Summer of Dresses - The Lady Skater Dress

Hello Darrrrrlinks, it seems like we have a bit of a shower going on, but never fear the summer dress parade is rain or shine.

 However the rain makes some of our models a little...odd?  How else can we explain this shot.

Perhaps there is another explanation.  The models tell us they feel so comfortable and pretty in their new Lady Skater dresses that they can't help dancing about. Or posing in a Voguish manner.

Truly this pattern is stellar.  The neckband is just the right depth, the sleeves are just the right length and the skirt is the kind you want to swish around in.

Now let's let our intrepid "sweat shop worker" tell you more. 

Pattern
The Lady Skater Dress from Kitschy Coo. I used a combination of the size 5 for the bust measurement and a size 6 for the waist measurement. No FBA was needed, truth in advertizing hooray!

Fabrics used
The fox print is a stashed rayon/lycra jersey once again from Emmaonesock.com  The solid black is a mystery scrap left over some unknown project.

Pattern changes/alterations
1. Turns out I'm super short waisted, which is something I know but like to pretend isn't true.  I took 2" of length out of the front and back bodice. That still didn't remove enough bodice length so I....

2. ...... cut off the curve on the bottom of the bodices. Then added the length taken out of the bodice back into the top of skirt. 

3. The skirt was a little short for my tastes and there was not enough fox fabric to lengthen it.  Instead I added a contrast band to the hem.  After hemming the width of the band is 4 3/8".

4. Used contrast bands for the neck and cuff because it looked a little snazzier.

Confessions/Advice
1. I did put clear elastic in the shoulder seams but took it out of the waist seam.  This rayon is on the thinner side and the elastic made that seam bumpy looking.

2.  The waist seam is still not at my natural waist, especially in the back, but I ripped that seam out about 20 times and was DONE.

3. I don't usually top-stitch knits on my regular sewing machine but decided to give it a shot this time.  So far none of the stitching has popped on the neck and arm bands and it does give a nice finish.

Husband Comment
"What are those, squirrels? Oh they're foxes.  Well that's pretty foxy."

My Final Thoughts
I'm already rubbing my hands together and cackling about all the things I can do with this pattern.  Making multiple knit dresses is just a beginning.  I think the skirt is particularity great and would look divine mixed and matched with other tops.  The Skater bodice can be easily lengthened into awesome summer T-shirt for all those separates in the closet.  Yes Yes, many evil ... I mean design plans are in the works.

You Bug Me

So what do you do with one yard of silk in your stash? Lingerie? A tank top?   Drape it over your head and sashay around the house calling everyone Darrrrlink?

Well if it's 60" wide you can just squeeze out a Grainline Studio's Scout Tee.  All you need is some scrap fabric laying around, nude silk maybe, to use for the bias binding. 

Confession, I blow at bias bindings.  Jen's tutorial is supper helpful, but if you are an inaccurate cutter and sewer then you really can't expect professional results. There's a reason there are two lines of stitching around the neckline.  It's called my bias binding is all different widths and I wasn't even drinking!

I do try to be accurate but that part of my brain appears to be annexed into remembering song lyrics.  Appearently remembering all the words to 867-5309 is more important than consistant 1/2" seam allowances. (Jenny I got your number, I'm gonna make you minnne,  Jenny don't change your number, 8675309.)

Now if you're gonna make a shirt with a semi-large bug print on it people are either gonna love it or hate it.  My own husband said to our child, "EWWWW  Mommy's covered in Stink Bugs!!'   Don't be silly, stink bugs are brown not fabulous colors like my bugs.....Darrrrlink.

This is my second Scout Tee so pop over here to see what changes I made to the pattern. (Darts darrrrlink) 
In closing I give you this.

Summer of Dresses - Vogue 8728

Good news everyone, you've all been cordially invited to my "Summer of Dresses" cake tasting party/dress parade. They'll be plenty of cake and alcoholic beverages, but you might want to clear your schedual cause the dress parade might take all summer.  Get out your lawn chairs and settle in cause the festivities are about to BEGIN!

The first dress in our parade is the vintage inspired Vogue 8728.  Let's let the our model tell us a little more about the pattern.....

