So, I have assembled the dress and have tried it on.  Notice I've left off the neck facing, even though the instructions say that's the first thing to do.  I find I often have to shorten the length of a dress from the shoulders to the waist, so I didn't want to sew on the neck facing yet, incase I had to change the neckline.  Which is EXACTLY what I am going to have to do. 

Forgive the bad photo, but I hope you can see that I have pinned up the shoulder seam and pinned in a little in the center front.  I don't want quite that much of a plunging neckline!

Once the dress is off, I can see that I pinned up exactly 1/2" at each shoulder.  BUT, I don't want to make the alteration there, because it will distort the front and back yokes.  Instead I will pick off front bodice from the front yoke and the back bodice from the back yoke and trim away 1/2" from the upper edges of front and back bodice.

Like this ... 

This is the upper edge of the front bodice.  I did the same thing with the back bodice

This means the front neckline is now 1/2" shorter than it was, so the front neck facing need to be altered as well.
I have made a 1/2" fold across the neck facing and pinned it with the yellow ball headed pin.  Then when I laid it on my already cut out neck facing there was 1/2" of extra fabric to trim off.  Sometimes an alteration like this can change the shape of a facing so much that a whole new piece needs to be cut, but I was lucky this time. But, I did pin in the front a little, I hope I don't have to change the neck facing anymore.  

I did promise a fringe and pom-pon tutorial for my new Pillow Pattern ... haven't forgotten ... look for it on Monday June 3.

I just noticed my new pillow pattern is in the catalog!  I finished my work on this pattern in October, so it's always a nice surprise when I see it officially published.

Next time I will show you how I made the fringe and pom-pons for two of the pillows.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Here is my personal photo of all these pillows before I packed them up in a box to send to New York.

If you look closely, there are a couple pillows here that didn't make it into the pattern envelope.  This usually happens.  It's just editing ... like the text of a book gets when sent into the publisher.
Simplicity chooses the best of the lot.

Here is one of the photos I sent in to Betsy Burger, the design director, for her approval of the fabrics I chose.
 

NEXT TIME ... fringe and pom-pon tutorial

Here is what I am making for myself right now. Below is an old New Look pattern I love and have used a few times and a new Cynthia Rowley dress I'm just getting started on.

I just finished this blouse made from a beautiful 100% cotton eyelet I bought at JoAnn's last year.  I used all the fabric which gave me 3/4 sleeves that I can roll to the length I want.  I didn't have enough for the full length sleeve, but I didn't want this blouse to have short sleeves or be sleeveless.

Here is my start on the Cynthia Rowley dress.  This is a cotton lawn I bought at www.fashionfabricsclub.com. I first serged the ends of my fabric so I could wet it, put it through the spin cycle in my washer and then into the dryer.  Next I pressed out the wrinkles and cut it out.  And as my Grandmother told me ... "well begun is half done"

more to come ....

It's Memorial Day 2013. I just got back from a bike ride/picnic with my husband and today is the day to launch this blog.
I have a little down time right now and it is my chance to make some summer clothes for myself.
I just made a simple blouse with a really pretty white overall eyelet and have a length of black cotton with a border of eyelet that I want to figure out how to make a skirt out of. I'll try to have some photos of these things in a day or two.
But, in the mean time ... if anyone actually runs across this new site.  Please let me know if there is any thing you want me to talk about or sewing tip I can demonstrate.
CHEERS!