Let There Be Peppers....Dress That Is

A look at how the dress is constructed. Continued from previous post.

Pattern layout on the main fabric.

Pattern layout on interlining fabric. 

All the pieces cut out. It looks a lot but it is manageable, believe me!

Now the fun part, making the pleats!

(These pleats are for the bodice.)

 Assembling the "stay" which is actually the interlining.

Attaching the "stay" to the main fabric.

Main fabric of the upper front with "stay" sewn in place.

More pleats!

(This time for the lower front.)

Attaching the upper front to the lower front.

Lower front stay sewn to upper front & lower front.

View from the inner side.

Making the pleats on lower back.

Asssembling lower back stay.

Lower back stay sewn to lower back.

This was not in the instructions but I decided to handsew the seam allowance to the stay to keep in flat.

Attaching the side zipper.

Sewing the side zipper in place using invisible foot attachment.

Invisible side zipper in place.

Front bow and strap

Finally the lining assembly.

Boning.

The finished dress can be seen here on this post Prelude to Prom.

Prelude to Prom

This was sewn in early January. I just didn't find time to post about it.

It's the middle of winter--not really the most conducive time to be planning for a prom dress. My daughter probably knows this so instead she announces she needs a Pepper's Dance dress in three weeks. So I get an email from her complete with the links to the pattern she likes and the fabric she prefers. I decided this was a good time as any to warm up for the coming Prom season in April.

At first glance, I had misgivings with the pattern she chose--McCalls 6330.

The front looked okay but I thought the back was cut too low.

So before purchasing the pattern, I browsed through Pattern Review.com to read feedback on the pattern. Although only one review was available, it was more than enough as it was posted by an advanced sewer whose works I admire--Erica B. From her pictures, it looked like the dress was modest enough for my taste.

I had enough time to order fabric swatches from Fabric.com and she ended up liking the red Duchess Satin. This turned out to be a very good choice as the fabric was such a plesasure to sew with. Not like the slippery silk, this cheaper alternative did not elicit any frustrated outbursts from me and enabled me to stay in a continuously good mood all throughout the sewing process.

So here is the finished product.

I must say I loved this project. The fit turned out great. I did not need to alter anything and best of all, my daughter loved it, too!

Detailed pics of the sewing process can be found on this post Let There Be Peppers.... Meanwhile, here is my review of the pattern posted on Pattern Review.com