Pattern
Vogue 8728 - As if you didn't know. ;) Actually if you're anything like me you don't remember pattern numbers at all, just the illustration on the front of the envelope.  This is the one with two vintagey ladies looking put out about having to attend some lame ass cake party.  The one is the black already has her "bitch please" pose going.  The flora lady is either mocking us or is secretly pleased with her armpit hair removal technique. 

Fabrics used
Stashed rayon/lycra jersey originally from Emmaonesock.com. All the birdy prints will be MINE!
Also some left over stretch lining also from EOS. She has it in different colors than the one I bought a couple of years ago.

Pattern changes/alterations
It was a classic Heather moment when I went and bought the pattern and then read everyone's PR reviews on this dress.  The common recommendation was to go down a size or two, however I'm a Vogue size 16 which is the smallest size in the larger size split.  There was no smaller size to go down to unless I threw some more money at Vogue. And Vogue was getting any more of my crumpled one dollar bills, at least not today.  That turned out to be a good decision because I needed the depth of the size 16 bodice to fit my girls and taking in a side seam is a lot less work.

Here is the rundown of all my changes....
1.  Cut down all the seam allowances to 1/4" since I was using a knit.

2. The neckline was too wide so 1" was filled in just at the shoulder edge and then graded out to nothing.

3. On the back I folded the darts closed and taped them shut.

4. Took in the side seams 3/4" and raised the bottom of the kimono sleeve 1".

5. Reduced the length of the neckband  4.5".

6. Shortened the bodice length about 2" in the back and about 1 3/4" in the front because my waist is titled.

7. Reduced length of skirt about 4". 

8. Drafted a lining for the gathered part of the bodice.

Confessions/Advice
1. I want to thank Jennifer of Jennifer Lauren Vintage for bringing to my attention the potential problem of  "boob gatherage".  Aka the gathers sliding to the sides of your boobs leaving you with an unsightly smooth areas attracting you the wrong kind of attention.  She mentioned that one fix for this was to draft a bodice lining piece without the gathering ease.  I did draft one up in a totally half hazard manner using the upper and lower bodice pieces.  First I took the upper bodice piece and traced the shoulder and sleeve area.  Then matched the lower bodice piece to the upper and traced the upper curve.  The neckline curve of the bodice lining was just drawn freehand.

2.  I reinforced my neckband with the beloved tricot interfacing that I won't shut up about.

3.  It was hard to tell how long the bodice needed to be before adding the skirt so I did a lot of last minute tweaking of the bodice length/waist tilt.  I should have removed the skirt, cut down the bodice, and reattached the skirt.  I went maverick and just basted extra wide seam allowances at the waist until the bodice length looked correct.  Then a permanent seam was sewn in, the SA cut down, and edge reserged.  Most of the extra skirt length was sucked up with this alteration and I only had to cut an 1" off the bottom edge.

4.  The skirt was first sewn on with the 1/4" serger stitch but it felt too heavy for that narrow seam. I used my regular sewing machine to put in a lighting bolt/stretch stitch further away from the edge.

And now a little rant about the lighting bolt stitch....it is the work of Satan!  It's like trying to hammer in a nail with the handle of a screw driver.  You can kind of manage to do it, but not without cursing a blue streak and partaking in an alcoholic beverage so that you don't stab your loved ones.  Lord help you if you make a mistake and have to rip that motherf***king stitch out.  You might as well just fall on your sewing shears and end it all.
If you feel like sewing with knits on a regular basis, please for the love of god, buy yourself a serger!  I own the Brother 1034d, it's inexpensive, easy to thread and and never acts up...unlike the other two machines I own. Yes, I'm giving an extra slightly eyed look at you coverstitch machine.  Knits are only hard if you don't have the proper tool, get yourself the proper tool.  Thus ends my PSA/rant about sewing knit with your regular machine.
P.S. Here's my non-professional video on how to easily rip out a serger seam.  Now save your pennies and buy one.

5. I used the coverstitch machine to put in the hem and finish the kimono sleeve edges. A 3/4" worked well on the sleeves.

