Petal Easter Frock

Here's a finished project! The second version of this pretty dress, the Sorbet Dress,  that turned out so beautifully and successfully! So... you'd think the second dress would have been just as successful, if not more so. But no, I'm afraid not, my dear reader. This dress has a fatal flaw. It's very pretty, especially on it's lovely recipient:

It fits nicely in the bust and at the waist and it a twirly, whirly dream of a dress for a 12 year old. She needs to wear shorts under it just for that reason... she sure does love her some dress twirling.

The princess seams make it so easy to alter a dress, but make it hard to finish the seams with seam binding or by zigzagging. The dress is lined so I just left them unfinished (for those literary types, this comment is definitely foreshadowing).

What's the problem you say? Where's this fatal mistake? Here it is people:

At the waist, at every seam is this pulled fabric. The organza is a poly and delicate, apparently, because at the slightest provocation it has pulled from it's place and made a mess. I had no idea how this had occurred, because it was there before the little lady had even worn the dress. But my friend Teena (an accomplished and experienced seamstress and costumer that I'm so glad to have as a friend) enlightened me. She said that the clipping of the curved seam had weakened the fabric enough to cause it to pull out at the least bit of stress (it must have happened during the hemming process). She suggested that the next time I have to clip delicate fabric I run two rows of stitching to reinforce the fabric or, alternately, that I serge the edge. I think I can go back and resew the seams at the waist, and correct the problem, but this is a terrible thing to happen after all that work! I guess I need to pull out the old serger and make friends with it again. I haven't used it in years and years (like 10 to 12 years). I only ever used it on one occasion and that was to make some contoured diapers for the baby out of flannel. I made probably 15 diapers and I think dulled the cutting blade, so it probably needs servicing before I can put it into action. I'm actually not even sure where it is! It's gone through four moves since I used it!

Pattern: B5872 (It had some weird construction at the shoulders)

Project Cost: $56 with pattern, fabric, lining, zipper, and Hug Snug

Time: 8 hours

Note to self: Reinforce those seams for delicate fabrics and pull out your serger and make nice with it. You could benefit from some ready to wear techniques to round out your vintage sewing repertoire.