Partially lined dress has bias front pleated bodice, bias midriff, slightly shaped front hemline, invisible side zipper and narrow hem. Here is where you can see a picture of the pattern envelope.
Suzi Chin Pattern
Well, I finally am down two pattern sizes and sewed this up in a 16. I feel like the waist is still a little snug, but with summer coming up and my passion for running and riding my bike, I am hoping to knock another inch off my waist.
Plus
wearing a cotton cami under a knit dress isn’t such a great idea. I was too lazy
to remove it for the pictures. So here is what I did with the pattern, some things worked, and some didn’t! Please don’t make my mistakes!!!
The pattern calls for a two-way stretch knit and that is what I used. So, in what I thought was a stroke of brilliance, I thought I could line the bodice with a woven. Wow was I having a brain-fart. What was I thinking? Lining a knit with a woven? Someone slap me upside the head next time I think something that ridiculous would work. That little mistake cost me many hours of deconstructing the entire thing and staring over. Since I thought I was being so incredibly smart and used the woven, I didn’t even bother to purchase the Tricot for the lining. After my hour or two of deconstruction, I searched all over Sioux Falls and couldn’t find any Tricot in stock anywhere, so I headed up to my lingerie drawer and found two discarded slips. Slips? Really? Does anyone wear those anymore that is under the age of 75? Oops! I hope my mother in law isn’t reading this, she tends to buy everyone slips when she notices us girls aren’t wearing one!
So, I cut those slips apart to match the pattern pieces, restitched the entire thing, put the invisible zipper back in and viola! I have a completed dress!
The dress is a little shorter than I would normally have liked it, but my husband thinks I now have the legs for it, so I won’t do anything about it. Not that I could, I don’t have enough fabric to recut the skirt and since I purchased it five months ago halfway across the country, I am out of luck.
What did I like or dislike?
Putting in the invisible zipper with all the shirring was tortureous to say the least and after one try I ended up hand basting it so all the seams lined up.
I lifted the neckline that is under the drape by 1.5 inches and feel it is still too low. I am wearing a cami underneath and you can see it.
I love the draping and skirt lines. The side zip makes the back fit well.
I made my usual erect back/sway back adjustment of lowering the back neckline by 1/2 inch.
I wish my slips had been ivory instead of white, but you can’t see the lining at all, so that is a bonus.
If you read any of my other reviews regarding knit fabrics, you would know that unfinished edges drive me batty so even though I didn’t need to do this extra step, I did: I turned under the edge of the facing and edge stitched it with two rows of stitching. I love how polished it looks.
Also on the bodice front, the neck edge is simply rolled to the inside, again, unfinished. Well, guess what I did with that? Yep, you got it, I finished that edge with my serger, turned it under and topstitched it.
I will warn you there is quite a bit of hand sewing the lining to the bodice. I like hand stitching, in moderation that is, so it didn’t bother me.
All in all, I think this dress is worth stitching up. Please make a muslin. I wish I would have!
Have fun with this one.
Oh, and please forgive the rather poor quality of the pictures. I tried something new with my camera and it didn’t work out how I wanted it to!
Happy sewing!
Sue
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