Summer Retro Vibe

Presenting Simplicity 1652, an Amazing Fit pattern, in a blue/grey cotton batik!

 

Every summer there is a beautiful batik at work that screams, "Take Me Home!"  This beautiful blue/grey cotton batik made my sewing heart swoon, and I did just that.

Simplicity 1652, an Amazing Fit Pattern.

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Simplicity 1652, an Amazing Fit pattern

The fabric made its appearance on the cutting table when a customer had yardage cut for a garment.  Yes!  A garment :) .  The customer base at the store is around 75-80% (or more!) quilters so it's nice to hear this beautiful fabric was going to be transformed into a jacket.

 

Back to the stash...no, not the fabric stash but the pattern stash.  Simplicity 1652, an Amazing Fit pattern, was aging ever so gracefully in my stash. 

 

 

 

I felt it was the perfect pattern for the batik, and it had somewhat of a retro 60's vibe to it.  This type of dress, imo, is essential to getting a good look with a cotton batik.  Good quality, cotton quilting batiks don't exactly have the beautiful drape that other fabrics like a rayon would have.  Therefore, I prefer a molded, close-fitted look for quilting cottons on the body, allowing "fluff" only for the design style as in the gathered waistline of the skirt piece. 

 

What I loved about Simplicity 1652:

• The A/B/C/D cup sizing.  Really?  It doesn't get much better than that!  It takes one major pattern alteration out of the equation.  I chose the C cup for my ample C's.
• Princess seams.  The late Shannon Gifford, a true fitting guru of an instructor, once told me to embrace princess seams.  They were made for a body type like mine.  I do not understand how once I was so resistant to them.  After a bit of back peddling, I came to see the light. 
• Easy alterations.  When people say to me, "Oh!  You have it easy.  You're thin and can get a great fit out of the envelope," I want to slap them silly!  They have NO idea.  I do many pattern alterations to get a good fit.  What and how many?  Most of them are listed below.
• Style alternatives.  The full back and the cutout back.  Sleeve options.  Seam pockets if desired.  I omitted because I don't like pockets in my seams.  Front waist treatment options.
• 1" side seam allowances.  Allows for tweaking of fit.

Dislikes of Simplicity 165:

 

None!  I just love it.  Unfortunately, the pattern currently appears to be an OOP.  Kind of sad because it's a terrific pattern, but there are quite a few other awesome Amazing Fit patterns currently on the market, so we can't be too sad about this. 

 

Let's talk about alterations.  What garment sewers like alterations after the fact when a garment is finished???  Not me!  However, I LOVE flat pattern alterations BEFORE the garment is cut out and then draping it to fit on the bod.  It's the beauty of making sewing come to life in a 3D form that is flattering to the wearer.  So what alterations did I do to customize the pattern template to my figure?  Here they are:

 

1. Forward Shoulder.  I moved the entire seam a 1/2" forward on the body. 
2. Moved the full bust shaping down a 1/2" by boxing it out on the princess seams and filling the gap with tissue.
3. Broad back adjustment (L-shape) from shoulder line down to just below the armseye intersecting with a perpendicular line from the side seam.
4. Traced off a new right, back, upper bodice.  Made an additional 1/4" broad back adjustment on the right back only.  My right upper back is fuller and rounder than my left.
5. Added to the right, back shoulder point tapering to nothing at the neckline.  Moved the right, back shoulder point forward 1/4".  Again, accounting for my fuller and rounder right upper back necessitating more width (No. 4), and length. (No. 5)
6. Adding 1/2" of length to the bodice for the waistline seam to be at proper placement.
7. Swayback tuck of 1/2" in the bodice.
8. Adjusted bodice side seams to fit my figure.  Stitched deeper seams for a closer fit.
9. Molded princess seams to bust and back shaping as per my figure.
10. Added back neckline darts for shaping specific to my body.
11. Tilted the front pattern CF neckline to remove 1/2" of width tapering to nothing at waist. (1" total) to prevent neckline gape.  This showed up as an issue in tissue fitting.
12. Redesigned/traced off my own neckline facings to reflect pattern adjustments.
13. Hemmed to my desired length.

