Trials and errors

My rediscovered love of sewing over the last year or so owes a lot to the allure of making my own clothes.  I've been growing out of the high street (literally and figuratively), and passing my time stitching things that fit well seems like a total win-win situation. The flaw in this plan is that although I know how to sew, I have more or less no idea about fitting and adjusting patterns.

Thus, I requested and received this book for Christmas. A revelation! It is possible to make dresses for people who have both small shoulders and large boobs! All you need to do is understand and follow the instructions...

So if I'm going to learn this thing, I'll be thorough. Oh yes. I will adjust the pattern and make a 'draft' dress out of calico first before unleashing my newly-acquired expertise on the expensive stuff.  In fact, I'm so thorough, I'll do this THREE TIMES! Because I actually prefer to learn by visualising my mistakes in 3D!

It all started well with L helping to make a nice colourful line of pins:

Imperfectly modified bodice #1: 'x' marks the, err, bust point.

Um, actually, no it doesn't. And the dart I added is pointing at the opposite armpit. And the calico practice dress is a bit spooky and unpleasant. Does it help I wonder that I picked a pattern which doesn't include useful information like ease and the finished dimensions?

I have no pictures of adjusted bodice #2 because it was 11pm on Sunday and I was pissed off. But I was so pleased with neat, tidy, accurate #3 that I can't resist showing it off (apart from forgetting to merge/cut the lines properly at the side of the dart, don't look at that bit).

 

The bodice result is more or less perfect (on me if not the dummy). However the skirt hangs like a sack.

By now though I am so fed up with trial and error that I have cut out the real thing and just done the skirt part the same but smaller. Let's hope this wasn't a(nother) monumental mistake.

Photos of the finished dress will follow, once I have it looking as fabulous as intended.