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From: smessier
Date: 10-27-2005, 01:40 PM (1 of 6)
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Hey all you wise and wonderful women! I need some expert advice before I start cutting out the muslin for my neice's wedding gown. She basically wants this dress: http://store.sewingtoday.com/cgi-bin/voguepatterns/shop.cgi?s.item.V2849 it's vogue 2849 minus the bow in back, but she wants the bodice back and sleeves of this dress Butterick 6926: http://store.sewingtoday.com/cgi-bin/butterick/shop.cgi?s.item.B6926 She wants the sleeves to come up a little more onto the shoulders and she doesn't want any under arm pudge to show. Here are my questions. If I make the sleeves extend from the side front pieces, will the neckline buckle? And will I be able to match the front up properly with the back? Also, the Butterick dress has elastic going through the neckline and sleeves. Obviously, with a sweetheart neckline the elastic is out. Would you have the sleeves extend up from the center front piece and just reshape the whole thing to make the neckline she wants and have the sleeves slope up a bit more to stay on the shoulders? I do hope I'm making sense. I need to have this mock up done by next weekend when I visit her. Yikes!!!  Any advice is greatly appreciated. Sandy |
User: smessier
Member since: 09-03-2004 Total posts: 114 |
From: mommydionne
Date: 10-27-2005, 04:05 PM (2 of 6)
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If you use a good set of french curves and reshape your neckline to change the sleeve that may work, I would widen them out to the desired width and then drape and tuck on your muslin to get the shape you want. The changeing to a sweetheart neckline could get tricky again but managable, the waist/skirt line of the vogue dress has a deeper V than the butterick one but you could likely play with that at well, should not be too hard, I'm a little confused about the underarm pudge  I don't this this dress will disguise that at all if she is really worried about it. But most of the time that is something only the bride is aware of. If you try to make that band style of sleeve too wide it folds on itself etc.sounds like it will be pretty once done! Jeanette
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User: mommydionne
Member since: 01-08-2004 Total posts: 838 
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From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 10-27-2005, 04:23 PM (3 of 6)
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Well, first thing: If you're doing the back and sleeves of the butterick dress, essentially you're making the Butterick bodice with a sweetheart neckline, and i'm assuming then the Vogue skirt and bow. If you've got both patterns that should be a simple matter of just using the skirt from one and the bodice from the other. just did a google search on "sweetheart off-the-shoulder neckline" and got this image which i think is pretty close to what you're trying to do: http://www.eveningdress.co.uk/images/dresses/up4/d9l.jpg It has the princess lines starting at the armhold like the butterick bodice, so you could probably just follow that pattern and trace out the sweetheart line. If your neice is a little busty, you would probably want to use some boning on the top of the heart to keep the shape, and i'd suggest elastic on the sleeves so they stay in place. I found that even attaching the ends of a piece of elastic at the seams where the sleeve meets the bodice (not attaching the elastic to the sleeve itself) helps hold them in place. but i'm sure those are things you can fiddle around with when you make the mockup. ~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
From: AndreaSews
Date: 10-27-2005, 04:29 PM (4 of 6)
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It does sound pretty. I looked at the two, and it sounds like you would use the bodice of the sleeved pattern and the skirt of the other. Why not make your mock up of the bodice in muslin for next week, and make it up just as the instructions say. Then, having already gone through the construction process, I think it will be easier to make the leap to the sweetheart neckline. I agree whith the above, about the boning and the french curves.
Andrea
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User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005 Total posts: 1007 
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From: smessier
Date: 10-27-2005, 05:05 PM (5 of 6)
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Wow! You all really know your stuff! I'm ashamed to admit that I have been sewing for almost 40 years and had to look up what a french curve was. I can see how that could help me immensely. The picture Scratch n Sniff posted is almost exactly how she wants the neckline except she does not want the sleeves to fall off the shoulder. Looking at the pattern again though, it seems the sleeves come out close to the underarm and wouldn't show any pudge. (She doesn't really have any anyway!) The other difference is that she wants the bodice of the bodice to be more like the Vogue pattern only a squared off version with a bit of a point over where the pleats begin at the waist. That doesn't seem too difficult to do, what do you think? Thanks for the tip on not making the sleeve to wide, hadn't thought about it folding on itself. Someone also mentioned that I should insert boning into the neckline. I also have only used boning one other time for a Halloween costume. How would you attach it to the neckline?? Do you mean actually shaping the heart with it or going up the front bodice seams with it. Geez, do I sound dumb, or what! I think I'm starting to panic!  Thanks everyone. Your help is really, really appreciated. Sandy |
User: smessier
Member since: 09-03-2004 Total posts: 114 |
From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 10-28-2005, 02:12 AM (6 of 6)
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For support, she might need a bit of boning on the front seams, also depends on what she's wearing underneath (this is my big issue with my wedding dress right now is how much structure i want in the dress vs. the undergarments). If she's like a B or A cup, you can probably get away with no boning, above a C cup would probably need that extra "lift" (again, depends on undergarments). And yes, you'd place the boning to follow the curves of the heart. probably best way is to use a different piece for where it curves up from the shoulder, then where it comes down in the middle, then back up, then back down to the shoulder. As for how far down the shoulder's the sleeves are: if they're tightly fitted you'll have to fiddle with the pattern and make them higher up; if they're just sorta sitting there she can just wear them higher up. if you went too high they'd start sliding upwards to the height of normal sleeves, which would probably pull on the bodice in a wierd way. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the squaring off of the back, but here's how i would do it: use the bottom say 4 or 5 inches of the vogue bodice back (thats the one you want to base it on, right?) in muslin and baste those pieces together with the correct seam allowance. do the same for the butterick bodice both back and front (again, just the bottom of it). place the vogue one on top of the butterick and trace where the bottom of the curve is, making sure it lines up with where the butterick pattern is coming in from the front. Once your lines are the way you want them, cut along the bottom edge, remembering to leave room for the seam attaching the skirt. Then separate the adapted butterick pattern pieces and use those as your new pattern pieces. You can make notches or other construction marks before you separate if you need them. hope that wasn't too confusing. that's the way i'd do it, if you're worried about untrue lines if you just do it right on the tissue paper. maybe someone else has a better idea. ~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
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