The gaping neckline - woven fabric struck back on Karlene dress
It happened again. After last week’s success in sewing a sweater for my husband the sewing nemesis named „woven fabric“ struck back. I made a blouse and it did not fit … as I said… again.
This time I wanted to make the dress Karlene from Fibremood. A wide untailored dress with a kind of raglan sleeve, a yoke and a gather beneath it. The dress appears to be more a robe than a dress, only a belt lend it a bit structure.
As I am always hesitant to sew with woven fabric, I decided to try out the pattern with a small sheet of fabric I bought last year on the Maastricht fabric market. I wanted to turn the dress into a blouse as the most complicated is the gathered yoke part and the neckline: I thought, when the blouse part fits and is manageable for my skill set, it will have no problem to elongate the blouse into a dress in a later project.
The Belgium sewing magazine Fibremood has many features I really like, not only do they include older and bigger models, they also tell us the measurements of the models and the exhibited clothes. Although I as a typical German grew up with the famous Burda magazine, I think Burda can learn a lot from Fibremood in size and age inclusiveness. But even better, Fibremood tells the sewist the final measurements of the clothes. Meanwhile Burda only tells you for which sizes the clothes are made, but not how much ease the garment will have - leads to a funny guessing process on my side 😱.
Because of the measurements given, I decided to sew the dress/blouse Karlene in size M, which will result in a bust width of 131,5 cm (and if I ever make a dress, in a hip width of 143 cm). I traced the pattern, included the seam allowance and on the sewing went. This time I did not had to puzzle the pattern on a much too small scrap of fabric – what a joy to work with sufficient fabric :-DD
The first steps were easy; closing the raglan seams and sewing the yoke parts together. Now I had to insert the yoke and fit the body onto the yoke by gathering the fabric. After inserting the yoke several times completely wrong (I told you, I have no spatial imagination) I had something like a blouse in my hands. Next step was inserting the neckline facing and closing the side seams… and here it started. Although I followed the instructions to the point, although I was accurate in cutting and pressing the fabric, the sh*** thing does not fit. And this is not an easy endeavour as the blouse is huge and wide like a sack. But yes, I and woven fabric made it possible: it did not fit. The neckline is gaping on the back and front in a very unattractive way.
And I have no clue why. Is the yoke too small? Too big? Is the problem at my shoulders or bust?
I am so annoyed 😑 I made the blouse last week in-between bursts of headache and was so glad I could finish so far on Sunday, only to have this ill-fitting garment in my hands.
I already researched but everyone who made this dress/blouse seems to have no problems with the neckline. The other sewist have wonderful drapy garments I would love to wear.
Here are some photos of the whole blouse, the sleeves and the hem are still unfinished...
Dear @needleworkmonday community, please wrack your brains and help me. I honestly have no idea where I should start with the corrections and it would be a shame to lose the battle against the woven fabric… again.
Thank you @crosheille for initiating and @muscara, @shanibeer, @marblely for hosting the #needleworkmonday. If you want to see more beautiful projects with yarn, fabric and most of all needles, follow @needleworkmonday. Or even better grab your needles and keyboard and join the #needleworkmonday community.
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Perhaps gather the neckline and then bind with bias tape. Or create some small darts.
The darts could be a solution, only that they will be highly visible because of the pattern of the fabric. But do you have a guess why this happened? If I try to make it again, I would love to avoid this mistake... and I am honestly clueless, why this happened.
Thank you so much for helping me out 🙏🌈
Your back might slope differently than the pattern. I have narrow, sloping shoulders, so I always have to adjust my pattern before cutting. Try cutting a bodice from interfacing, pin it to fit, and use it as your new pattern when you cut out this design again.
I will have to try around with the yoke, but I have to admit, I always thought I have a very broad back (but not sure if my perception is right, I have a back width of 51 cm)... strange. It is possible that the dress is so oversized, that it Is even on my shoulders to wide (and alle sewist who made this dress are super slim, perhaps they all made XS and then the proportions fit).
I hope I can rip the seam of the blouse open to rescue the garment.
Hey, we have the same suggestions @fiberfrau
I am currently pondering to rip the yoke open and to make it smaller... inserting a dart will be difficult, because the yoke has Vliseline (interfacing) inside, I fear its a bit too stiff to make a dart.
But thank you so much for thinking with me about this problem.
Lol I don't know how practical those wizard sleeves are but I like it
Believe me, they are perfect. You can clean with them, you can store a bag in them and you can hide a lot of food in them. Perhaps it is even possible to have a sleeve fight ... and if you encounter a another wizard, the hierarchy is instantly clear: my sleeves are longer than yours!!!! 🤪🤪😂
Sorry, I had too much coffee... the sleeves are unfinished, they will be gathered and then they get cuffs, so that they only reach to the wrist. The wizard sleeves are only a in between stage... but perhaps I should think about a design change :-D
You and I should sew together because I've made necks too small twice. Maybe we'd balance each other out! ;)
I love the way the rest of it looks,though, it's a beautiful blouse! I'm sorry the neck didn't turn out like you'd hoped.
😂😂😂 I just now visualised a neckline where the back part is super small so that it slips up to the hairline and a huge gaping front, so that one is nearly naked.... 😂. I am not sure with the balance, but i would love to sew with you, I am sure we would produce some very artful new designs 💕😍🌈
But honestly, necklines are not my friends....
Hey, I like cowl necks, that might not be too bad. ;)
Look, I said it, we are very inventive and artful :-DDDD
The photo of the whole blouse is beautiful to me. With the neckline I think you can shirred it a little just a suggestion.
Gosh! It sounds so complicated!! I see raglan sleeve as ONE project, yoke as ONE project and gather as another! And you have all 3 in one??
So sorry that I have no idea but how about pleating the yoke to make it smaller or to shape it? Will it work? The dresses looks very dainty and pretty!
Your blouse, I have confidence it can be fixed! And I love the bell sleeves! The back neckline looks okay thought? Just the front part a bit sticking out right? Do you need to interface the yoke? Just trying to imagine if the yoke is stiff. If it is not, you can create little pleats, give it some character?