MGM November KwikSew

This is my first MGM finished item for November! I finished the Kwik Sew dress, 4026, that I had chosen earlier this month. It was quite an experience though - the fabric I used made this much more difficult that I'd expected...

I used a multicoloured polyester knit because of the beautiful print. But it was quite slippery and very stretchy, so I had to pin the heck out of every. single. seam. At least 1 pin per inch on this one, sigh. It took quite a while.

And lots of pins...

Lots of pins...

I also failed to take into account how the weight of the fabric and the stretchiness would affect the waistline...after I had carefully and extensively pinned it and sewed it, I tried it on to discover that it was 2 inches below where it was supposed to be. Since I wasn't going for the dropped waist look, I turned it back inside out, pinned out 2 inches with a million pins once more, and resewed it. It worked but I was glad I had left the length in the skirt when cutting it out so I had inches to play with.

Waist seam being pinned and repinned...

At this point I was to sew some clear elastic to the inside of the waist seam -- well, here it did absolutely nothing to cinch it, as the fabric stretched as much as the elastic no matter what I tried! Grr! I considered taking in the side seams a bit to fit it more but was so sick of this recalcitrant fabric by this time that I just left it, figuring that a belt would do that for me (it did, thankfully -- I am going to make a sash out of the leftover fabric when I can face it again, LOL) I added side seam pockets, as the skirt had plenty of ease to do so. And I had added a couple of inches to the length which turned out well considering the waistline debacle.

Let's see...the sleeves fit perfectly! And I like the overall fit and look, though the sizing runs a bit large. I cut medium all through, mostly by mistake. I'd intended cutting a large for the skirt, as that's what my measurements indicated, but since I was talking to my sister on the phone while cutting I was a little distracted and cut medium, oops. But it turned out to be the right choice anyhow. I do wish I'd cut a small bodice rather than medium as it is a bit wide/saggy. Wearable, but I'd prefer a bit of a closer fit. I guess I should have thought about the "moderate stretch knit only" instruction, and considering this fabric, thought a little about negative ease.

I was considering adding a stay, as the neckline is very low and drapey and I didn't want to flash anybody -- but after working with this fabric for a while I decided a tank top underneath would be perfectly suitable instead ;) I do have tanktops in all the colours in the print so it will give me the chance to change it up, anyhow.

Something a little odd about the pattern itself was that it had you jumping back and forth from View B to View A for sewing steps. At step 5 of View B, it tells you to follow steps 7-14 of View A to finish. There are only 9 steps in all. It's pretty obvious what needs doing but still. Proofreading anyone? It was my first experience with a Kwik Sew pattern and I was generally pretty pleased with the otherwise clear instructions.

Even after all that fuss, I really like how it turned out and have worn it twice already since finishing it last week.

At home, with it sitting just right

At work, with the messy
recycled paper stack behind me!