Simplicity 2177

Thank goodness for Thanksgiving break! I really needed some time to relax and recuperate from a very busy semester that followed hard on the heels of a very busy summer. How busy? Well, I've racked up over 50,000 actual flight miles over the past 9 months, including 4 trips to Europe, if that's any clue. Even though I had grand plans to start working on the new class I'll be teaching next semester, instead I slept a lot, played some Wii with my husband, knitted and watched movies, and started and completed a new sewing project --- Simplicity 2177.

The fabric is a cotton shirting from Fabric.com that I picked up quite a while ago for $1.95/yard. I only purchased 1.5 yards, which was just barely enough for this dress due to the 44" width of the fabric. I couldn't fit the pockets in, so I cut those out of cotton voile (also ensuring that they wouldn't add bulk to the skirt). And I lined the entire bodice in voile to keep it neat on the inside and add a teensy bit more opacity.

The front bodice pieces were cut at a size 8 and graded out to a 12 at the waist. I cut a 6 graded out to a 10 at the waist for the back bodice pieces because I've realized that my back is a bit narrow and a size 8 has the tendency to gap. The skirt pieces were cut at a size 12.

I only used parts of the directions and mostly ignored them for the bodice. Instead, I used this tutorial combined with the instructions from Simplicity 2638 to line the bodice. The quick summary is that you assemble and sew the darts in the front and back for the bodice and the lining, sew the backs to the fronts at the shoulders only, then sew the bodice and lining together at the neck and the armscyes. Finally, you pull the bodice backs through the shoulder straps to the front, leaving all your seams enclosed between the lining and the bodice. It was a bit tight pulling the backs through the shoulder straps to the front, but it did work and I love how clean the result is. I don't have a serger, and lining the bodice looks much more professional than just pinking the seams or zigzagging them. It also provides a convenient base for anchoring seam tape or lace, which I use to enclose the waist seam where the skirt is attached.

I have gotten in the habit of using french seams for skirt pieces, but I wasn't sure what to do with the pockets in the skirt side seams. Luckily, I found this tutorial and realized it was no problem to have my french seams and my pockets too.

Finally, I installed an invisible zipper rather than the lapped zipper that the instructions call for. I like how neat and professional the invisible zippers look and I've been installing them in everything lately. Here's the back, with the invisible zipper truly appearing invisible.

All that's left is to wash it to remove the markings (I use Crayola washable markers) and then get some pictures of me wearing it. Hopefully I'll do both in the next few days. I was running out of steam by the time I got to hemming the skirt, but the cotton pressed so easily that it was really simple and went quickly. I'm just happy that I managed to finish the whole project this weekend. It actually only took me two days and I certainly was not sewing all day long.