Well Made Wadders

Have you ever done that? Made a garment that doesn't fit, but boy, was it ever made well!

Yeah, me either.

Here's one that I recently found in the back of a closet. Here's the link, and here's a picture. It's just not my style, or maybe I made it too large, but it's in the donation pile now:

I found another one in the same closet, and I really do not remember when I made it. I have no record of it, so I took some pictures and entered it into my sewing spreadsheet.  Here's a picture of the pattern:

Here's the back neckline, perfectly (I think!) topstitched, but lacking a fastener:

Here's the topstitching at the front neckline, shoulder, and armscye:

Here's what it looks like on the hanger. It fits me like a sack, and that's just not my style, so it's in the donation pile, too:

All wadders aside, I just finished a dress from a new-to-me designer, and I will post about that next.

Working on KwikSew 3949 part 6

What can I say?

I did some more work on this dress today:

I serged the cut edge of the hem (not shown).  I marked the elastic to the length for my size.

I threaded the elastic through the casing and basted the overlap together with big zigzag stitches.  When I tried the dress on, the waist was too big, so I pulled the elastic back out, removed the basting, overlapped it more, and basted again.  Now the waist fits me correctly:

When I tried the dress on, hubby and cousin told me that it looked like a house dress:

Oh, no!  It really does look like a house dress!

If you look carefully, you can see that my under-clothes are showing under my arms!

Oh, well!  What I have is another well-made wadder!

When I figure out what went wrong, I will share that.


I have a previous wadder that's been hanging in a closet for many months.  I will need to share that, too!

Working on KwikSew 3949 part 5

I finished the waistline casing of this dress:

As of my previous post, the skirt had just been pinned to the bodice assembly with waistline casing pieces attached.  Since then, the skirt piece was sewn to the outer layer of the waistline casing.  After stitching the seam, I finished off the raw seam allowances with the serger.  I also steam pressed that seam before continuing:

I pulled the skirt out of and away from the bodice, and I pressed its seam (towards the top of the picture) towards the bodice:

I pressed the inside casing piece away from the bodice. to enclose the outside casing and both casing seams:

I turned the dress has been to the outside.  While pinning it all together, I had to make sure that the casing lower seam allowances stayed as pressed towards the bodice and the inside casing piece completely covered (encased) the lower seam:

I stitched on the outside of the skirt, just below the waistline casing, with a technique known as stitching in the ditch:

Here's what the inside of the waistline casing looks like after I stitched it from the outside.  Now the bodice is at the top of the picture:

I know this dress doesn't look like much on the hanger, but here it is:

Coming up next: insert elastic into the waistline casing and hem the dress.

Working on KwikSew 3949 part 4

The waistline casing of this dress is almost done:

The outside layer of the waistline casing is being pinned to the outside of the bodice.  Its seam is between the overlap and the side seam.  I staggered the waistline casing seams to reduce bulk at the side seams:

The outside layer of the waistline casing was basted close to the edge.  The inside layer of the waisline casing was pinned to the inside of the bodice, with its seams at center front and back, then stitched with a greater seam allowance than called for by the pattern:

Here is a closer look at the two rows of stitching which hold the waistline casing layers to the bodice:

I serged the edges of the upper seam of the waistline casing.  I also serge finished the unattached edge of the inside waistline casing:

I steam pressed the upper seam of the waistline casing:

I pressed the outside layer of the waistline casing away from the bodice.  The inside layer remains behind the bodice:

I pinned the front and back skirt pieces to each other.  After stitching, I zigzagged over the raw edges of the seams:

Steam pressing the skirt side seams:

After steam pressing a straight seam, I place a heavy metal ruler over the seam, and leave it until the fabric has cooled.  This helps to hold the press:

The bottom portion of the picture is the center back of the bodice.  On top of the bodice, in the middle of the picture, is the inside layer of the waistline casing.  I have placed the opening of the inside layer of the waistline casing at the back of the dress.  At the top of the picture is the inside of the outer layer of the waistline casing.  This has been pinned to the skirt, which is inside the bodice:

The next steps will include finishing the waistline casing, checking the length, and hemming the dress.

So close!

Working on KwikSew 3949 part 3

I have finished the bodice of this dress:

Most of today's work was attaching the bias strips to the armholes, but first I basted the front cross-over:

I basted the side seams before testing the fit:

I am not giving a preview, so there's nothing to see.  Move along ...

It fits OK, I guess, but not badly enough to change anything.  I stitched the side seams and finished the raw edges of the fabric:

Here is the bias strip being attached to the armhole:

Here is the first stitching of the binding to the armhole:

Here is the bias strip being pressed towards the seam allowance:

Here are the pins holding the bias strip after I wrapped it around the seam allowance:

The next step will be to attach the bodice to the waistline casing, and the waistline casing to the skirt.  The waistline casing has an inside layer and an outside layer.

I prepared the waistline casing by sewing together the front and back pieces of each layer, forming two circles of fabric.

I left a gap in one of the inside layer seams so I will be able to insert elastic in the casing:

To finish the seam allowances on the waistline casings, I zigzagged through all layers on the inside piece (above).  To finish the seam allownaces on the outside piece, I just zigzagged the raw edges so they will not show through to the right side of the fabric.

I guess this dress is more than half done!

Working on KwikSew 3949 part 2

I am still working on the bodice portion of this dress.  Click this sentence to see the beginning of the project.

I pinned the bias strip to the neck edge:

... and then I pinned it some more:

The bodice front edge seemed to be longer than the bias, so I eased it on.  I think it's to prevent gaping at the front, but I will soon find out:

After stitching the neckline, the seam was pressed flat, then open, with the seam allowances pressed towards the bias strip:

The bias strip was turned around the seam allowances to the right side and pinned:

I tried to make the fold of the bias strip cover the previous seam when I pinned it in place:

I used a lot of pins to hold the bias in place so I could topstitch it:

This is the stitching in progress:

When I remember, I try to take a picture of my stitch settings in context.along with what I'm doing.  I will need to remember how to do this when I get to the armhole finish:

The edge stitching did not always go completely over the first stitching, as seen from the inside:

The outside stitching is mostly even:

When all that was done, I steam pressed the neckline:

I want to test fit the bodice before I continue.