Butterick 5559 - Winter white doubleknit dress with decorative tucks

I loved this pattern the second it came out in the fall. Such an interesting and unordinary design! And the way it is sewn together with darts running along the bias hidden under tucks was fascinating. I bought fabric for it and cut it out right after New Year's. However, I never thought I would be able to finish it due to technical difficulties. My machine absolutely hated sewing on this material. It's what initially made my bobbin housing break. After that was fixed, the stitches kept skipping and skipping. Believe me, I tried every technique known to man to get it to sew properly. Then I took it back to the repair shop to see if it was misaligned when it was serviced. I cried. I put it aside and made other things. (I NEVER do this. If I start a project it is always either completed or tossed out.) Somewhere along the line I remembered an old Viking sewing machine (purchased in 1976) my MIL had given me years ago. Usually I get rid of things that aren't used regularly, but I held on to it for some reason. It made horrendous noises before it got warmed up, and has zero bells and whistles, but it can sew on doubleknit fabric without incident. Anyway, here's the dress:

What is this highly offending fabric? Just a Sophia doubleknit from Fabric.com. It actually has no displeasing qualities, and I don't know why it gives my sewing machine such fits. It's a nice quality knit and a good weight for garments that need a bit more structure. Incidentally, while I was perusing the fabrics at Hancock's the other day, I happened to look at their collection of Ponteroma knits. They are the exact same thing as this Sophia doubleknit IMO. The only difference is that Hancock's charges $9.99 a yard, but with a JoAnn's 50% off coupon, I can get it for $5.00 instead. Which certainly beats the Fabric.com price of $10.99.

There's nothing like taking pictures to showcase all your flaws. After these were taken I realized I need to wear a full slip and a different bra. Blah! But cute tucks, right?


I have this thing about wanting my garments to look congruous, so the double turned 5/8" hem on the sleeves per the pattern instructions looked out of place on a garment with a 1.5" hem on the skirt. I decided to cut the sleeves longer so that they could be turned up the same 1.5". Then they were whipstitched in place by hand:

It was the perfect length without a hem in place, and was my mistake not to take note of the finished length printed on the envelope back before I cut it out. That was easily solved by making a hem facing that I stitched to the bottom of the dress with a small SA. It was whipstitched in place as well:

I am currently in love with this winter white color and have a few more things to make using it. Up next is a short white corduroy skirt that I'm halfway done with. The invisible zipper broke while I was inserting it last night. The corduroy is a little thick and there are several horizontal seams running through the zipper seam. I just bought a regular zipper today and will be attempting a lapped zipper for the first time in several years. More to come!