Simplicity 2444

Two posts in one week! Today I have the day at home by myself! Amazing. This is because next week I am going to a conference on tuesday, a day I don't usually work. So I got today off in lieu of tuesday. Yay! A whole day of uninterrupted sewing and catching up on episodes of my favourite TV series. I'm also going for a long run this arvo before picking up Little M - I've got Run For The Kids on sunday and need to fit a long one in before doing the 15km circuit on sunday.

Anyway, onto to the sewing! I made Simplicity 2444 a couple of weeks ago.

It is made in a cotton sateen from Spotlight that Leith picked up for me when my local Spotlight didn't have it. Thanks Leith!

See that sneaky little baby getting in on the fun!

This dress is not a difficult make, but as per usual, I had to adjust the pattern to get it to fit. I made a size 12, but it was gaping very badly at the neckline. So I followed Leith's suggestion and slashed up the centre of all the darts (4 in the front bodice and 2 in the back bodice) and folded out the excess at the neckline. I folded out approximately 10cm in total! Weird pattern drafting I have to say. I'm pretty broad shouldered so I'm not sure who they're drafting for.

That is the only alteration I made, apart from lining the dress (the pattern doesn't call for lining - again something I find odd). I also changed to a handpicked zip at the CB instead of an invisible zip as I've had two invisible zips break on me lately. I'm just not in the mood for the trouble they cause so I used a regular zip. I think I prefer the way the invisible zips look though - what are your preferences?

This cotton sateen is very stiff, so it makes me think this dress probably needs a fabric with a fair amount of structure to make it sit nicely.

Cheeky little baby. She was dancing all over the place.

I made this as a work dress and have had so many nice compliments. A few of the women at work have bought sewing machines as they like my handmade garments! It is great when people get interested in sewing... then there are more people for me to talk endlessly to!  

Miz Mozelle...... Modified

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence. I've been busy sewing but have been having one of those periods where I find it impossible to get photos of the things I've made. Does that happen to you too?

One of my recent makes has been the Jamie Christina Miz Mozelle Dress. I bought this pattern after seeing Cirque Du Bebe's version. My goodness she looks so gorgeous in it.

When I got the pattern I had second thoughts. I didn't really think I could pull off the Peter Pan collar without looking too cutesy. Especially with my cropped hair cut. So I thought I would give the pattern away. But then in Sydney Leith and I were walking past a very cute shop in Surrey Hills that had an extremely similar dress in the window, just not with a Peter Pan collar or keyhole. So I did a very simple modification to the Miz Mozelle pattern:

As you can see, a very complicated alteration there. I just followed the CF line up to the neckline and cut the whole bit on the fold. This is how it turned out:

I bound the neckline as I didn't have the collar. I also didn't add the elastic. This was because I thought I was being really smart and sewed the bodice pieces to their skirt pieces BEFORE sewing the side seams. This of course mean that it wasn't possible to create a casing out of the seam allowances. Woops. Ah well - the belt brings it all in so I'm not too worried.

The fabric is either from Tessuti or the Remnant Warehouse. I bought some from each place. I made something out of the Tessuti length but then chopped it back up again as I didn't like it.

So - what do you think of the modification? I'm thinking of making another version in some Liberty jersey I have - what do you think?