Hello Hive
Today I decided to rest at home after severe farm work yesterday at the farm. We woke up really late, and since there was not much cultivated land for us to plant on today, we decided to rest while the man went ahead with cultivation of the land. After the cultivation, then we can be back to the farm for more planting tomorrow. We have been planting peanuts alongside corn.
Having done all of my house chores, I decided to get busy with sewing, as I had loads of sewing jobs to carry out. Recently I have been gaining more customers who want to make their outfits with me. Well, it is obvious that I now make better and more fitted clothes that are more appealing to fashionistas and neighbors. My workspace is jam-packed with work-in-progress outfits and also newer fabrics I am yet to sew.
While making clothes for others, I also make time to sew one or two for myself. Being someone who is now socializing more and having lots of functions to attend, I need to have a good clothing line, even if it's some presentable ones I can always feel comfortable with being among people.
Having some sewing skills, I really wish to have a clothing line of my own handmade crafts. Rather than purchase some ready-to-wear clothes, I wish that people would admire my outfits each time I step out.
Today I decided to sew a wrap dress for myself from fabric I had used to sew a skirt for my sister earlier on. It's a really pretty fabric I didn't want to ruin with just any design, and after my sister wore a skirt of it, I kept thinking of what to make with the remaining fabric.
Just yesterday at our choir rehearsal I saw someone wearing a wrap dress, and it appealed to me so much. Without hesitation I decided to sew a wrap dress from the fabric.
Here I used my measurements to cut the basic bodice of the wrap dress.
The back bodice with zipper allowance was cut first.
Then I placed it on the front bodice and added some 3" overlapping allowance.
Wishing to make some very fine and fitted wrap dresses, I started working out darts on various parts of the bodice to make it align with a body contour.
This is one of the secrets I have learned. A nice dart on the back bodice
Then the front should have at least two separate kinds of darts. So I added a bust and waist dart to it.
Marking the position of both darts.
To sew the outfits, I started with picking the darts for both the front and back bodice.
And then I wanted to fix the matching zipper I had at home but later decided against it as I wished to use an invisible zipper for better finishing.
Another secret I was mindful of is the neckline and shoulder measurement.
I cut out a 2" band I wish to turn the necklines with, and this made the shoulder wider from 14" to 18".
In order to get a better fit, I trimmed out the excess from the front and back shoulder lines, creating room for the new band to come in. Next I stitched it to the dress before joining this to the lower bodice.
The end results really amazed me, seeing how the dress fits me so well. I won't bore you with the making of sleeves or fixing of zippers, but you may see a last picture of me in this dress in any of my clothing blogs anytime soon. I'm sure someone will be looking forward to that.
I had to retake measurements after ironing.
Another important thing I learned was how to iron this fabric before stitching it. The ironing showed how the fabric added excesses to my measurements which I had to also trimmed off before joining the dress finally. Without that the dress won't be this fitted.
