The Sewing Place
The Emporia => In the wardrobe => Topic started by: Francesca on July 04, 2019, 10:22:57 AM
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Thinking about the next project before I've finished my current one...
It's Kris' birthday at the beginning of August and we have booked out a space in a pub garden with 45 people coming. Decided I'd like to make a nice new summer dress for it.
I've had this blue poly crepe in my stash for a long time, and want to make something pretty and full-skirted.
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I thought this Simplicity wrap dress looked nice. I'd probably shorten it, and shorten the sleeves slightly and make them flutter sleeves instead of straight.
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I love the look of wrap dresses but I have never made one. I've attempted to wear them, but never managed to get one that fits. I think this is probably a mixture of fitting issues. They are always too long in the bodice (I have a short body) and they always gape (I have a full bust but a small frame and narrow shoulders). I think shop-bought ones in my size always assume a bigger frame with a big bust. My bust doesn't fill them out so there is nothing for the wrap to pull against and thus they hang loose. Even if I pin a higher point on the crossover they still look odd as they sag below the pinned point.
I think I have a bit of a solution, and that will be to take out wedge shape at the neckline but tapering to nothing at the armhole. Like a reverse bust dart. I think this will reduce the length of the front neckline so it hugs closer to the body. I think even still I might have to use some elastic to hold it close to my chest. And I think it'll still be a bit booby (I don't have a cleavage though so it doesn't look bad if I wear lowcut).
Anyway, lots of fitting challenges. Toiles definitely needed. My fitting adjustments so far will be:
- Narrow shoulder adjustment 1"
- FBA from the size22 adding 5" across the bust
I'll try on at this stage and pinch out the wedge I think I'll need so I can see how much, then make another toile with this adjustment
- Wedge taken out of neckline
- Flutter sleeves
- Slightly shortened skirt
Wish me luck :S
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I can never find a wrap dress to fit properly either. The wrap bit crosses far too low (indecently so) a lot of the time and there is always gappage on upper neckline. I have given up with.
Love your fabric, it will make a pretty dress.
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I can never find a wrap dress to fit properly either. The wrap bit crosses far too low (indecently so) a lot of the time and there is always gappage on upper neckline. I have given up with.
Love your fabric, it will make a pretty dress.
Hopefully I'll be able to make this work and I can share some tips with you!
There's always a chance that it won't. If it doesn't, I'll have to accept that wrap dresses are not for me once and for all but at least I'll know. I've tried pinching out the neckline on a few attempts I've made and it definitely seemed to work but I always lost steam on the project before implementing it fully.
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Look forward to seeing your progress. Lovely print. But I cannot wear poly in the heat.
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There's always a chance that it won't. If it doesn't, I'll have to accept that wrap dresses are not for me once and for all but at least I'll know. I've tried pinching out the neckline on a few attempts I've made and it definitely seemed to work but I always lost steam on the project before implementing it fully.
I've never made one or I did once start one and then stopped (probably due to the adjustments that were required, which weren't as many as would be required now) so my main experience is mainly with RTW but I'd be interested to see how yours works out.
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Look forward to seeing your progress. Lovely print. But I cannot wear poly in the heat.
I can't really either but it's such a summery fabric I'm just going to have to make do.
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Love both the fabric and the pattern. It will look glorious <3
I just wish I had boobs to fill out my own two wrap dresses, they would look so much better. :S
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I've made quite a few wrap dresses and I've always ended up giving them away. One of my friends who is very busty with narrow hips always cheers when I say I'm making or have made another as she is the usual recipient. I'm a pear shape and they never work well for me as 'a look'. It's not the fit, the colour or fabric, just that full wrap dresses don't work on my wider hips and narrower top half. Faux wraps or ones with an a-line skirt are another matter and I had/have many of these. Annoyingly, my friend borrowed one of these a couple of weekends ago, and it looked great on her. But it looked good on me, too, so it's still in my wardrobe. I think. Must go and check.
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Started tracing out the pattern today and I can already tell that it is very long in the bodice. Just looks like a length that absolutely won't fit me!
I'm debating whether or not to do a length adjustment at the waist for the first toile and just get it over and done with. I nearly always do a 1" length adjustment on fitted bodices with waist seams. Same as doing a 1" narrow shoulder adjustment almost as standard.
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Before I got back into sewing so much I bought quite a few simple wrap dresses on ebay, all knit. To get round the booby gaping, I just wore matching/toning camis under them, and wore them all to death. Since I've been sewing again, I have made a couple, don't wear them, so stopped bothering. I think it's having higher expectations of fit than in RTW!
My style's changed anyway, so I'm unlikely to be pining for one right now lol.
