I went with the size 4 on top and size 10 waist. I think it looks a lot better. The puffiness of the gathers should be lessened by the weight of the skirt.
The back has some movement, good. I had my oldest daughter take another:
This just looks a touch loose to me. Good. Woven fabrics need “ease” so the wearer can move. When this has a skirt, I’m sure it will look fine.
Okay, I bit. There’s a newer pattern company called Colette Patterns that have come out with some gorgeous patterns. I picked up Chantilly and hope to have it made up shortly. My dilemma? According to the pattern sizing, I’m a 4 on top and a 10 from the waist down! Wow, what childbearing can do to a figure! So, it’s time to mock up. In sewing terms, making a pattern, or part of a pattern in a similar yet less expensive fabric is called making a muslin, because traditionally this is done in the fabric called muslin. I haven’t any muslin lying around, so I’m using some pretty red fabric I have. There’s only two yards, so I couldn’t get a dress from it anyway. Maybe if it fits, though, I could get some contrast fabric for the skirt.
I read everywhere that Colette patterns run large. And they’re made for a C cup.. Yeah, so first I tried it with size 4 on top and size 6? For the band. Obvious to me are the side-to-side wrinkles indicating that my well-rounded belly needs more space.
Again in the back, I’m on the right track on top. This size fit my ribcage fine, but I didn’t widen it out enough below that.
More later!
Sunday morning I woke late. I had planned to wash a load of laundry, but there wasn’t time! I looked around and found this “wearable muslin” that I had started. It needed only 3 things: zipper, sleeves, hem.
I cannot recall ever having made or purchased any item of yellow clothing for myself. Until now.
Elegant Musing’s Casey hosted a Swing Dress Sew-A-Long recently. Sense & Sensibility Patterns sells the 1940′s Swing Dress downloadable pattern for about $10. Why not? I need a couple new summery dresses.
I printed the pattern and taped it together, then traced it into interfacing, basted the bodice together, and pin-fitted it.
I took out an inch from the shoulder gathers and an half inch from the length of the bodice, but I think that was conservative as I still have about an half inch too much length! There’s a bit of blousiness built in to this style, and I need some room to move, yes, but I think the bodice is still a bit long for my frame.
Overall, I’m happy with it. I lined the entire dress, flat-felled all the shirt seams, added pockets, left off the ties, used Casey’s zipper instructions, Quietude’s nursing adaptation (I still need to add snaps! I used safety pins so I could wear it to church Sunday), and 
Here’s the inside. The lining is eyelet. I set it so it just shows the tips of the lacy edge under my dress hem – I didn’t want to have it fully exposed, but I can easily bring up the dress gem to show off a few inches of eyelet.
Ben says it’s cheerful.
Next time:
-Try taking some under-bust gathers out (see Slapdash’s “I Can Buy Cheap, Cute Bras Bust Adjustment” for SBA hints – I love the hint to reduce the length of the edge on a crossover/ surplice style blouse or dress), then decide if another half inch needs to be gone. I usually have to remove two or more inches from the over bust length of store bought patterns, and the pattern instructions say this is made for a long torso.
-Add a little more ease at the base of the waist curve for my belly (5 babies leave a softened curve).
-Try another style pockets, though these patch pockets are nice.
I found some steel blue fabric and olive green taffeta on the clearance rack and thought that would make a pretty dress. I would make it blue with the green as lining. I bought plenty of each for that, and a grey zipper. After I got home, I just liked the green too much to hide it, so I pulled out some old sheets that had tears and cut that as the lining.
I didn’t measure myself. And as much as I like this dress, I made it too small.
MissB found the pieces she needed for her dress pattern. She dutifully cut out enough pieces to make a dress and she used the machine to sew them together. Right sides out. Seams blazing in the sun. But she couldn’t figure out why the skirt was so much wider than the top! Finally, she asked for assistance. I helped her gather it, and showed her that if she put the right sides together, the seam is smoother when done. She did a great job!!
When my MIL was here, she’d let the girls pick a new pattern each. MissB chose McCall M5554. I managed to cut it out while Grandma was here, and now the girls have a new doll dress.
Every so often I shop for old patterns. Once I found an adorable size 2T dress. It had a scalloped neck edge with a few buttons, and it seemed to be a crossover bodice that continued onto just the front of the skirt. The sides and back were gathered for fullness. In the Great Craftroom Gutting, the pattern pieces were lost. How? I have no clue!! The instruction sheet remained neatly in its special tomb-like bag, but the pieces are gone.
On many of the older patterns, the pieces are drawn nearly to scale. So, off to the scanner I went and enlarged the page 200%. Our victim? Dora!!
She needs a new shirt, apparently. First order of business: mend the shirt!
Okay, so the pieces aren’t perfectly to scale, but they’re close enough. I tossed the facings after noticing they were quite ill sized for this. Facings patterns are easy enough: just trace the pattern piece that needs facing, but just leave off what would be a couple/few inches from the edge. In this case, about a quarter to half inch. 
Oh no! I’ve put the sleeve on the wrong way! No loss without gain: there’s one of the facings we just discussed.
I fumbled through the pattern, looking at directions only when completely muddled. I should have read step 3. It’s made to be a pullover dress with ties for sizing. I thought it was buttoned closed, so I hadn’t entertained the idea of connecting the bodice halves before sewing the skirt together. Dress makers in the day were clever!!
For Dora, I shortened the skirt by about a third, and could have shortened the waist by a scallop. I think it worked out nice, and I’d like to make it another 200% bigger for the doll I recently made.
when MissC saw Dora in her fancy new dress, she decided Boots needed a new shirt, so he was given Dora’s hand-me-down. That’s a little sister.
I saw a cute doll this weekend and decided to buy her. I have been doing better about not buying spur of the moment.. Yet, she looked so sweet that I went ahead. The Moxie Dolls are a little shorter than Barbie, with bigger heads. Almost a Pullip or Blythe crossed with Skipper. This one was dressed as Alice in Wonderland. And she was passed around and admired by all the children before I could get a picture.
Today (Sunday), the church had baptisms on the beach. On the drive there & back, I was able to try a couple patterns. The first didn’t work on her, but the second.. I finished the bodice during a movie tonight & like it as is, though the pattern calls for sleeves. The pattern is Long Tunic for the free Spirit Amigurumi pattern.
http://sites.google.com/site/designbybethann/home/links/FSLongTunic.pdf?attredirects=0 (I’ll get the links normalized soon, I hope. I haven’t got the HTML memorized now..)
I hope to make her a skirt over the next few days.
Our church was putting on a colonial-themed Independence Day Picnic in the Park. I didn’t have time to costume us all, but these dresses are so quick!
Enjoy the freedom in Christ our forefathers bought for us!