6. Hey Heather, didn't you just say that you don't wear gathered skirts cause they're not flattering and blah blah blah blah, gored skirt, blah blah?  Ummm yes, yes I did but a "lady" has the right to change her mind.  In this case I thought the gathered skirt echoed the gathered bust line and decided to go for it.

Husband Comment
"I actually like this one. What's that bird? A phoenix....like a phoenix rising from Arizona."

My Final Thoughts
Whoever first thought to make this pattern up in a knit deserves an award and a giant piece of cake.  Because you can eat a giant piece of cake and still look good in this dress. 

The Me-Made-May Effect

Confession, I joined Me-Made-May to get more pattern ideas by ogling other peoples finished garments.  All The Pattern's Heather has a reputation to uphold and I get a little antsy when my "to buy" list runs low.  Never fear gentle readers, cause I got a whole new list of dresses that NEED to be sewn this summer.

1. Vogue 8728 made up in a knit. So much vintage goodness and it looks pretty comfortable to! 

I first noticed this on The Sew Convert in the flickr group and wanted it immediately.  Since then Jennifer has also made a pretty knit one in a striped knit. So Yeah, I might already be making this. Don't you love my fabric!

 2. New Look 6097 just a nice causal knit dress with a little faux wrap action.

I'm not sure that the pattern photo would have convinced me to make this up, but I love feynman lives version.  Right now I'm thinking of using this long stashed navy knit.

3. Burda 102 from issue 8/2012 The drama!

 I didn't even know about this pattern until I saw Merche Martinez knock out red version during Me-Made-May.  Luckily for me the pattern is available for download from the Burda site cause I Wants The Precious.  It calls for a stretch woven so I'm thinking about using this favorite from the stash. Beware you eyes may burn.

4. Simplicity 2444 Pretty with pleats.

Margo really showcased how great this pattern is done up in a bold print. In fact she did it more than once.
I might use some newly acquired fabric from Gertie for this.  YES NEWLEY ACQUIRED FABRIC.  Pay no attention to that stashbusting button on the side bar.... anyways we got straight up cotton

Or cotton/silk voile....it's like butta!

5. The yet to be released adult version of the Kitschycoo Skater Dress modeled here by the lovely Katie.

 

I love everything about this pattern!  It's a knit dress so you can just pull it on and go look fabulous.  I'm not sure what the yardage is for my size so I'm thinking either...

Sophicated Foxes

Or Oatmeal/Blue Ikat

My apologies for the night time pics of the last two fabrics.  I suck at planning, 10 blogger demerits!

So that's it, which is probably the understatement of the year. I'm sure that I can get all these sewn up by the end of the month.....Haaa haaa, snort, snort. Now where's my 6 pack of Red Bull?

Liebster Award Nomination

I never would have thought such a thing would happen but I've been nominated for not one but two Liebster awards.  Thanks so much my fellow sewing friends Clare of Sew Dixie Lou and Joanne of Sew Little Time. I'm having a Sally Field moment, "They like me, they really like me!"

To accept the award there are rules and the first rule is don't tell people about fight club.....ummm no.  The real rules are:

1. The blogger needs to answer the questions their tagger/taggers have sent.  The dare option is not on the table.
2. Choose eleven new bloggers to receive the award and link to them in your post. Muhaaaaa /\ (finger tents)
3. Create eleven new questions for your chosen bloggers.  Turn it up to 11!
4. Let those crazy snitches know you nominated them.
5. Post eleven random facts about yourself.  What is this a writing assignment?  I kid, I kid.
6. No tag backs snitch! Go harass someone else. ;)

First up Clare Bear's questions (That's right I just nick named you!) cause she nominated me ohhhh about a month ago. Sorry my dear, I was caught up in Me-Made-May tomfoolery.  Clare is a super funny lady and I'm amazed she also thinks I'm funny. We bonded on twitter over Ryan Gosling, because he's awesome and would totally be supportive of our fabric stashes.  "Hey girl, why don't you buy that faux leather and make yourself a bad ass jacket.  Now watch me kick some guy's head in."