Hope you nail the fit Fran, getting that curve right so they sit between the boobs and snug in seems to be the trick
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I've always been put off making one being 5' and short in the body - the best ones I ever had were by Precis Petite and I only ever bought them off eBay! They went on for years and were great for work. I'd never get the hem level anyway!!
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I have a longish body and sometimes need to add extra length to a bodice and I wear a C cup bra, so a different shape to some of you but I have yet to get a wrap-over style to fit. They always gape, even with a press stud strategically placed.
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I'm very excited to actually get back to this dress now that the James Bond dress is out of the way. The fabric has been sat on my table ready and waiting.
I traced everything off, so I just need to do the first adjustments and then I'll make a bodice toile.
I'm going to do an FBA and a 1" narrow shoulder adjustment first and foremost, then try on. That'll help me figure out how much I need to take out of the neckline edge to help with gape.
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Started on adjustments. 1" removed from the length across the bodice. I need to read through the instructions to see if that might mean I need to adjust the height of the (I think it's going to be a yes). 1" narrow shoulder adjustment, and I also drafted the flutter sleeve.
Next up is the FBA. Never done one on a princess bodice before but looks simple enough.
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Toile progress made last night.
I put together the bodice and was pretty happy with how it came out. It needs a fair amount of adjustment but overall it's not too bad.
1) I need to increase the waist a little. It currently only just crosses over as it's supposed to. Not much room for comfort and movement. I will increase 1" only by extending the front wrapping parts by 0.5" each.
2) Gaping fabric around the front. I managed to remedy most of this by raising the shoulders rather than reducing width on the neckline. I was a bit overzealous and took off too much when I sewed this adjustment in place so it's causing some draglines on the upper chest part, but the result is still a reduction of gaping on the neckline.
3) Princess seam fullness. I think my FBA may have been bigger than I needed. I was able to pinch out some excess in the upper fullness of the curve but I was also able to pinch out quite a bit of fabric horizontally, all the way up the dart and across the front neckline.
4) Armhole. The front armhole is a little tight, I think I will scoop some slightly out of the front. The back is good though with my 1" narrow shoulder adjustment.
Ultimately after pinning everything in I am going to go for my old favourite method of drawing in pen on the toile, then unpicking all the pieces and looking at the result on the flat pattern. I sewed the toile with a longer stitch length than normal in order to help with any required unpicking.
I've also got to be careful not to "over fit" and make sure I leave myself a comfortable amount of ease whilst still having a fitted look.
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I've finally finished the third toile and this is as close to a good fit as I think I am going to get.
It's taught me a lot about fitting a wrap bodice and the challenges. Being full busted but with wide set boobs means that I'm asking the fabric to fall off the bust apex in four directions. Normally you're only asking for three, as the horizontal line between both bust apexes is straight (like a "mono boob" I guess). In woven fabric this is really hard to do but this is pretty close and I'm happy with it. And everything looks worse in white polycotton!
The only thing is I find it wrinkles in the middle a little bit but I think that will be remedied better with a little weight from the skirt pulling it down.
Also the whole thing has a wide sash over the front with a pleat in it so I think the fit on the upper bust is more important.
My next plan is to try and walk the sleeve in and see how much I need to add or remove. If the sleeve is too big I will probably just gather it on the shoulder seam because I'm lazy and it'll work with a flutter sleeve.
Then I just need to measure round the new waist and expand the skirt to accommodate.
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@Francesca, I’d recommend to baste the skirt on and have another check. The weight of the skirt does matter as it influences the fit of the bodice.
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I did consider that but honestly I don't think I'm going to get a better fit either way here. There isn't really anywhere else I can pinch out to improve fit, just that a gentle pull downwards helps one of the main wrinkles fall out. The sash will cover most of it.
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Fran there is/was something available called Vilene Fusible Bias Edge Tape - use this tape anywhere that is prone to stretch, shoulder seams, necklines and armholes for example. Ensure that the stitch line of the tape sits on the seam line, widest side to the edge. Use a dry iron, wool setting for six seconds to ensure bonding. Stretch slightly to ease garment on to tape as you press. This information came from Janet Molville when she was writing for Sewing World, so is a good few years ago now. This tape was available in white or charcoal and you could buy by the metre.
However I also have in my stash something else by Vilene called Edge Tape, this is an iron on stitch reinforced tape and came on a roll of 20m x 2cm. in a poly bag with an instruction sheet.
Lastly I have some Vlieseline bias tape T12, 12mm x 5m comes in white and charcoal - this I obtained via Amazon when I couldn't put my hands on the tapes above, and of course as soon as it arrived I found the original tapes - isn't that always the way. I also sent up some of this Vlieseline bias tape to Bodgetandscarper when she was making her 'mother of the bridegroom dress' as time was crucial.
