Sewing what I See
with an end-result of disaster. I've had B5309 dress pattern cut and taped to my wall for about a month and after spending a beautiful day last Saturday with a bunch of friends, I left with an overwhelming sense of sewing inspiration. With that, I decided that a quick project was in order and paired a medium weight knit fabric in terracotta with B5309. There are only 2 pattern pieces.... let me write that again ONLY 2 pieces to this dress and thinking I would have a dress for this week... um yeah about that... Waddderrrrrrrr.
The front of the dress consist of 2 pieces, which overlap just under the bustline.
- Instructions indicate to attach the front pieces to the back at the shoulder seams.... check,
- Fold & finish neckline... check,
- Overlap the 2 front pieces and stitch the front pieces together at the seam line where indicated with THE DOT... check,
- careful NOT to stitch the back to the front at that time.... check, but thinking why can't I just sew the seams as one ;}
- Stitch back to front... check
Basted stitched the dress, tried it on and noticed horizontal lines running along my lower back, immediately thinking that the darts I'd added in the back for shaping were the culprit. I removed the side seam baste stitches as well as the darts, re-basted the front to the back and if the sun isn't bright enough...those darn horizontal lines along the back were still there.... drats!!
The dress fits perfectly in the front, but the back was a hot mess.

Despite the dress looking too snug along the back it actually fits comfortably and does not feel snug at all. As I dwell on this delimma I think the pulling along the back has something to do with the overlapping side seams... I think if I were to make it again I would increase the pieces by 1" instead of 1/2".
Would love to know if anyone has any idea as to what could be causing this problem.
The front of the dress consist of 2 pieces, which overlap just under the bustline.
- Instructions indicate to attach the front pieces to the back at the shoulder seams.... check,
- Fold & finish neckline... check,
- Overlap the 2 front pieces and stitch the front pieces together at the seam line where indicated with THE DOT... check,
- careful NOT to stitch the back to the front at that time.... check, but thinking why can't I just sew the seams as one ;}
- Stitch back to front... check
Basted stitched the dress, tried it on and noticed horizontal lines running along my lower back, immediately thinking that the darts I'd added in the back for shaping were the culprit. I removed the side seam baste stitches as well as the darts, re-basted the front to the back and if the sun isn't bright enough...those darn horizontal lines along the back were still there.... drats!!
The dress fits perfectly in the front, but the back was a hot mess.
Ok... I then thought maybe I should've put in a center back seam and proceeded to take the dress apart agaaaaaaaaaain. Put in the center back seam, re-did the shoulder seams, as well as the neckline and basted the side seams agaaaain, and low and f*cking behold the horizontal lines were still there... I swear I can't win for losing or however the term is used.... ugggh and to top it off the neckline is now wonky.
What is a girl to do.... cut another dress. This time I added a 1/2 inch to the pieces as well as the center back seam and what do you know...
The front fits nicely again, but
Those dayumm back lines are still there ...........
Despite the dress looking too snug along the back it actually fits comfortably and does not feel snug at all. As I dwell on this delimma I think the pulling along the back has something to do with the overlapping side seams... I think if I were to make it again I would increase the pieces by 1" instead of 1/2".
Would love to know if anyone has any idea as to what could be causing this problem.
Comments
Sheila, I would pin out the excess in the back and what ever that measures, add it to the back hem. I hope I am making sense.
Trudy
www.sewingwithtrudy.blogspot.com
http://www.fitthat.com/swayback.htm
Good luck!
is a sway back issue; the back length is too long on that particular pattern piece. Next time you use this pattern just take out the excess amount from bove the waist.
I definitely wouldn't give it up. Your dress is actually still salvageable. Just create a seam along the waist, take the excess out and leave it as is or add a band or belt at the back with button accents or no button accents.
It's beautiful,looks great on you, and I hate to see you not use it.