Missoni Inspired Body Suit & Grading patterns

It doesn't look like it but this was almost never made.

First the pattern was not my size, so there was grading involved.

Then I picked a lovely fabric, that I really didn't have enough of.

I had to patch the bottom and insert 5" across my expanding sitting area (if you look at the first pic through the leg, you can almost make out the seam allowances on the patch)
.
Then there's the stuff no one talks about, when you are fitting a bathing suit or bodysuit fitting the crotch requires special tricks, like leaving a thread tail long enough so that you can grab it from the front so that you can determine if the length is enough.

Then I had to wait for the stretch elastic I couldn't find locally to finish the leg openings.... snail mail.

In the meantime there was foraging going on, looking for the last pack of crotch tape.

Finally the elastic arrives...

First step, join the elastic to the wrong side of the leg openings with a zigzag.

Then turn to right side and run another row of zigzag ro create a casing.

Casing formed

Then carefully feed your elastic through, I used a loop turner but you can use a bodkin and be careful not to poke through the fabric.

 I cut it out and basted, and tweeked and joined fabrics, and topstitched, and applied binding and here's what I have, and I love it. It fits perfectly, and I mean it's a perfect fit, so I am beyond pleased.

Missoni Details - Edge Treatment on Knits

These are a few pics of Missoni styles, but specifically edge treatments from 2009.

Vogue Vena Cava V1228 Cotton Silk Broadcloth Dress

I love this dress, flirty and easy to make and wear.

It's a little too low around the neckline, as in... the bra peeks in the corners of the neckline.  The interior is finished with french seams, and it's very clean looking on the inside.  The only change I made is slip stitching the very narrow neck facing, and adding a snap to the end of the sleeve tab (instead of tucking it into the cuff), if you do the same, remember to finish the edge of the tab instead of leaving it unfinished (for a cleaner look). I left the zipper off, because it slips on relatively easily (the dress form was another issue, I just couldn't get it on her).

You could make this dress in a weekend easily.

Now to address the neckline, to raise it would mean the tuck would not fall where originally intended which may or may not be an issue for you, but on this first try, I left everything as is.  This was supposed to be my wearable muslin, and that's what they are for (tweaking).  I may go back and add some of the same fabric to the corners so I won't be checking exposure while wearing it, but the issue with that part of the neckline is that the facing is enclosed in the pleat, and the height of the pleat will be changed if you raise it.  Another solution is to take the neckline up by way of  lowering the shoulder seams.

Here is the Vogue pattern instruction.

Here is the close up on the garment.

The fabric for this project was a cotton silk blend from FabricMart, it was a pleasure to work with, it is opaque, lightweight, but with body.

I like the unusual construction of this dress, you can see the details a little better on the line drawing.  All in all a successful little pattern, and a dress that I'll get a lot of wear from.

Onion Patterns 2025 Embroidered Cotton Swiss Dot Striped Dress

I have been testing different pattern companies and venturing outside of Vogue, Butterick, McCalls, and decided I was ready to plunge head first to Onion patterns of Denmark. So what if the instructions are in a language I don't understand, I love to learn. Did you know what the word for pattern is in Danish? Snitmonster! I just loved this, and you never know when this information will be useful. I was really looking for something simple but wearable, I'm looking to wear more dresses and needed something that could be a little more sporty to start with, so I settled on #2025.

Something you have to be aware of is that the pattern does not have seam allowances, you have to add them yourself.

Out came the plastic, I did my research on PR and decided that Fjoelner would be my vendor of choice. The pattern arrived in about a week, which I thought was pretty fast.

Yesterday I cut it out, and today I finished it, despite some set backs.

The fabric is very delicate. I was very excited when I received it, but after washing, it left a trail of lint everywhere, in the bathroom where it was air drying, on the ironing board and lastly under my fingernails.... bleh. It ripped twice while I was working on it, so I am equating this to poor quality. This was a Fabric.com purchase and I wouldn't recommend it (at least not in black, maybe the other colors are better). It wasn't very expensive, so I'm not really upset about it. It was called "Embroidered Cotton Swiss Dot Stripes".

I have some Liberty Lawns upstairs that I know will be wonderful in this pattern, this was my practice piece after all.

I changed the pattern a bit, the black was a little overwhelming, so I ommitted the gathered half of the sleeve and replaced it with a roll up cuff. I'm happy with this change, and overall happy with the style once it's accessorized.

Now without the accessories, I would look like a wet cat, so I won't be wearing it this way.

Here is a close up of the fabric detail.

Balmain Embellishment Fall 2012

Intricate and impossible to duplicate.  These are just too fun, I especially like how the black dress makes you look tiny because the bead work convinces the eye that the body stops along border of the beading... this is the kind of weight loss I'm talking about ;)

From Style.com Balmain Fall 2012

You can see the entire collection here.  Balmain RTW 2012 Style.com