McCall's 6518 *still* in progress, but nearing finish...

So my mission for today was to finish this dress, before the sun goes down, to get some good pix, and so I can move on with my life (er, rather, back to my Sewaholic Thurlow and Renfrew muslins).  And LinB, thanks for the cheerleading!  It turns out to not be too small, yay!

So, tossing all chores to the side, I started sewing at 9am and it still isn't done.  I decided to learn the blind hem technique on my sewing machine but it is not happening for me.  And there is some handsewing to be done on the inside.  And maybe some shaping to do... But I took some pix anyway....while the light is good...


The hem is pinnedfor the photos.

The light was bright!

And the stash was deep....

There is some funkiness going on in the back of the dress...but I'm done playing with the back. I took a 1.25 wedge out for my swayback...

On Izzy..

Still loving the ruffles.
Ok, the bathroom shots...

I think it needs some shaping to make it cuter.

I thnk this goes to show, A-line is the way to go for me. Straight sheaths do not look as good on me as the A-line...but I don't think I'll be able to breathe sitting down if I shape it, ha ha.

Oh, so  I had added 5/8 to the neckline and here's how I did it...by taking my new clover double tracing wheel out for a spin.


Seeing double!
Above I am tracing the pattern onto the black lining (so I'm using white wax tracing paper) and raising the neckline by 5/8 at the same time.  It's adjustable...I could have raised it up to 1.25" in one swoop.  Pretty amazing.

The wax tracing paper is the biz.  Leslie first wrote about it on her blog, and I bought it from Richard the Thread (rolled up, must buy 9 sheets of paper, 3 of 3 colors) but you can also buy it from Fashionable Stitch (comes folded, but you can buy one sheet at a time).  There is a HUGE advantage to using the wax tracing paper, which is that the sheets are huge and the markings actually transfer, unlike the little strips of paper from Joann's.  However, you have to be careful with the wax, it is marking your fabric and while I have seen the iron remove the white dots from black fabric, I have some red markings on the right side of my turquoise fabric because I wasn't careful....

Here you can see the two lines of the neckline on the left side...the original cutting line and my new raised cutting line...

So I think I will do some chores or whatever now, and go back to the blind hem-ness later tonight or next weekend....
So as the sun sets on Izzy..

Be well and good night...