Burda 9431



On top of all the sewing I cannot talk about, I finished a dress for L. tonight. I made the long-sleeved version. L. chose the pattern and looked through my stash of fabric and picked the fabric. Her choice did not really surprise me as all of her favorite dresses tend to be blue with little or no detail on them. It's a good thing I can sew, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find ready-to-wear dresses for her that she will wear. Here's the front:


The back has a zipper. It's okay, but I could tell that I was pretty out of practice for installing zippers.


The pattern went together pretty easily, and I will probably be making other dresses from it since there were a couple of other girls who decided they liked it. There are box pleats which are at the bottom of the princess seams on the bodice. As I was making it, I was looking at those pleats thinking I would need to do something to secure them since I didn't like how they were flapping about. I was pleasantly surprised to eventually come to instructions about using ribbon to tack the box pleats in place.


This material was kind of fussy to work with. I think it was just a little too thin to really suit the dress. I would want to use a slightly heavier fabric next time. 

Still, you can't complain about a dress that took time and the cost of a zipper. Everything else it needed... fabric, pattern, thread, ribbon, hem tape... I was able to dig out of my stash. I'm not even sure where the fabric came from, it's been in my stash so long.

It is also one of first few dresses I have made with my new sewing machine. Yes, a new machine. It has kind of a long story, and I'm still feeling a little guilt about it, so that's why you're just now hearing it. 

A week or so before Halloween, my Viking stopped working. This was not good, especially since it was flashing a very brief error message on the read out screen. A mechanical problem would be fine, but a computer one would be horrible. It's a great machine, but it is old and no long supported by Viking. Plus, it had been quite a while since I could use the embroidery portion of it because the software was no longer compatible with my computer. 

I spent a very long time discussing machines and the life expectancy of mine. I was offered a very good deal (though still a lot of money) on a new machine (Baby Lock Adventura 2). I came home and discussed it with J., and we decided that we would add a little bit to the loan that was paying for the barn that is supposedly being built. I left my Viking there to be fixed with the hope it was fixable. If so, this would give me a second machine, either as a back-up or to be able to sew with while the other was being used as an embroidery machine.

A couple of weeks ago, I got the call the my Viking was fixed. So now, I have two high-end working machines. It seems like an embarrassment of riches. I also feel a little bit like a traitor using my new machine, because I still really love my old one. I'm going to need to figure out how to get them both set-up. I feel as though I'm going to need to do an awful lot of sewing before I really and truly feel as though my purchase was justified.
______________
Liturgy post... Unspeakable Joy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Kenzie on the beach

Apple picking in the rain