Gunne Saxish

I'll start by saying that I completely forgot about making the Halloween Eyesore dress from the pattern I hacked to be able to make a pull-over version of Simplicity 8729.

So!  I got to the point, while cutting this one out, where I suddenly had enormous doubts that there would be enough room to actually get this on and off over the head, due to the longer upper back and the A-line skirt (in contrast to the high waist and gathered skirt of the pullover dresses I usually make.)

So!  I cut the center back bodice and skirt pieces to make room for a zipper.  I knew that would make the back a bit narrower, but I figured that wouldn't matter with a zipper there.

Then!  The first zipper I installed--vintage, with metal teeth--self destructed when I tried to zip it back up (a lot of teeth popped off.)  Fortunately, the zipper went in and fell apart before the side seams were sewn, so it was easy enough to reach everything to replace it, even if the nylon coil zipper color match was nonexistent.

I dragged myself through the rest of the project, after the doubts and inconveniences had reduced the already tepid enthusiasm about the project, which was meant as a test more than anything (again, because I had forgotten about already having made a dress with this pattern, although, granted, that one wasn't as ruffly extravagant as this one was going to be.)

But I did finish!

 

And then I tried it on and it's still generous enough that the zipper is unnecessary for getting it on and off. 

I will note that I actually had a lot of the blue floral fabric left after cutting this, so I could easily have cut a new bodice and skirt back.  However!  There's another dress I want to make from it,  so I cut all the pieces for that, to see if there would be enough left over to re-cut those pieces for this dress.  There may have been, but I decided to stop second guessing my second guesses and go ahead with the zipper in the back cut from a pattern that did not have room, technically, for a zipper (as far as I knew.)

 

I suppose the ideal zipper installation would have saved the bias binding for after the zipper was installed, but I didn't think about that.  Obviously.

I did think about how I have aesthetic and technical issues with the way Gunne Sax patterns are supposed to have the center front lacing going through cluny lace.  That's just...not for me.  So I extended the center front pieces a bit while cutting them out, so they'd meet at the center, instead of having the gap left for the lace.  Then I used the eyelet cam in the buttonholer to make machine sewn eyelets.

And of course the ruffler  got a lot of use in this project.

And some use for the 3/16" hem roller, on the bee print, but the music print had whatever that flaw is that makes fabric unusable with the hem roller, no matter how much I tried to compensate, so I rolled that by hand as I stitched.

Still have the brown thread in the serger! 

I compensated for the dark thread by using the fabric selvedge-to-selvedge in the pale fabric ruffles, so their edges wouldn't need to be serged.  This did take some rough math, since the real genuine pattern has the ruffles made from pieces 30" long (because it was made when 35" fabric was still somewhat common.)  The underskirt ruffle is a bit shorter than it should be, but it's fine.

Another aspect of leaving the selvedges intact meant that, with a little strategy, I could have the selvedge identifying information included for all of the fabrics, which is information I would be thrilled to find in something someone else made.

 

The sheet music was printed very far off grain, and I chose the grain over the print, so things don't align.  This doesn't bother me.

Neither am I bothered by the discolorations I didn't catch when cutting things out, and are visible in the finished dress, if you know where to look.  Like the blue floral print, the sheet music print was thrifted, as was the bee print...which also has discolorations.  Those are up inside on the hidden underskirt.

I did deviate from the long, puffy-shouldered sleeves on the inspiration pattern by going with my normal pull-over dress short bell sleeves, finished with a band.

 

I also deviated by adding back belt loops, which is an idea so obvious that I prepared them before I rediscovered the Halloween Eyesore dress, which I also gave back belt loops. 

And now I've come to the conclusion that Gunne Sax dresses were never intended for bodies shaped like mine.  Does it look matronly?  I mean, my body is, so of course the dress does.

 

But the tiers of ruffles are swirly and fun, something I might have been able to photograph if the camera weren't cranky about the humidity. 

I wonder if I'll make another dress like this, and if I'll do it before another year (more or less) passes,and if I'll remember having made this one...  Although there's slightly more occasion to wear this, since it lacks the Halloween prints.  Might I get to the trend five years late and try making something Gunnesaxoween...