Late last year I finally sewed Simplicity 1733.  It had been in stash so long that it is no longer in print, but you can see it listed on Pattern Review here.  I bought it not long after I’d sewn New Look 6071 for the first time back in 2012.  I had been trying to work out how to modify the New Look pattern a little to allow for some gathers in the centre back and centre front mid-section to allow a little more stomach room and behold, the Simplicity pattern popped up!  I bought it, then only made the jacket.  What was I thinking?!

Anyway, my friend Kathryn had the top version of this pattern, Simplicity 1539, and recently sewed it lengthened it to a dress. Seeing her gorgeous version was all that I needed to spur me into action. Before long I’d pulled some cotton/viscose/lycra from deep stash and was sewing.

As you can see, I made the knee-length dress version and left off the sleeves. This is such a fun pattern to sew! The twisty bit is rather ingenious. Take it slowly, follow the instructions, and you’ll be okay. Because I’d already sewn the New Look pattern a few times I didn’t have any issues with this one. There are some subtle differences between the New Look pattern and the Simplicity. The New Look back has a centre back seam. The Simplicity is a one piece upper back with a one piece skirt back joined to it with gentle gathers in the centre. There is also elastic supporting the back seamline.

I sewed this in size 14 width through the body but 12 in armhole depth and shoulder width. The cotton component of the fabric makes it slightly less drapey and flowing than I would prefer, and it does stick to my underwear a little. Nothing drastic though.

The neckline is finished by turning once to the inside then zig-zagging in place after securing it with vliesofix. The armholes were finished with a strip of fabric used like a facing, sewn right sides together, turned to the inside, zig-zagged in place then trimmed close to the stitching. The skirt hem was turned to the inside once, secured with Vliesofix then zig-zagged. I seem to be using the same finishing techniques on everything at the moment! Construction was shared between the overlocker and the sewing machine.

Another difference between this pattern and the New Look pattern is the gathers. Not only are there gathers below the centre of the bust in the Simplicity pattern, but there are gathers at the sides of the wrapped portion. This lies flat on the New Look dress. The overall silhouette is certainly very similar, however.

Since this is a sleeveless dress, and I had plenty of fabric, I decided to make a matching shrug to make it more work friendly. Bootstrap Fashions 59279 provided me with the pattern.  The pattern illustration is deceiving however.  It indicates long sleeves – these are definitely three-quarter.  I had quite a few problems figuring out how to put this together, and think that there was a disparity between the names of the pattern pieces in the instructions versus on the pattern itself.  After a bit of tearing my hair out, basting, unpicking, and basting again, I figured it out and made sure to mark the pattern pieces with different colour highlighters so I would never in future not know what joined to what.

Not a great photo, unfortunately! This is not a typical shrug in that the sleeves are attached to a back and there are bands that then curve around the neck and the lower back. It’s really hard to explain – you might get an idea why I had pattern piece confusion. The neck/front pieces and lower back/side pieces are self lined, so not shapes that are terribly easy to figure out. The sleeves are obvious, as is the centre back piece. When you know how, it’s actually very fast to assemble, pretty much all on the overlocker with only the sleeves needing hemming on the machine.

Bootstrap Patterns and Lekala patterns both sell LEKO CAD software patterns, which means that often the same patterns can be found on both websites. Both are made to your measurements, but have slightly different tweaks and different website features. They continue to evolve!  My experience with Simplicity 1733 has also evolved – because I have sewn another two.  This pattern is now known as “the twisty dress”.  Blog posts hopefully sooner than later!

It’s Jungle January again!  Thanks so much Anne for giving us the impetus to get our foliage or animal print out.  My contribution is the Flutter tunic/dress by Papercut Patterns.

