The "Gape Factor" Dress

Fabric:  Rayon knit from San Diego Swap Meet

Notions: Serger thread
Pattern: Cake Tiramisu
Year: 2014
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn:  Yes, to work!
Wear again?  Yes
Total Cost: $5ish
 
My family and I went to San Diego over Thanksgiving and while we were there we went to a swap meet.  I purchased several yards of different knit fabric there and made my jolly way home thinking that I got a screaming deal.  I got home soon to discover not so much.  The knits I bought are all pretty cheap-o.  I think rayon something or other with a lot of drape and stretch.  Some are pretty see-through too.  But now that I have them I have to use them or they will sit forever on my shelves mocking me for what a sucker and really, in the end, a sewing and fabric novice I am.  So I pulled out my patterns to see what I could make. 

Before we left, the local fabric shop in town, Yellow Bird Fabrics (now A Fashionable Stitch), had a fabric and notions swap where I scored the Cake Tiramisu pattern.  So I set out to lurk the many sewists I lurk when in actuality I knew exactly which one to go straight to - Lauren of lladybird.  I read her posts and tried to implement many of her suggestions, including shortening the bodice band to tighten the mock wrap for a less of a gape (yes I even did a crazy gape factor dance!).
 

I have to say that all in all sewing up the pattern was pretty straight forward.  I used the custom fit with the midriff but still managed to get it wrong so I ended up winging it.  It looks pretty decent and thanks to Lauren, the gape factor is non existent.  My only problem, and I've had this problem before, is that you can see my serger thread front the right side - as in the seam pulls apart a bit.  I'm thinking that this is because my serger tension isn't right?  I'm one of those lazy sewers that never touches the tension and just sews merrily along.  I guess that is going to have to change because I can't have this happening every time I sew with knits!  I tried pressing it out but it's only getting worse the more the dress hangs.
 

And what sewing post is complete without a random gif that popped up when I tried uploading photos of my dress.  This is my daughter Roya when she was four-ish months old talking to her mobile.  So precious.

The "Copycat" Dress

Fabric:  2.5 yards of navy blue knit from Joann's

Pattern: Simplicity 2443, View A, Size 14

Year:  Current

Notions: 7" invisible zipper, thread

Time to complete: 4 hours

First worn: To work - July 22, 2013

Total price: $1.99 for the pattern, maybe $4/yard (?) for the fabric: <$10
Wear again? Yes, after some minor alterations

As I have said before, I tend to copy the pattern exactly on the cover with respect to fabric.  I'm not very savvy when it comes to fabric and I have a ton of quilting cotton in my stash (when I was starting to sew I was doing a lot of crafty sewing and making children's clothes).  So when I bought this pattern at Joann's I immediately purchased the same navy blue knit to go along with it.  Unfortunately, Joann's is the closest and cheapest place for me to buy fabric.  Its not the greatest for quality and options in apparel fabric.  I wish I had a Michael Lavine's or a Mood right around the corner but I don't (Have you seen these places?  Where does one start?!).  Plus I'm a tightwad when it comes to buying fabric and those 50% coupons really come in handy.  We do have a local fabric shop in Salt Lake City called Yellow Bird Fabrics, but fabric from there comes with a hefty price tag that I can't splurge for right now.

I'm going to have to work on the photographer!  Or is it the model?

I completed all but the hem on this dress March and just now finished the hem.  It was staring at me hanging in the laundry room just begging me to be worn.  So I whipped up the hem the other night and voila, here she be.

I love this dress.  Except.  There is some strange bunching up on the side of my bust that drives me insane.  I think that I need to clip the seam allowance a bit more and hopefully the seam will lie flat.  A colleague at work said this is happening because I'm not full on the sides - duh.  I'm not full anywhere!  I'm pretty pleased with the results.  One thing I learned is to let the dress hang for a couple of days before hemming.  It helps a lot with the drape in terms of hemming!  Who would've thunk?

Closeup of buldge on upper corner of bust.