I believe the huge angle of the front of wrap bodices have a nasty tendency to stretch however careful you are, and if you can get some of this bias tape and adhere this to the neckline before you move the freshly cut piece off the cutting table then you might be lucky and not get any stretch, you have nothing to lose from this.
So far you bodice is looking good, and as you say the weight of the skirt could make it pull down, if you do not want this to happen then making a waist stay would be a good idea. Love the colour and pattern of your fabric choice, should look stunning when finished.
Another tip I learned from one of my bosses many, many years ago, was to sew the middle of a piece of elastic in the middle of the bodice underneath, i.e. the wrong side of the bodice, and then take this elastic around your body and fasten at the back - this then stops the front of your bodice falling away from your body should you lean forward. Another way you can do this but on a different style front, is to cover a piece of lightweight boning in lining fabric and attach strategically to the underside of the front of your bodice but just high enough that this piece of boning can be tucked inside your bra and again this stops everything from flopping forward.
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Oh perhaps I should clarify. I do want it to pull down. It seems to straighten out some of the wrinkling when it does (and I noticed when the wrap is pinned together at the lower edge it's much better.
Thanks for the edging idea, I'll look into that.
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Started cutting. Eeek! I had to adjust the sleeves just a little as I cut the armhole a bit wider. I've just realised that I didn't adjust them enough, duh, because I had trimmed the back armhole a little. However I haven't yet cut out the sleeve so I must remember that! (I have cut out the back piece, but luckily I only need to remove not add!)
Also cut the back skirt out, and have now just thought that I intended to pinch out an extra 3cm from the front that I hadn't transferred to the patterns yet so I will have to remember to consider that in the front skirt too. And I just widened it, grr. It does have a pleat though so maybe I should just be lazy and pleat it deeper.
The pattern suggests a full lining but my fabric is very thin and I don't have anything decent to line it with so I am considering going fully unlined and doing a narrow self bias finish on the neckline. Giving the dress a floatier look and also not adding any extra layers as it's already going to be quite warm as it's polyester. I do have plans to make a slip for the future.
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I always have to write notes of any alterations I make or need to make on a sticky and attach to the pattern pieces. I know I’m going to forget when I go back to it. I put it down to my age! :)
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I use tiny transparent snaps for hidden closures.
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I completed the bodice last night and I LOVE it.
Only thing I think needs work is that the sash doesn't hug me as closely as I'd like (might be due to it being such drapey fabric) and I will probably use a few handstitches to grab the top of it and keep it close to the bodice as the top edge sags. But it's only really decorative.
(https://i.imgur.com/l5ezX9Nl.jpg)
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It looks as though that wrap works beautifully - well done! It really suits you, too. :D
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@Francesca that is beautiful; looks really lovely.
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You've got a great fit there, well done.
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It's nearly 1am but it's done!
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Lovely! I like the hanger too - had a double take there as thought you'd had a drastic haircut!
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Very nice! Never seen a hanger like that :)
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That dress looks gorgeous!
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A proper pic, taken before hemming. I need to wear it again (it's just gone in the wash) so I can get a nice picture of it.
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Very nice. You should be very pleased with having cracked the wrapper bodice.
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I'm so happy I have! I already have two more fabrics I want to try out this style with. I'm going to make a lilac peplum top version in polyester crepe and a black short dress version in viscose (I think I'll need to rethink the neckline finish on the viscose because the poly crepe can handle being taught without over stretching but I think viscose will need more support).
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Wowsie, your hard work paid off, you got yourself a TNT pattern there that will look different in every print @Francesca. Very well done indeed.
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It's beautiful @Francesca ! and the blue is gorgeous. The fit looks amazing too. Perfect!!! xx
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The bright blue is definitely my favourite colour :loveit: I have had this fabric in my stash for a long time and I'm pleased I finally found a dress to do it justice. I've had a few failures recently with fabrics I really loved and then the dress turned into a disaster. It's solidified my thinking that a toile is always needed and it's always worth perfecting the fit entirely. (I'm thinking about the Sew Over It Doris dress which I spent weeks perfecting but it's one of the nicest fitting dresses I have... I am going to continue to put the effort in rather than rushing to make something quickly).
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It survived the wash! That's always the conclusion of a good homemade garment for me... does it come out of the washing machine still put together...
I'm going to make another one of these hopefully as soon as I've finished my current project. I spied some floral fabric in my stash that I think will work really well for it.
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Nice to see it full length.
So was there a secret to getting the wrap right?
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If you read this whole thread you can see lots and lots of adjustments. I did three toiles. Pinching out fabric here and there, transferring it over to the pattern etc.
Here's an album I took of some of the construction pics though they are not particularly useful without text. I aim to write a blog post at some point: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fU4GC7MFAmXFYn8V9