Sewing: Progress B&W&P dress

A large part of why this blog is called "Jerryrigging" is that I often just figure out ways of making things work the way I want them to. My grandfather said that jigsaw puzzles are pretty easy if using a hammer. My ways might be the "proper" ways of doing things, or I've found a cool way of doing things and am pretty proud of myself until I discover that I've inadvertently re-invented some really old technique.

For example, when I was little, I got a bag of super swirly, shiny marbles, with a shooter and everything. I pulled out maroon craft felt and, with looping stitches, crafted my own drawstring bag. Then, in order to protect my marbles from my brother's (obviously inferior) marbles, I took some more grey drawstring-string and sewed it onto the bag... my name in cursive! My mom was pretty impressed. To me it just made sense: after all, I wanted my name on the bag, and printing wouldn't work because it would be too many little pieces of string. Then Mom told me that couching was pretty advanced, so I should show it to my needlepoint-master grandma.

Now, take this dress I'm currently working on (hereon dubbed the Black and White and Purple Dress, because I'm feeling uncreative, and it's sorta like the punchline to a bad 3rd grade joke). It's the first time I've worked with slippery fabric of any kind, fairly translucent fabric, and slightly stretchy fabric. And I don't like the ribbon straps that they suggest, so I'm using strips of satin. And the translucent fabric means the whole thing has to be lined as well as the seams bound so that they don't show through. AND I wanted the fabric pattern to go against the grain because I like it more vertical-ish than horizontal-ish. So. What kinds of precautions have I taken? Basically none. Probably a dumb thing (or several dumb things) to do, but it'll be a learning experience. And learning experiences are always good, right?

The one smart thing I did do was ask a coworker how to manage the seams so that they wouldn't show through the fabric and lining. I have packages and packages of twill tape that have (so far!) worked wonders on the arm hole seams. This middle bodice seam, however, is a little trying:

Oooh, that's fairly unattractive!

In the center there, where the two sides overlap, there's six to ten layers of fabric at a time, mostly because of the satin ribbon bits. However, it is holding, and is certainly better than trying to merely zigzag that mess!

The parts I'm currently more proud of include the straps. The pattern (New Look #6557, view A) requests lengths of ribbon for the halter top ties. I'm not much of a ribbon girl, so I just cut lengths of purple satin and sewed them up. Not the most even of stitching jobs, but I think it's within my tolerance levels (ask me again later, and it might be the bane of my existence). Anyway, here's the front of the bodice, basically done:

Strings without strings!

So now it's on to the back pieces, then the skirt. I'm not the fastest sewer in the world (and it's mostly as a treat for cleaning part of the house), so this may take a little while. Unless I procrastinate from cleaning the house...