Oh man, that Emery Dress pattern by Christine Haynes.....it has become a TNT pattern! I finished two dresses recently; I'm sharing one today and I'll share another one later this week.
I've had my eye on making another Emery Dress soon after I tested the pattern...way back in August 2013. However, I was a bit lost on how to reduce the slight gaping along the back neckline. It wasn't *that* noticeable, but the neckline would not sit flat when I wore it and I could not for the life of me figure out why. As much as I really, really, really wanted to make another Emery Dress, I did not want to make one until I could figure out how to make sure the neckline would lay flat.Would I have to do some crazy pattern hack to reduce the length of the back neckline? Did I need to lengthen the neckline darts or add new darts somewhere else?
Well, I finally figured out what I had to do! I tried on my muslin (which I made back in October or November when I planned to make another dress) and realized that if I just raised the whole bodice at the shoulder seams just a tad, then voila! The girls are framed ever so nicely by the darts, and the slight gaping along the back neckline was f'ing gone!
I eventually realized that raising the shoulder seams would mean I would have to also re-draft the necklines and darts......so I decided to shorten the bodice through the mid-point of the armsyce. Modifying the bodice this way meant I only needed to true-up the armsyce and lengthen the bodice below the waistline by the same amount I reduced above my bustline.
Anyway....once I got that part fixed it was easing sailing with the Emery Dress. Well, it would have been if I hadn't decided to make even more changes without fully thinking through the construction process.
I moved the zipper to the left side seam and decided to make a sleeveless version. I managed to get the side seam pockets sewn into the dress with the side zipper on my first try, but I doubt I did it the "correct" way.
My easy sewing day came to a halt after this point when I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to neatly machine-sew the lining into the dress. I sewed, unpicked, sewed, unpicked....way too many times. Eventually I scrapped the lining and finished the neckline and armholes with bias binding....hand-sewn, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid with the lining....
In case you want to machine-sew the lining into a sleeveless dress, you have to sew the lining to the bodice BEFORE attaching the skirt to the bodice. I eventually googled it after I sewed everything together and had no idea how to get myself out of the mess.....Here let me Google you some tutorials for this method.
The neckline is actually a bit lower and wider than it should be because I actually understitched the lining to the main fabric at the neckline and instead of unpicking that mess, I just sewed on the bias binding and then cut off the lining at the original seam. I don't mind the lower neckline, but the shoulder width is narrower, which I sorta mind. (Well done, self!)
I used a "bottomweight" fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics that I bought months ago, so I can only guess that it's mainly cotton, but there is a slight stretch to it which I totally appreciate because it means I can eat a lot and still breathe with a tightly fitted bodice. On the downside though, it's much heavier and thicker than quilting cotton so it doesn't really cooperate when I try to iron the darts flat (see first 2 photos above), but at least I can get away with wearing this dress without any lining or slips (or at least I think so....).
Since the fabric is a bit stiffer than what the pattern calls for, I reduced the width of the skirt patterns (about 6" total on the front and 4 or 5" on the back). Don't get me wrong, I love how the skirt looked on my first version, but I was concerned about going full poof with a stiffer fabric. I also got to try out my serger for the first time! Gotta say.....LOVE IT! ERMAHGERD, I cannot believe how fast I can finish seams now!
Before I hemmed the dress I tried it on and showed my husband. He was astounded at how well it fit in the front bodice. He said it looked like a custom fit dress and well, that's the one of the things I want to accomplish with sewing my own clothes. The back bodice on this dress could use a bit of tweaking to get it just perrrrrrfect, but I think it's fine the way it is right now. It's so damn hard for me to find the right fit with RTW clothes, particularly skirts and dresses, because there's usually not a big selection for petites so it's refreshing to know I can make my own dresses. Can't wait to make like a hundred variations of this dress!
I've had my eye on making another Emery Dress soon after I tested the pattern...way back in August 2013. However, I was a bit lost on how to reduce the slight gaping along the back neckline. It wasn't *that* noticeable, but the neckline would not sit flat when I wore it and I could not for the life of me figure out why. As much as I really, really, really wanted to make another Emery Dress, I did not want to make one until I could figure out how to make sure the neckline would lay flat.Would I have to do some crazy pattern hack to reduce the length of the back neckline? Did I need to lengthen the neckline darts or add new darts somewhere else?
Well, I finally figured out what I had to do! I tried on my muslin (which I made back in October or November when I planned to make another dress) and realized that if I just raised the whole bodice at the shoulder seams just a tad, then voila! The girls are framed ever so nicely by the darts, and the slight gaping along the back neckline was f'ing gone!
I eventually realized that raising the shoulder seams would mean I would have to also re-draft the necklines and darts......so I decided to shorten the bodice through the mid-point of the armsyce. Modifying the bodice this way meant I only needed to true-up the armsyce and lengthen the bodice below the waistline by the same amount I reduced above my bustline.
Anyway....once I got that part fixed it was easing sailing with the Emery Dress. Well, it would have been if I hadn't decided to make even more changes without fully thinking through the construction process.
I moved the zipper to the left side seam and decided to make a sleeveless version. I managed to get the side seam pockets sewn into the dress with the side zipper on my first try, but I doubt I did it the "correct" way.
My easy sewing day came to a halt after this point when I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to neatly machine-sew the lining into the dress. I sewed, unpicked, sewed, unpicked....way too many times. Eventually I scrapped the lining and finished the neckline and armholes with bias binding....hand-sewn, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid with the lining....
In case you want to machine-sew the lining into a sleeveless dress, you have to sew the lining to the bodice BEFORE attaching the skirt to the bodice. I eventually googled it after I sewed everything together and had no idea how to get myself out of the mess.....Here let me Google you some tutorials for this method.
The neckline is actually a bit lower and wider than it should be because I actually understitched the lining to the main fabric at the neckline and instead of unpicking that mess, I just sewed on the bias binding and then cut off the lining at the original seam. I don't mind the lower neckline, but the shoulder width is narrower, which I sorta mind. (Well done, self!)
I used a "bottomweight" fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics that I bought months ago, so I can only guess that it's mainly cotton, but there is a slight stretch to it which I totally appreciate because it means I can eat a lot and still breathe with a tightly fitted bodice. On the downside though, it's much heavier and thicker than quilting cotton so it doesn't really cooperate when I try to iron the darts flat (see first 2 photos above), but at least I can get away with wearing this dress without any lining or slips (or at least I think so....).
Since the fabric is a bit stiffer than what the pattern calls for, I reduced the width of the skirt patterns (about 6" total on the front and 4 or 5" on the back). Don't get me wrong, I love how the skirt looked on my first version, but I was concerned about going full poof with a stiffer fabric. I also got to try out my serger for the first time! Gotta say.....LOVE IT! ERMAHGERD, I cannot believe how fast I can finish seams now!
Before I hemmed the dress I tried it on and showed my husband. He was astounded at how well it fit in the front bodice. He said it looked like a custom fit dress and well, that's the one of the things I want to accomplish with sewing my own clothes. The back bodice on this dress could use a bit of tweaking to get it just perrrrrrfect, but I think it's fine the way it is right now. It's so damn hard for me to find the right fit with RTW clothes, particularly skirts and dresses, because there's usually not a big selection for petites so it's refreshing to know I can make my own dresses. Can't wait to make like a hundred variations of this dress!
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