Yes, I jumped on the Flutter bandwagon. I had been resisting, but then they had a sale, and my twitchy finger twitched. I know that I have plenty of patterns in stash, and many could have been adapted to be like this one, but I took the fast and easy option.  This dress was one of my Frocktails contenders, but was not the dress that I eventually decided to wear. Now it’s hanging in the cupboard just waiting for the right opportunity. I need some more semi-formal functions to go to!

I cut size Medium. There are only three main pattern pieces. The front, cut on the fold, the back, cut with a centre back seam, and the sleeves. The neck edge is finished with binding. The centre back seam allows for a nice finish at the centre of the V back neckline. And what a shock, I remembered that the centre back seam would also allow for a short back waist alteration! So I made one! And while I was slashing patterns, I thought it might be a good idea to also make a FGA (full gut alteration) which was essentially an FBA to the tummy area of the front pattern piece.

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that the sleeves look a little different to the body of the dress. I decided to use the reverse of the fabric (it came from Darn Cheap Fabrics and is a woven jacquard, most likely polyester) for the sleeves, and the reverse for the binding. I made my own bias tape, half with one side as the right side and half with the other. The neck was bound with a contrasting side of bias binding before the centre back V was sewn. This gives a very sharp V. I topstitched all the bias binding from the right side a millimetre or so from the seam that attached it.

I also chose to bind the hem edges of the sleeves and the skirt. It adds a nice detail and wasn’t difficult to do. I often prefer to use binding on curved edges rather than just turning and hemming, although I often use the binding a little like a facing. For all of these edges I bound the seam allowance completely like binding the edges of a quilt, rather than treating the binding like a facing.

The shoulder shaping in this pattern is rather unusual. The shoulders are dropped, but are also shaped and follow the curve of the shoulder. I have fairly sloping shoulders, and this works out okay for me, but if you had stronger or squarer shoulders then you might want to consider altering the shaping there. It is definitely not typical.  It sits very nicely with arms by your sides, but can do strange things when you lift them.

The shoes come from the same warehouse as the ones in the previous few posts. They are Django & Juliette and are definitely lots of fun! I really like interesting shoes, but often have problems finding ones that are comfortable. This brand are quite wearable for me despite having a bit of a heel. Well, as long as I am not going walking in them all day.

I count this dress as a success, and think that my relatively minor alterations have been positive ones. The length is as per the pattern, which on my 158cm frame is quite okay.  I think that this pattern works well with a fabric that is rather structured, like this one, and can support itself rather than collapsing down.

I think that this is the last of the garments I sewed at November Sewjourn!  It’s the Style Arc Vivienne Designer Frock (love that they call it a frock – it’s a work that I often use, but don’t see written very often).

From their website: This cleverly designed style has no side seams allowing it to fall beautifully around the body. The grain of the fabric falls on the sides allowing the front and back to drape freely. The neckline is shaped to fit close to the side neck and finishes into a slim “V”. The slightly extended shoulder line is very flattering. Wide welted pockets add to the designer look of this dress. This is a versatile dress that can be worn on hot days or pop on a skivvy during the colder months. FABRIC SUGGESTION & DESCRIPTION: Linen, Crepe, Silk, or even a light Ponte.

http://www.stylearc.com.au/stylearc/images/2015/VIVIENNE-FROCK.jpg

The fabric is cotton/linen from Darn Cheap Fabrics. I sewed size 12, without alteration. I really like the way that the seams are centre front and centre back – quite a change to usual. Because it is such a simple style I made certain to include the welt pockets.

They aren’t perfectly sewn, and neither was the centre front V sewn entirely to my satisfaction. Interestingly, after a wear, a wash and an iron, the fabric has relaxed a little more (it had been pre-washed before I made the garment) and the welts and front V sit pretty much perfectly without any tension from the stitching. I should have photographed it after the second wear!

I particularly like the wide facings around the neckline and armhole. They give the dress structure and support – remember there are no side seams – and the topstitching adds detail. I think that this dress will get better and better with wear, and agree with Style Arc that it would make a great winter pinafore in a different fabric.