My first sewing project of the new year should have been finished already, and in fact it was, until I took scissors in hand and just cut the neckline off last night before going to bed.
I am using the Nancy Erickson striped silk stretch fabric and Vogue 8565 to make a new nightgown, and I really like the way this is turning out, except for a few miscalculations for whom I have no one but myself to blame.
You see, I wanted a new nightgown and had been planning to trace off a pattern from a favorite Hanro gown, when I saw this pattern among the new Vogues. About the same time Nancy's newsletter came, the Vogue Patterns went on sale, and a plan suddenly materialized.
It would have been perfect if I had stuck to my original vision. But I didn't.
The whole thing went together beautifully and should have been done in about an hour, not including the cutting. But, as usual, I let myself get distracted.
One of the kids called while I was sewing and, instead of waiting, I sewed the shoulder seams while G was in the sewing room talking on the phone and I was half-listening. That of course means that I was only half paying attention to what I was doing, with the result being that I sewed the back to the front wrong-side out. Since I was making French Seams you would think I would have caught it before the seams were finished, but no. Still it was but a minor delay.
Then, because it was late, and I was tired and annoyed with myself about ripping out the shoulders I decided to do the neckline differently than I had originally planned. The pattern calls for single fold bias tape, and I was just going to enclose the neckline in a narrow ribbon but thought that perhaps the bias tape would be easier, in that I would not have to be as meticulous with the application. It may have been but I just didn't like it. It would have been fine with a heavier fabric, in the looser cut of a regular daytime garment. But I wanted this light and close-fitting and the bias tape was too heavy for the fabric, at least it was not as nice as the narrow rayon ribbon I originally intended to use.
Never ignore your basic vision for a garment.
I fretted all day Friday, but didn't have time to get back or patience to get back to it. Finally last night I decided I was never going to rip the bias tape off, and I just took scissors to the garment. There is plenty of room for a lower neckline. I will attach the ribbon later today.