Gertie's Tiki Dress
So my husband got me the Gertie's New Book For Better Sewing for Christmas and ever since then I have wanted to sew just about everything in it. After the Wiggle Dress, I had planned on making the Bow-Tied Blouse. But upon cleaning off my ironing board, I discovered this fabric in my "basket o'pressing instruments" and decided that I wanted to make it into a dress for the summer, even though it is only February. It kind of has this island-y feel to it, so I thought about what pattern to use and came up with this:
This dress takes the bodice pieces from her Sweetheart Sundress but with slight modifications. You take the back bodice piece and add 2 inches to the back side seams (which I forgot to do) to accommodate the shirring and you can also add boning (which I did) to the side seams and on these spots on the front bodice. This was my first serious attempt at using a boning, not counting that strapless dress I attempted with the cheapest boning I could find which was pretty awful. This time around I used this Rigilene that I harvested from this prom dress that an old friend of mine gave to me.
This stuff is pretty bad ass because you can sew it directly onto a garment. I bought some of the spiral steel boning at the beginning of the year with the hopes of making a strapless dress, but with this one I wanted to practice so I used the second best stuff. I also did not want any closures because I'm lazy and this fabric had some good stretch to it. I was looking for a simple dress I could pull over my head and be done with it. So I omitted the zipper and added the boning for support. And I must say that I love working with the boning! It went on so nicely because I didn't have to sew a casing for it, so that was nice because I am lazy. haha.
In this pic of the inside of the dress, the boning is on either side of the center front. You can kind of see it poking out all weirdly, but it looks a lot better once its on.
The only drawback for this dress is that I made a lining for the front part of the bodice (for the boning) and its not stretchy, so its a teensy bit hard to get on and off, but barely. The shirring in the back gives quite a bit. Other than that, it fits wonderfully! Its actually a bit loose once I get it on, so I decided on a removable halter strap to make sure she doesn't go anywhere. It should be fine because I was dancing and hopping all over the place (much to my husband's amusement) and it didn't budge. I also thought it looked better with the strap, but I was wary about a halter strap because those usually give me a headache. But then I thought that maybe I always got a headache because that strap was doing all the work of holding the girls up. In this case, the boning is doing the support work and the strap is just for looks. So I added it on and wore the dress all day at work on Sunday and it was as comfy as can be. Not a headache one!
Front and back without the strap. This pattern called for her pencil skirt pattern from the book but you are supposed to slash and spread to create a front drape. I didn't like that look too much so I went with just the pencil skirt. I think it works just as well because it is still form hugging and sleek.
Up close of the front and back bodice.
Gertie suggests a button for easy removal of the strap, but I was lazy and didn't want to sew a button hole on the strap because the fabric is a little fray-ey and I just wanted this to be a simple make. A snap it was! The strap was actually a 6 inch chunk I cut off the bottom of the dress because I wanted it to end just under my knees. The front panel of the skirt was just the perfect length for the halter. Score!!
Ughhhhh. When this run happened, I took some stretchy interfacing made for knits and ironed it onto the inside, essentially stopping that fray from getting any worse. This happened on the skirt part before I noticed, so I had to be careful for the rest of the construction process. On this strap part it wasn't a huge deal because it was in the seam allowance and I had already sewn the seam, so that should help stop it from getting worse. But just in case I ironed the interfacing on because its gonna be stretched a bit when I wear it around my neck, even though its not bearing the load of my girls.
Overall, this was a super easy make and didn't take too long, with the exception of the shirring. But even that didn't take too long. If I had sat down in one day to make it, it might have takes 5-6 hours, maybe. And that is counting tracing the pattern pieces and all. Pretty simple as far as construction, too. I am planning on making a blouse with this and just making it a tad longer than the actual blouse pieces since they stop pretty much at your waist. Very, very happy with this!
This dress takes the bodice pieces from her Sweetheart Sundress but with slight modifications. You take the back bodice piece and add 2 inches to the back side seams (which I forgot to do) to accommodate the shirring and you can also add boning (which I did) to the side seams and on these spots on the front bodice. This was my first serious attempt at using a boning, not counting that strapless dress I attempted with the cheapest boning I could find which was pretty awful. This time around I used this Rigilene that I harvested from this prom dress that an old friend of mine gave to me.
This stuff is pretty bad ass because you can sew it directly onto a garment. I bought some of the spiral steel boning at the beginning of the year with the hopes of making a strapless dress, but with this one I wanted to practice so I used the second best stuff. I also did not want any closures because I'm lazy and this fabric had some good stretch to it. I was looking for a simple dress I could pull over my head and be done with it. So I omitted the zipper and added the boning for support. And I must say that I love working with the boning! It went on so nicely because I didn't have to sew a casing for it, so that was nice because I am lazy. haha.
In this pic of the inside of the dress, the boning is on either side of the center front. You can kind of see it poking out all weirdly, but it looks a lot better once its on.
The only drawback for this dress is that I made a lining for the front part of the bodice (for the boning) and its not stretchy, so its a teensy bit hard to get on and off, but barely. The shirring in the back gives quite a bit. Other than that, it fits wonderfully! Its actually a bit loose once I get it on, so I decided on a removable halter strap to make sure she doesn't go anywhere. It should be fine because I was dancing and hopping all over the place (much to my husband's amusement) and it didn't budge. I also thought it looked better with the strap, but I was wary about a halter strap because those usually give me a headache. But then I thought that maybe I always got a headache because that strap was doing all the work of holding the girls up. In this case, the boning is doing the support work and the strap is just for looks. So I added it on and wore the dress all day at work on Sunday and it was as comfy as can be. Not a headache one!
Front and back without the strap. This pattern called for her pencil skirt pattern from the book but you are supposed to slash and spread to create a front drape. I didn't like that look too much so I went with just the pencil skirt. I think it works just as well because it is still form hugging and sleek.
Up close of the front and back bodice.
Gertie suggests a button for easy removal of the strap, but I was lazy and didn't want to sew a button hole on the strap because the fabric is a little fray-ey and I just wanted this to be a simple make. A snap it was! The strap was actually a 6 inch chunk I cut off the bottom of the dress because I wanted it to end just under my knees. The front panel of the skirt was just the perfect length for the halter. Score!!
Ughhhhh. When this run happened, I took some stretchy interfacing made for knits and ironed it onto the inside, essentially stopping that fray from getting any worse. This happened on the skirt part before I noticed, so I had to be careful for the rest of the construction process. On this strap part it wasn't a huge deal because it was in the seam allowance and I had already sewn the seam, so that should help stop it from getting worse. But just in case I ironed the interfacing on because its gonna be stretched a bit when I wear it around my neck, even though its not bearing the load of my girls.
Overall, this was a super easy make and didn't take too long, with the exception of the shirring. But even that didn't take too long. If I had sat down in one day to make it, it might have takes 5-6 hours, maybe. And that is counting tracing the pattern pieces and all. Pretty simple as far as construction, too. I am planning on making a blouse with this and just making it a tad longer than the actual blouse pieces since they stop pretty much at your waist. Very, very happy with this!
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