I did it! I made myself something else! The last time I sewed for myself was, umm, last summer? It’s been entirely too long I must say, and it’s another go with knit. This time around I loved working with the knit as I’ve added two things to my sewing arsenal. Patience and a walking foot. These two items helped immensely as I sewed up Butterick 5382 this weekend. It’s advertised as fast and easy, and I would say that it’s pretty accurate.
I’m going to say something that I’m not sure that I would be saying any time soon. I loved sewing something for myself, and I’m pretty proud of this particular piece. I love the color, I love the style, I loved the fact that it was only 10 pieces as well, not including the zipper.
Here’s my feeble attempt at a review, so bear with me. 🙂
It took a while to make this, but I did take one day to cut it out, and sew it up. I had a couple of distractions (mainly the houseful of miniatures coming in and out of my office to share their various findings and talents with me,) and I also took time to eat meals and the such. You know, the very unimportant stuff.
The suggested fabrics are moderate stretch knits only, and I used a stretch jersey orange knit with a bit of sparkle to it, that doesn’t translate well on screen.
I cut out a 14, and I wear a 10 in RTW (ready to wear) and it didn’t feel too snug or like it was getting caught in any folds in my body or whatnot. We do realize that’s really what’s important. Not having fabric caught in the folds of body rolls. The front bodice is pretty interesting because of the pleating, and mine is actually flip-flopped as I cut the pattern on the wrong side of the fabric. It still came out pretty darn cute, but I do need to cut some bulk from the seams of my neckline.
I practiced more understitching and dart making (four of them to be exact) and hemming in general. Let’s talk about them in general. The sleeves, and the neckline all had facings that needed to be understitched and then attached to various parts of the dress. Like I said earlier, the facings of the front of the dress added a bit too much bulk to the neckline because of the pleating that is going on up that way.
Other than that, assembly was easy, and when you do things right, and take your time, the results are fantastic. I will be wearing this again (with a girdle, but honestly, I didn’t care much at this time) and I’ll figure out my shoes as well.
I’m surprised that the length hit right at my knee as well. I’m wondering what this would look like on a tall woman. The shorten/lengthen line is standard, but I didn’t want t mess with it, as it was right above the hip curve.
I had three different pairs of shoes to go with this. These black ones, a pair of brown peep toe Mary Janes, and orange ones. We’ll figure that out too.
I actually did an EVEN hem line!
In honor of my good Twitter friend Sugar – OW! Look at my shoes! I love this pair. I got them from Bakers before they got all disappointing on me and closed down all of their brick and mortar stores. I’m seriously still recovering from that.
And for a better photo of the neckline:
Can you see where I’m talking about the pulling of the neckline? I know that most people wouldn’t notice, and I’m not bringing it up for sympathy compliments. I’m just pointing out what I’ve noticed, and what I want to work on later. Otherwise, I’m VERY happy with how this came out, and I’m considering making two more in different colors. My mainstay, chocolate-brown, and then a bright red or a purple one. The sleeve lengths come in the short/cap as I’m seen wearing, a 3/4 length and then a full length sleeve. They are put in AFTER you’ve sewn you your side bodice seams, but I can see a way around that in general.
I paired it with a simple bubble necklace and pearls, and a hand me down REAL LV purse from my Granny. I love that woman. She was going to give it to the thrift store. After I picked my mouth up off of the floor, I kindly made it mine.
So, how did I do? Tell me if I covered this well enough as well, and if you have any questions about the construction, and I can answer them I’d be happy to do so. If not, we’ll You Tube it together!
Happy Sewing, and make it a fantastic day!
This is GORGEOUS, Natasha! Well done!
Well thank you ma’am!
This is beautiful and I’m pretty sure that I can’t be friends with you anymore. Sigh. (Although I have been meaning to head to your Etsy shop, anything new up there?)
I think the neckline looks good. I get what you mean, but it looks okay to the “normal” eye, like mine.
YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND! LOL! Thanks for stopping by, I left the etsy info on the other post, but it’s http://www.HousefulOfStitches.etsy.com
OMG…I am in awe of your talent!! The style, the color…all looks beautiful on you. The fact that you put this all together despite the ‘little distractions’ is commendable!! YOU look amazing! You have mad sewing skills my friend!
Everything about this dress looks fantastic as if it came off a rack in a department store. I won’t hate…nope…and I will not say that you make me sick! (clear throat) Anyway, thank you for sharing your great ‘sewmanship’ .
If I could hug you real tight, I would! Now, we can get you to get this pattern and whip one right up for yourself! I never noticed while I was sewing it on Saturday that it said Fast & Easy…HAHAHAHAHAHA! More like slow and easy, especially if you have four kids.
This is awesome! Loving it!
Thank you!
What a good review! I’m so happy that you made this dress in something besides a neutral. The color looks fantastic on you. The one thing I might recommend for the dress is for you to try a large bust adjustment on the bodice. I really think that the girls, not the weight of the fabric are what is pulling the neckline down. @threedressesproject might be able to give you some tips on making the adjustment.
And the breasts get blamed again. LOL! I never thought about it being their fault. Good point. Thanks for coming through and commenting!
You’d be surprised how many people should really be making those bust adjustments. If I remember correcctly, the big 4 pattern companies use patterns based on the woman having a B cup and the average cup size for an American woman is now somewhere around a D cup,
Nah, none of that surprises me.I’m more surprised that more companies don’t include it on patterns. They could make a killing. LOL! And I’m in the D area, with another D behind it.
Love it. You look beautiful.
Thank you!
Great job on the dress! Did you do a full bust adjustment? The models on the pattern envelope aren’t as endowed as we are, so I’m curious.
I did not do one. I’m not well versed in doing them either. It is something that I definitely want to learn so that I can have it down by this summer. The models are NEVER as endowed as us. LMBO!
Very cute my friend and that color will have me eyeballing Joanna’s for it next week. Great review!
Great job hunny!!!
You look amazing & those shoes are haute!
You look amazing!
Very cute! I love the color and the neckline.
Thanks lady. I think the neckline is the reason that I picked the pattern in the first place. It’s so long ago, I can’t remember!
You look so good and the color is great on your skin. I love the necklace you paired it with. It gave me an idea BC I was thinking in my head that a necklace with the pleated neckline would be too much, but it looks great on you. I’m attempting to make this dress in a black ponte knit fabric with 3/4in sleeves for my graduation next Saturday. Wish me luck!!
Thanks Ebony! Good luck on making it. This orange wasn’t a ponte knit, but I do think that I’m going to end up doing it again in that type of knit. I can’t wait to get into my new home to start sewing.