wool wiggle dress

I (Major Moma) posted about my first Wiggle Dress from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing in December.  That one was a wearable muslin.  A wearable muslin is when you do a practice version of the clothing article in inexpensive fabric in order to learn any new techniques and to make all necessary fitting adjustments.  You could just do this with real muslin fabric.  But then you have all that work into something you can't wear.  For just a few dollars more, sometimes you can make something that, if it turns out, is wearable.  But it needs to still be cheap so you don't feel bad if it is not really 'wearable' in the end.

 What I really wanted when I first saw this dress was to make a fully lined version of the dress in wool.  And I have finished that version!  I did make a few adjustments though from the first version.   The fitting adjustments mainly focused on getting the hips right for me.  I brought the hip up about 1/2 an inch and shaved off about 1/2 on each side seem in the hips. 

I also made a minor adjustments to the construction.  Instead of a lapped zipper, I inserted an invisible zipper.  According to Gertie, lapped zippers are very common in vintage clothing.  But I am not a vintage purist.  And I had an invisible zipper on hand.  And I am better at inserting invisible zippers.  So, there it is.  I have a special invisible zipper foot for my Brother machine.  And let me tell you, it is wonderful.  If you are going to insert invisible zippers, I highly recommend you buy the special foot.

Since this was my good version of the dress, and because it is wool, I used better finishing techniques.  I serged all the edges of the pieces to prevent any unraveling and to keep it nice and neat inside.  I also used silk organza for my under arm gussets instead of a strong sew-in interfacing.

I was worried that this dress would not fit as nicely as the other because the first one had a bit of stretch in the fabric (not a lot) and this one had a lining so there could have been less ease.  But, it turned out great.  I can still move and pick up my kids in this dress.  And yet it looks so tailored.

I love it .

This is why I want to sew and gain new skills.  Now I can wear beautiful things like this dress and say I made it.  Sewing for little guys is a lot of fun.  And can be very practical.  But, I really wanted to be able to make fine clothing.  I think I am starting to reach that goal.  I am not a tailor but, this is pretty nice.  What are your sewing/crafting/hobby goals?