MOG Dress Construction, Pt 1

I had a difficult time deciding on fabric to use for my MOG dress.  There was not a huge selection of fabric at my local Hancock Fabric stores...I visited 3 in my area, as well as the Joann's Fabric store!  I really wanted to use silk, but that was not to be, unless I wanted a pale oyster color (which Klassy Katz had!).  I did not want pale oyster or any other pale color.  After trying on a gazillion RTW dresses, I knew I needed a strong color....preferably a jewel tone. 

The MOB had a teal dress so I could not use that.

I finally settled on a polyester crepe-back satin from the BFF line (by Lauren Hancock). There was a coordinating lace, but it wasn't special...not reimbroidered or anything. But this was the best I could do locally and I had procrastinated too long to shop the internet and send off for samples...so I purchased this grape hyacinth-colored fabric.  

As I was trolling the aisles, hoping to stumble onto something better before I had this cut, I spied an odd mesh fabric...it was both purple and gold!  I wondered...what if?

So I bought some of that mesh fabric as well!  I decided to use it UNDER the lace...that way, the dress would have some sparkle without my having to add beads!

I cut each layer of the bodice separately...that is, I cut each piece from 3 different fabrics, one fabric at a time.

As you can see, I bought more than enough fabric...there is plenty of gold mesh left over for more fun things!

And when the lady cut my 3 yards of lace (I only really needed 1.5 but had allowed for experimentation), she used her 'gun' to scan the price on the bolt and said, "Do you know how much this lace is?"
Oh dear, I thought.  "Yes, it is $9.99, but on sale for 30% off."
She was shaking her head, no.  She stuttered a bit..."It is 21---er--"...pause (my heart fluttered...21?)..."seventy cents per yard."
Both of us were sure it was a mistake, but she said she couldn't change it.  I bought all 8 yards!  and for less than the regular cost of one yard!  So I have lots of lace, too!

Once the layers were cut out, I carefully aligned each one and glue-basted them together around the edges. This way, once the glue dried, it could be treated as one layer.

Here you can kinda get an idea of what this looks like once the fabrics are layered.  The gold mesh really added a richness that the lace alone lacked.

I don't know WHAT I will do with all the leftover lace!

Here are the bodice pieces, front and back, all lined up as they fit together.  The FRONT pieces are on top, and the BACK pieces at the bottom.

I serge-finished the edges of the vertical seams before sewing these pieces together.

Turns out, that was not necessary, and was actually not helpful, so much of it was eventually ripped out.

Once the vertical (princess) seams were sewn, the seam allowances were clipped and notched to allow for spread.  This made it easier to remove the unneccesary serger threads!

The bodice pieces went together fairly fast and smoothly.  Then it was time to work on the midriff section.  so back to the drawing board...er, drafting program! 

Once the pattern was made for the midriff, I started to work. I found this woven fabric in my stash of interfacings...I think it was originally purchased to make 'rangers' for jackets...you know, those two pieces of interfacing that encompass the back neck and shoulder and one armhole...they cross in back, giving support and movement.

Anyway, I decided it would be a good foundation layer for my midriff.

I cut my midriff pieces from the woven fabric, then marked and sewed the darts.


How funny it looks once the darts force it to take shape!


Now, at this point, I wasn't sure exactly HOW I was gonna get the midriff done.  I tried DRAPING the fashion fabric over this foundation...for about 27 seconds...!  t
Then I came to my senses!  I am a flat-pattern thinker...my brain just doesn't like to drape.



But then I got a wild idea.



WHAT IF I pleated the fabric BEFORE I put it on the foundation?

I have a pleater board that I made several years ago...it was a sewing guild project and we all made one.  So I pulled it out and set to work.

I put the right side DOWN toward the pleater board (I am using the crepe side, not the satin side, as my 'right' side) and began pushing the fabric under the 'lips' of the pleater board...skipping every other one.

Then, I used an iron-on tricot interfacing and pressed it onto the fabric to hold the pleats in place.

I did a wide section for the front, then two smaller sections for each half of the back. 
This took A LOT of fabric!

Once I had my pieces pleated, I began to consider once again HOW I was going to attach this to the foundation.

uh oh.

