Seamwork Emma dress
2023-Aug-08, Tuesday 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebeAnother rare moment folks. Seamwork's Emma is a princess seamed bodice dress, with a swooshy A-line skirt. It has fake lacing in the back, and closes with an invisible side zip. The bodice is fully lined, which means I have to make two bodices, and sew them back to back. So many little pieces! This took a while.
I traced a size 18 Curvy, based on measurements. I made one mockup of just the bodice. I found the armholes were too high. You can see it on the models too, the Curvy version has much higher armholes than the Misses version. So I lowered the armholes a bit (which thinned the front straps a bit in the process); changed pieces B (~1cm), C (3cm-2cm), E (3cm to nothing).
Seamwork designs for a height of 5'9", so I took 10cm/4" off the length of the skirt pieces. But while the bodice is fully lined, the skirt isn't lined at all. So I decided to flat-line it, and traced out the skirt pieces again for lining, taking off another 10cm/4" in length, for a total of 20cm/8".
For the fabric I used Nova Linen Viscose Mix (70% Viscose, 30% Linen), in black, 180gsm weight. I'd initially gotten this fabric for shirts, but the drape is lovely, so I re-purposed it here. I wanted to do this properly so I pre-washed the fabric, and it ran really badly, to the point of making a white viscose laundry bag silver-grey. It's still black, but a slightly faded black.
For flat lining the skirt I went with Bemburg Cupro, in black, 100gsm weight. This is a new fabric to me;
I also pre-washed this fabric, and it was badly damaged by the laundry process. I suspect the tumble dryer is to blame. It's intact, just patchy looking, and permanently creased. I will happily use it for linings, but any hope of a flirty light top are gone. (Unless, grunge.)
I pre-finished all edges with the overlocker/serger, so most of the seams are pressed open. I needed to learn the Burrito method to do the bodice lining. The centre-front waistline point was a pita when sewing the skirt onto the bodice. I had to flatten it out to make it work. I attached the zipper in a functional manner, but I didn't (re?)learn how to put in invisible zippers until the next project. The eyelets in the back are slightly misaligned, but this was the last thing I needed to do, so care was in short supply. (I used a random shoelace to lace it up.)
The dress is supposed to have negative 1" (-2.5cm) ease at the bust. In the end my dress has positive ease, so it's too big. If I make this again it should be in a size 16. However, the day of the event I needed it for was very warm, so I was glad of the extra looseness. (Throughout the day little bits of linen fluff kept detaching and sticking to my skin. This is a fabric with personality.) In the end a neat dress with a reassuring weight, but breezy with plenty of movement.
I traced a size 18 Curvy, based on measurements. I made one mockup of just the bodice. I found the armholes were too high. You can see it on the models too, the Curvy version has much higher armholes than the Misses version. So I lowered the armholes a bit (which thinned the front straps a bit in the process); changed pieces B (~1cm), C (3cm-2cm), E (3cm to nothing).
Seamwork designs for a height of 5'9", so I took 10cm/4" off the length of the skirt pieces. But while the bodice is fully lined, the skirt isn't lined at all. So I decided to flat-line it, and traced out the skirt pieces again for lining, taking off another 10cm/4" in length, for a total of 20cm/8".
For the fabric I used Nova Linen Viscose Mix (70% Viscose, 30% Linen), in black, 180gsm weight. I'd initially gotten this fabric for shirts, but the drape is lovely, so I re-purposed it here. I wanted to do this properly so I pre-washed the fabric, and it ran really badly, to the point of making a white viscose laundry bag silver-grey. It's still black, but a slightly faded black.
For flat lining the skirt I went with Bemburg Cupro, in black, 100gsm weight. This is a new fabric to me;
"Cupro is a cellulose fabric made from cotton waste. It is made using the tiny silky cotton fibres, that are too small to spin. ... that is chemically processed to produce the resulting fabric."
I also pre-washed this fabric, and it was badly damaged by the laundry process. I suspect the tumble dryer is to blame. It's intact, just patchy looking, and permanently creased. I will happily use it for linings, but any hope of a flirty light top are gone. (Unless, grunge.)
Seamwork Emma dress, finished, inside, front
Photo by chebe
I pre-finished all edges with the overlocker/serger, so most of the seams are pressed open. I needed to learn the Burrito method to do the bodice lining. The centre-front waistline point was a pita when sewing the skirt onto the bodice. I had to flatten it out to make it work. I attached the zipper in a functional manner, but I didn't (re?)learn how to put in invisible zippers until the next project. The eyelets in the back are slightly misaligned, but this was the last thing I needed to do, so care was in short supply. (I used a random shoelace to lace it up.)
The dress is supposed to have negative 1" (-2.5cm) ease at the bust. In the end my dress has positive ease, so it's too big. If I make this again it should be in a size 16. However, the day of the event I needed it for was very warm, so I was glad of the extra looseness. (Throughout the day little bits of linen fluff kept detaching and sticking to my skin. This is a fabric with personality.) In the end a neat dress with a reassuring weight, but breezy with plenty of movement.
Seamwork Emma dress, finished, back view
Photo by chebe
Seamwork Emma dress, finished, front view
Photo by chebe
