Crepe Dress/Pendrell Blouse/Swing Dress sew-alongs - the update

Also know as "The Good, the Bad and the Not-Ugly-But-Certainly-Daunting".

Let's start off with "The Good":

The Crepe Dress

Now I'm feeling quite smug about this sew-along, because I was several steps behind, but have managed to catch up and everything seems to be going well :) Gertie provided us with a pre-sew checklist a few days ago, so I'll break down my progress for you:

1. All bodice and skirt pieces cut out and underlined - Done, and I really enjoyed doing all the hand sewing! There was something very therapeutic about sitting with layers of fabric on my lap whilst basting them together with silk thread. I felt quite otherworldly!



Pretty little basting stitches :)

2. Necklines stabilized - Done as well, and once again much fun was had with hand basting, only this time I was attaching strips of silk organza.
3. Facings adjusted and cut out - A nice new skill learnt!
4. Interfacing fused to facings - Done!
5. Pockets cut out - Done x 4!
6. Tie cut out in contrast fabric - Done, and the fabric is really pretty and feels lovely :)

I have also sewn and pressed all the bodice darts so I am ready to start sewing in earnest, happy days!

Front bodice piece, all ready for construction

 Now, unfortunately, I must tell you about "The Bad"

The Pendrell Blouse

I suppose I'm being a tad over dramatic, "The Bad" simply is that I haven't given the Pendrell Blouse a look in yet. I haven't even started! I've been dedicating my sewing time to the Crepe Dress sew-along to catch up, and because of this I am now about 7 posts behind on the Blouse! Oh well, hopefully I will remedy this in the next few days. For now I will just give myself a rap on the wrist and move on...

... to "The Not-Ugly-But-Certainly-Daunting"

The Swing Dress

Now Casey has yet to start posting stages in her sew-along (apart from prepping and supply gathering) so I thought I'd get my pattern pieces ready to start. As I'm from the UK I decided to go for the e-pattern of the swing dress so that I could have it immediately, rather than having to wait for the paper pattern to be delivered overseas. I didn't have any problems with printing the pattern as the sensibility website has some really helpful tips and how-tos, it was only when I started laying the pieces out that I started to feel daunted...

Wow. That's a lot of pages.

And the above picture is only half of the pattern! The other half contains 25 pieces not just 20! And to make the pattern usable I have to line up each individual page, tape it down, fill in the gaps between the lines, and then trace each pattern piece onto some more user friendly paper to produce my final pattern pieces. Whew! I'm exhausted and I haven't even started yet! Let along started sewing! Again, I'm probably just being over dramatic and getting this pattern ready will probably be an easier job than I'm anticipating, but next time I think I will stick with the pre-made paper pattern, just to make my life a bit easier! :)

Anyway, that's my progress so far, stop by for some more updates soon.

Bye for now!