Even though I had cut this fabric on the bias before pleating it...so it would have lots of 'give'...it was still NOT possible to force this pleated piece to have the same shape as the foundation pieces. 

Rats! 

No, the dart shaping had to be incorporated. 
I went back to the computer and created a new pattern piece for the pleated midriff.

Since the Empire waist was 3" above the waistline and the midriff extended 6" below the waistline, my midriff section was 9" tall.  I divided that into 6 equal parts...1.5" each.

Then I separated the sections and added folding lines, then closed the dart fragments in each section.


I ended up with two sections with opposing curves which would be joined at the waist.

So I cut these pieces from some more fabric...again, placing them on the bias...and began sewing these pleats in.  I folded on the fold lines, then basted on the pleat lines.  Once the pieces were pleated I began hand-sewing them to the foundation.

It was awful.  The bias stretched, causing weird bumps.

So I decided it couldn't be bias.  AGAIN, I cut new fabric to try anew.  I was worried that I might run out of fabric...and I had purchased THE WHOLE BOLT...there was nothing left at the store to go back and get should I run out!

This time I decided to pleat the fabric ONTO the foundation.  I aligned the top edges and pinned.  Then I sewed on the fold line, then folded the fabric upward and pressed...then basted on the pleat line, and sewed again about 3/16th" below that...so that once the basting was removed, the pleat would stay partially closed.  Then I would press the fabric downward again and sew on the next foldline...etc. 

Well, when I got the second pleat done, I realized that the FIRST pleat didn't measure 1.5" as planned.  It was only 1.25".  I decided NO BIG DEAL...I would make the second pleat 1.375", then the third and remaining pleats would be 1.5" and no one would know the difference.

Well, the math didn't work out that way.  once I got to the bottom, there was too much fabric for just one pleat, but not enough space for two pleats with the correct spacing.  I had to start over yet again!

Each time I started over, I had to cut a new foundation...because it wasn't worth ripping out all those pleats to salvage the foundation!

So once again, I pinned the top edge to the foundation and began pleating the fashion fabric to the foundation...this time MEASURING VERY CAREFULLY!  Each pleat was 1.5" wide.

Once the upper section was done, the lower section was begun.

I sewed the waist of the lower section to the waist of the upper section and continued with the pleating.

I even added my machine's quilting guide to help make sure that each pleat was precisely sewn!

Once the midriff sections were finally pleated, I could sew them each to their respective bodice piece. 

FINALLY, it was time to put in the zipper!  My choices were limited...the best color match was not an invisible zip, but in the end I decided to use the invisible one.

I put in the zipper, stopping the top about 7" below the neckline.  I wanted a slit in back but wanted it to be short enough that the dress would cover my bra band!

Once the zipper was in, I could finally sew all the bodice pieces together, front and back, and try this thing on!  Yay!

Well, not yay.  It was too 'blousey' under my bust!  Ugh! 

Even though I had sewn a trial muslin, it was NOT an Empire waisted one.  And we all know that an Empire waist fits more snugly around the ribs than a top with a 'regular' waist.  I was pissed.

Just like in that Pleated Dress I needed to make the waist dart wider at its upper end!  I could pinch out 0.5" under each princess seam at the Empire seam.

I took it apart.  I resewed the lower end of the princess seam (below bust point) to remove additional fabric (0.5"). 

Plus, I had allowed a 1" SEAM ALLOWANCE at the bodice Empire seam (just in case) and had decided I needed to use it all. Well, once the midriff was sewn to the bodice, I DID NOT need that extra!  It was too blousey in length under the bust as well!  so, I also removed this excess length from the front bodice at this time.

Then I looked at that midriff section that I had painstakingly pleated (ad nauseum)...I didn't cry, but I should have!  No, instead I began ripping. 

I ripped the waist seam and the seams holding the pleats ABOVE the waist.  I was finally able to remove the piece of fabric that was the upper front midriff.

I could easily sew the waist dart of the foundation piece larger...basically, it was correct at waist and below, but needed to be sewn straight up from waist to the Empire seam.

Well, think about this....if the dart is wider, that means the SHAPE of the pattern piece that represents the fashion fabric  has now changed, too! So I could NOT reuse the fabric...I had to (yet again) cut another piece of fabric for this upper front midriff section!  At this point, I am measuring to be sure there is enough left to cut a skirt!  There was...

