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7.28.2012

Kimono Sleeve Dress - the muslin that turned into the real thing

The plan was to blog about the Darling Ranges dress next, but I'm not at home and able to measure the pattern for exact alteration details.  Then I remembered that the Kimono Sleeve dress fell on the wayside during my period of muslin mayhem.

I did use the polyester charmeuse to make a muslin, but then liked it so much I decided to turn it into the real dress and do all the facing and finishes.

The dress is a pull on style with an elasticised waist and back keyhole opening which is closed with a self covered button and rouleau loop.  A large belt really pulls the look together and makes the whole outfit more chic. 

I mentioned back at the beginning of the month I'd bumped up the sizing to XL.  That's partially true. My upper body measurements fit the size Large just fine so only the skirt portion needed to be altered.   This process was easy due to the skirt pattern being one large rectangle for the front and back.  I kept the waist measurement the same and then used a hip curve to bump out the side seams a few inches down from the waist.  Added about 1.5" to each edge of the skirt and 2" additional inches of length.

If I did sew this again I'd make 2 changes.  First would be to leave off the sleeve facings.  Even when you tack them at the seams they still flip out on a regular basis.  Instead of facings I'd use my serger to do a thin rolled hem on the sleeve edge.  Secondly, I would ignore the instructions for elastic insertion at the waist.  They say to sew on top of the waist seam on the right side while stretching the elastic underneath.  Trying to keep everything under the needle this way is a giant pain.  There's plenty of seam allowance at the waist and sewing the elastic to that works just fine.

This was a fun little dress to put together and I think the pattern could be a good base for future projects.  However fall sewing seems to be looming on the horizon and I might just put this pattern away for now.

Next post, the Darling Ranges dress.... this time for reals.

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