BWOF 12-2008-130 - Navy blue floral silk w/ navy wool combo dress

Hurray! Here it is, the finished 130 dress, previously blogged about here. It took me one day shy of 2 weeks to complete. I kept thinking of this as an epic project - mostly because of the silk chiffon bodice - but it's really just a glorified sheath. I fell in love with this design nearly two years ago. It was the interesting design lines of the skirt that drew me in, although they are really hard to photograph. Perhaps the enlarged pictures will show them off better.

After the bodice was completed, the skirt portion went together with relative ease. The hardest part was altering the low hip because of the absence of true side seams. Instead of making a muslin, (I should but try to avoid if at all possible) I measured the pattern for waist and low hip and altered accordingly. Then I cut out the skirt lining and fit it to my dressform. I ended up taking out all four vertical seams because the first go was too large. After I achieved a perfect fit in the lining, the wool was cut and stitched up.

I used the recommend fabrics for this dress - silk chiffon for the bodice and wool crepe for the skirt. They were both purchased from Denverfabrics.com in early 2009. Navy Ambiance was used for the skirt lining.

Here is a list of all the little tweaks I made in case anyone is interested:
1. Changed the back binding to straight grain instead of bias. I actually made one side in bias but since the backs are cut on a slant, it stretched out. It's a straight piece, so I went with straight grain and the result was perfect.
2. Added 3/8" to the back slanted pieces for fit.
3. Added 1" total to the top rib cage area of the skirt. I actually only had to do this to the lining as the wool crepe I used was a bit stretchy.
4. Added 1.5" total to the lower hip area and took that all the way to the hemline.
5. Included an Ambiance skirt lining.
6. Simplified the slit as my skirt was lined.
7. Included some small gathers at the bust in the bodice as I ended up with a little too much fabric in that area.

The few people that have made this dress and posted it on Patternreview.com have complained about the lack of lining in the bodice. I put the flesh-toned cami I intend to wear this dress with on under it and it's totally modest.

Besides the interesting skirt design lines, I also really loved the way the back closes by lapping over itself. With the straight grain bias bands, I had no issues with it stretching out.

Here's the skirt lining that I added. This was completely slip-stitched on once the bodice and skirt portion were sewn together to my satisfaction. I slip-stitched the slits together as well and it was finished!

I will be making a matching cropped jacket to wear this with as it is intended to be a fall/winter outfit. However, I am not finding any pattern that fits what's in my mind's eye, and will have to alter another Burda pattern to get what I want. It won't be difficult, but I'm going to take a little break from this outfit and make a simple skirt first.

I am currently answering my phone by saying, "No baby yet." My due date has come and gone and baby girl has yet to make an appearance. You would think since this is my third baby that it would be on time. But no. We are both doing fine, though. I am praying she comes soon so the doctor will not have to induce me. Pitocin is not my friend.