Just about ten years ago exactly, I thrifted this pattern.
Simplicity 8729, an official Gunne Sax pattern from 1978. It's a home sewing version of a "real" Gunne Sax style that had been made in a few variations for sale. It's also cut in size 6, which is way too small for me.
I borrowed elements from Butterick 6146 to work out a bodice in my size
...I didn't actually have everything worked out when I made this dress, but this was meant as more of a test anyway.
This isn't unwearable (well...more thoughts on that later), but it does have some weirdness. I think I'll have it right the next time!
I started by trying to make all of the changes to the Butterick pattern bodice on paper, but that led to places my brain just couldn't puzzle out, so I eventually made a mock up and started pinning and drawing on and cutting that, and thought I had it where it needed to be when I cut this out.
I did not! But the needed changes that were obvious were relatively easy to figure out--the big one was that I had the visible neckline facings the right shape, but the princess seamed neckline was very wrong. However, the wrongness was all happening in areas that would be under those visible facings, so I picked apart the seams, patched in more fabric, basted things together, used the facing edges to cut the new, proper edges of the bodice pieces, then picked the seams out to trace the new shapes. Then I sewed everything properly. This is all very visible inside the neckline
And neatly hidden from the outside.
And you know I added interfacing to those facings, even if the pattern didn't mention anything about it. You're supposed to press under the outer edges of the facings, then edge stitch them down on those folds, so I cut the interfacing by first pressing those edges, then using the pressed-edge pieces as patterns to cut the interfacing. I nestled the interfacing in against those pressed folds and then fused them to the fabric.
And now I'll talk about the fabrics. The beige and green homespun check was from the craft thrift store free bins, and I had just enough to cut the facings and "cuffs" (those are really just visible facings, too.) It's 100% cotton.
The scattered roses on beige fabric was a purchase from the craft thrift store. "There could be polyester in this," I said at the time. There is...so much polyester in this. The first confirmation came when it fought being ripped, so I followed up with a burn test. I didn't turn entirely into a plastic blob, so there's still some cotton in there, but not enough to make me happy.
I had originally planned to use the rose fabric with two other printed cottons, to make something more closely following view 1 of the Simplicity pattern, but, once I started handling the rose and beige fabric, the heavily polyester feeling made me rethink that, and I decided to turn it into this test dress on its own. And it looks fine! It just feels...well, honestly, there's something to the way it feels that makes me think I must have had clothes made from similar fabric when I was a teen in the late 80s or early 90s, because there's a nostalgic aspect to the way it feels. But. Modern Me does not like it, at least not on my fingertips. It didn't feel so bad when I tried it on, although I'm not so sure about long term prospects for keeping the underarm areas fresh, either.
Also, when I first approached this project, I wanted to see if I could use only things in my stash. The fabric requirements weren't a problem (I already have fabrics picked out for many more dresses made from this pattern), but I quickly found that my lace stash could only barely squeak by. Or so I thought. Once I started working with the pattern pieces, I realized the lace I had that was the only thing long enough and close to narrow enough for the facing trim wasn't going to work, because it needed to be more flexible than what I had.
I was going to have to order lace.
I first turned to CheepTrims, but I wasn't entirely happy with their options. I went to the old standby of Deb's Lace, but the site looked like it hadn't been updated for years. Still, I sent a message asking if they were still active, and got a reply that they were. I went overboard with my order, of course, and feel like I should get more. This feeling is not helped by the fact that Deb's is very quietly trying to sell everything out and go out of business, so my brain is saying, "Sure, you have a lot of cluny lace now, after this first order, but what about in the future? You should get more while you can."
I actually really like this narrow cluny lace for the outline bits. I can pretend it's flowers and not beading lace.
The wider lace on the lower tier was made by stacking three different laces.
I may be still considering a CheepTrims order just to get some wider cluny. (Deb's's prices on wider cluny--what they have left of it--may beat retail, but they don't beat CheepTrims, even with shipping factored in.)
I'm not fond of how the sleeves are finished. The directions say to sew the facings to the inside while the sleeve is flat, flip them to the outside and stitch down the pressed upper edge, then sew the sleeve seams, finishing the lower edges of the seam allowances so they're not so visible and raw. Then you sew lace over the lower edge, which would be what hides ant irregularities in how the finished sleeve edges may or may not align.
I didn't want the lace on that edge, so I sewed it above the facing while the sleeve was still flat, then took great care in pinning things before sewing, so the ends of the sleeves especially would line up. I then serged the sleeve seam allowances, and then clipped the seam allowance ends, pressed them to the back, and stitched through all layers. If I weren't so averse to hand stitching, I could sew the sleeves, stopping near the end to clip the seam allowances so the last inch or so could be sewn on the outside, sew the facings into tubes, with pressed-under upper edges, then attach them so the seam allowances would be all inside the faced area, then hand stitch the upper edge of the facings, because there is no way sewing in the round on sleeves this narrow is working with my sewing machine. At least, I don't think it would.
Of course, there's also the option to do a proper cuff, but that doesn't seem to be part of the Gunne Sax Aesthetic.
Also not part of the Gunne Sax Aesthetic, at least on the Simplicity pattern, were back darts. My bad posture shoulders really needed some neckline darts, though. I still followed the spirit of the pattern and left anything like back waist shaping to the back ties.
In the future, I might add some inconspicuous little belt loops near the zipper.
I sewed the zipper with the opening basted closed, which was not what the pattern wanted--oh, I tried, at first, to sew the sides separately, with the zipper open. I know how to mark the zipper tape so things line up when sewn separately. I just didn't like anything else about the way the zipper looked, so I picked it out and basted the back seam closed, including hand basting on the facing area, because that edge is finished by sewing it to the facing and turning it, with a clip at the bottom, so the seam allowance in that area is under the facing. I know it's so the bias tape can be applied early in the construction. Still seems weird. Thanks to the area in the center front where the lacing will be added, there was plenty of room to maneuver things while sewing in the zipper with the back basted closed.
And the back!
No comments:
Post a Comment