I am a former college professor educating my children, who are now 14 (Bug) and 11 (Monkey). We've been homeschooling for 8 years. Welcome to our small patch of peace.
I managed to complete the under tunic of Simplicity 1773, so on to the overdress. Oy, those sleeves! Again, if not for Professor Pincusion I would not have been able to do this project. The Simplicity pattern company is not well named. Or they believe in irony. Or sarcasm. Thank you, Professor Pincushion! (Please do more cool projects like this, please.)
The overdress is more forgiving because it is meant to be loose. It went much more smoothly than the under tunic. Of course, I had sizing problems with the under tunic and had to rip out seams several times. The overdress started coming together quickly.
I thought I would have problems with the boning but after watching the video it was fairly easy. My only issue was with the ribbon. The first time Bug tried this on three of the ribbon fastenings tore loose. The ribbons aren't just decoration-they are the only way to fasten the dress, so I should have anticipated that they would need to be sturdy. The instructions say just to baste them in place and sew the trim on top, and that was inadequate. I wasn't about to rip the bodice apart and re-do it. I sewed them back on top of the vertical ribbon trim but I stitched and back stitched over all of them on both sides, instead of just basting once and sewing once. Then I sewed another piece of ribbon trim right on top of the first one. I bet those little suckers will stay put now.
I did not like the way the back side of the shoulder straps are hand sewn onto the inside lining. I know it's just a costume and no one sees the inside, but it's ugly. It seems that the back side of the straps should have been sandwiched in like the front side is.
The sleeves have a tendency to fall off the shoulder so I sewed a hook onto the inside of the brown sleeve on each side and hid an eye under the ruffles of the green dress at the top of the shoulder to tack it in place.
The outer dress bears some resemblance to this outfit worn by the character Belle in the TV show Once Upon a Time.
I decided that I was going to learn how to sew, dammit. I can do simple things like pajama pants, blankets, cloaks, and basic doll clothes, but I have never sewn an actual garment. For Christmas this year I wanted a grown-up sewing machine-one that will do zippers and button holes and everything. I got my wish, so I had no more excuses.
Bug asked me if I would make the costume on the left. She and Monkey are writing a screenplay and this would be perfect for her character, she told me. Uh, sure.
I've never succesfully installed a zipper. Of course, I didn't have a zipper foot on my old sewing machine, which made things considerably more difficult. But do you see this costume? It has a zipper, BONING, and those sleeves! Professor Pincushion to the rescue!! I would not have been able to make this without these how-to videos.
The fabric store had a sale on Simplicity patterns, so I picked it up for $1. They also had one heck of an end of the year sale going on. Bug chose dark green satin for the under tunic, and brown microsuede for the outer dress. The fabric, notions, and trims for both pieces cost less than $50!
Even with the video help I had some challenges. First, Bug's measurements did not perfectly correspond to the sizes on the envelope. Since this is a fitted garment I probably would have been better off going with a size smaller. Once I figured that I out I was already knee deep in this project. I thought about making a muslin version first but when I looked at all those pieces I decided against it. Big beginner mistake.
It would have been much faster and easier to make the muslin and figure out all the problems than to redo the side seams(twice!) and rip open the beautiful seam on the shoulder strap to take it in. The strap looked like something out of Frankenstein when I was through. Luckily the ruffled trim covered up my butchery. The back of the undertunic gaped out about 3 inches where the top of the zipper should be and I had to figure out how to fix it. I later read pattern reviews and it seems to be a problem with the design, but choosing the wrong size certainly didn't help. I took it in at the back seam before installing the zipper. Yes, I put in a zipper! It isn't the prettiest job, but it does function. For a first try, it's not bad. And since it doesn't show once the over dress is on, I decided not to worry about the fact that it isn't perfectly even.
I wisely measured Bug's arms and cut smaller sleeves. It was still too long, but during one of a dozen fittings Bug asked for a design change to the sleeves, which turned out to be very easy and, I think, improved the look of the dress. It also made the length an advantage. The pattern calls for seven buttons on each sleeve at the wrist, but she discovered that if we just put in the upper 4, the lower sleeve would flare out. The inner sleeve is not designed to show. If I had made this in muslin I would have realized this and lined the entire lower half of the sleeve instead of just part of it, as the pattern dictates. I removed the remaining three button loops, closed the seam again, sewed on the upper four buttons, and the sleeves did look pretty cool.
Bug's sleeve design
The ruffled trim covers the butchered shoulder straps.
Bug wanted the uneven hem shown in the photograph.
This pattern was apparently inspired by the movie Snow White and the Huntsman. I heard it wasn't very good but I might have to watch it just for the costumes.
A few years ago I decided that we should celebrate Winter Solstice, and the tradition would involve either handmade, recycled, or nature-inspired gifts. Bug loved The Princess and the Frog so I made a cloth Tiana doll. I never could get the hang of making Waldorf dolls. The ones I see on Etsy are just phenomenal. My poor Tiana has a crinkly old lady neck. For Monkey I made a friendly fleece monster. It's kind of hard to screw up a monster. If one arm comes out shorter than the other it just adds to the character. We have kept this tradition and I enjoy it much better than Christmas. We turn off the TV, the video games, and the lights and enjoy a quiet candlelit evening.
I made this for my daughter at the height of her Hunger Games fascination a few years ago. The dress was very easy to make. I sewed bridal lace onto white satin for the bodice and the upper part of the skirt. The lower part of the skirt is black material onto which I sewed a black feather boa and tufts of orange and red tulle.
