Finished Project: Simplicity 1872 with Sleeves and a Dirndl Skirt

After complaining profusely in my last post, I should tell you I do feel human again. It's a wonderful thing to enjoy going outside outside again after weeks of praying for rain to wash the pollen away (FYI: complaining is praying for secular people).

Sometime this Spring I sewed this lovely little dress, though I have yet to wear it truly. I plan on wearing it to dinner at X20 on the Hudson with my husband when we celebrate our 5th anniversary in mid-June (turns out five wedded years years = wooden anniversary, which will be appropriate because on our actual anniversary we will be in the deep wilderness in British Columbia visiting my dad at the totally inaccesible-by-road property where he lives. My dad has had to shoot two bears there already this Spring (not for fun or sport — for protection), so wearing a little number like this is out of the question there: I'd look delicious to a bear in this, sort of blood-splattered, wouldn't you say?) 

Anyway, the bodice and sleeves of this dress are Simplicity 1872, which is a Cynthia Rowley pattern I was given by the Team at Kollabora.com, a new website in development that will be both an online community of crafters posting their projects and sharing skills and a marketplace where you can buy the stuff needed to make a project you see there. I already made one version of this dress. I'll show you both and tell you what I did to make this one better than the first. 

This version, which I do believe I'll wear a lot, is sewn from a lightweight silk (from Metro Textile Corp. on 37th Street in New York's Garment District). It was quite sheer, so I lined the bodice and sleeves with white silk, and made a white slip to wear on the bottom (incidentally, sewn from a silk maternity top that I had ruined somehow with a stain). The skirt is just two gathered rectangles because I wanted something simpler and less twirly than the original skirt, which is very flirty, as you can see here:

If you're thinking I look flat-chested and big-hipped in this pose, it's probably because I am. Also, this dress ended up too big, which doesn't help. I love the colour and shine of this cotton sateen and think it would make a very cute holiday frock — for someone with a bigger bust than me. And maybe a few inches taller.  I'm thinking of giving it away on my blog. If I had bigger closets I would just save it for my daughter. She's probably going to be taller and have a bigger chest than me in a couple years, damn her.

For my second version, I cut the smallest size (even though I feared not being able to pull it over my head — there are no closures in this dress, which makes it easy for beginners). I also cut over an inch from the long straight edge of the front wrap pieces. The original was a little too modest for me. I like a little cleavage. But then, of course, I ran into the problem of the front wrap pieces gaping, so I added a hook-and-eye closure right at my bust and it works beautifully:

Instant slut-but-not-too-much

I also added an elastic at the waist to make the shape a little more defined. The skirt weighs down the original version, and I think it would have done the same here with the dirndl skirt. But with the elastic, it keeps the skirt up in place, and allows for a little more of a natural drape through the bodice, which is less flattening. I really dig it. Love the colour, love what it does for me:

As always, I got photobombed a lot:

Better to just embrace it:

One thing I learned in sewing the first version of Cynthia Rowley's Simplicity 1872 was how easy it is to make thread belt loops — and how they really keep a belt in its place. (Since sewing the first I went back and added thread belt loops to every dress I have ever sewn that requires being belted!). My husband was on a three-week break from ad school while I worked on that chartreuse dress and post, and so he volunteered to help me make a little video on how to make thread belt loops. They're one of those things that is ultra easy to do, but (for me anyway) really hard to figure out from a diagram in a book. SO I thought I'd preach it here with a link to my video. Enjoy!