So, I folded out the corrected dart on the pattern and cut the new piece.  Now, HOW am I gonna do this...since the midriff was initially formed by sewing the pleats from the top down?  Basically, I had to sew a lot of it by hand. 

Funny...after hand-sewing for a while, I was thinking to myself, 'this is so much more ZEN than shopping for a dress.'  But I had to laugh at this thought, because only a few hours earlier I wanted to tear my hair out!

I resewed the front midriff to the front bodice.  But remember? I had allowed that 1" seam allowance on the bodice that needed to be removed...ON THE BACK, TOO! 

So, now I had to RIP OUT THE INVISIBLE ZIPPER and remove the excess 3/8" length on the back bodice....then resew the bodice and midriff sections and reinsert that zipper.

Eventually I got the front and back put back together with the zipper in...and it fit!  Now it was time to draft the skirt...

To be continued.

Empire Crinkle Rayon

Perhaps I should have titled this post, "The Incredible Shrinking Woman!"

But that is not really the case...it is more like 'the incredible growing blouse'!

I wanted to make another Empire surplice top, to verify that the measurement changes I made after making this one are exactly as desired. I had this crinkle rayon in my stash...it was found on the bargain table at my local Hancock Fabrics* last summer and purchased for $1 per yard or some outrageous $um like that.

*BTW, that local Hancock store, where I have been shopping all my life...even picking out the patterns and fabric for mother to sew my school clothes when I was a kid...BURNED to the ground early yesterday morning!

I just HATE that...it was convenient and close to both my mother's and sister's homes, and I could often find things there that were bargains...not crummy stuff, but decent fabric that had been marked down. Now the store is gone (suspected that garbage truck emptying their dumpster hit a gas line...slow leak caused fire in the night.) and I highly doubt it will be rebuilt. Bummer. Really. Bummer.



Crinkle rayon grows if you iron it. Plus, it grows during wear. So I was aware that this might not be the BEST fabric for evaluating fit. (duh) But I wanted to use it, so I did.

To stabilize the neck and armholes, I ironed on some stay tape. I used a bias tape for these areas...to go around the curves.

Not giving it much thought, I pulled on the tape slightly to barely shrink the neck edge, as I usually do (You can see how the neckline is slightly shorter than the pattern's neck area). HOWEVER, I had already taken a 'dart' from the pattern's neck edge and transfered it to the bust dart (contouring) to make the wrap-style bodice fit closer between the breasts, and I probably didn't need to do BOTH.

I also put stay tape across both FRONT shoulders, to stabilize. For this area, I used the straight tape. I did not put tape on the back shoulder, which is sewn to this stabilized front.

I use 3/8" seam allowances, which is the width of the tape.

As you can see, the Empire seam pulls UP just a bit as it approaches the center. Bummer! Oh well...next time.

When I finished sewing this top, it was huge, due to ironing and pressing!

So I grabbed my water bottle and sprayed the whole thing until saturated. Then I hung it to dry. When dry it had 'crinkled' right back into shape!

The image here shows the difference between the top with the crinkles in place (left) and in the 'relaxed' state after ironing.

Again, the left is how the topfits with the crinkles "fresh" and the right side is what it looks like if ironed.

The REAL fit is somewhere in between...the crinkles DO relax a bit during wear and give a little more ease, but nothing like when ironed.

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I used PMB's PETAL sleeve for the first time. The outer edge is probably a bit more rippled than it would be in other fabric, due to stretching out the crinkles with the narrow hem, but overall, I think I kinda like this sleeve.

However, when I was wearing it, BOTH my mother and my sister asked if I had made this top...they were not together. Both said it was because they had patterns with this petal sleeve. It made me wonder...is this sleeve rarely found in RTW? Is this a dead giveaway that the garment is 'homemade'? What do you think?

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I have been gradually reducing my shoulder widths, and I am wondering if I can reduce the BACK SHOULDER WIDTH a little more (?). This would narrow the back slightly, but put a bit more into the back of the sleeve, and perhaps make it hang better. Hmmm.

I'll give the pattern details next time!

