Amazing Fit Dress - Simplicity 2648

Simplicity has this line of patterns called "Amazing Fit".  They seem to be a collection of good basic designs whose main distinguishing feature is that they include multiple versions of each piece for (above the waist) different cup sizes and (below the waist) for a "slim", average or "curvy" fit.  I'd been meaning to buy #2648 since my friend and enabler G started raving about it as a great pattern.  When G makes a recommendation, The Sewing Lawyer listens.  (Not just for sewing patterns either. Snap major household appliance decisions have been made based on G's seal of approval.)

So it is entirely predictable that Simplicity 2648 did indeed turn into a very nice dress that fits rather well.  The only drama relates to how long it took me to get around to actually sewing this up.  I cut it out along with the grey summer suit on June 12, for heaven's sake.  

It's not that I'm having a bad hair day. Rather, the headless photos turned out sharper so are better pictures of the dress.  Which is what you are really interested in anyway.

This is the last of the true summer sewing for The Sewing Lawyer.  Maybe there will be one or two warm days in September suitable for wearing such a sunny summery dress.

Oh all right.  More sewing details.

The dress is made from a somewhat substantial cotton/lycra woven.  I hope it won't be too warm to wear, but its relative stiffness means it'll never cling.

There are princess seams in front and darts in back.  And there's a waist seam.  But you can't see any of them in this busy print.

I cut the B cut bodice and the "curvy" bottom.  The entire difference between the average and curvy bottom is that the curvy back has 4 waist darts and the average only two.  There is an extra .5" at the hip in the curvy fit.

I've had the belt I'm wearing for (conservatively) 25 years, and it wasn't new when I got it.  I haven't worn it in years but would wear it lots now, if it hadn't shrunk in my closet.  I'm going to clone it in a bigger size.

Cutting in tandem

Yes indeed, that grey Vogue 8718 jacket is cut out, along with a matching basic princess seam slightly-pegged pencil skirt which is another one of The Sewing Lawyer's TNT patterns created with Patternmaster Boutique.  It has already been the foundation of so many skirts (like the high-waisted black pencil skirt and its non-identical twin, but there are others from pre-blogging days).  It's such a workhorse of a pattern.

So many decisions need to be made when cutting.  One problem was that my fabric had flaws - little irregularities in the otherwise smooth slightly varied grey surface - which I had to cut around.  I located them all with safety pins so it is easy to tell where they are.  The pins make little bumps in the otherwise very smooth surface on my cutting table.

There are about a million little pieces in Vogue 8718, plus two over-sized ones.  Just have a look at this cutting diagram ...

On the bright side, this makes it really easy to avoid having the flaws show up anywhere important.

Many of the jacket pieces are cut x4, including the pieces at the front edge, and all the peplum pieces.  I'll hide a few of the little flaws in the peplum lining.  It'll be our little secret.

I made a muslin of size 10, which fit me almost perfectly.  I cut almost all of the muslin pieces out of the taken-apart muslin for a dress: Simplicity 2648 (the sleeveless view).  This illustrates that (apart from the sleeves) Vogue 8718 indeed takes very little fabric!

Speaking of the sleeves, have a look at the pattern for the back sleeve.  The corresponding lining piece is on top for comparison. The texture of the sleeve is created by tacking the two layers together at marked spots.

Another decision is which interfacing to use.  The Sewing Lawyer has a big fusible stash, picked up a few metres here and there at different stores when she finds a new type to try.  This is good and bad.  Good because of the variety; bad because she never knows exactly what type of interfacing she used when people ask.  "It's that slightly-lofty tiny-square interfacing that's good for lightweight fabric" or "It's that fuzzy non-woven with a shiny stripe in the length" doesn't convey as much useful information as, say, "It's Pam Erny's Pro-Weft in black".  (BTW I have ordered from Pam - very high quality and good prices.)

I generally audition interfacing by fusing medium sized pieces to scraps to get a sense of how the hand and drape of the fashion fabric will be affected.  I often use more than one type in a jacket.  In this jacket, I think I'll interface the shoulder area of the sleeves along with the fronts and the collar as Vogue instructs.

I've decided on the lining - a silvery-putty coloured Bemberg from stash.  However, still to determine is whether I will underline the jacket with silk organza.  I think it could help keep the sleeves from even thinking about collapsing.

So I cut out both patterns - Vogue 8718 and Simplicity 2648 - today.  The dress is one of the "Perfect Fit" patterns from Simplicity.  It boasts different cup sizes as well as "slim", "average" and "curvy" fit.  I am one of the lucky souls who wears a B cup so not having to do a FBA is my normal (don't hate me).  However, I was curious about the difference between the slim, average and curvy fit, because one of my standard alterations is to grade out two sizes (usually) at the hip.  It turns out that "curvy" is all about one's derrière, since only the back skirt pieces vary.  (If you also have a curvy lower front, there are princess seams to modify.)  The curvy back gives a finished hip measurement which is bigger than the average fit which in turn is bigger than the slim fit.  The pattern envelope says there is a .5" difference between the different pieces for the same size.  Also, the curvy back has 2 darts instead of one.  I cut the curvy back which is not bad once I lengthened the darts.

I haven't figured out yet if the fabric for my dress will look any good with the grey jacket-to-be.  It's a cotton & lycra from Fabricland, purchased a few years ago.   What do you think?