Simplicity 9891: The Elven Dress

What would you do if you won a pass to Hobbiton? Sew an Elven dress to wear, of course! No...?

Two weeks before Hobbiton, I picked out a pattern - Simplicity 9891. I liked the collar on View C, but didn't like the bell sleeves. I decided I would combine it with View A, and have the chiffon sleeves.

That weekend I made a toile, minus the sleeves. I was really happy with the size, not so happy with the bust, however I didn't have time to adjust it. I finished the toile sometime in the evening on Friday, then went fabric shopping on Sunday (one week before Hobbiton!). Saturday was a beach day!

While I was initially going to find a nice, elfish silver for the main fabric, I stumbled across something I couldn't resist.

A printed cotton from Japan, with metallic ink that caught the light. It was just sooooo pretty! Also, on sale! How could I say no? I also bought some light blue polyester chiffon, and a thick fabric (cannot remember the type for the life of me) for the collar and yoke. I also bought some hefty fusible interfacing.

Time to start sewing the real thing! One problem - our small dining table wasn't long enough to cut the full length panels. I had to do some awkward fabric shifting while I was pinning everything. Cutting the fabric is probably my least favourite part. I just want to start sewing it already!

The eternal dilemma - what is the laziest way I can finish these seams? I decided against sewing everything together with the overlocker, and instead finished the seams on all seven panels before assembling them with the sewing machine. This meant I could press the seams open, which gives the seams a crisper look on the outside. It also reduced the bulk at intersections with the yoke.

Sewing the yoke was fun, but the fabric I got frayed every which way. Why didn't I finish those seams with the overlocker? I have no idea why not. I just didn't, and that was stupid. Also, after sewing it all together, I realised the interfacing was way too stiff. It made the collar stick up all awesome, but the front of the yoke didn't sit flat.

On Sunday evening I had the main bodice all together, minus the hem and the hook and eye closure at the neck.

Monday meant back to work, so I only had the evenings and Saturday to finish the dress. Somehow I only got around to sewing two nights that week. I stayed up way too late one night cutting the sleeves out. I also managed to smash a jar I was using as a paperweight onto the ground at midnight. I assembled the sleeves on another night, and left everything else for Saturday.

As I started sewing the set-in sleeves, I realised that this dress has no armhole facing. I could have made some if I realised sooner. Now I had these notched, ratty seams that you could see from the outside. Argh! After some intense pressing, and some stitching to keep it all in place, the result was acceptable. Fortunately the sleeves set in really nicely. Probably thanks to the slightly stretchy polyester.

Next up, I got to test out the hemming assist contraption on my dress form. It was pretty quick to use, although a neater result would have come from hand sewing with a catchstitch or slipstitch. This just produces a running stitch with a controlled stitch length.

At this point it was only the afternoon on Saturday, so I decided to make some pockets to keep all my elvish goodies, and finally got around to fixing up the $2 shop ears I bought. Some lipstick applied with a brush made a huge difference. I sprayed them with a fixative (meant for pencil drawings but whatever), and they looked infinitely better. Not quite the quality of the silicone ears that Courty made, but from a distance, they'd do.

And here's the final result.

Close up of the collar and yoke

Zipper - my dress form's neck is a bit bigger than mine

See what we got up to as Elves in Hobbiton!