The Plan

First, I’ll trace out the bodice sloper that I made in Patternmaking I. From there, I’ll use my dart manipulation skills from Pattern II to mimic the armhole princess seams on the Resort dress. I can draft a cap sleeve in no time, but getting it to fit just right is another thing altogether. I’m sure there will be several versions before I’m happy with the way my bulging biceps peek out of the sleeves. I’ve been working on a pattern for a casual dress that has a similar neckline; so, I’ll probably steal the curve right off of that. I'll definitely be referencing my Patternmaking I, II, & III handouts and Suzy Furrer's book throughout the whole process.

I’ll sew up the bodice in muslin and go in for my first fitting, where Sharon will mark it up with Sharpie and pins and probably slash open the cap sleeves to give them more ease. I’ll transfer those changes onto my pattern, re-cut, re-sew, and repeat until I’m happy with the fit. I want to start with the bodice because it is less intimidating than a whole gown. I’ve done bodices before. I can handle this.

Once I have that done, I’ll work on the skirt, and I might even break that down into two projects: the fitted top and the draped train. I’ll go through the same process of manipulating the sloper, sewing in muslin, fitting, and repeating until it looks perfect. I'll assemble the final version of each pattern piece in muslin and (hopefully) be pleased with what I see.

I’ll clean up my patterns and probably transfer them to tag. Then I’ll cut the real fabric and begin to put the dress together. I’m assuming that I will need to line the gown, and there might even be some boning and interfacing involved. Omar will not go anywhere near the fabric. I might be able to do some of the hand work at our dinner table, which is bar height, but for most of the work I’ll probably have to retreat to our basement sewing room, where Omar is not allowed.

He looks pretty innocent, but I know better.