Spring Frock

Let's just say up front that this was a difficult pattern for me.  McCall's 6503.  I chose it because I wanted to try out the midriff band and thought that it could be a good jumping off point for a neckline I had in mind.

Which is probably where I went wrong.  I mean, it turned out pretty much as I'd hoped but drawing out a new pattern piece and finagling it into place is something that I haven't mastered and my mood last weekend wasn't conducive to patience and order. 

I was up in Marysville with Suzanne and Deb and wanted to very much impress Suzanne on the easy, breezy do-ability of pattern sewing.  But this was neither easy nor breezy.  The raw material was a Goodwilled sheet (that I love--pale, pale flowered patterned that cost me 2 bucks-ish) which is always a mite scary as you can't just run back to JoAnne's if you get liberal with the cutting shears.

I cut the pattern papers (Suzanne's eyes widened.  'My, that took a long time!') and then the pieces (of which there seemed many) and then was able to get the darts and bodice pieces out of the way while she was out jogging.  I really thought I had it made.  The darts are always the fiddly bits.

But it's never too late to be wronger than wrong.  I was using Debbie's serger because I love sergers and wanted to be done fast but several times, I'd be reading the ancient and obscure dead language and ciphers pattern directions and be hopelessly lost.  ('Debbieeeeeee...')  And then I'd have to clip along the serged line and begin again.  Suzanne was never ever going to sew from a pattern, I was sure of it.

It also didn't help that the stupid midriff was sized for anorexics.  So...that's why I call this:

Plural of Gusset