Lurking in your basement

Good morning! I hope everyone is safe at home on this snowy Sunday.

Last Thursday, I was cooking dinner when the can opener broke. I remembered I had one packed away in the basement, and while I was digging for it, I found a box of old sewing supplies. I'm guessing it is from 2002 or so. Everything was kind of musty, but most importantly, hilarious. Specifically this pattern:

Please tell me I had not planned on making that halter jumpsuit on the right.  Oh dear, I WAS.  Check out the finished pant portion of it.

At some point in my life, I thought a high-waisted halter jumpsuit in woven PLAID was a good idea. Holy crap. I wonder if I came to my senses and that's why it was never finished?  I did find some goodies in the box, though.  Look at this amazing brocade!  I wish I had found it a week ago, because I am sure it's vintage, and I like it better than the brocade I made my New Year's dress out of.



I also found a big piece of this Burberry check. I think I bought it in 2002 to make a skirt for my sister. I could maybe make a skirt or a shift dress out of it for myself, but I wonder if I would feel like a loser in knockoff designer.



I also found this half-finished dress.



This isn't very old, I remember buying the fabric at Vogue when I lived in Chicago. I'm guessing 2006. All the pieces were cut out and the front darts were done. I like the fabric, so I decided to finish it.

I was not too keen on the matronly neckline, so I decided to make it a bateau neck. I pinned my pieces together, and laid my favorite pattern on top. Hey, I also got a new ironing board cover because I was tired of looking at that old burnt flowered one in blog photos. I also got pins with large bright heads so they showed up better.



I now have a new, more flattering neckline.



Since the facing pieces were made for the old neckline, I had to cut new ones. Luckily I found leftover fabric in the box. I laid my pattern piece on top and cut around it.



Then I moved the pattern piece lower, and cut again. I thought I took a picture of that, but I guess not. It's pretty easy though and I can re-do it for instructional purposes if anyone is interested. Here's my brand new facing piece that matches perfectly with the neckline.



Time to do the back darts. I wonder if that is why I gave up on the dress the first time around? Now I find them far less daunting then I used to. I marked the lines with pins:



Then connected the dots with tailor's chalk:



When you make the darts, you want to make sure the pin goes through the chalk line on the front:



And also on the back:



When you sew your darts, don't backstitch. Run off the edge like this, and then tie the thread ends in a knot.  (Yes, I know that I totally missed the orange line.  I did rip that out and re-do it.)



Thta's all I had time for, so I'm going to finish it tonight or tomorrow. Right now, I'm off to my Orchestra concert!  Have a great Sunday, everyone.