published a long time ago in my church magazine gives great best advice for getting to the next step. (After clicking the link, scroll to the bottom of the page to read).
The lack of knowledge or experience of how to "do" something is a frequent obstacle I face.
For the Oliver + S dress pattern there are a couple of things I've never done before, and they have been hangups to my getting started. But I finally started this week . . . . tracing on TH night, cutting yesterday and starting the sewing this morning.
I usually post about my projects after I am done, but I am so excited about how it's going I am not waiting.
Dress Stresses (times 3):
1) FIT--My first dress without Katie!
My daughter has measurements in the 5-6-7 range for this pattern and I wasn't sure what to do. So I cut a size 6 but made it as long as the 7. So it should fit her in the waist, chest, and hips without being TOO baggy, and still be long enough. This daughter likes her dresses long, however, so we'll see if she wears it.
I just realized I didn't tissue fit the dress to my daughter . . . . OOPS! Why didn't I think of that until now, when I was writing about it?
Moving on anyway.
2) PLEATS. Never done them. I love the inverted box pleat at the center.
This morning I tackled them and they are working out quite well. I only did the front so far, but it was not as scary as I thought. The instructions were very well written in this section.
3) 6 BUTTON HOLES. I have made a handful of these before, but it's been a long time since I did any on a dress, and the ones I have done aren't fantastic. I will be practicing before the real deal. And, I am sure they will not show up well on camera, so YOU will never know. If I could describe what I don't like about them it is that the embroidery never seems THICK enough around the hole to me--like I should go over it again a second time--but I am too afraid to do that, too. We'll see. Perhaps I will practice with white thread on the navy corduroy first to see what's going on and then try to fix it.
I am open to suggestions on the buttonholes if you have any advice. . . . ?
More to come next week--hopefully will include a finished, wearable dress.
Those pleats look perfect! I've heard very good things about O&S patterns, so I think you are in good hands. If you are nervous about the fit, you could always pin up the side seams (or baste them), and try it on that way. As for buttonholes, I always go over them twice, both on Janome and on the Singer. I prefer a nice dense buttonhole myself and home sewing machines just don't seem to do that well. Practice first though. Mom's Pfaff makes pretty nice buttonholes and a double layer may be more bulky than you want.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see it when it's done!!
It looks great. I have never done pleats before. I have made a few buttonholes, to run a drawstring through. I have not loved the way they turned out, but never tried to hard to fix them because we wouldn't really see them.
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