Finished Sis Boom Jamie Dress

I really cannot believe this is the fourth time I've made the Sis Boom Jamie Dress and only the first time I made the dress.  Its fantastic!

I've hesitated making the dress mostly because of the gathered skirt.  I don't like to add more fabric to my already thick waist.  When I've made the pattern as a top, I've always done an a-line style that works pretty good for the short length.  I wasn't convinced it would work as well for the full length dress.  It might but I wasn't willing to try it.  Then of course is the reality is I do not wear dresses too often so the top is really a great use of this pattern for me.

Okay, still I've always wanted to make the dress.  I decided to do so for my daughter's baptism this past weekend.  I did end up modifying the pattern in three ways.  The first, of course, was to use a half circle skirt instead of the gathered skirt from the pattern.  I was planning on a full circle but did not have enough fabric for that.  I used the Circle Skirt Calculator on the by Hand London blog.  Fantastic!

I also shortened the midriff, but went a little too far.  I think I'll lengthen it next time.  It hits just a little to high for my figure right now.  It was too long before so somewhere in the middle should be just right.

The last alteration I made was to use the back bodice and waistband pieces from the Carolina Mae.  I did this because I found that my bra showed no matter what I did in the back of the Jamie and I just do not like wearing a strapless bra.  I wanted to cut it on the fold to keep the zipper on the side so I took out 1/2 inch from the center seam, added it to the side seam and cut on the fold.  You can probably skip that if you wanted to but I also wanted the straps a little farther in so it worked better for me to do that.    

I'm in love with this dress and now have to push my husband to take me out!

Summertime!

Sewing in the summer always seems more fun somehow.  Or maybe I'm just using it as an excuse to escape the heat and stay in the Air Conditioned house!

I've actually been sewing quite a bit and will share more soon.  Today I'm just sharing my Sis Boom Jamie/Carolina Mae mashed up muslin for the the dress I'm going to make for dd's baptism a week from Sunday!

I love how it turned out.  I used an embroidered white cotton from JoAnns.

I struggled a bit with it the top.  The Jamie front is an XL with regular bust for the top, the waistband is 1X and the skirt is self-drafted, very poorly though.  The Carolina Mae back is size 16 with added length and self-drafted skirt.  I also modified the back to have the zipper on the side as I like to dress myself most days.  All those sizes are per my measurements.  I did find the Carolina Mae to be too big.  I've printed the 14 for the next round.

I started with a longer skirt and just kept pinning it up until I got the length I wanted, which turned out to be 8.5 inches, plus 1 inch hem and .25 for SA in the front, 7 inches + 1.25 for the center back.

Oy!  The zipper makes me so mad!  It looks fine but I had to pull the original invisible zipper that looked better out after breaking the pull twice!  It was one of those make your own so when the first pull broke I was able to take a second pull and jimmy it onto the zipper.  Unfortunately it also broke.  Urrrrrrr... so I just pulled the zipper off and used a standard zipper.  Its not too bad since its under my arm.  

As you can see in the picture above, the skirt was a little too tight.  So to make the top wearable for now I just added little triangles to both skirt sides.  It worked and will have to do until I decide if I want to make another top.

See how nice and straight that hem is front to back.  I was pretty happy with that.  But you know, the back skirt is a good 3+ inches shorter than the front.  Guess that's what a belly and a sway back do for you.

I've already worn it with my new Iris Shorts and love it.   Definitely see a lot of wear out of this.  Now to buckle down and make the dress.  Wish me luck.

Copy Cat Patricia

So I was getting out the Patricia pattern the other day, and checked out all the changes I made for the January Challenge.  Can't wait to sew up the new one.   It should be perfect.

Of course that made me realize I'd never blogged the final week- the Copy Cat version.  Yes, I know its June but hey, its my blog, so whatever I want!

The final week of Just for Me January was to Knock it Off.  I chose this gorgeous dress from JCrew.

you can see the rest of the collection here- J.Crew Spring and Summer 2015

Anyway, my inspiration was wonderfully beaded and decorated but I wanted to use the inspiration for a swim coverup.  Something much simpler.  So I chose a floral voile fabric I found in the Red Tag Section of JoAnns.

The inspiration had a cut on sleeve or dropped shoulder thing going on, I decided to do the cut on style for simplicity.  I took the shoulder seams and drew them out.  

Easy peasy.  Then I cut the floral pieces out and skinny-ed up the facing to match the inspiration.  

I used the pockets from the nightgown Patricia.  I topped the with some white fabric and ta-da, my Knock-it-Off!  

While I do love it, its a little more mumu than chic dress.  Oh well.  I am planning to add elastic to the back to shape it a little bit.  Hopefully that looks better otherwise it will end up as another comfy nightgown.