Progress Part 2

I don't want to be doing this update. Really I don't.

Why?

Because I'd rather be sewing, of course!

But here it is, just for you, an update on my Mad Men Dress Challenge 2:

In the last progress post, I showed you what my muslin looked like after about a month of futzing around with my darts. I still wasn't happy with them. I tried using Gertie's method on changing the darts to be more flattering and I kept ending up very....nippley.

Y U NO WORK MUSLIN?

Well, I am happy to say that not only did I figure out the problem, but I have done A LOT.

After sorting out the nipple darts (which I may do a tutorial on another time), I had to futz around with the sizing by bringing the zipper in and out, again and again, and I had to fix the neck gape. When I was finally happy, I transferred everything to my pattern. Check it out:

See how many times I changed the zipper placement?

A new shoulder dart to get rid of neck gape.

The front

The back.

The alterations transferred to the front bodice.

I added the bust dart to get rid of my massive neck gape.

Check out all the alterations to the darts! And these are just the ones I put on the pattern. This doesn't include the ones I did on the muslin alone!

The alterations to the bodice back.

The new shoulder dart to deal with the back neck gape.

Well, after getting to this point, I did even MORE stuff. Though I did not take many process pictures. So here is a quick run down with a few final photos:

Next I traced my pattern pieces onto some kraft paper to make new pattern pieces. I extended the back bodice on the new pattern pieces along the centre seam by about a 1/4 of an inch to account for the zipper width which would no long be in the centre back of my Mad Men dress. Then, I extended the front centre seam by about an inch to account for the buttons and button placket. After that, I drafted the button placket and a collar, both on my own! (Well, okay, I was using my sister's pattern drafting book to guide me. But I have never taken any sort of pattern drafting course of anything, so this is a big deal for me!) Then I got to work!

The left side with the button placket sewn on.

The right side and the interfacing for the placket laying over top.

The back bodice.

And all together!

So that's all I have photos of for now. I've been trying to take more progress photos, but honestly, I just don't want to stop what I am doing to take photos! Ha!

Anyway, I can't wait to finish and show you my dress! So I am going to go work on it now. Right. Now. :)

{One day...}