Enough with the art teacher-chic…#1

…this is maths teacher chic!

Vogue 1312, a Mizono design.  I adore my four versions of V1410 and wear them all the time, so this one appealed straight away.  I’m not sure why I took so long to buy it, but finally did.  It’s fabric hungry of course, but Barry’s bargain table came to the rescue when I snagged several metres of this £1/metre chambray several shopping trips ago.  It’s very lightweight, and may  be cotton or a blend, or pure something else, I haven’t bothered to do a burn test.  It feels nice, and that’s good enough.

I opted to use jersey for the bodice, and ignored the pattern, making the sleeves in jersey too for comfort.  It’s a lightweight drapey black jersey which I think I got from MyFabrics, it’s probably viscose or viscose blend.  I’ve added simple patch pockets, as the pockets I added to my V1410s make me happy.  I stabilised the bodice with silk organza and fusible stay tape on the rather wide neckline.

I sewed most of it up in one go, using the overlocker as much as possible.  The bodice is cut double, which is great to avoid bra-scar.  I inserted an invisible zip in the side seam as per instructions, then tried it on.  Baggy.  Yes, it’s a loose-fitting dress, but with the stretch bodice, and all that fabric in the skirt, it just sort of hangs from your boobs [there are no darts or shaping seams in the bodice at all.]  To my mind, this kind of sack will only look good if it pulls into the body somewhere along the line, and the 1410s have that cool tie that pull them in under the bust.  That’s what this needs.

It was also too long, as I forgot to remove any length before cutting.  Doh.  And the armholes, still without sleeves, were gaping away from my body under the arms.

I pondered.

Drawstring?  Darts? Elastic?

Any of these was obviously going to entail unpicking the zip, and possibly re-inserting it, even though at present the whole thing slips on easily enough without need for a zip.  [Why do so many patterns have zips where they aren’t needed? Do the designers think we all have enormous bulbous heads?]

I opted for elastic, deciding to slip it between the two bodice layers and stitch into a channel.  So the unpicking began.  As it happened, that was at 4am this morning, because I couldn’t sleep again.  Out came the zip, side seams restitched. 

To adjust the length, I considered the construction.  The skirt is sort of 2-tiered, with the top tier a large rectangle with a circle cut out for the bodice to attach.  The bottom tier is made of four joined rectangles, which attach round the top tier, making 3-D right angled corners, very stylish and origami-ish.

I decided to fold along that seam line, cut off an inch of the doubled fabric [making the skirt 2″ shorter but retaining proportion] and then re-attach.  Simple enough.  Now the tiers had joined up very nicely on the first pass, only half an inch out in total circumference, which is undoubtedly down to my wonky cutting or stitching.  No problem, a slight gather or stretch here and there, no deal breaker.

After shortening, for absolutely no mathematically discernible reason, the bloody thing was TEN INCHES too long.  TEN INCHES!  HOW??

Not to worry, cheap fabric, simple seams, I just overlocked the excess away and re-attached.  It irks me though…

The rest was straightforward, sleeves, pockets and hem. After years of wonky patch pockets, I now always mitre the insides first.  Revelation!

I loves it!

Very crumpled after wearing all day and hiding from Ofsted in a cupboard…

I just wanted to show how I could slip a dining table under this and no one would notice…

I love this, there will be more!