Simpicity 2219: Again

When my first version of this dress (which started out as a muslin, but turned out to be wearable) turned out so well, I set out to make my sister the same dress, but without the sleeves. I found a fabric that suited her to a 'T' at Best Online Fabrics on Ebay. They were very accommodating in sending me a custom invoice for my requested yardage. In fact, they only had 2 pieces left, which added up to more than my required yardage, so they actually sent me extra for free. Which is good because it turned out that I totally needed it.

This dress was a darn train wreck! I must've been overconfident, because I had to completely start over on the bodice not once, but twice. The first time I had to completely re-cut out the pieces (thank goodness I had that extra yardage!)

The first time, I was zipping right along. Got the bodice pieces attached to the lining, trimmed my seams (more like butchered the poor things) turned it right side out & discovered I didn't like how the center front 'V' looked. It just didn't lay right. Of course, ripping & re-sewing wasn't the easy option since all my seam allowances were varying widths. That'll teach me.

So I re-cut the pieces. And re-sewed the pieces. And I was zipping right along. I came to the point in the instructions for attaching the sleeves. Since I wasn't doing sleeves, I turned the page over to skip it. And what do you know? Lo & behold there are COMPLETELY different instructions for sewing the bodice without the sleeves. See, in Views A & B, attaching the sleeves finishes the outer seams of the bodice. No sleeves--no finish. Which I would have figured out had I spent more than 2 seconds thinking about the whole thing--or, gee golly, looking at the construction steps.  So, out came my seam ripper again.

And then I really did zip right along. The rest of the dress came together beautifully. Once it was all together I tried it on, since my sister & I are about the same size.

And my heart stopped. The bodice was low on the sides. You could see my bra! Like, a lot of my bra. My main reason for choosing this pattern was for ease of wearing. So, I took it off & set it aside. Later that night, laying in bed, it dawned on me. I have sloping shoulders. Significantly sloping shoulders. That would account for the low bodice. So, I basted the sloping shoulder alteration on to the shoulders. It certainly wasn't pretty, but it did the trick. And told me that I was the problem. Not the dress. What a relief!

All in all, it was well worth it. My sister loves her new dress & has plans to buy a new pair of shoes to match.  And as for me, I'm jealous of her new dress & am working on some alterations to make my very own sleeveless version. 

Oh. I almost forgot the finishing touch, the custom, coordinating label.