Empire Surplice Top update

I have now worn my navy/floral Empire Surplice top a couple of times, and I must say, it is quite nice to wear! Too bad the fabric is not fine...it probably won't last long!

The armhole depth is NOT too low after all, as I had thought it was during construction. I DID finally remember WHY I had decided to lower the armholes: Because I reduced both front and back center lengths (to raise my waist), the armholes draft less-tall than they did before (when I was using a lower waist position). When the waist was located at a lower spot on my body (and thus, I had longer vertical measurements), I sometimes had to RAISE the armhole depth! But not anymore...now I must lower the AH depth to achieve just the right ah...but using the measurements which place the waist at this (higher) level puts the garment's waist shaping in a better spot on my body.

The front "skirt" portion does not expose skin, even when it blows open, due to the generous overlap. It also does not spread open when I sit.

The double-bust-dart/tuck thing worked out really well! I love that it provides shaping without being so form-fitting...I will do this again!

Before, I mentioned that, next time, I would reduce the center front length (CFL) and increase the center back length. WELL, it turns out, all I had to do was reduce the CFL (and front shoulder slope-FSS) and I could leave the CBL as it was. Reducing the front was enough to correct the placement of the front Empire seam (it was a little too low in the central area).

On the Navy top, I had used the Dart Override tool to reduce the size of the F-ah slightly, but now, after reducing the CFL and FSS, that won't be necessary!

I did decide to reduce the shoulder width measurements even more...I have been gradually making my shoulders more and more narrow. I am now using FSW=13.75" and BSW=15.5inches. I think this will really improve the shape of my armholes and sleeves, and provide increased arm mobility and comfort.

Empire-waist Surplice Blouse

I finally finished the Empire Surplice (crossover) top I mentioned before! As usual, it isn’t perfect…I need to shorten the center front length and lengthen the center back length by .25” for next time...but it is wearable.

The fabric I used was some drapey rayon challis that I purchased last year specifically for use in testing patterns. This dark color makes the style details hard to see in the pictures…I increased the brightness a bit, but it only helped a little.

The blue buttons were from my stash…actually, they originally came from my grandmother’s stash! I put one button/buttonhole on each side, just under the bust…two buttons total.

As mentioned previously, additional
length was needed on the pattern right there at the dart legs to smooth out the angle that forms when the dart is sewn. This extra length also helps the fabric conform to my body a little better, going over then under the bust, going all the way to the rib cage before falling vertically.


I had initially decided to just gather that bust dart, as I had done in my muslin (of septic paper). But in this drapey rayon, the gathers formed a poof of fabric BELOW my bust…not pretty! So I tried sewing two small darts then gathering the rest…nope, that was awful, too! So I went back to the computer, to play with the pattern to see what I should do.





I decided to divide the single bust dart into TWO bust darts. First, I rotated the bust dart out of the way…just as I had done previously to check the ‘flow’ of the waist seam.

Then, I located a point on each side of the bust dart, 0.75” away from BP. Next, I drew a line from each of these new points down to the place where the original bust dart meets the Empire waist seam. These two new lines form a ‘V’ shape under the bust. Then I rotated half the bust dart to each of these new slash lines. But I didn’t want to sew the darts all the way to the tips…I wanted the illusion of gathers…so I drew a circle around my original Bust Point, radius equals 2.5”, and only sewed the darts outside of the radius, basically converting them to tucks. I was pleased with this effect…not full under the bust yet still a ‘looser’ look.







The sleeves were another FUN adventure! I had wanted to see what happens when using a very low sleeve cap…I drafted with (-1.5”). But for some reason, I had also determined that I needed to lower my armhole depth 0.5” (I cannot remember why, but the ah depth was a bit low). These two settings combined to produce a really wide sleeve! The first insertion was comical. I ripped out the sleeve and trimmed the sleeve cap, then tried again…better but still no cigar. Eventually I got the sleeve recut to be acceptable, but due to the too-low armhole depth, my sleeve cap ‘trial’ was invalid…I still don’t know what is the lowest cap height setting I could use on my sleeve with the correct ah depth! But I did learn that I probably don’t need to lower the armhole depth after all…(duh).


