A Tale of Two Dresses

The quest for well-fitting garments continues. Yesterday morning, I sewed my hacked-into-a-dress Lark Tee and put it on. It fits perfectly. My definition of a “perfect fit” is clothing that feels like I’m not wearing it. I don’t have to tug, adjust, or reposition anything. I love this dress and expect that I will get a lot of use out of it once it’s hemmed. I’ll wear it when I teach the Lark Tee class in Spokane next month.

The fabric is a rayon blend jersey from the Walmart remnant rack with a nice weight to it. Two yards for $8.

[I wish I could tell you that I am a brilliant seamstress who engineers her makes down to the last detail, but the fact that the stripes match across the sleeves and the body was a complete accident.]

I was able to make the dress the length I wanted, as well. I see a lot of T-shirt dresses that hit at or above the knee. I prefer mine to be mid-calf length.

After lunch, I made up a Love Notions Olympia Dress. I bought that pattern because of the V-neck detail and the way it is constructed. You might remember that I tried making up a similar pattern—the Miramar Dress from Scroop Patterns—and loved the V-neck, but the Miramar Dress’s neck facing is simply folded under. The Olympia Dress’s neck facing is constructed in such a way that it is anchored to the inside of the dress.

I had a sneaking suspicion from the get-go that the Olympia wasn’t going to be the dress for me. I pulled some clearance double-brushed poly out of the stash to make up a muslin. Love Notions has some truly wonderful designs, but they don’t fit my body type. Whitney, at TomKat Stitchery, adores Love Notions. I suspect that’s because she is built very much like the woman who designs the Love Notions patterns. I do like the Laundry Day Tee, but I had to make quite a few adjustments to that pattern to be happy with it. And even though the Love Notions patterns come in cup sizes, they don’t seem to fit me well.

Right off the bat, I lengthened the bodice. I’ve learned that I need to do that on most patterns, no matter who makes them. Being able to compare patterns to the bodice sloper we made at Sew Expo has been so helpful.

The bodice is attached to a circle skirt. Unfortunately, I did not have enough fabric to cut the back of the skirt on the fold, so I cut two separate pieces, intending to seam them together. Also unfortunately, I forgot to flip the second skirt piece to make a mirror image piece. I seamed them together anyway, with one piece wrong-side out, just so I could try on the dress.

I didn’t take a picture of the finished dress. Suffice it to say that I have a lot of trouble with dresses with waist seams. I always have. Anything that cuts me right at the waist looks bizarre on me. (No peplums, ever.) I think that is why I have always preferred sheath dresses or dresses with princess seams.

[I did buy a Liz Claiborne dress this spring that has a waist seam, and believe me, I was shocked when I tried it on and realized that it fit and looked good on me. That rarely happens.]

Out of curiosity, I laid the two front bodice pieces together—Lark and Olympia—on my cutting table.

The Olympia Dress bodice is on the bottom and the Lark Tee bodice is on the top.

I am contemplating a major mashup using the Lark Tee, the Olympia Dress, and the Miramar Dress. The Miramar Dress does not have a waist seam; it is a single piece of fabric from shoulder to hem. I would start by combining the Lark Tee and the Olympia Dress bodices for some V-neck tops, then lengthen the pattern into a dress as I did with the Lark Tee.

I want to emphasize that I don’t think there is anything wrong with the Love Notions patterns. They simply aren’t drafted for my body type. It’s the same reason Liz Claiborne fits me so well and other brands don’t. (Charter Club comes in a close second, but I found out from a Macy’s employee in Seattle that Macy’s won’t be carrying Charter Club any longer.) I just purchased the Icaria Pants pattern from Itch to Stitch and I know—I know—that I will have to adjust the rise on that pattern before I cut it out, because those patterns are drafted for someone two inches shorter than me.

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I’m teaching a serger class this Friday and another one next Wednesday. I need to get those Sew Expo class proposals finished and submitted, too. They aren’t due until September, but I don’t like waiting until the last minute. It’s also time to do some canning. I made a yummy salad last week using Robin’s recipe for chicken, rice, and jardinière vegetables. The original dish is served hot. I combined chilled rice, chicken, and veggies, then thinned out mayonnaise with some of the jardinière juice and mixed it in. I looked up the recipe for jardinière vegetables in my Ball canning book and I think I will do some soon.