As it turns out I do still have two more Sewjourn garments to share!  Argh!  I knew I was behind in blogging, but didn’t really just how far behind.  I’m getting there though, as evidenced by a sudden deluge of blog posts!  This post is about Butterick 6182.  It’s described as follows:

http://butterick.mccall.com/newsletters/img.sewingtoday.com/cat/10000/add_img/B6182.gif

I intend to sew the dress in linen at some stage, but wanted to first try out the overall fit of the top.  I sewed view A in size 14.

When I first tried this on I wasn’t happy at all.  It was restrictingly tight around the armholes and the length as drafted just felt way too short.  I tossed it into my bag and figured that I would think more about it later.  I did like the neckline and the centre front darts and seaming so didn’t want to get rid of it straight away.

When I got home I realised that I had kept the scraps of the fabric.  I don’t always do this – I find that scraps just pile up, and now only keep ones that I feel confident are large enough for another project.  I think that a sixth sense had been at work.  The fabric is an old sarong, one that I thought I’d bought on my first trip to Bali twenty-five years ago but now realise actually belongs to my husband – he used to use it as a decoration even before we’d met.  Sorry about cutting up your sarong!

Anyway, there was just enough of the scraps left to cut self-faced bands to sew to the hem of the skirt.  I folded the scraps lengthwise and used the pattern pieces as a guide to cut a band for the front hem and a band for the back hem.  Rather than sewing these together I bagged out the sides of each band so that the finished top would have side splits.  Then it was a simple matter of sewing the bands beneath the already finished hem stitching.  I did some snipping of seam allowances around the armholes and overlocked the seam allowances to a narrower width, which significantly improved the fit there as well.

This was definitely a save.  I like the finished top, especially with jeans, and now know that I can go ahead and sew the dress without major fitting issues (as long as I remember to do that short back waist alteration)!

Neither of my previous renditions of Vogue 8813 are still in my wardrobe – because I wore them so much they wore out!  I really like this pattern, and was determined to give it another try.  Both previous dresses were in knit fabrics, with 3/4 sleeves.  This time I sewed it in wovens (the pattern says it can be made in either) with short sleeves.

This pattern has been in print for a few years now (I made my first one in 2012, and it wasn’t fresh off the press then) so it must be a very popular one.  The description from Vogue’s website is as follows: Pullover dress (semi-fitted through bust) has gathered front extending into back collar, side front seams, draped lower side front with pockets, and stitched hems. A: pleat and button trim on pockets. A and C: narrow hem on cap sleeves.
FABRICS: Lightweight Linen, Lightweight Crepe, Lightweight Jersey.

The fabric is double-sided cotton double gauze from Thailand via Notionally Better on Etsy. It is just beautiful to work with and to wear. The added bonus was that this pattern gave me the opportunity to play with both sides of the fabric, with the lighter reverse as a contrast down the centre front of the dress.

I used up pretty much every scrap of this fabric to make the dress.  The eagle eyed of you might notice that the colours do not line up the same along the centre back skirt seam; they are a row out.  That was the compromise I had to make in order to get the rest of the skirt pieces to mirror one another on the front as much as possible.  When you are working with a limited amount of fabric you can’t always have it all!

The pockets are a really fun feature of this dress.  This time I did as the pattern instructed and made tucks in the front, secured with a button.  The buttons are vintage and came to me via the op shop that my mother works in.  Thanks Mum!

I tried a different method for the front gathers this time around.  Rather than following the instructions, I used 1/4 inch wide elastic and zig-zagged it in place.  I marked start and stop lines on the elastic and lined them up with each of the seams, then stretched the elastic between them to fit.  This seemed to work out quite well, with only one having to be unpicked and re-sewn.  Have I mentioned before that I anticipate that there will be some unpicking required in every single garment that I sew?  It doesn’t always happen, but I think that it is such a common event during the garment sewing process that it should be simply considered as an expected part of it.  I hear too many people bashing themselves about having to unpick and resew something – I think that actually they should be given credit for realising that something wasn’t right and taking the time to re-do it!  Unpicking and redoing is normal!

It’s a little tricky to get that neckline to lie completely flat after hemming then gathering the front. The neckline is hemmed on the bias and I think that it would have benefitted from more stabilising. I have now done a little hand stitching to improve the way that it sits. The overlocker was used for most of the construction, although the sewing machine was used as well.  There was also a fair bit of pinning – those unusual pockets have differently shaped and sized pocket bags that need to be eased together to give the volume and drape in the finished garment.  Those that have sewn with me know that in general I don’t use a lot of pins – start and end of the seam, and maybe one in the middle.  This was quite different!

Size wise it’s the same as the previous two dresses – Medium in width, Small in bodice length with some additional petite-ing through the skirt pieces.  Only one more November Sewjourn garment left to show you now!