Summer Sewing Wrap Up

As promised in Summer's Last Hurrah  here is a gallery of the summer outfits I have sewn this August and September. All were made using my TNT (Tried N' Tested) patterns. In this post I'll tackle Butterick 5450.

There are three reasons why this pattern worked so well for my body type (petite, short torso, small chest):

1. The pleats on the bodice front and back. Without these pleats, I usually end up with gaping around the neckline.
2. The empire waistline. The high placement of the waistline eliminates the need for me to grade up in the pattern size when cutting the skirt section.
3. The absence of bodice darts. The bodice cut is perfect for small breasted women like me.                  

With that said here are the modifications I made to make this pattern really perfect for me:

1. Darts. I did not cut the skirt darts open as called for in the instructions. Since the skirt was left unlined, I did not care too much for the unfinished mess a cut dart would leave. I pressed the darts  toward the center. 
2. Zipper. I used invisible zipper instead of regular zipper. This made for a flawless result on the left side seam.       
3. Lining. I added skirt lining to two of the dresses as the fabrics used too sheer for my taste.                          

Tools and Techniques Used:

Dubbed as "fast and easy," this pattern was made faster and easier with:

Open Toe Foot

This foot is intended for machine applique or embroidery but I also find it useful for understitching as it gives me an unobstructed view of the seamline while sewing.

Blind Hem Foot

This has made hemming faster and painless! After fiddling with the machine settings, I found the combination that resulted in invisible stitches on the right side of my woven fabric and made sure to note them down: 2.0 for the  stitch width (height of the zigzag stitch), 3.0 for the stitch length (distance between stitches) and 3 for the tension. 

Presenting the finished projects: