On Saturday morning I was the first one up, so I took advantage of a quiet house. I pulled out my old pattern and got to work. This pattern, McCall's 8017, is from the mid 90's, back before I learned to trace my patterns, so it was already cut out. This would have been a good thing if I were the same size I was back then (i wish!). So, I traced the pattern and added a bit here and there.
I can wear it, but I should have added more! It's a bit too snug across the bust and back. I have quite a broad upper body, so this is no surprise. Next time I make this I'll do a full bust adjustment and add some width to the upper back. The good news is that the hips were perfect.
When I started sewing this up, it dawned on me that there was no back vent. Did my early 20's self eliminate that part? No, I had cut out the mini dress version. I'm sure I could easily pull that off back then, but at almost 35, um, not quite. There wasn't even enough length to do a hem, so I bound the bottom with packaged quilt binding. By doing this, I was able to add a little bit of length.
To eliminate the facings, I used bias binding on the neck and arm openings, which matched the hem. Lucky for me, this packaged stuff matched my fabric perfectly. This isn't my favorite fabric, but I liked it enough to use as a muslin. I normally wouldn't have finished a muslin like this one, but the fit was good enough for me to carry it through to the end. With my fitting tweaks, I feel like the next version is ready for the good stuff. I think I'll try doing an invisible zipper at a side seam, but I need to refresh my memory first - it's been a long time since I've done one of those.
I didn't get as much sewing done as I wanted because that bad weather we were supposed to get ended up passing us by. By the afternoon the weather was gorgeous, so all attention went to working in the yard. I'm happy to say that my patio is almost finished! All I need are a few more throw pillows and some filled out window boxes, then that's it. Hopefully I'll get it done before it turns into a sauna outside!
P.S. we made our jam!
