My Dress ... all finished

I finished my dress today ... except for the hem

The alteration I took around the neck (see my blog from May 30th) made some other things change and need fixing.

I used some slightly different sewing methods than are in the sewing instructions. Simplicity gives instructions that, they believe, will be the best for most people, but there are always different ways to to things.  Everyone should have at least one good sewing book to look for techniques that will work best with the fabric chosen. I probably own 20 ... really.

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Remember the slight pinch I took in the center front seam because is was buckling and to raise the "V" of the neck.  Well, when I put on the facing, things didn't line up.  But since it wasn't too far off, I just made my 5/8" seam following the higher edge of the dress, instead of the facing.  I was planning on trimming away the seam anyway before turning.  Then I finished it with understitching and pressing, so it worked fine.

Also, shortening the the neckline made the armhole smaller.  I pressed the 1/4" fold along the edge of the armhole bias as instructed, but I didn't sew the ends together or bother trying to line up the notches.  Instead, I sewed the bias around the armhole fitting it as I went.  You can see there is about 1" left over.

No problem ... I just trimmed it off.

I then clipped and trimmed back the seam allowance and understitched as instructed, but decided to hand stitch the bias to the dress instead of topstitching, simply because I didn't want any topstitching showing.

But, there is some hand stitching I changed to machine stitching.  Instead of hand stitching the lower edge of the waistband lining, I pressed a 3/8" fold in it, pinned it in place from the outside directly along the seam line and machine stitched in the crack of the seam (called "stitch in the ditch")  I think this is stronger and lays flatter.

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OH ... AND ONE CONFESSION!
In my haste to sew this dress up, I kind of skimmed the instructions and didn't realize the pocket on the left side has to be constructed very differently than the right side because the zipper runs up the left side seam.  So, I had to pick off the pocket halves off the skirt pieces on the front and back left seam AFTER I had serged them ... grrrrrr ... but, it turned out OK.

So, here is the inside of my dress.  You can see I used solid white cotton for the pockets and waistband lining.  I didn't wan the shadow of the print showing through.

And here's the outside of the dress with me in it. I was worried this fabric would be too sheer and I would have to make a slip, but I'm wearing dark brown shorts under it and I don't think they show.  It's cooler that way on a hot summer's day.

The first time I wear it with the pretty aqua shoes I just got I will have my husband take a proper photo of me so I can share it with you.