That's 13, count 'em 13 pattern alterations!  So don't even go there lol.  Don't tell me thin people don't have to make pattern alterations just because...they're thin.  That couldn't be further from the truth!

 

Without further adieu, my conclusion is Simplicity 1652 is a standout!  A winner in my pattern stash.  A keeper, and is a classic, timeless look.  Moving on now.  There are many more garments to review.

 

Till then, Happy Sewing and Fitting,

 

--Kat

The Beauty of the Ruffle

(Note:  Yes, I've migrated :) .  Thanks for visiting.  My old blog is still active with links.)

 

How much time do you spend on Pinterest?  A little?  A lot?  I don't spend a lot of time pinning, maybe once or twice/week, but the point is saving all the gems of information on our boards so eventually we can go back and do "something" from them.  There is definitely a lot more pinning than doing going on at my house, unfortunately!  However, I actually got around to testing out a simple tute on a super-cute, no pattern necessary, flowy ruffle dress. 

 

The tute I used is found HERE.  Such a cute look, and I love how the blogger paired the dress with gladiator sandals.  Not being a ruffly kind of girl, such styles aren't normally found in my closet, but heck!  I went for it anyway.  The result?  Here you go!

 

My summary conclusion:  A 1-hour serger dress, 2-3 hour sewing machine dress, easy to fit (a few pointers on this below), flowy in a drapey, woven fabric (I used a rayon floral), and a custom length of choice.

 

A few caveats! 

 

First, the measurements.  A few considerations you might want to make depending on your figure type.  If you are one of my curvy sewing sisters with a fuller figure, these points may be irrelevant to you.  My average to small-framed sewing sisters, however, might want to take note.

 

The measurement B:  Pay attention to shaving off extra inches dress front & back AND the ruffle!  It says this in the instructions, but I thought my drapey fabric would not add too much volume.  Wow!  It did lol.  My frame couldn't handle it and the initial try-on swallowed me up whole!  Easy, fast fix:  Just take it in at the side seams on an angle.  I ended up taking 2" out at the armholes (yes, I recut them deeper) angling in and pegging the hem (see pic below).  Such an easy fix which greatly improved the overall look. 

 

What I did for the fitting after the fact:

 

What I removed in fabric is noted with the broken lines.

I'll probably make this dress again, but will simply cut my rectangles and ruffle narrower.  The front and back dress pieces, maybe shave off about 6" from each piece and make the corresponding change for the ruffle.

 

Second, show some leg!  This style demands it.  There is a lot of fabric and little shaping going on so a higher hemline will take some of the visual volume out of the dress and produce a cute, youthful look.

 

Third, consider using 3/8" or 1/2" elastic.  1/4" elastic is so fiddly imo.  My preference is a wider elastic.  And think before using your serger.  I had to remove a lot more elastic than the recommended amount in the tute.  This is a highly individualized preference kind of thing, and I was so glad I made a traditional casing instead of stretching/serging the elastic.  If the snugness isn't quite right, it's a bear to remove so much serged stitching!

 

Lastly, age!  It's just a number :) .  If Christie Brinkley can rock a bikini in her 60's, then yes!  I can rock an off-the-shoulder ruffle dress in my 50's.  Wear what makes you happy, wear what you like with pride!

 

Fabric consideration:

 

My two cents...use a drapey rayon woven or a drapey ITY (Interlock Twist Yarn).  A lightweight denim would look cute as shown in the tute link, too, just make sure to check the weight of your denim fabric.  I use 9 oz and up for jeans, and that would be too heavy for this dress imo.  Use a lighter weight. 

 

Overall?  This tute is a winner!  I hemmed long enough for a dress but can easily pair it with leggings and wear it to work.  A super easy project that will build confidence for sewing beginners and a slam dunk, 1-hour project for those with experience.  The beauty of the dress...it's in the ruffle!  Don't ruffle my feathers, ruffle the dress :) .

 

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

 

--Kat