My project for April is the 'Rock Lobster' Sundress. Made from this fabulous fabric, a snip at only £4 a metre from Leeds Market.
I could visualise exactly the pattern that I wanted to make up with this fabric, it would be a 1950s sundress with wide straps. However I couldn't find the ideal pattern in my stash or on eBay, so have decided to compromise with this New Look pattern, which I'd sort of made up in version (a) but instead with the sweetheart neckline.
The "Rock Lobster" dress seems to be turning into the "Dress of Doom" (copyright Alice Fowkes 2007) Mk II.
The problem with this pattern is that the bodice is lined. While I like the effect of this you are effectively making the dress twice, so not great if you are impatient for results. I guess the upside is that having made the bodice twice you can decide which one turned out better and put that one on the outside. Particularly with a pattern like this that has the possibility of weird joins.
I seemed to struggle with the whole concept of the lined bodice, it's only the third or fourth time I've attempted to make a garment that has a lining and to me it always looks like it isn't going to work until you pull the back through the front (or whatever) and 'hey presto' - it's magically a professional-looking garment! Unfortunately in this case it didn't work. Trying to pull the back through the front I realised that something had gone wrong somewhere and that I had actually made some kind of Moebius Strip /Klein Bottle out of fabric. Cue much swearing and unpicking.
So I tried again. Last time I made this pattern (admittedly a different version of the bodice) the whole thing fit just fine, so I had no reason not to think that it wouldn't be so this time, so I foolishly ploughed ahead without much in the way of fitting and sewed the bodice to the skirt, put the zip in and tried it on. Imagine my surprise then when I discovered that I had about a metre of spare fabric at the back.
Cue more swearing. I decided that I would lose the will to live if I had to unpick all 12 sections of the bodice, not to mention the zip, so I stopped play until more lobster fabric can be purchased to make another bodice, this time in a size 10 rather than a 12
Oh how frustrating :-( It's brilliant fabric though, I think it will be a super dress when it's finished. Have you tried the bodice lining method where you leave the shoulder seams until last? I find I screw that one up less often than the pulling through the shoulders one. There's a tutorial here http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/sew-an-all-in-one-facing although I'm sure I've seen another with bigger pictures.
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