Dot Com Done

The final post of the Dot Com dress.
The posts on this dress:

the pattern
preview

Final images:



( I seem a bit sleepy in that images. I guess I am...)


The collar sewing. Click on the images to enlarge them - I wrote the directions partially on them. Very important is ironing and pressing the pieces of course.





Than the sleeves details:


You know that I used French seams to finish the inside. But somehow there was a problem there - the fabric was gathering on the seams and you couldn't completely iron it out. I ended up cutting my French seam perpendicularly to the seam in small pieces and that worked. But it is not that nice from the inside any more... I don't know if it was the fabric but I will suggest that one better use mock French seams or this technique, where the actual seam is made before the closing seam.
So I actually quite like this dress. I will definitely wear it.

Almost There

So the Dot Com Dress is almost done. All I need to do is hem it and add buttonholes. I am posting just a picture how it looks now. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (if I find some time to do it) I will post the images of the collar and sleeves sewing and the finished dress.



Hmmm... not even a very good photo, but time is spare right now!

Dot Com

I didn't had the possibility to print my 80s dress pattern, so I started something else in the mean time to keep me busy. I decided to make a shirt dress. I will be keeping track on the progress, which will be a bit slow, cause I don't have a lot of time for sewing right now.
The fabric is a fine cotton with a great sheen to it. It was on sale for 3.90 eu and I got 1.50 m of it. I got some black thread and I used scraps for the interfacing.
Total Cost: 6.95
Again click on the images to enlarge them.



I used the same pattern as for my blouse, since it is already altered to fit me. But I cut it out again in order to position the pieces better on the fabric. And it is also nice to have this pattern separately - I can imagine to use it again and again. I drew a new collar too, but you will see it in the process.
The seam allowance is included in the pattern but I still cut it out larger, cause I wanted to finish it using french seams.
The cut pieces and the original pattern compared to the new one:



First step is preparing the pieces. In this case it means pressing and interfacing. I added middle weight fusible interfacing onto the collar stand pieces. Than I ironed a lightweight interfacing on the front placket and under collar pieces. I pressed all the pieces in the right form. This takes some time but spare a lot of nerves afterwards and it is easier to get the details neat:



So I started sewing by attaching the front placket to the middle front piece. First I pressed it the right way. The unpressed side is being attached to the front piece, stitched together and than pressed inwards into the placket. Then I ironed the placket into its final position - the fold of the placket is done in a way that the back part is a bit wider then the front. That is important for the fixture.




To fix it I am making a stitch on the right side of the garment just between the placket and the front piece.



Here is an image of the french seams finishing.




A good tutorial how to do it you can get here. The next step will be to sew the bodice together.