Pleat Down the Center (Butterick B5450)

Frontal and Side view of the Garment

Pleat, Trim and Edge Stitching/ Top Stitching on Garment

          This dress I made for my friend since I have been wanting a real life model instead of a dress form. This dress, I wanted to be work appropriate and so the neck line isn't as low as the other necklines i've made. Its a round neck I believe (correct me if I'm wrong since I forgot).

          The dress is made from 100% cotton and the pockets and trim are a bit different. I used ribbon I found in Joanns and used it also on the pockets to add/tie the look together and extend the pocket's size all together. The zipper is different than usual since I've never done it before, a side zipper with lining and this was my first time with working with a zipper and lining. I treated it and made it a center zipper. Oh I forgot to add, I know that some people don't like patch pockets since things can fall out so I added velcro for quick open and close/ not having your things fall out. The back of the dress, I top stitched the center seam on both sides and the lining is red fabric as well as I top stitched so there wouldn't be that annoying issue of a weird fabric pulling that some garments do when it has lining. The top of the garment if your wondering also has pleats on the the front and back of the bodice piece and the skirt piece has darts on both the front and back also.

          Since this is a actual live model and if you guys are wondering about the accessories, the necklaces are from Lord and Taylor and a consignment shop. The earrings are handmade that were from her mother.

           Anyway, what do you guys think? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas for my next project.

Oh also if your wondering the pattern piece I used for this, it was Butterick B5450 and I altered it slightly around the pleat and the addition of pockets.

Black on Red with White In Between

Black on Red with White In Between

     Hello everyone who still reads this (hopefully). I wanted to have it sooner but, I got sick and have been fighting off a cold for a couple of days.... Anyway here is the fitted skirt I finished. 

     The skirt takes about two yards of fabric but, I'm rounding up and I got inspired a bit by a Korean pop music performance. I wanted this skirt to be sexy, when you walk it makes guys want to look at those legs that they love so much. The patterned black and white part part of the skirt is remnants from Joann and the red is fabric I had laying around. I top stitched the seams in a decorative way but, a different way. There are two decorative stitches on both dies of the seam for the front and one stitch on both side of the seams for the side seams and back. There are zippers that start from the hem and go up four inches which you can unzip (I should of gone with a longer zipper for it now that I'm thinking about it) which was for the "sexy" effect. The back closure is a centered zipper, 9 inches. The hem is a 1 1/3 inch hem. The seams are finished off by a domestic finish but, for anyone who is interested, I added an extra inch or inch and a half on the pattern and then folded it and sewed it off then treated it like a finished piece of fabric so with 5/8 seams and all. 

     In my personal opinion though, for anyone who doesn't have a serger, if you decide to finish your seams the way I did for this project, it really does look nice and makes it easier to work with. Its more work though in a sense but, for zippers especially you don't have to worry about it unraveling. I thought about zig zagging but, I'm working on an older machine and don't understand the zig zag stitch to well yet and if you don't zig zag right on the edge, the fabric unravels up to the zigzag in a bad looking way. 

     Anyway if you guys have any other questions please feel free to leave any comments below and I hope you enjoy this skirt. Now for my next project I'm not to sure but, super excited at the very least! 

High, Low and More

Closures of the dress, pleating and finishing

Hello everyone for anyone who is still reading, I am sorry I wasn't able to update this sooner since this is actually a dress I had to basically make from three different patterns and still gave me hair pulling moments. I will list the patterns used below after this but, onto the dress!

This dress I can't even give you the exact fabric yardage it took since I just took a bunch of fabric I had and layer and cut but, I am going to estimate at about 3-4 yards of fabric. The top of the bodice piece, the neckline wasn't originally broken but, I wanted it open so I had took some news paper, traced over all the original piece and then pinned and altered on my dress form. I then had to decide how to cover the bust of the dress so I chose fabric that would be contrasting. I also used elastic to give it that effect. The middle of the dress I wanted to leave open but, not have the panties showing so I had to cut an extra piece of fabric, then top stitched it and added it. The skirt was originally longer and was a split but, I wanted to add pleating and give the dress some volume. I thought of just going with that design of making it the  regular skirt but, it didn't seem to have much volume to it and wanted to add something extra. So I pleated, added extra inches for more pleating and sewed. Looking at it a second time for some reason I have the strangest vibe of a cowboy skirt kinda thing, I don't know why though.

The closures are a centered zipper (I'm not the best with zippers but, I tried my best! Also a hook and eye for the bodice. Their are darts there since if I didn't ad the darts it was hugging the body figure in where I felt like side boob could have been seen. The finishings on all of this are domestic so you have the french seam for one, and it is lined on the inside so you can't see the seams for the bodice. The high low portion of the skirt I did a bit different. I sewed down the skirt on both sides first at about half an inch then treated it as a regular piece of fabric, sewn at the standard 5/8's and then finished it by folding again and sewing down. 

Anyway what do you guys think? I would love to read your comments and plan to make a skirt for my next project. That will be up hopefully by next week.