Teaser pictures

The Sewing Lawyer loves to show off her just-completed creations but the latest one's a LBD and it's after dark, so the fashion shoot will have to wait.  In the meantime, here are some hints of what's to come.

The LRD (aka muslin)

Those of you in the Burda know will instantly recognize this as the colour-block dress from February, 2012.

I traced off the size I should be these days and flat pattern measured.  Hmmm.  I added wider (1" or 2.5cm) seam allowances at the side and CB for insurance.

I needed it.  I am happy with close fitting, but skin tight?  Not for me thanks.

I had this red wool blend doubleknit in my stash.  It's medium substantial, but has a definite stretch factor.  I sewed the side seams at 1.5cm below the waist.  I like the "muslin" well enough to sew it up properly.

This inside-out photo shows the only surprise fitting issue, which is that the midriff piece needs shortening at the upper edge.

My black fabric is a pure wool doubleknit.  It's very substantial and much less stretchy than the red fabric.

The zipper started out way too long.
But The Sewing Lawyer has access to pliers
 and isn't afraid to do a little zipper dentistry. 

I needed those extra-wide seams even more.

My dress was going to have an ordinary CB seam but I changed my mind when I found the perfect zipper, thanks to being able to sneak 30 minutes for shopping on a recent business trip to Toronto.  I raced to the  Leather and Sewing Supply Depot, a store I had never heard of before K-Line raved about it.  It's a great spot for finding elastic, trim of all kind, interfacing, tools, purse hardware, leather bits, etc. etc.  Check it out, if you are ever in the neighbourhood.

Anyway, the zipper.  My fashion slavery definitely doesn't extend to applying the zipper tape on top of the garment.

The CB seam is reinforced and stabilized with fusible woven tape, then the seam allowances are pressed back.  Finally the pressed edges are sewn down over the zipper tape, which stays underneath and out of sight where it belongs.

Finally, to avoid the bulk of the facings Burda suggests, I cut the facing pieces out of a fusible interfacing with a soft, slightly brushed face, and used the interfacing as the sole facing, fusing it down very carefully.

I think it worked.  The edges are nice and crisp and very thin, and there's no bulk at all in the crossover!

Stay tuned for the fashion shoot...