few.