Congo Floral Dress / Wiggle Dress
So for my first major sewing project of 2019 I decided to make the Wiggle Dress from Gertie's New Book For Better Sewing. I first made a muslin in a stretch knit that I had bought from a thrift store and it was pretty bad all around. It was too big for one and it was a pretty awful shade of pink. Not only that, but it was also faded in a bunch of places which is why I bought it. It was super cheap and it was a decent stretchiness, so I knew I would be using it for a tester fabric. And it served its purpose because I knew what needed to be changed after I made it. I originally wanted this dress to be in a knit so I could omit the zipper and just make an easy to get into dress. However, when I went to make the final dress, I looked in my stash and saw this fabric that my mom had given me:
I'm Mr. Fabric, look at me!
It just screamed out to me, so I had to make it with a zipper because this was a woven fabric with zero stretch. It was just so pretty so I couldn't help myself! Fun fact, this is called Congo Floral. The name fits perfectly. Unfortunately, Moo decided to 'help' during the cutting out of the fabric part.
That belly, tho.
Anywho, this dress consisted of 4 pieces not counting the facings (which I ended up not using) so it was an easy make... more or less. There is the front piece, side pieces, back piece and the underarm gusset thingies. That was the worst part, the underarm gussets. It is supposed to give you extra room to move around in the dress, but it was not very fun to make. You take the underarm area of the side and back pieces and slash into the fabric and spread it open and add a triangle of horror and sew it down. Then you sew the two halves of the dresses together, making sure they line up. Mine didn't seem to want to sew in properly on the muslin and it was not much prettier on the real thing, but it looks ok I guess. At least it lines up. It might look nicer in a solid color and not a pattern, but who is going to be looking at my pits anyways?
Meh... stupid triangles of horror. Isn't there an easier way to do this?!
So the rest of the dress went swimmingly. The back is in a nice V shape and the front was a kind of boat neck, but it was all up in my business, so I cut it down just a tad. Since I did that, I was going to make a new neck facing, but when I was going through my stash of hem tapes and laces, I found a few packages of bias piping in black and thought that would look nice at the neck edge. Once I added that on, I had a bit left over from the first package and I decided to add it to the ends of the sleeves, too.
This dress, tho! I love the way it fits, although it needs to be taken in a teensy bit at the tummy area cause its a little big there, but otherwise its lovely! There are darts in the front and side, so if I just take in the darts a bit more, it should fix that right up. I also took 4 inches off the bottom because it was very tea-length, which is great for flowy skirts. But for a pencil skirt I prefer them to hit right below the knee.
Ooh, a vent! Its my first time making a skirt vent! Why am I excited about that? haha.
I also don't have very many dresses that are 3/4 length sleeved... or long sleeved for that matter. So I either have to wear a sweater or freeze to look cute. I would prefer to not freeze so I will most likely be making this again very soon. I am very very pleased with how it turned out! It reminds me of something that might be in Mad Men even though I have never watched it. Someone once commented that I looked like I stepped right off of Mad Men and I always loved that so much because they are known for some damn nice clothing. I really need to watch that, but I'm not into dramas 99% of the time. Maybe I'll just scope out a website that just lists all the clothes that they wore. Someone has to have made one, amiright?!
Anywho, I scored this oddly mocha-y, beige-y kind of colored fabric on our last trip to the thrift store and I really really want to make it into this dress, but with no zipper and maybe in a slightly smaller size so its really form hugging. I'm not sure if the fabric is too close to my skin's color to look ok on me.
Sometimes those kinds of colors just wash me out and I don't want to waste it. Its verrrrrrry soft. I dunno, I might think on it. Either way, I have a winner with my Congo Floral dress!! Boom, baby!
I'm Mr. Fabric, look at me!
It just screamed out to me, so I had to make it with a zipper because this was a woven fabric with zero stretch. It was just so pretty so I couldn't help myself! Fun fact, this is called Congo Floral. The name fits perfectly. Unfortunately, Moo decided to 'help' during the cutting out of the fabric part.
That belly, tho.
Anywho, this dress consisted of 4 pieces not counting the facings (which I ended up not using) so it was an easy make... more or less. There is the front piece, side pieces, back piece and the underarm gusset thingies. That was the worst part, the underarm gussets. It is supposed to give you extra room to move around in the dress, but it was not very fun to make. You take the underarm area of the side and back pieces and slash into the fabric and spread it open and add a triangle of horror and sew it down. Then you sew the two halves of the dresses together, making sure they line up. Mine didn't seem to want to sew in properly on the muslin and it was not much prettier on the real thing, but it looks ok I guess. At least it lines up. It might look nicer in a solid color and not a pattern, but who is going to be looking at my pits anyways?
Meh... stupid triangles of horror. Isn't there an easier way to do this?!
So the rest of the dress went swimmingly. The back is in a nice V shape and the front was a kind of boat neck, but it was all up in my business, so I cut it down just a tad. Since I did that, I was going to make a new neck facing, but when I was going through my stash of hem tapes and laces, I found a few packages of bias piping in black and thought that would look nice at the neck edge. Once I added that on, I had a bit left over from the first package and I decided to add it to the ends of the sleeves, too.
This dress, tho! I love the way it fits, although it needs to be taken in a teensy bit at the tummy area cause its a little big there, but otherwise its lovely! There are darts in the front and side, so if I just take in the darts a bit more, it should fix that right up. I also took 4 inches off the bottom because it was very tea-length, which is great for flowy skirts. But for a pencil skirt I prefer them to hit right below the knee.
Ooh, a vent! Its my first time making a skirt vent! Why am I excited about that? haha.
I also don't have very many dresses that are 3/4 length sleeved... or long sleeved for that matter. So I either have to wear a sweater or freeze to look cute. I would prefer to not freeze so I will most likely be making this again very soon. I am very very pleased with how it turned out! It reminds me of something that might be in Mad Men even though I have never watched it. Someone once commented that I looked like I stepped right off of Mad Men and I always loved that so much because they are known for some damn nice clothing. I really need to watch that, but I'm not into dramas 99% of the time. Maybe I'll just scope out a website that just lists all the clothes that they wore. Someone has to have made one, amiright?!
Anywho, I scored this oddly mocha-y, beige-y kind of colored fabric on our last trip to the thrift store and I really really want to make it into this dress, but with no zipper and maybe in a slightly smaller size so its really form hugging. I'm not sure if the fabric is too close to my skin's color to look ok on me.
Sometimes those kinds of colors just wash me out and I don't want to waste it. Its verrrrrrry soft. I dunno, I might think on it. Either way, I have a winner with my Congo Floral dress!! Boom, baby!
Comments
Post a Comment