1) If you could sew an outfit for someone famous who would it be?
Sew for someone famous?  That snitch better fork over the money cause I only sew for me (And occasionally knit tops for the boy just so I can buy fun fabric.)  Honestly I can't think of a person I'd want to sew for style wise, but would happily take Hugh Jackman's measurements.

2) If your sewing machine could talk, what's the first thing you would ask it?
Why you gotta be an uppity snitch about buttonholes?  Is it because that past roommate sewed astro-turf on you without my consent?  Yeah that was traumatic for me too.

3) Where is your most favourite place in the world?
My bed.  Bed is glorious and I never want to leave it....ever.

4) What's that one song that can make you feel better about a bad day?
 Well this is a real Sophie's choice, what about my other lyrical babies? Do I have to throw them in the trash!!!  Now that I'm done being dramatic it's time admit that I always go back to Gordon Lightfoot.  His catalog of songs is gigantic but I will have to go with "Sundown" even though it's the obvious choice.  *"Sundown you'd better take care, cause I look super sexy with my permed hair."

*Not the real lyrics. Duh.

5) How would your friends/loved ones describe you in five words?
Hmmm, I've heard, "Odd but in a fun way,"  out of my cousin's mouth and that pretty much describes me. My husband would like to add "Busty."  Thanks for the help honey.

6) If you could go back to college what would you study?
Maybe Graphic Design cause it seems like something with more real world application than my Fashion Design degree.  All my college friends where graphic designers and not just because they hooked me up with free Adobe products.
 

7) The one thing you can't live without?
 My ipod!  I don't know how mothers got through the day without an iPod to tune out the never ending demands of their toddlers.  Now hush boy I'm trying to rock out to the awesome middle part in "Aqualung."

8) It's date night and 1985, who do you pick to go out with and why? Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez or Judd Nelson?
So I had to google 2 of these 3 names....congrats Estevez I know who you are. Got to say, these guys aren't my type. Can I just hang out with Tom Selleck and his manly chest hair? Rrrrrowww!

9) Who is your style icon?
 Do I have a style much less a style icon? I do love classic style icons like Katherine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn but don't think I dress like them.  If I could look like anyone in particular it would be Zooey Deshanel, She is so darn cute and I love love love her outfits.

10) You just got detention? What's the thing you most likely did to get in trouble?
 Reading a book during class or laughing loudly.  True Story - I was once asked by the CEO of the company I worked to leave work early cause my laughing was bothering him. I told him, "I can't leave early I take the train."

11) You're playing spin the bottle. Who DON'T you want it to land on?
Ryan Reynolds!  I just want to punch that guy in the face.  Get out of my superhero movies you jackass! Now I have to stare at a picture of Hugh Jackman to get rid of my rage. Loooooove you Hugh especially when you frolic on a beach with Wolverine sideburns.

 Now for Joanne's questions.  Joanne is Scottish so she must have the best accent that I totally want to steal.  She likes to tease me on my silly American words for things.  "Sneakers?  It's Trainers!!!"  She also makes beautiful dresses, you've seen her Mad Men dress right. I can't stop looking at it.

1. What is your favourite film of all time and why?

I'm not too strongly attached to films.  There are plenty I enjoy and some I like to rewatch but wouldn't call any a favorite.  But since it's summer I will spill my annual summer rewatches.  First "Jaws" cause it's kind of funny and a little scary and you get to repeat lines like, "Stop playing with yourself, Hooper!" and of course, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."  Other one is John Carpenter's "The Thing."  All that snow makes me feel cooler and Kurt Russell's beard is one of the finest specimens I've ever seen!  Also when that guy's head sprouts legs and runs across the floor. Ahhhh YES!!! (P. S.  After reading this answer my husband high fived me.)

 
2. What kind of holidays do you like - beach? city break? raving in Ibiza?  Do tell!

I hate traveling because it takes me away from my bed, which is the most wonderful place on earth.  My favorite holiday is to be left alone in my house and never go outside for days. I'm a hermit!

3. I spend a lot of time commuting - if you had a spare hour on the train, what would you do?

I used to have a long commute when I worked and would always knit on the train.  BK (before knitting) I was a voracious reader.

