A Little Disappointed in This One

Well, I'm wrapping up the little en forreau dress that I've been making and I wouldn't be honest if I said that it was an easy dress to fit to the doll.  It was not an easy dress to fit to the doll.  The en forreau, the outer robe part of the outfit, was apparently designed to fit a particular size doll--a smaller one than my model, Mattie.  So that is why there are little folds in the bodice on either side of the front opening. Pleased, I am not!  Fortunately, the back of the en forreau and the petticoat turned out as I hoped they would, but with the front not looking so well, in my opinion the whole outfit is a failure!!!

But, what can you expect the first time you use a pattern.  Most professional seamstresses would probably have made a "muslin," a mock up of the outfit sewn from cheaper fabric, such as muslin. I did not do this, however, because the fabric that I used was from the sale bin at JoAnn's, so I did not have a lot invested in the material--just my time.  Hopefully, next time that I make an outfit from this pattern, I will be able to make some adjustments to allow for a better fit.  I also think that my choice of fabric for the en forreau was not a good choice.  The taffeta was very unforgiving when it had to be sewn in curved lines.  That is probably why the bodice did not fit as it should have fit.

Oh, well, it was a challenge to make and an interesting historical design, so I guess that made the project worthwhile. Here are two pictures of the outfit before I have completed the handsewing that has to be done on it.  Once this is done, I will take my final pictures and post them.  Thanks for keeping up with this sewing project.  Sharing with you always makes it more fun for me.  Hope you enjoyed it, too.

 

Read the Instructions Before You Begin a Project!

There have been more times than I can count when I have asked my students to please read the instructions before starting an assignment, taking a test, or beginnning a project.  So you might ask me:  "Do you take your own advise?"  To which I would say, "Well, sometimes."

On this En Forreau project I must respond, "Not this time."  I have a word for you today--
READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE STARTING A PROJECT!

I've lost count the number of times that I have had to rip out stitches in this dress project. Thankfully, I have been able to correct my mistakes along the way, but tonight I made one that scared me a little.  I made a cut that could only be corrected by sewing the piece back on leaving a seam where there is not suppose to be one.  All in all, though, unless you saw the pattern instructions; you would not be able to determine that it was a miscalculation on my part!  Whew!
Tonight, for my bedtime reading guess what I will be reading???

So what did I accomplish in the little time that I worked on the dress?  I added tiny little pleats to the skirt of the dress and attached one side of the skirt to the bodice.  It looks like the pieces line up, so when I resume sewing, this is where I will begin.  Until next time, good night.

Today is Saturday and I Actually Got to Sew

This morning I finished making a batch of sweet pickles that I started last night, so I did not get to resume my sewing until this afternoon.  I was really anxious to get started since I left one of the sleeves of the En Forreau dress ripped apart last night.  The first thing that I did was re-cut another sleeve and re-attached the cuff.  It looked great, and I was pleased with the results.  The next step involved gathering the sleeve caps and then setting them into the armhole openings of the bodice.  I thought this would be easy enough, because I had done it many, many times before, but to my dismay, I set the first sleeve in backwards.  So it was rip, rip, rip time again; can I say this project was plagued with my careless errors?   Finally, though, I managed to complete the sleeve insertions and it was time to do my first fitting on little Mattie. SIGH!!!

After all the struggling with the bodice of the dress, it really did turn out nice and seems to be a perfect fit.  The wide opening in the back will be where the En Forreau (long sheath) will be inserted.  But first I will have to attach the skirt of the dress to either side of the bodice before this insertion is made.  The En Forreau will extend from the neckline to the hem of the dress and will feature a series of tiny pleats whose purpose is to produce a snug fit around the waist.

I had thought about sewing some more tonight, but Farmer Jim, my husband, asked me to help him count his herd of cows.  For some reason he was coming up short on his count.   I had my doubts that I would be able to do this because most of his cows are the same color--black--and most of them would not stand still for very long.  It only took about three times of starting over with my counting, for me to give it up, for they would invariably escape my mental corral.  Even my idea of taking pictures of them and later trying to count them on the computer screen proved just as hard a task.

Now it was fun to watch Jim count the cows; he is so experienced at doing this.  It's amazing to me how he can tell them apart; but he can.  He knows something physically unique about each one; he also can tell you the due date of each mama cow.

Well, that concludes the events of my day and I'll be posting again on the progress of my sewing project, so please tune in to see what happens next.

Started a New Sewing Project Today

My next sewing project is going to take us back to the late 1700's and allow us to get a glimpse of the dress styles of that era.  The doll dress that I have chosen to make was designed by Shari Fuller of Thimbles and Acorns, a super talented lady who spends lots of time doing research into the fashion trends and styles of centuries past.  

This style of gown, as described by Shari, is based on the popular En Forreau' dress style from the 1770's where the bodice and skirt at the center back were cut in one piece and pleated to fit.  The gown can be worn down or tied up with hidden tapes to form a bustle.  The petticoat is historically detailed with front and back ties that form pocket openings at the sides.

Armed with some old gold taffeta that I found in the remnant bin at JoAnns and a cotton floral print that is the perfect color for the fall season, I began my sewing project.  Determined to accomplish something before the end of the day, I pinned the pattern to the fabric, cut it out, serged the edges of each piece, threaded my sewing machine with matching thread, and started sewing the sleeves. My new goal for the day would be to finish the sleeves complete with cuff, lace, and shoulder gathering.

Here are some pictures of my progress up to this point.

My little model for this sewing project will be Maddie.

As you can see from the last sewing picture above I started with the sleeve, first attaching the lace and later the cuff.  Below is a picture of what I thought was the accomplishment of the goal I had set for the day--to finish the sleeves.  

But after further examination I noticed that I had attached the lace to the right sleeve in the same direction as the lace on the left sleeve.  Of course, we all know (don't we) that they have to be the opposites of each other.  So here I am ripping it out, and figuring out what part of it I can still use and what part I will have to recut.  

But, that is no big deal; most seamstresses know they will have to rip something out sooner or later; so we just take it all in stride and keep moving forward.  Tomorrow, I hope to be able to finish the sleeves, attach them to the bodice, and begin making the En Forreau back of the dress.