Truth time: I just realized I need a dress form. I really do.
Here is the thing: my husband has been doing a stellar job helping me fit my dresses by “pinching” the bodices in the back to show me where to take it in and where to insert the zipper. What has been happening is that I seem to need at least 3″ taken off each side of the zipper at the neckline in the back, and I have been dealing with a lot of strange gapping in the front. You can see some here in this dress, but the reason I posted pics now instead of after I altered it again is that, when I unzipped the zipper about 4 inches, I found that the bodice fit right. It settled onto my shoulders. So I was taking in enough fabric to make the backs of my dresses look like sports bras, when all along I could have sewn it closer to the pattern original and they would have fit fine. I couldn’t tell this before because I wasn’t able to see what he saw in the back, and he didn’t know how else to help me. To him, there was way too much fabric back there. I think it would make us both happier if I just had a dress form to try things onto. $100 – $150 later, of course. I guess I need to re-open my Etsy store so that I can have some funds to work with as I begin my negotiations.
Without making him feel bad at all for helping me so much, I am going to try to show Lord Herndon what I learned on this dress, and hopefully I will still be able to fix the back of it. The fabric is very soft and thin, so the dress is fully self-lined. It has tiny red and white stripes that appear pink from a distance. I had fun using bias tape to bind every edge, and I like the contrast. I kept meaning to take a scrap of the bias tape with me to Joann’s to get some matching solid red cotton to make a belt, but I found this one (that I had originally thrifted for my Prince to use with his Narnia costume) and it worked so well, I don’t think I am going to bother making one. Like my attempt at “accessorizing”? 🙂
