Nickie's Dinner Dance Dress (M5382 & 5669) - Final Chapter

At last, I'm finally able to post the Dinner Dance Dresses that I made for my niece and her friend Rihanna. They looked very beautiful today. Caution: The post is image heavy. The reviews of my sewing experience follow.




My niece, Dominique, in M5382



Rihanna, Dominique friend in B4731.


Pretty Feet and shoes.

Dominique's Jacket is made from M5669.



Everyone is happy! Me and the ladies.


Review of Dominique's outfit:


Pattern Description: MISSES'S DRESS AND SASH: Close-fitted, fully lined dress with princess seam on bodice, gathered at waistline and front pleated over bodice, back zipper closing; dresses A, C have shoulder straps; dress B has waist and lower edge with lace trim; dress C has skirt with drape detail and sash; dresses A, B, C are below mid-knee lengths.

Pattern Sizing: size 4 to 18; I made view A with Sash size 8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Pretty much.

Were the instructions easy to follow? No problems, easy.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? We liked everything about the design. The pattern was not difficult to sew and the alterations: minor. It's wonderful sewing for the young and kinda flat. ;-) I have no dislike. But a few observations:

The pleated front bodice may require some interfacing for crispness. My version is made of dutchess satin. I didn't add interfacing, but tacked the pleated front bodice to the inside bodice to keep it in place. Second, the front skirt has fewer gathers than the back. On the envelope photo, the gathers appear to be evenly formed through the front and back.

Fabric Used:; dutchess satin and nice polyester lining.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I should have cut it at size 8 to begin with. So altering the muslin, I decided to cut it a size 8, which gave her the needed ease through the bodice and I added about an inch to the top of the inner bodice. We were a little short on length of fabric; so the sash is about 5 inches shorter than the drafted pattern.

More detailed on alterations and changes here

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Probably not. I made this dress from niece and don't plan to make it for myself or DD.

Conclusion: I recommend this pattern to others. It's perfect for a prom dress. It's not difficult to sew and yields very nice results.

My Flickr Set on the making of the outfit

Jacket Review:

I made this jacket (view-C without the ribbon closure) for my niece. It compliments the dress made from M5382-A. I will review it later. This outfit was finished a little over a month ago. My niece will wear it to her 8th grade dinner dance on June 5th. I'll post the event photo later; today I wanted to post some reviews as I have many. I started with making a muslin several months ago. Then in March I made the actual outfit out of the fashion fabric. My review is below.

Pattern Description: MISSES’ JACKETS: Loose fitting, unlined jacket ends at waist and has neck ruffles, snap closure at neck and sleeve variations; jackets B, C have ribbon bow; jacket C has ribbon binding.

Pattern Sizing: 4 to 18, I cut between a 6 and 8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, for the most part.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, they were.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I picked this jacket to complete the outfit, and my sister approved it. What we liked about the design was the ruffled neckline. Pretty and appropriate for the occasion. My niece liked it too, which was a plus. Young ladies can be hard to please. :-) My dislike from a seamstress point of view was the application of the ruffle. I didn't like the finished inside of the neckline. I couldn't sew perfect seams. So the stitching lines were not perfectly uniform. To help make myself feel better I added bias tape to the inside of the neckline

Fabric Used:Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: There were only a few alteration and design changes.
- Added bias tape to inside neckline
- Omitted the ribbon and snap closures at the neckline
- Added 1/4" to the length of the shoulder seam.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?Conclusion: Nice little jacket that produce satisfactory results. It even pleased a 13 year old. I think a beginner could make this jacket.

Dinner Dance Dress - Part II

Last Friday I completed a fair amount of work on my niece's dinner dance outfit. I was so happy; then I thought: Now I can work on some dresses for me. I finished two. That's another post.

Okay back to my niece's ensemble. First, I finished the jacket made from M5669. I really like the ruffled collar on this jacket. My dislike is the finishing on the under side. I placed the upper ruffle carefully above the lower one on the stitching line, but still couldn't keep the sewing line as straight as I would have liked. I tried twice. So I thought: What could I do to cover the unsightly stitching? Ribbon or bias tape. So I picked up a pack of lavender bias tape from Walmart. Another thing I noticed about the jacket was there is a little puckering at the sleeve. Hopefully, I can press it out, but if not I may have to redo the stitching. On Monday afternoon, my sister brought my niece over for her second fitting of her dinner dance outfit.

Here is my niece wearing the jacket.




I added a little move around in the middle section as the muslin was tight. For her that was uncomfortable and caused some winkles in the upper bodice. The dress is almost finished except for attaching the lining to the waist, hemming and pressing. It's done.







There was one thing that struck me as odd about this pattern and that is the front skirt had about 1/3 the gathering width of the back skirt. So if you plan to make this dress you may want to consider increasing the width of the front skirt pattern to match that of the back skirt. On the pattern photo the gathering is equal on the front and back.




I didn't start on the purse yet. I'll work on the later. So my nieces dress should be completed by the weekend.

Stay Tuned; more client projects and posting of my dresses soon!
C

Dinner Dance Outfit - M5382 & M5669 - Part I

Finally able to post the first fitting for my niece's dinner dance outfit. I'm using two McCall patterns 5382 and 5669. Weekend before last she came over for the first fitting. Lucky me there aren't a lot of changes needed. It's good to be young, flat, and smooth. Sigh, sigh.

Tip: When I'm muslin fitting a client or relative, I write on the muslin to help me remember the changes needed.

Here goes:

First, I noticed that the front of the skirt pattern has half the gathering width of the back pattern. My sister said she liked the affect. So I won't add more gathers to the front.

Front view of dress. I need to raise the neckline about 1/2 inch. It's too low in the front. Everything else looks good.



Pulling will be eliminated with the added width and the boning. At the upper and lower back a small sway alteration is needed.



Side view of dress. I cut the muslin between size 6 and 8. I need to add about 1/2 inch to each side. Niecey said that it was a little tight around the stomach area.



Niecey will need something to keep her warm. Chicago can be cool in the evening. So I chose M5669-C for a stylish chill buster. The muslin fits a little tight acoss the shoulder area. So I'll add 1/4 inch to the shoulder area.





That it. Saturday afternoon I cut the dress and jacket. Sometime this week I'll finish the seams and then begin the process of putting the outfit together. This is one of four dresses that I'm working on.

Sunday, Another niece came to fit your muslin for V2891. She was not pleased. So back to the store for another pattern. I suggested five other options. We will see what she chooses.

Stay Tune...,
C