4. What is the best sewing book you have read?

Read a sewing book?  I thought you just bought them and used them as paper weights for your patterns.

5. Knits or wovens?

That's a hard one cause I like both.  Knits can be a fast FO but I love wovens for suit jackets and pants.

6. What is your favourite blog?

I never thought about it since I'm a lazy, lazy blog reader.  But I love Gertie and wonder if I borrow her pink hair for a day.  She'd be cool with that right?

7.What other crafts to you do and which is your favourite?

I knit, bake and way back in the day did cross stitching.   Right now I alternate between loving sewing and knitting best.  Sewing is currently winning cause wool is hot in the summer. 

8. What is your karaoke song?

"Venus" by Shocking Blue cause baby I got it.  Ok not really but I like to sometimes pretend that I got it but just misplaced it somewhere while I was eating a cookie.

9. Sweet or savoury?

Sweet all the way.  Cake, cookies, brownies, assorted quick breads, Get Into My Belly! Nom, Nom, Nom.

10. What is your favourite accessory?

Shoes.  Shoes, Glorious, shoes, strappy sandals or sling backs, or if you're in the mood, retro heels purchased from Sax.

11. If I gave you £50 ($78 US, $82 Aus) to spend on fabric, patterns or craft supplies, what would you make from it?  Links please! OK so summer retro Heather wants this chiffon to make Butterick 5750.  Faux-Bad ass winter Heather wants this faux leather to make this Burda motorcycle jacket.
Wait I shouldn't have shown you guys that fabric. Forget all about it, these are not the yardages you are looking for. *Hand Wave*



Now on to 11 Random Facts about Me.  Da da da dum!
1. I know the complete lyrics to hundreds of songs but my voice is shit. (My husband shakes his head and says No when I try to sing along with something.)

2. I like to eat easily countable things like cookies/crackers in even numbers.  My sister has admitted to doing this to so it must be some family OCD trait.

3.  I still love stuffed animals and will make them talk to you like a puppet. Then I will make the toy steal your cookie.

4. I make up stupid songs about what I'm doing all day long.

5. Besides the fabric stash I have a yarn stash, cake decorating stash, and a specialty flour stash.

6. I can't remember names, dates, or what I had for breakfast two days ago, but I can tell you the plot of some book I read 6 years ago.  So do you want some "Game of Thrones" spoilers?

7. I don't turn around and look if someone shouts "HEATHER" because there were 5 Heathers in school and people were always yelling for one of them.

8. My first car was a 86 Navy Caprice which was the local undercover cop car. People would drive really slowly around me thinking they'd get a ticket if they didn't.

9. I like to yell, "SCANDALOUS" about things that are not actually scandalous.  My husband does not play along.

10. I'm married to a giant movie watching enthusiastic.  That may explain all the movie quotes popping up in my blog posts.

11. I've always considered myself an old lady in a younger person's body.  It's Friday night, bring on the knitting and the Masterpiece Theater! 

Nominations -  OK ladies, no need to actually do this I just want to express my appreciation of your skills and what not. Especially your what not.

1. Leila of Threedresses.org
 How can you not love Leila and her big beautiful smile! She sets the bar for fun candid shots and looks equally styling in a Star Trek Skant or a retroish Sewing Cake pattern.  She might have somehow convinced me to buy pink fabric and pretend I'm a Summertime Princess. 

2. Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow
 Gillian is the color Queen and always mixes all those fun brights with the greatest of ease.  I love seeing her bright fun knits and we totally have the same taste in cutesy wootsey cartoon animal prints. She is also soooooo smart and I bow before her language prowess.

3. Pretty Grievances of Pretty Grievances
Her real name is Boxy Le Smut but I didn't tell you that.  Ah P, how does she come up with those witty comebacks that make me snort water through my nose? Honestly I might have laughed so hard I cried over this post. She also has a closet of prints that will burn your eyes with their awesomeness. Come to mommy all you fantastic animal prints.

