Another Frock by Friday FAIL!!

So, you'd think that by now I would have learned to measure the patterns and test fitted them to myself to make sure I'm cutting out the right size. WRONG!! My first frock, the coffee date dress (this link is to Grosgrain's tutorial), fit perfect!

My second frock, the shirt waist dress, was WAY to big, but now fits perfect, I just still need to fix the sleeve caps.
My third frock shown above, the Tara dress (which was purchased on BurdaStyle here), is too small! I LOVE this fabric...because of it I didn't have to hem the bottom AND it was a clearance fabric for about $2 a yard. I bought 2 yards....I barely have enough to fix my error once, then after that, no more! Oh, and can you also spot what I sewed on wrong?? It's not hanging wrong, it's hanging the way I sewed it on. DOH!

I just bought some more clearance fabric...I hope to sew Grosgrain's Anda Frock by Friday next week. We'll see if that happens since toddler is now FOUR!! and starts PRESCHOOL!!! Oh where have the years gone!

Second Frock by Friday.....FAIL!!

Looks decent for being a FAIL doesn't it? There are several reasons it's a fail, though it is fixable. After having a friend over for lunch (who's way more fashion savvy than I am) we came up with some good ideas. (Don't look at my hair, I just combed it out and it was still drying.)
First off, I'm wearing the belt too low, it needs to be higher up on my natural waist, but that's not why it's a fail. And after posting all about it here, I changed the skirt back to the original pattern with the elastic in the hem instead of widening it, the A-line skirt does not look good with the top part. The entire pattern would need to be altered to get it to look good as an A-line skirt. That FAIL part was fixed. After finishing the sleeve caps for a second time, the armhole is still too gaping for me to wear it comfortably. FAIL!!
This pic shows the gaping armhole the first time I finished it. It also shows how the sleeve cap did not line up with my shoulder, so I had to cut the top pieces to a smaller size. The third time around...not sure when that will be....I'm just going to remove the sleeve cap altogether and line the whole sleeve opening with single fold bias tape made from the polkadot fabric. Wish me luck!
This pic shows how large the largest size is on me. I mis-measured the whole thing. I'm not sure what size the finished dress ended up being. Below is the pic I took to compare the largest size to a more fitted size (possibly the smallest). The first FAILURE I did was to mis-cut the button placket way back in the beginning of June because I didn't read the placket tutorial's instructions closely and was off by just a 1/4"!!! AND I READ THEM NUMEROUS TIMES AS I WAS CONSTRUCTING IT!!! I was so mad at myself for that mistake. It's a very well written tutorial by Rachel Writes and it was very clear on how to create the placket. Just be warned that it's a placket which shows the accent fabric on the front of the dress, it does not hide it inside as the one on Grosgrain's does. I ended up patching the bottom of the placket with the polka dot fabric matching up the pattern so that it blends right in.
See my lazy cat on the bed?? And the boys wrestling?? Well, I'm off to sew a friends dress for her cousin's wedding. I've got to redo the back pieces since they were an inch too small. If I'm on top of it, I may blog about it soon too!! Happy sewing!

Frock Update

Well, I didn't quite get my frock made by last Friday. I don't think I even had it cut out yet. I had a lot of contemplating to do between the two yards of circle fabric and the four yards of floral fabric which would need to be lined. Lets keep it simple......no lining for me!!The yoke piece was my reason for contemplation...I had to cut the yoke into two just so that I could go forth with my two yards of the circle fabric. Here's how it laid out...

Instead of folding the selvages towards the center, I folded the cut ends towards the center plus overlapped them a few inches to get the complete angle out of the skirt that I made fuller, which was a large part of my problem. I managed to squeeze all the necessary pieces out of just two yards. I had to piece together the belt band, but I got it. I also only had 1/2 yard of the teal and had to squeeze all the pieces out of it, plus piece together the belt band again AND piece together single fold bias tape, but it all worked out. It's amazing what you can make to wear out of just two yards of fabric!!
You can see my scrap piles on the bottom, the left one of small pieces and the right one of trash. The left pile is even smaller now since I made the bias tape.
Here's what I got done last night. I would have been finished through Thursday's instructions, but I didn't sew the two side seams together and the buttons and button holes are not done. After putting it on the dress form, I thought it looked frumpy. After all that contemplating of choosing which fabric to use, then barely squeezing all the darn pattern pieces out of just two yards, I cut it a few sizes too big!! Yay for owning an adjustable dress form!! Tomorrow I might pin it all to fit properly and really see how many sizes too big it is. Oh, and I totally screwed up on the placket, but that's going to be a whole other post.

Happy June 1st!

Wednesday's Frock Update

Yesterday's A Frock by Friday progress was a piece of cake, today's was a pain in the rear!! I overlooked the part where you sew the ruffle on in steps, for some reason I thought we were just pinning it and gonna sew it today. Well, today I sewed the ruffle on, then misunderstood how to do the top part of the ruffle. The first photo shows my error, it looked pretty baaaaadd. The second shows my correction. The first pic is also really yellow...my bird swing tutorial pics were yellow too, but then I didn't wait for daylight and my table is yellowish wood. My photography skills sometime frustrate me. >:| And now that I'm looking at the pics compared to Grosgrains pics...I did the top part of the ruffle WRONG AGAIN!!! I just noticed that my ruffle finished on the left and her's finished on the right, so I took an even closer look...I totally skipped a swoop in the ruffle and took it to the top!!! AAAHHH!! Do I rip it all out or do I leave it?? WHY do I miss these things?? WHY???

Really wrong attached top ruffle.

Kinda wrong attached ruffle (in the seam).

I also did a zig-zag stitch along the skirt seams and trimmed close to it. I like a cleaner seam. I can't wait for tomorrow's tutorials!! I'd like to have this done before Friday for my husband's fire academy graduation ceremony...at my rate, with my errors and overlooks...I may not make it....plus the weather has been windy and rainy and not even in the 60's...it may just be too cold to wear it. :(

Frock Update

WHEW!! That was fast and easy...now it's lunchtime!!

Maybe these pics will give a better idea how the sash works with the rest of the dress.

Grosgrains: A Frock by Friday!

I'm participating in Grosgrains A Frock by Friday sew-along...I'm SO EXCITED that this talented woman is sharing her secrets and inviting us all to join her!!! I have waited SO LONG for her to have a tutorial of this type!! Yippeeee!! Below are my fabric selections for the dress and optional sash, however, after speaking with my hubby, he'll be wearing a navy uniform this Friday for his fire academy graduation ceremony, so I got to thinking...
Should I stick with my original color combination...or...
Should I match his uniform color?? There is a light blue and navy pinstripe in the fabric, so it's not like I'm pulling it out of nowhere...It's a navy fabric with stars on it...a little too mystical for the stripe pattern, but since I need to go buy a zipper, I could also buy a solid navy that matches his uniform color better. What do you all think?? Maroon sash or navy sash??