Quick & Dirty Sewing - Simplicity 2883

I had time to sew over the weekend, yay!

Last night, at 5.00pm, I pulled Simplicity 2883 (now OOP) out. I needed a few easy knit dresses - dresses have a way of looking pulled together, without worrying about coordinating anything, and the knit dress I made a couple of months ago has got a ton of use so far.

This is an amazingly easy dress. I started at 5.00pm, I was done at 8.30pm. That's incredibly fast sewing for me, and it even included some ripping (I don't actually recall a sewing project that didn't include ripping, that's just how I roll.)

The dress has 4 pattern pieces - bodice front & back, skirt front & back. I skimmed the instructions, and then just did what I wanted anyway.

The bit I did notice was that they have you fold the neckline and armhole seams back, and stitch down. Now, this is an invitation for major stretching out of shape - and I'd also been wanting to try the amazing Jalie technique to finish necklines and armholes. Kay describes it much better than me here. Now that I read her description, I find I did mine wrong(!), but it worked pretty well anyway. I love how easy this technique is, and I'll be using it forever!

Silly stuff I did - I was doing the Jalie technique fast, and didn't measure/pin stuff right. As a result, my neckline's too tight, and my back gapes a tiny bit. (Entirely because I am an idiot. This technique is flawless and perfection. I'm in love with this finishing method.)

I still haven't hemmed the dress, a step I might end up skipping. (As soon as Cidell said on her blog that she didn't finish her knit hems, I decided that was validation enough, and promptly stopped hemming my knit dresses.)

End result? Hmm. I'm torn here - mostly because as I look at these photos, I realize I look ridiculously pudgy and chunky. Now, I've been eating poorly, and being even lazier than normal, and have therefore put on a few pounds, (and on my 5ft frame, you can see every f***ing pound). But still - I look square in this picture, and square is not a good look.

Skipping the belt, I just look pregnant. So, sigh. I'll wear the dress to do errands and such-like, and maybe I'll wear it in real life if I just drag myself to the gym and lose a few pounds (alternatively, I should just drink copious amounts of coffee and start smoking, right?*)

Ok, other details. The fabric was a remnant from Fabricland, who I'm really pissed off with, since look at the tear in this fabric! I was seriously annoyed, but too lazy to take it back to the store. Still, I did have enough fabric to make the dress I wanted.



I made a size 10 all the way through, I think, and ended up taking 5 inches off the length of the skirt.

*I'm joking, people.