Yesterday I spent seven hours cutting out one piece of Maddie’s next dress.
Clearly, my expectations that it would be finished by Monday were way off base. C’est la Vie.
Sometimes, drafting a new pattern feels like racing a snail. And not in a good way.
The problem began when I recognized the antique dress panel I’m using might not have enough fabric in it for my project. I would need to employ extreme conservatism in my cutting out. In fact, since Maddie’s entire skirt will be covered in ruffles, I decided I should make it out of gauze lining. I actually have antique gauze!
Unfortunately, when I pulled the gauze out of its packet, I realized its selvedges were only twenty-four inches wide. The skirt is thirty-three inches wide.
I headed straight for the coffee.
Next step – calculate how much needed to be added onto each end of the gauze, remove half an inch from the gauze width for seam allowances, add a quarter inch to each side piece for seam allowances, and prepare to cut.
But wait! While thinking that having fabric at the center back for the closure would actually be nicer than gauze, it occurred to me that it might also be nicer to have actual fabric for the hem. Which meant I would need to cut the side and center pieces shorter, and then add a narrow strip of fabric all the way across the bottom – just enough so that a person peeking under the bottom ruffle would see matching fabric instead of gauze.
Out came the calculator again. And more coffee.
When I’d finally gotten all the dimensions worked out, I cut out the side pieces and started stitching them to the gauze. Of course they had to be French seams. It’s just neater that way. Then it was time to cut the bottom strip.
But.
As I sat with scissors in hand, it suddenly seemed like quite a lot of fabric to give up from my precious dress panel. If I took that whole strip, would I still have enough for all the ruffles? Hmmm. . . .
More caffeine and a moment of thinking things through seemed prudent. I reminded myself that I need two hundred inches of ruffles. I might have just enough of the really pretty, prime quality sections of the dress to do that. So where could I get the fabric I needed for my skirt?
I studied the panel again. It had several useless, stained ruffles across the bottom. Normally, the fabric underneath is also unusable because the holes left behind after removing the ruffles never close up enough. But it occurred to me that this wasn’t really an issue since the hem of Maddie’s dress would be mostly hidden. That slightly damaged fabric would be perfect for my purposes.
Next step – remove the old ruffles and the machine stitched hem one tiny, embedded stitch at a time. Then, since the lower edge of the dress appeared to have been somewhat curved, I had to pull a thread to get a straight starting point.
It broke five times.
After all was said and done, there was just enough fabric for the strip across the bottom. Of course, it needed piecing.
Finally, the moment when I could stitch the strip onto my jigsaw puzzle skirt had arrived. That sewing, plus ironing, took less than an hour.
Onwards I pressed to the final cutting out.
That’s when I realized that my calculations, for the size of the bottom strip, for the placement of five ruffles, for the finished skirt length overall, had been based on the wrong starting number.
It was too early for wine, so I drank beer.
Eventually, I managed to make the proper corrections. And then, since the skirt was shorter than planned, I had to add a quarter of an inch to the bottoms of the bodice and bodice lining pieces.
Seven hours, three cups of coffee and one beer later the score stands thusly:
Snail 1, Pattern Drafter 0.
Thankfully, by the time I finally got the skirt cut out, it was no longer too early for wine.
To continue reading as I add posts to Maddie’s red sprigged summer dress project, click HERE.
To see all the projects in Maddie’s wardrobe so far, click HERE.