Thursday, January 17, 2013

Help!

Oh no! I bought my pattern today at the $1 McCall's sale, and it hit me that there are princess seams in the front and back. But here's my fabric draped on my dress form.
Long curvy lines that don't want to be thrown off by seams...I'm trying to hold it out for you.
So I'm thinking that I may try and pin the skirt pieces together to get one big piece, then it hits me that the bodice will be jacked up with seams too. So maybe I'll pin the pieces together and cut one big piece? The back looks fine...
Oh crap, there's no way the front is going to work with the bust shaping.
Any of you dressmakers have any advice for me? Add some darts to the bodice instead of the princess seams? What will that do to the boning? I figured I'd still cut the lining with seams to keep that part the same. Abandon this pattern-fabric pairing altogether and find another dress style? Watch reruns of Project Runway to see if I can learn draping really quick?

On a lighter note, the pattern is cute - it has this whole page about sketching your design and trying different fabrics and trims on your little paper doll.
And I picked this up for $1 too - remember this is the dress I wanted to buy from the show, but they changed it in the store and it was a ridiculous price, if I remember correctly...
And finally, my precious and gainfully employed oldest son. It took a long time, but he finally found a job - and he's happy! How awesome is it to have a happy teenager in the house?!
Yeah, I'm just stalling. Back upstairs to think about this dress... Yeah, I thought about it - am I making too big a deal out of adding seams and throwing the print off a little bit?

5 comments:

gwensews said...

If you want to preserve the integrity of that print, you're going to have to ditch the princess seams and find a pattern that has some vertical darts. It is apparent that you have male teenage children because if you had girl teenagers--there would never be happiness in your home!

Anonymous said...

Gwen is very funny and wise -- I remember being a teenage girl :)
As for the dress, a darted bodice would preserve the pattern of the fabric more but my recent dress had princess seams and a loud print and I think it turned out ok. I just tried to lay out adjoining pieces close together when cutting out. You could always add some piping ;)

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

I assume you raised girls! I do remember a little more drama from my sister and myself at home, except for that time my brother said he wanted to quit piano...and that time he said he wanted to be a taxidermist...maybe he had more drama!

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Ooh, those are big boots to fill (and I checked out the Stuart Weitzmans - nice!). You did a stunning job on your bodice. I may just go for it!

Sheila said...

Glad you were able to get some helpful suggestions, btw. Love the fabric.