Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Simplicity 3967

I bought this pattern from one of my favorite Etsy sellers, Midvale Cottage:



I made view 1 using a printed cotton and pink satin bias tape:





The pattern was very straight-forward to work with, but I'd sorta lost my sewing mojo so it took me a while to finish the dress. I wore it to a wedding last weekend, but apparently I'd also lost my blogging mojo, that's why it took me so long to get this posted, hehe.

This pattern is very similar to another wrap dress pattern I have previously made, namely Butterick 6914, but the construction of Simplicity 3967 is a lot better in my opinion. An example of this would be the fact the grosgrain ribbon used for the fastening of the back piece also works as a waist stay (I do apologize for my wonky stitches):



In comparison, the back piece of Butterick 6914 has no waist stay and just a little elastic to fasten it in front. Another problem I had with Butterick 6914, which I intend to correct, is how unruly the neck opening got because the instructions didn't mention anything about facings, although that probably would have been a good idea. While the instructions for Simplicity 3967 didn't call for any suppoort for the neckline either, I decided to apply a facing with fusible interfacing to the sweetheart neckline to have more control when sewing on the bias tape, and it worked like a charm. If you're going to make this pattern, I would recommend making some kind of facing with interfacing or maybe using stay tape. Whatever suits your fancy :)

Other than the addition of facings, I made the following alterations:

Shortened the skirt of the front part by a couple of inches.

Used bias binding instead of making a hem.

Used three sets of snaps instead of the suggested set of a hook and eye to fasten the back piece. I figured it would be a plus to be able to adjust the tightness of the back piece.

Made a series of small pleats when gathering the bust instead using the suggested gathering stitch.


So, what's up next? Well, I've just finished pre-shrinking the fabrics I'll be using for my summer projects, so now I just need to trace the patterns as I go. I hope to have at least one summer outfit finished by the end of this week, hopefully more :)

17 comments:

  1. Oh! So cute! That came out great. I love 3967, so much more flattering right out of the envelope than the walk-away dress.

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  2. Love it. How adorable...seems like a much fancier version of my coffee klatch wrap http://sassylassiesvintagelife.blogspot.com/2010/05/come-over-for-coffee-klatch-wrap.html

    I adore the fabric and "satin" binding. Oh la la. Can I say I love it one more time?

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  3. It's beautiful! You did a great job and I like the choice of fabric and the satin trim.

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  4. Beautiful fabric and the bias binding works perfectly. Congrats!

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  5. Pretty! Love the fabric and the trim, it's perfect for that style :) Oh and love the neckline, too!

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  6. Well done! What kind of fabric did you use?

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  7. Saw you on Sew Retro. I love this dress! It's like the walkaway dress pattern that's so popular - only in reverse. Very clever twist. And the pink trim just makes it!

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  8. Very beautiful fabric - I love those colours together! It is a really nice touch how the pink binding runs from the empire line to the back, and down the back pleat. Gorgeous design!

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  9. Very cute! I, too, found you on Sew Retro. Nice work.

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  10. Lovely fabric! I too immediately thought of it being a reverse version of the walk-away dress and its interesting to see Butterick had their own reverse version too.

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  11. Holy Toledo, I love it and the fabric is awesome! Happy summer sewing:-)

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  12. Thank you so much, everyone! I think I just got my mojo back ;)

    There is a remarkable amount of patterns inspired by Butterick's walk-away dress and I own a few of them. Many of the early ones seem to be lacking in the construction area, like they just wanted to jump the walk-away train.

    Janice: The fabric is a printed cotton called Jardin, but there's no indication of the company and/or designer, it just says 'an exclusive fabric' and 'designed in England' on the selvedges. It is rather new, though, so you may be able to track it down. It's a little pale in the photos, the colours are more vibrant in real life.

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  13. Awesome! I love how the dress turned out, and I agree the fit is much better than the Butterick! Way to go! Very cute fabric, btw. I recently found a mail order version of the walk-away dress - I need to go pull it out to see how it differs from the Butterick and Simplicity. Super post, with a very happy ending. :D

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  14. It's very cute, now I want to own that pattern too.

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  15. This is DARLING! I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for this pattern.

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