4. Katie of Kadiddlehopper
Katie must sew in her sleep because her output is A-MA-ZING. Not only is she cranking out coats, dresses, and pants for herself but also for her 3 kids!  I also take comfort knowing that her stash slightly bigger than mine and houses plenty of animal prints. Some day she might find me hiding in her fabric shelves.

5. Laura of Miymdiary
I feel like Laura and I are always talking about food.  I love it! And if you want to know what to do with that weird specially flour she will hook you up.  She's also my tech guru, how do I work this instagram?  Teach me!  I imagine that she's the best dressed tech support I'll ever have.

6. Lady K of Peanut Butter Macrame.
I think Lady K is my accessory idol and she knows how to rock a dress. This one right here might have been the genesis of shirtwaist fever.  How about this little black dress with the red belt and the red shoes. Hmmmm I might need to take a trip down south to raid some one's closet.

7. MaLora Ann of Bird and Bicycle
MaLora is always cranking out the cutest clothing for her son, not to mention her model is adorable.  And aren't all her photos just lovely, they make me feel like I'm relaxing in some one's cozy sewing studio.

8. Brooke of Custom Style
Brook is a vast well of sewing knowledge and I think she might know just about everything.  If you aren't following her on instagram you should be just to drool over the costume fabric she's working with.

9.Catja of Gjeometry
Catja is relatively new to sewing but she is knocking it out of the park.   She's lucky that she's a couple sizes smaller than me cause I'd be stealing those Gatsby PJ's.

10. Stephanie of Love-Teach-Sew
We had a bit of a bonding moment this week talking about non stash enabling husbands and the hiding of newly acquired fabric.  Hee hee, so devious!  Stephanie is always finding the best woven prints and making the cutest little blouses out of them.  I want this Banksia top and pencil skirt!

11. Shelly of Cuckoo Chanel
Shelley and I met through Me-Made-May where we bonded in our love goofy poses.  She once commented, "Thank God you're here," which just makes me want to high five her across the net.  Her hat collection also sets my heart a flutter.  Don't you just love all her TV inspired clothing? Pushing Daisies Dress, Oh Yes!

Here are my questions for the lovey ladies if they are so inclined.

1.  If you didn't spend your money on sewing stuff what would you buy?
2. What song/album/artist are you really into right now?  (Yeah I'm looking for new stuff for my playlist, what of it?)
3. Is there some place you must visit or your life will not be complete?
4. What's your favorite naughty snack/treat.  (I mean not healthy for you, get your mind out of the gutter!)
5. Who are your pretend boyfriends?  I know you have at least one!
6. What's the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you?
7. What is your favorite guilty pleasure song?  You know the one that isn't "good" but you love it anyway.
8. What's your favorite pattern?
9. What movie have you rewatched the most?
10. If you had the skills to sew anything what would it be?
11. What is your favorite thing about yourself?  Could be body part, personality trait, whatever. 

Hugs and Kisses to All!

Getting Gertie With It - The Shirtwaist Dress

You might not know but shirtwaist fever is sweeping the nation.  Okay, maybe it's only infected Leila and I but we've got the germs and we're totally gonna lick that cookie you're eating. Mmmmm cookie chip, Gimme!

But I digress..... you should just know that shirtwaist are fun, shirtwaists are summery and shirtwaists mean you can buy skinny belts in all different colors.  And if you're about to embark on a crazy shirtwaist dress sewing binge, why not start with Gertie's lovely pattern? It's got pleats, pockets and an elastic back!  Oh My!

Pattern
The Shirtwaist Dress from Gertie's New Book For Better Sewing.  According to the Gertie size chart I an 8 on top and a 10 on the bottom.  On my first muslin these two sizes were blended together, but the skirt was much bigger than I needed it to be.  I ended up using the size 8 for the complete dress.

Fabrics used
Quilting cotton with LOBSTERS on it.  I might have come up with the lobster shirtwaist idea during a pants fitting cycle of hate. "What's the craziest thing I can think of sewing right now? Lobster shirtwaist. UH HAA HAAA HAAA HAAA Ahhhhh."