I worked very hard to make the hem come out even, yet in wear, the overlap/underlap edges sag a bit and hang lower than the main hem. Bummer! I am hoping my interfacing might shrink in the wash and prevent this from happening in the future! Also, my neckline was fine BEFORE I understitched it, but after doing the understitching, the neck began to gap a bit! Again, let’s hope the interfacing shrinks and corrects for this! Ya know, that is usually NOT something I hope for! But on this blouse, shrinking interfacing might be a blessing!

Empire waist Blouse/dress

I'm still working on the Empire waist top I mentioned at the end of my last
post. I created the pattern using PMB, and have run into a few problems
that need to be corrected...specifically, the way the bust dart is 'trued'
when placed in the waist seam. The dart's fold line needs adequate length
so that when the dart is sewn and pressed to one side, the cut edge of the
fold line will reach the waist seam. This is not happening. No matter
whether I press the dart toward the side or toward the center, the fold line
area comes up short of reaching the seam.

I'll show you what I mean.


This is my PMB pattern as drafted. You can see there is not a large 'triangle' of fabric created below the dart at the waist seam.

The green line is the center fold line of the
dart. The dart legs are pink and blue.













If I rotate the side part of the pattern to superimpose the pink and blue
lines...as if sewing the dart...you can see that the green line does NOT
extend long enough to reach the lower, cut edge of the waist seam.























The green fold line is short by about an inch!
The numbers on this pattern represent the length of the dart's fold line (green) before I extended it to the cut edge and after extending.


But also, look at the SHAPE the waist seam takes after the dart is sewn.
It is like an inverted V...a ^ shape.
This is not right and is certainly not
desireable! That waist seam should be curved as a smooth line, more like the bold pink line I have added.








I pulled out one of my drafting books, Patternmaking for Fashion Design,
by Helen Joseph Armstrong. On page 429 of the Third Edition, she
shows how to 'true' the draft to prevent this problem.

I followed her directions for modifying the PMB draft.

Below is a 'before and after' view of this pattern...on the left-- as drafted,
and on the right-- after my corrections. Even if I planned to gather the
dart, instead of actually sewing it, the pattern would STILL need the extra
length at the dart legs to prevent the -^- shape, even though the fold-line
shortage becomes less of an issue.





Anyway, these changes should take care of the FRONT pattern.



But notice the changes HJA makes to the back pattern.

The upper back waist dart on my PMB Empire dress pattern (on the left here>>>) is always much shorter and narrower than the corresponding dart on my Torso/Blouse draft, and I have always wondered 'why'.

Also, the lower back dart...in the 'skirt' portion...on my PMB Empire dress is also much smaller than it would be on the Torso/Blouse draft. I sewed a muslin as drafted, but the back was loose and not very well fitted to my shape.

However, if I just pasted the darts from my Torso block onto this dress, there was a bit too much contouring back there, and it seemed....well, 'uneven'.

But once I saw this example in the Patternmaking book, I knew what the answer was!

I DID need to paste the larger TORSO dart onto the lower (skirt) portion of the PMB dress, but I did NOT want the larger Torso dart in the upper back part! No, I needed to keep the dart that drafts on the PMB back bodice, and then trim the side at waist (shown in PINK) to make the bodice seam match the width of the skirt portion! PMB doesn't do this (original side seam on bodice shown as bold green line)...it just makes the dart of the lower/skirt section as narrow as the dart in the back upper/bodice, so the seam lines will match in length.

I tested this on my septic-paper muslin and it seems to work nicely, so I am cutting 'real' fabric for a test Empire blouse!

Oh, you might be confused because I keep going back and forth between calling this an Empire blouse and an Empire DRESS. In PMB, if it has a waist seam, it is a DRESS, even if it is only blouse-length, so technically this is a 'dress' pattern. But I am making a blouse!

Well, the blouse was just not salvageable! Even though I could solve the fit issues---convert those gathers back to darts or pleats, and raise the Empire waistline to put it closer to my underbust area---the horizontal lines of the fabric's print and the curved shapes of the pattern did NOT make for a nice finished product. The print just didn't work on this pattern shape. And I knew I was taking a chance when I cut it...but I wanted to try!

Look at the way the 'stripe' of leopard spots meets at the sideseams. Awful! Just NOT worth any more of my time! So I am moving on...