{"id":51,"date":"2018-07-09T04:51:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T04:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/?p=51"},"modified":"2018-11-11T05:45:56","modified_gmt":"2018-11-11T05:45:56","slug":"vogue-9253-a-sloper-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/2018\/07\/09\/vogue-9253-a-sloper-in-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Vogue 9253 + a sloper in progress"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vogue 9253<\/a> is an incredibly popular<\/a> dress among The Sewers of Today. It’s a maxi- or midi-length dress with a pleated empire waist, kimono-style sleeves, and a neckline that plunges to the navel. It caught my eye because it seemed flattering on so many body types and, for some reason, a pleated empire waist always appeals to me. (I’ve also been eyeing the Sew House Seven Tea House Dress<\/a> and the By Hand London Anna Dress<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Happiness!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’d thought I might sew it up in a flowered cotton I’d gotten online, but discovered that the 9253 requires at least 5 1\/8 yards of fabric, which I didn’t have. So I scoured the internet for something both suitable and cheap and finally settled on this polyester peachskin<\/a>. It’s not super high-quality, but it’s perfectly fine, if not particularly breathable. The issue with this fabric is, if you look at the circular motif, you’ll see that one does not want to recklessly place these circles anywhere on the bodice. If you see what I mean. I did not altogether avoid this issue, but I choose not to focus on it.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Photobombing by Chickpea, our beagle\/pug\/walrus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sewing up the dress was, as advertised, pretty easy, made tricky only by my own mistakes and my very slippery fabric. The cloth swished around so much on the cutting table (well, cutting floor) that a lot of the pieces ended up only as rough approximations of their intended shape. Lesson learned: pattern weights aren’t going to do it for cutting out slippery fabrics. Gotta get out the pins.<\/p>\n

I don’t like showing too much cleavage \u2014 I do enough of that by accident \u2014 so I sewed up the v-neck to a fairly prim height. I also left out the zipper, after basting the back closed to make sure I could slip it on without it. I’d been shooting for something like below-the-knee, but the dress ended up a bit longer than I’d intended. I think it’s fine at this length, though.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Got a little filter-happy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hemming it was the most time-consuming part, since my mangling of the fabric had left the bottom edge looking like someone had chewed on it. It was a trial to get the hem looking something like even. It feels great to wear: super comfy and breezy, great for summer.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Sloping! I would just like to say that the gilt-framed mirror came with our rental.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In other sewing news, this fetching garment, made out of a bedsheet, is a sloper I’ve been working on. A sloper is sort of like a blank template for a garment. The idea is, you create one that fits your measurements well, and then you can alter the pattern to create lots of other garments.<\/p>\n

The pattern for this particular sloper comes from a book I’m really enjoying, Alice Prier’s Pattern Making Templates for Skirts and Dresses<\/em><\/a>. I picked it up at the library because it happened to be on the shelf, but I’ve been surprised at how useful and helpful it is. It contains a link to PDF patterns for a series of slopers, in a range of sizes (although only up to a size US 16, unfortunately), for dresses, sleeves, and collars, and the instructions for altering them are clear and concise. As a bonus, a lot of the stuff in the book is actually stuff I’d like to make. I’ll probably end up purchasing a copy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Some fit issues, but not too bad. When it comes to fitting, they say that “wrinkles point to the problem,”<\/a> soooo…guess it’s pretty clear where the problem is.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, I cut the sloper in a size 14, without any alterations, and was surprised to find that the fit is actually pretty good. It’s not perfect \u2014 you can see that it’s a bit snug at the bust, possibly a bit loose at the waist and hips, and the armscye has some weird gaping \u2014 but it’s a great start. I’m going to revise the pattern and see if I can get a better fit, for both the bodice and the skirt. And then I’ll have a great base for building my own garments!<\/p>\n

Next on my list is a pair of purple overalls for a certain\u00a0Boxcar Children<\/em>-loving five-year-old. I’ve been feeling weird and out of sorts lately, and I suspect it has to do with not getting enough sleep and not getting enough work done during the day. So I may need to slow my pace with the sewing and really focus on getting each step right and enjoying the process. Finished garments are great, but after all, I’m doing this because I like the experience of putting these things together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dresses-for-adults","category-tops-for-adults","tag-v9253"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/sewing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}