Pattern changes/alterations
After altering this pattern I'm pretty sure that Gertie and I have completely different upper bodies. The most contentious fitting problem was the armhole/sleeve area.  I was getting horizontal drag lines from shoulder edge to bust and also felt like my range of movement was restricted when moving my arms. So buckle up cause I slashed the hell out of this pattern.

1. Did an 1 1/4" FBA but removed the added length that the FBA adds to the bodice.  I'm short waisted so usually the extra length is not needed.

2. The FBA made the side seam bust dart rather large.  Decided to rotate this extra dart intake into the waist bust dart instead.  This is more of a personal preference change, I just don't like big darts under my arms.

3. Gertie's armholes are very shallow and I seem to need a Big 4 style scooped armhole. Took McCall's 4767 and drew those armholes onto Gertie's pattern.  Tried to use the neckline to determine the position for tracing which seemed to work out OK.  This also resulted in more paper being added to the side seam just at the top which was graded out to nothing at the waist.  This change was made to both the front and the back armhole.

4.  Made my standard 1/2 forward shoulder adjustment.

5. Took in the shoulders 1/2".

6. Despite the changes I'd made adding an FBA and scooping out the armholes I was still getting pulling above the bust and my neckline was tight.  Decided to make shit up and added 1/2" down the entire center front.  (I've never seen this recommended in any books but it seemed quasi-logical and actually worked for me.)  The under bust dart then needed to be moved 1/2" toward the new CF so that it would fall in the correct location.

7. I also scooped the back neck out 3/8" at the CB grading it to nothing at the shoulder edge.  The collar than needed to be adjusted for these changes, 15/16" added to it's CB line.

8.  Because of the additional 1/2" on the CF and the fact that I was going to drop the first button placement the front facings had 1/2" added to their CF.

9. For a little more arm movement I added 1/4" to the sleeve side seams and the sleeve hem band side seams.

10. Because of the FBA adjustment the front skirt needed 3/4" added to the side seam which was graded out to nothing further down on the side seam.

11. I must have made some sort of tracing error but the front skirt also needed 1 1/8" of extra length added to the waist seam to get the side seams to match up.

12. Made a 1 1/2" sway back adjustment on the back skirt.  There was a lot of ease built into the back yoke seam line so instead of adding to the pattern to make the CB straight again, I just cut off a wedge of the upper back pattern.  It was probably a 1" of ease taken out. I think you can see the difference between Leila's back ease and mine. (P.S. I was whispering to her big butt, flat butt while the camera took this picture.)

13. Dropped the button hole placement of the top button down 1". The other 2 bodice buttons were 3" apart from each other, the last bodice/first skirt buttons 3 1/4" apart and then the rest of the buttons the suggested 3 1/2" apart.

14. After getting the dress put together it seemed like the elastic ruching was a little too high.  I took out the top 2 lines of elastic and sewed in two more below the existing lines.

Confessions/Advice
1.  Despite all my alterations I still have the nagging feeling that the fit is a tad off in the bodice.  I don't exactly know what is wrong though and my final dress does fit much better than all of my muslins.

2. I skipped most of the hand stitching by using good old contrast top-stitching.  My hem is also machine stitched cause I'm a lazy, lazy sewcialist.

3. I'm never completely thrilled with quilting cotton garments but one look at those googly eyed lobsters and I "squee all over myself." (It would still be better if they were on liberty lawn.)

4. I may be completely addicted to elastic ruching now.  Ruche all the things! 

5. Because there seemed to be a lot more ease in the front of the sleeve than the back, I took all of it and put it in a "decorative" puff right at the shoulder seam.

6. If you decide to make a lobster dress then you'd better go whole hog and get achor buttons.

Husband Comment
"Lobsters?  Well if you ever go back to Maine you'll blend right in."

My Final Thoughts
I do feel a bit "costumey" in this dress because of my crazy lobster print obsession.  Not sure this is going to be "hitting the grocery store" outfit, but sewing would be boring if everything you made was 100% practical. The dress design is comfortable and in a light weight lawn it would be nice and cool for summer.   While making up one of my muslins it struck me that this pattern would also make a really cute sleeveless top.  I may pursue that angle later. Muhaaaaa haaaaaa!   Lobsters, MAINE!