disaster, averted
Oct 4, 2010 Sometimes I get a little cocky. Like when I was still coasting on the fumes of Heather and Liesl’s tutelage and decided to modify a dress pattern based on a muslin mock-up I made. Both of those sewing ladies insist that good seamstresses make everything in muslin first, to make sure it works and to see where to adjust the pattern.
While this makes enormous sense and makes you feel like a bona fide seamstress, you might be tempted to skip this step, like I was. But after witnessing the wisdom of their ways (many, many sewists with perfectly fitting garments), I vowed to do the same once I got home. So I tackled a dress pattern, made it up in muslin, and didn’t investigate further when I tried it on and the instructions had not yet called for the front to be sewed to the back. Huh, I thought blithely, I guess I’ll just sew them together now.
Well, it fit well enough but I decided I wanted a scoop neck instead of a straight-across neckline, so I cut a scoop into my muslin and transferred it to the dress fabric. Then, as I plowed through the rest of the pattern, I realized my mistake: As I sewed the sleeve, I realized that the sleeve itself was part of the shoulder, instead of merely sewing the front and back pieces together at the shoulder. The upshot of that construction is that it adds about five inches to the drop of the scoop. Which turned my classy scoopneck into something altogether different.
Ladies of the night leave more to the imagination.
Thankfully, I was also present when Heather and Liesl demo’ed box pleats, so I added a big wide one to the front. The neckline was already supposed to be a channel of elastic, so I pleated the sucker and added tight elastic to save the day. After all that, forgive me for not ironing:
Reader Comments (11)
Oh, but it worked out! Way to save the day with a cute dress.
LOVE it. too bad you don't have a pattern for it!
Cute dress. Great job getting it to work out. I like it.
This made me laugh out loud. Yikes! is right. Not even a tank top underneath that will help it. But in the end? Your blue dress is adorable. I love the drape in front. So cute with boots!
Fabulous save! :)
How brave of you to admit your mistake and photograph it too!
this is ADORABLE!! you're so rad. xx
Great salvaging! Well done. : )
Nice save!
hey- the end result looks great! I am constantly altering sewing patterns as I go, but I certainly do not have the skills to do it right. Half the time it ends in disaster and me opening a bottle of wine.
That is the cutest dress! I hope to one day be brave enough to alter a pattern.