Sewing with Lekala patterns - Part III / A simple dress

Sewing with Lekala patterns - Part III / A simple dress

Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166

The last time that I managed to take pictures for this skirt, I also did this Lekala 5166. BUT while I was uploading them in Iphoto, something went wrong - Iphoto quit "unexpectedly" - and the pictures were GONE. Already deleted from the camera and nowhere in Iphoto. I could have cried.2 weeks later, I'm looking for a picture for a friend and I ended up founding the pictures of the dress in the photostream of my Iphone. My friend could not have cared less because I was trying to find for him the picture that a Haitian Government official uses as a chat profile pic where he happens to be topless with 3 rottweilers (yes it's true... and the guy well into his 50's). Anyway, I cared more about my dress!!If you remember, I scared you in this post deciding to use an old school Lekala Pattern, namely Lekala 5166. IT IS scary on paper but in real life it's just a cute fitted dress! The only change I made to the pattern (made to measure with the Lekala advanced features) was to make it shorter, waaaay shorter. I also changed the seam allowances in the back on the dress and the facings to apply my favorite invisible zipper method.There is not much more to say apart that I LOVE THIS DRESS and I already modified the pattern to make a sleeveless version out of linen (waiting to be photographed). Next time that I will make it with sleeves I want to remove maybe 1/2" of ease in the sleeve head as it almost puckered.The fabric was bought in Mood NYC when I went back in June. It's from Anna Sui, it was in the silk section but I have to admit that I never saw a silk with such a weave... As you can see on the back I paid absolutely NO attention to print matching. Should I have to? I don't think I care (which is weird because I'm usually slightly obsessive about this kind of things)!For the construction I mostly used my 4-thread serger as I am trying to teach myself to use it more. Since you can't really cout on the instructions here is my order of construction :

  1. Sew the front and back darts
  2. Serge shoulder seams on the dress and the facings
  3. Serge side seams
  4. Serge underarm seam and hem the sleeves.
  5. Set sleeve in armhole, serge the finished seam.
  6. Serge Center back seams separately, attach invisible zipper, sew the back seam, attach facings to zipper and sew facing to the neck of the dress.
  7. Hem the dress
  8. DONE!!

It really is a quick one and the result quite 90's but nice and easy to wear. The dress form shots :

Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166Lekala dress 5166

Did I convince you to use Lekala yet? Is print matching absolutely mandatory? But most importantly: How much 90's is too much 90's??

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