Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

Please vote for The Boston Babydolls as “Best Theatre Group” on The Boston A-List. We’re currently in 5th place!

More stitching yesterday. I sewed the other 3 darts and then seamed the front bodice together. What do you think?

That white line has nothing to do with it, by the way. That’s just some chalk left over from when I was figuring out placement.

Next step was putting in the pockets. Pockets! Oh joy! That wasn’t me being sarcastic. I love pockets. And they’re easy when they’re on a seam. Once that was done, I had the whole front of the skirt sewn together. Then I sewed the skirt front to the bodice front.

This should give you a rough idea of what the finished product will look like.

I also sewed the skirt back pieces together. I would have done more, but at this point it was time to pick up Scratch and Betty from the airport. Next up, the back skirt panels need to be pressed and then sewn to the two pieces of the back bodice. The rest of my week is pretty busy what with rehearsal tonight, chair dance class and the DrinkOne benefit tomorrow, and weddings over the weekend. I’m not sure when I’ll pick this up again.

Dear Constant Reader,

Please vote for The Boston Babydolls as “Best Theatre Group” on The Boston A-List. You only have to vote once!

I have begun the Fit & Flair dress with my least favorite part: cutting. It wasn’t too terrible. The cotton fabric is quite crisp, even after washing, so it stayed put. Fabric that slithers makes me crazy.

I had to be a little clever in my lay-out. The material is supposed to be folded across the width, as opposed to the usual way along the length, because the majority of the pieces are too wide for a half width. However, the floral pattern is directional, so I couldn’t just fold the fabric. If I did, half the skirt would have upside down flowers. This also meant I couldn’t place the pieces as shown on the pattern layout or I would also have upside down flowers.

So, I marked all the pieces that were getting cut this way (all the skirt panels except the front, the pockets, and facings) and then cut that swath of fabric off. Then I laid it on top of the remaining fabric. Then I started to cut and began to curse. I had made a total rookie mistake. Both pieces of fabric were right side up. That meant instead of mirror images, I was going to have 2 left sides. Fortunately, I caught it very early. And I had bought a little extra fabric. Of course the bit I cut was a curve, so I lost quite a bit of fabric.

Having flipped the fabric, so both sections were wrong side in, I finished cutting that part and was starting to worry about those slashes interfering. I cut the center skirt panel (on the fold) and just had the bodice pieces to worry about.

The bodice and dolman sleeves are cut in one, which means there has to be a center front seam. I find them very distracting, especially when they break a pattern, so I was resolved to match the pattern. This was an exacting process but kind of fun. It’s the kind of problem solving I enjoy. With all luck, the center front seam will hardly be noticeable. *fingers crossed*. The back was no big deal to cut and I’m left with a goodly amount of fabric (if I work around two slashes). Maybe it will become a charming purse.

And this was the result!

So exciting, I know. I keep the fabric pieces paired with the pattern pieces until I start to sew on them. It lessens confusion.

The next step is to get sewing! And we started with possibly my second least favorite things — darts. Both the front and the back of the bodice are darted for a good fit. I don’t mind sewing darts; it’s marking them that gives me grief.

Eventually I prevailed and did this:

Then my bobbin ran out of thread and I took that as a sign that I should hang it up for the night.