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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Same dress...different day...M5423


I liked this pattern so much I had to do it again. What should have been fast and easy, since it was the second time around, almost wound up being a wadder! I've made countless garment with Slinky but never a dress. Boy was I in for a surprise. Unfortunately, I didn't take any "before" pictures. Let's just say this dress fit nothing like it's counterpart. The sheer weight of Slinky took care of that.

I had to take about 4" off of the hip and remove the FBA all together. In any other knit fabric this dress would be too short and too tight. The "empire waist" was almost at my actual waist! I also took about 3" off of the hem. As in the previous version I omitted the neckline facings and as a last resort and a great idea if I must say so myself, I used 1/4" ribbon to stabilize the neckline. I also omitted the lower center back seam. Had I really thought about it I would have omitted it on the upper back as well.


As it is, I still had to add an insert as I wanted to be able to wear this to work and church without showing clevage. The insert is just a "v" of fabric sewn in. Since the reverse of the fabric is solid black, I just used the wrong side of the fabric.

I finished it off with a 2-needle cover stitch hem and omitted the waist sash. It might be time to retire this pattern for the season!


7 comments:

  1. Looking really snazzy and the necklace is very nice.

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  2. Is this the dress you were working on last Saturday? Great job fixing it. It looks great!

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  3. Really cute, a great example of taking lemons to lemonade.

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  4. If you like the look and feel of slinky, Christine Johnson has some great patterns for that type of fabric, specifically. Her website is: cjpatterns.com If you're not familar with her, she's in Hazel Park MI, and specializes in patterns and fabric made for slinky and other stretch fabrics.

    Doesn't slinky feel fab?

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  5. Beautiful dress! I love the fabric, but I have always avoided slinky because it seems like it slithers everywhere while you are working with it. I might have to give in, because your dress looks fab!

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  6. That looks beautiful. Slinky is a tough one. It's hit or miss with me. I have been successful a few times though.

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  7. Very very nice--my mama used to say, "don't bring me any material that is like sewing a stocking!"

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