Saturday, July 18, 2009

Gala dress muslin creeps along

Here are the French seams.
gala dress muslin
First you have to sew the pieces together, wrong sides together, with a seam allowance of about 1/4 inch. Then you trim the raw edges down to less than 1/4 inch. Then you iron the seam and fold the pieces with the right sides together, encasing the raw edges.
gala dress muslin
Then you sew the seam again, at about 3/8 of an inch, so you get the full 5/8 seam allowance, with the right sides together, so you end up with the raw edges enclosed in the seam itself.
gala dress muslin
Here's what it looks like, finished and pressed, from the right and the wrong sides.
gala dress muslin
The bodice is gathered where it meets the midriff and from what I learned with the prom dresses, I now gather by hand. I simply sew a long, running stitch along the gather line and it is just easier to gather up than a machine sewn line.
gala dress muslin
The bodice also gathers into the yokes that form the shoulders. This is the back, which has a Vee where the yokes meet the gathered part of the bodice. I've got one of the yokes up and one down, just to show the construction a bit.
gala dress muslin
I am also noticing that I am going to have to be a lot more picky when I make the real gala dress. I put the ruler in the photo because the stitching line is supposed to be 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) from the end of this point on the yoke and from each edge and I am out of alignment. I think I will have to make accurate tailor tacks on the real dress, to ensure that the dots all line up.
gala dress muslin
This looks like a jumble of pieces (there are three) all coming together at one point.
gala dress muslin
Here is the bodice with the yokes coming together at the gathered parts from another angle. This time, I have got the yoke facings sew on as well, so now I have all sorts of pieces all converging.
gala dress muslin
I have sewn the yoke facings down by hand on the inside. This is what the bodice looks like, draping on the judy, from the back.
gala dress muslin
Here is the bodice from the front. It looks like the Vee in the front will be quite low. I am not sure if this will be too low. For this dress (muslin), should I wear it, I may have to put a triangle of fabric in the front, like a camisole - or just wear a camisole under it. I am now thinking of how I would alter the pattern to prevent this from happening when I make the real dress. I can't just hike it up at the shoulder seams because then the midriff will be too high. I want the seam line where the midriff meets the bodice to be right at the bra band line.

9 comments:

gwensews said...

To alter that neckline, I would put a piece of paper under the pattern, and make a dot up from the v on the CF to where you want the neckline to end. Then redraw the neckline from the dot to the shoulder seam.

JuliaR said...

Thanks for the advice Gwen! Sounds reasonable to me.

Pete Dowan said...

Hi;
Pete Dowan here !
I realize that there is very little chance that this e-mail will result in anything, that's better than the zero chance if I didn't try. I was googling for Dog related blogs and I came across your "PuppyWalking" site and thought I'd attempt to contact you by transferring over to this blog.
I am a medically disabled songwriter from St Catharines, Ontario, Canada, and have written many songs about many different subjects and in several different styles.
One song in particular was a personal thank you to my dog. The song is called "Good Friend".
I mention my disability because various factors of my condition stop me from being able to use professional studios to record my songs, so I have to do them here, at home, in my basement, on donated equipment from musicians I used to work with. For the same reason, I also am unable to perform my music live.
HISTORY OF THE SONG::: For the first few years that I had my current health condition I had a very difficult time walking. One of my doctors figured out the reason, and when that was dealt with, it was up to me to get myself "going". That's where our dog, Scuttle, came in. He bugged me daily to take him out ... wouldn't let up until I did so. His determination was catching, and within a year we were both going on outings that I never dreamed I'd be able to do again. As a thank you, I wrote the above mentioned song for him. (R.I.P. my boy)
If you know it's about a dog, the lyrics jump out at you as being obvious, but if you don't, there's only one line that definitely points to it.
I was wondering if you'd like to hear the song, since your blog is about dogs and for dog people. I can send you an MP3, a short term link or it can be heard on my "MySpace" page ... which is myspace.com/petedowan ... the third song on the list. If you would give it a listen, I'd love to get your opinion on it.
I DO understand if you'd rather not.
And just in case you're interested, the first song on the above page is about our planet, and was a feature in several areas for Earth Day.
Have a great day, and keep smiling.

Musically Yours,
Pete Dowan [pronounced like plowin' ]
pdowan@aol.com

XUP said...

Julia - I say, if you've got it, flaunt it. And to Peter, I say -- Hey! I'm from st. catherines, too, but you should probably find a more productive way of promoting your work. CKTB is alway open to new stuff and for sure CFBU is.

JuliaR said...

Thanx Xup! I'll see what happens when I try it on. Maybe I just need a new bra.

JuliaR said...

Pete Dowan, I will leave a longer message at My Space or wherever, but I think you should connect with organizations like Guide Dogs or Assistance Dogs. I just raised a single puppy.

Andhita Siswandi said...

hi julia, I'm starting read your blog and make my own sewing blog :)
Thanks for inspiring me :)

Greet from Indonesia!

Unknown said...

Hi Julia, that's a great dress you have. However I don't particularly like the print, but I've never been a big print fan. I just wanted to let you know that I got this great sewing machine here, and I think it can help you and everyone else here: http://www.sportsncs.com/rd_p?skipRedirect=1&p=191614&t=9536&a=28106-sewing&c=&gift=21426

Office And Home Supplies said...

I like the stuff you do.

I am based in the UK and buy my sewing supplies from http://sewing-online.com.

Where do you buy yours?