Vogue 1121 - Part Two

Time for an update on Vogue 1121!


I'm going to be honest and say that I hated finishing this off.  It just seemed to take for ever.
Soon after my last post I adjusted the bodice pattern pieces - a half inch narrow shoulder adjustment and adding half an inch at each side seam - and then stalled.  The lining fabric I had ordered took a month to arrive and usually I like to sew the lining first, one last chance to check the fit.  In the end I had to start with the fashion fabric, John Kaldor Coast.  I have sewn with this fabric before, here, and it came flooding back to me how easily this frays, soon the whole house seemed to be covered in pale blue thread!
Actually sewing the dress wasn't too tricky and even the top stitching went smoothly (I used proper topstitching thread for the first time ever) but I wasn't able to tackle the lining before going on holiday.


I would never normally have a two week break from a project and coming back to it when you've had two weeks to dream about what you might make next seemed tortuous.
And I made it even more tortuous by following the instructions!  I like to do this when I come across something I've not done before so that I can evaluate the technique and decide whether to do it in future (I would never have realised how brilliant hand picked zips are otherwise).


The instructions have you sew the lining in by hand at the neck facing, hem (rather that leaving it free at the bottom) and armholes and then hand sew the sleeves in as well.


I've not encountered this method before and I'm not sure of the advantage of doing this as opposed to making the lining version of the dress and then sewing it in at the neck and end of sleeves.  Needless to say I am sick of hand sewing and won't be doing lining like this again.


I'm always sad when I take against a project like this because all I can do is see the faults in it at the end.  I know full well that these perceived imperfections are not obvious to non-sewers and if they are to fellow sewers they are never mentioned.


How on earth do you ease in the fullness of a 3 inch hem on a flared skirt?  Please let me know. Please!

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