Overcoming a massive sewing block, I finally finished this project yesterday. Almost 2 months to press and hem? We call that a complete, total lack of sewing mo-jo.
Or just a distinct lack of enthusiasm about how much fitting/fussing I needed to do to get this to look only partially like a sack, not totally like one; along with a certain skepticism that I'd ever wear the resulting dress.
Details:
Fabric: A mystery knit of some kind - found in WalMart's $1 section. It is a bit thin and see-through, but otherwise not terrible.
Pattern: McCalls 5699.
Pattern notes: This isn't complicated sewing, but a couple of things I did differently.
- I cut an 8 on top, 10 waist and below, and I was swimming in the resulting creation. The full sleeves don't help - I looked like a sack. To counter, I took atleast 1.5 inches off the sides, as well as the sleeves. The resulting dress is still somewhat sack-like, but in a cuter way.
- The instructions have you create a casing for the elastic for the ruching at the bust area. I skipped that - and sewed elastic directly on the dress. It is on the wrong side - and I'm not meticulous enough to create a casing so the wrong side looks nice.
- I didn't like the puffing at sleeve shoulder. I know the 80s are fashionable again, but please, no thanks. I transferred the gathers to the front and back of the shoulder instead, which I think is slightly better.
Time taken: In actual time, about 6 hours. In elapsed time, 2 months. Go figure.
The conclusion: Well, I did wear it to work today - with black tights and heels, it looked fairly ok. I like the loose/mock turtle-neck, and I dislike the lack of shaping (I enclose a picture of the side view as proof. I am not a sack.) All in all, not a go-to dress, but a perfect I'm-feeling-fat-or-too-lazy-to-care dress. Is that a good thing?
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