WIP: Quaker Oats Dress

First of all, thank you guys for writing me such great, mood-lifting comments this past Friday after reading my Venting/Complaining post.  They made me smile and helped me get through the weekend.  I seriously went back and read them a few times to pump myself up to sew.  Thank you soooo much!

I’ve officially missed the deadline for Sew Weekly to post up my completed dress for the Fabric Challenge.  This is actually the second challenge I’ve missed the deadline for in the last 3 weeks. 

I missed the deadline for the Mad Men Challenge with this pattern:

I was making the A-line, blue dress and I actually completed it (with the exception of the hem) but I wasn’t happy with the result.  The skirt of the dress looked limp and *blah* even with adding in horsehair braid.  So I decided to set it aside until I could rework the skirt and it’s been sitting 2 weeks now.

The dress you may be more familiar with is my Quaker Oats Dress where you guys helped me choose the fabric/pattern and where you read my complaints rant last Friday.

To recap, I had to make 3 muslins for the bodice to try to deal with the fit, and I made 1 muslin for the skirt piece also.  It took me 3 evenings (after work) to cut out my fabric primarily due to a pattern repeat flaw from the fabric being screen-printed, as well as cutting out a lining for the skirt and a underlining on the bodice.

As a result of these issues that cropped up, I didn’t actually sit down to my sewing machine to begin constructing this dress until Saturday morning.  I feel like my weekend flew by without me since I’ve been sewing tooth & nail to get this completed by Sunday afternoon (for photos). 

I am completely beat-pooped-tired from my weekend and need another.  Good thing it’s a short work-week.

When 3pm rolled around on Sunday and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to finish, I dialed my pace back a notch and this is what I had gotten done by 10pm.

I decided to add in some white (silk) piping around a belt and on the bow which is to highlight the polka dots.  I debated doing the top stitching in white also, but I decided not to.  Top stitching can be tricky, and I didn’t want to risk ruining the look of this dress by ‘loud’ stitching.

The minor things that need to be completed: the bow needs it’s knot, the belt needs to be finished, and the sleeves need to be hemmed as well as the skirt.  For me, all of these things require hand-sewing and I’ll most likely do these things at the end.

The major things that need to be completed:  I need to cut & sew the collar piece taking into account my bodice changes, I have to cut & sew the neckline facings, and I have to complete the front placket and fly with buttons and hook & eye closures.

 Here’s a detail shot of the bodice:

I tried on my basted-together dress on Saturday night and the fit still needed tweaking but the main lines were fitting decently.  hip hip! 

Come Sunday morning, as I was stitching on the piping I started to get more excited about having this dress completed.  I find that I really like adding in extra, fun details like piping and trim to make a pattern uniquely me.  The piping is a small edition, but I think it’s an improvement over the original, for my fabric at least.  

This Quaker Oats A-2 pattern by McCalls has been, by far, the trickiest pattern I’ve stitched, but now that it seems to be coming together in a non-disaster type way, I’m actually feeling quite good.  Tired, but good. 

Now that the deadline has passed for my submission, I’m now NOT in a mega rush to complete this dress.  I will complete it soon, but in a non-frenzy kind of way.  I think I need a night or two to veg out and watch movies and/or knit.

Want to hear the crazy part of all of this????  I’m debating making another one!  hehehe 

I think this is the perfect wiggle dress and would look smashing in an emerald-green dupioni for Christmas. It would be far easier to make a second one right away when everything is still fresh in my mind then waiting until November to make it. 

Am I crazy or what?!  On second thought…. don’t answer that.  :)

In: Sewing

Blogger for 6 years and counting, I am a passionate creator who loves to tinker.

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