Sewaholic 1202: Cambie Dress







I'm kind of late on the cambie bandwagon, but I finally downloaded it and made it up!



Fabric is from the clearance table at spotlight, its a cotton voile. Lining is a cotton poplin.



Adjustments:
  • I started with a sz 16 and changed the front to a princess seam using the bodice from Colette 1020 (which already had a FBA of 1")
  • Added a side panel that was shirred (I did this by taking an inch off the side seams on the front and back bodice then made up a shirred panel that measured 2"+seam allowances when it was done), the skirt has enough gathers that I didn't worry about adding any width to it, I just gathered it a bit less.
  • Took a wedge out of the back neckline of about 1" tapering down to nothing at the waistline.
  • Added 1/2" to the shoulder height.
  • Petited the bodice by 1" and took an extra 1/2" out as a swayback adjustment.

I've got some rippling at the princess seams, every time I sew with voile I get this, I think its a combination of the thin fabric and being pulled tight by the shirring. Next time I sew with voile I'll try underlining it and see if that helps.


I'm happy with this, it needs a couple of small tweaks before I sew it again - There is still too much length in the back bodice and it needs more length at the front bodice. I want to add a little more ease to the bodice, probably an inch to the side shirred panel. It's the first time I've used a side shirring panel and it worked pretty good, it changes the construction steps a bit and makes it harder to fit as I sew but means its a dress I'll wear a lot more.

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