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I think this is totally salvageable, though for a better analysis, it’s good to have photos from the front, side and back, standing naturally.

It looks as if she might need a smidge more room in the bust, based on the diagonal wrinkles pointing from the sides to the bust apex. That you can’t fix at this late stage, however, you can most certainly…[Read more]

Anyone else wrapping gifts and thinking they should pull out a ruler and rotary cutter?

Anyone else wrapping gifts and thinking they should pull out a ruler and rotary cutter?

And I found a nice blue circular table cloth at the op shop to use as a base for the skirt!

And I found a nice blue circular table cloth at the op shop to use as a base for the skirt!

I have pushed out some changes that should make the layout a little more tidy and compact on phones and tablets. Some of the layout issues with Kindle Fires should be fixed now, too.

It all sounds exquisite Heidi!

No sewing for me at the moment. Just lots of doctor’s appointments. I am hoping to get to do something tomorrow but will have to be either non machine useage or slippery using the machine. We are forecast for storms and the last thing you want to do during a storm is use your sewing machine!

It all sounds exquisite Heidi!

No sewing for me at the moment. Just lots of doctor’s appointments. I am hoping to get to do something tomorrow but will have to be either non machine useage or slippery using the machine. We are forecast for storms and the last thing you want to do during a storm is use your sewing machine!

I finally found the time to talk to my niece (8) to get some clarification on what she was envisioning by “Hermione’s ball dress”. Thankfully much easier than I would have made it 🙂 Square neck bodice with long flutter sleeves. Bodice to end at belly button level. And a tiered floaty skirt. All one colour in a light blue silky flowy fabric.…[Read more]

I finally found the time to talk to my niece (8) to get some clarification on what she was envisioning by “Hermione’s ball dress”. Thankfully much easier than I would have made it 🙂 Square neck bodice with long flutter sleeves. Bodice to end at belly button level. And a tiered floaty skirt. All one colour in a light blue silky flowy fabric.…[Read more]

Summer cleaning and Christmas parties have whacked my sewing time with a big stick.
I hope to start my cousins Christmas dress today. I have made three muslins to get the bodice right and I am so pleased with the fit (so far).

Looking forward to Roger!

Summer cleaning and Christmas parties have whacked my sewing time with a big stick.
I hope to start my cousins Christmas dress today. I have made three muslins to get the bodice right and I am so pleased with the fit (so far).

Looking forward to Roger!

I do a similar method to Deb but I pin the darts on the outside, then mark the lines on the inside with tailors chalk and transfer the adjustments to the inside.

The same as Deb, this is my method, not necessarily a correct method.

I have not done enough fitting to help you with your particular problem.
I have not made the dress…[Read more]

Perhaps get the dress on your daughter (inside out) before unpicking anything so you can play around by pinching dart and other areas first to see exactly where some re-construction is needed. That’s what I would do.
Then unpick the darts you mentioned if necessary, re-try on and pin to fit.

Hopefully in the meantime someone who has made this…[Read more]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Deb. I have been at a loss as to where to start. I won’t get a chance to work on it until next week now but I will report back.

Should I remove the body/waist darts first?

I haven’t made this dress. However when I’ve made a dress that needs some fine tuning, I turn it inside out, put it on the wearer and then pin like crazy making new darts, or wider side seams or raising shoulder seams – whatever the dress needs to make it fit better by using pins.
After the pinning process, mark those areas with wash out…[Read more]

How did it look on?

The conventional wisdom is to end the dart further away from the apex the bigger the bust. My problem with that is that a larger dart needs more length to taper off nicely. I end mine much closer to the apex than any books suggest. It’s more of a vintage look and it looks better than a dimple! Another trick is to curve the very end of the dart…[Read more]