Vintage Girl Dress

Vintage girl summer dress, well I thought it was a little vintagy especially because of the polka dots, but its just a modification of the  Mela summer dress.
Loved the complements we got on this one - Notice the WE :) and I loved it too. Totally!
This post is full of photos, sorry I couldn't choose any less amongst the nearly 100 I took. You read it right! Allow me and I'll post all 100. Every angle the dress looks beautiful. When did I learn to boast what I've done. :) Feel so satisfied with this one. :)
Have to show you the inside of the dress as well. Not a single seam seen. Yes, not a single - all seams are hidden. I'll take some more and show you.

Love this photo - the back lighting emphasizing the back.

Sewing Pattern:

I used the Mela summer dress free pattern for this. I elongated the bodice, elminated the elastic back.
Added a full circle skirt. I've made about 20 circle skirts up until now and let me tell you I've found circle skirts the most difficult to finish.

Sewing problems and learning:

1. Circle skirt bias hanging problem:

Difficult fabrics tend to hang on the bias differently. What I mean is that any dress or skirt sewn on the bias has a tendency to hang or elongate on the portions that is hanging on the bias. By hanging I mean the skirt or dress area falling towards ground due to gravity.

So I hung the wet rather drenched dress 24 hours, hoping it will drop or hang but after 24 hours when I measured it it didn't seem to have hung. Well I don't have a mannequin and by no means can I measure it on my model daughter if it was equidistant from waist to hem. If I measure it manually, the angles can't get right and also due to the elastic on the back it was making matters worse to measure. 

Got an idea with this. Whilst cutting it, I'll insert pins where I need to measure after finishing the bodice and waistband.

Wonder how they do it commercially?  Would they need to have some maths that this type of fabric with hang or drop by this cm so would they cut the pattern shorter on the bias by that cm? Let me know anyone please?

2. Circle skirt hem finish: 

Steam Iron magic

I've used double fold to finish the circle skirt and I'm really pleased. This is the best finish I've had for a curved hem. I recently bought a new iron - a steam iron - Rowenta DW6010 Eco Focus Steam Iron, I'd suggest you all to buy a steam iron. You can skip step d on this. Save some time :)

3. Matching threads and preparation with bobbin thread.

In several photos you can see here I ran out bobbin thread and the matching thread as well. Just being overly lazy. I used matching thread on top and managed with white bobbin thread but it's not always you can manage - many times you would need to finish from the wrong side. When will I learn?

4. Attaching circle skirt with straight waistband:

I used my tutorial of sewing curved seams. In a circle skirt the stitching line across the waist is larger than the cutting line curve. How do I make the cutting curve same as stitching curve? clip clip clip!!

Simple? I got this perfect here.

Photos:

Have a great week!
Preethi

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