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Member since 3/20/07
Posts: 276
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Posted on: 11/11/10 4:08 PM ET
Ack. I have been working on a dress for a week.

Dress

I put so many hours on it and it looked GREAT until I attached the skirt to the bodice. All my attempts at making it work failed miserably. Now it is sitting on the table, waiting to be trashed.

I have no mercy for the darn thing that shed tiny magnetic threads all over my flat.

(BTW, I loved everything about the bodice - especially the braid, which was awsome !)


Let's see what I learned from that failure:

1. Gathered waist does not work for me. It just does not, regardless of whether I am slimmer or gained a few pounds. Or maybe I just don't love the look of it - on me.

2. I hate working with polyester, as you can't wear it during summer (too hot) nor during winter (waaayyy too much static). To make sure I don't forget, I should have this phrase tatooed on my fronthead : "Say no to Poly", even if the print is wonderful. Silk or rayon costs just a few dollars more per meter, it's not worth having to deal with puckered seams and excessive static.

Oh well. I am good at salvaging disasters - I am so stubborn - and dresses are usually a success for me. Usually.

It sucks when you already see yourself wearing it with pride, doesn't it ?

Ok. Next project, please. Since my success / wadder ratio is 3/1, I should be safe for the next couple of months.


-- Edited on 11/11/10 4:12 PM --
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There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. - L. Cohen.
  
Member since 11/26/06
Posts: 2701
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Posted on: 11/11/10 4:19 PM ET
Ugh. That stinks out loud. I'm sorry for your loss.

I always follow up a debacle like that with a ridiculously quick, no-brainer, super gratifying (preferably flattering) pattern to make myself feel like half a seamstress again. Pathetic that I have to nurse my wounds with remedial sewing in order to get my mojo back, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Eve

ETA: Oh yeah. Wine and chocolate help, too. ;)
-- Edited on 11/11/10 4:19 PM --
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People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it - Chinese proverb
  
Member since 12/28/07
Posts: 20238
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Posted on: 11/11/10 4:22 PM ET
In reply to zazzie

Detach the skirt. hem the bodice and use that part which you loved as a blouse.. Maybe you can wear a camisole underneath.. a cotton one..
  
Member since 7/19/07
Posts: 3438
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Posted on: 11/11/10 4:29 PM ET
In reply to poorpigling
Quote: poorpigling


Detach the skirt. hem the bodice and use that part which you loved as a blouse.. Maybe you can wear a camisole underneath.. a cotton one..

I totally agree. I've saved several dress wadders this way when I liked the bodice but not the skirt.

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--Michelle

***
Blog: http://happilycaffeinated.blogspot.com/
  
Member since 3/20/07
Posts: 276
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Posted on: 11/11/10 4:52 PM ET
A blouse: I thought about it - told you, I'm stubborn ...
But even as a blouse, it still does not look good at the waist. Nah, I am telling you, it's a wadder.

I already feel much better about it, though. The Board Therapy.

And I know the cure: a knit dress or a skirt, any skirt.(Without waist gathers and made from high quality fabric, that is !)
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There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. - L. Cohen.
  
Member since 7/23/07
Posts: 7276
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Posted on: 11/11/10 5:10 PM ET
zazzie - you have my admiration for even trying this. With my proportions, and particularly with a print like the one in the photo, I know it would have looked like a bath robe on me.

Can you even salvage a scarf maybe?
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http://bgballroom.wordpress.com to follow the progress on my next ballgown.
  
Member since 12/2/09
Posts: 1977
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Posted on: 11/11/10 5:59 PM ET
Are you willing to do anything to it at this point? You could turn the gathers into pleats or darts (or a combination), or just shape the middle into waist-sized instead of gathered.
  
Member since 8/24/02
Posts: 13492
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Posted on: 11/11/10 6:48 PM ET
In reply to Coconuts
Coconuts is right: If you dart that waistline fullness out, you can still get the softness and fullness that flatter the bosom, while making the midriff seem slim.

But I sympathize: I have learned, to my sorrow, that my chest and shoulders morph me into a fullback in drag if I dare any pattern with gathers in that region. Add waistline gathers and you get an overage German barmaid NOT in drag--worse still.
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Elona
  
Member since 3/20/07
Posts: 276
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Posted on: 11/11/10 7:27 PM ET
Oh.
I cut the flimsy ties and tried the dress with a wide belt.

A world of difference! There are still some small gathers above and under the belt, but that's actually pretty and flattering.

You see, the ties do NOT rest wide on the waist like the pattern photo (picture a single layer silky tie wrapped around your waist ...).

Anyway, sentence suspended for one last attempt.

If it fails, it will have a second llife as "Swiffer-like rags".
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There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. - L. Cohen.
  
Member since 3/27/02
Posts: 1586
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Posted on: 11/11/10 7:58 PM ET
I think it would look really pretty under a long jacket, too. I love the contrast between soft and tailored.

@Elona That barmaid-not-in-drag reference killed me! I get no end of entertainment trying to picture myself in a dirndl.
  
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