Princess Lines and Wool Crepe

A match made in heaven.  Wool crepe may be the most gratifying fabric to sew on, period.  In fact, it if weren't for its ravelly nature I would say it is the perfect fabric.  It is easy to work with, presses well, eases like a dream.  I particularly love the more spongey textured ones, which this blue piece is.  Over the years I have "inherited" a lot of fabric, and this piece came from a little old lady who did beautiful work in her day.  I know she bought this piece from G Street Fabrics because it still had the tag stapled to it.

I have several princess-line sheaths in my closet, and it is the most flattering style I can wear.  I spent quite a bit of time a few weeks ago perfecting the fit of this pattern (an out-of-print McCall's pattern similar to McCall's 3129).  Even though I have a sleeveless version of this dress, I had not fitted a set-in sleeve previously.  I worked with the short sleeve that came with the pattern and morphed that sleeve cap with another, longer sleeve with a shaped hem.  I feel that I really nailed the fit on this dress but the sleeve still needs some work.  There was so much ease in the sleeve cap that I had a lot of trouble when making my muslin.  I removed as much ease as I dared but was still left with almost 2 inches of extra ease.  I hoped that the lovely easing properties of the wool crepe would save me, and it certainly helped, but the sleeve cap is not as smooth as I would like it.  Luck would have it that a few days later I read about removing sleeve cap ease in Sarah Veblen's great new fitting book The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting.  I'm going to make another version of this dress and try some of the suggestions Sarah makes to see if I can get a better sleeve.

Some more details about this dress:  I piped the neckline and used an invisible zipper for the closure, though I swear it is my last one.  I am determined to perfect a beautiful lapped zipper application.  The invisible zipper always disappoints me when it comes time to sew the seam below the zipper.  I just can't do it without a little "glitch" where the zipper ends.  The dress is lined with Bemberg rayon which I starched prior to cutting out to tame the slippery, shape-shifting qualities of that fabric.  I made a number of alterations to the pattern including curving the upper back seam which gave me a really nice fit in that area.

I've already pulled out another piece of crepe and plan to make another dress in a shorter version.  In fact, I am busy finding ways that I can make changes to this basic shape to wring out as much wear as I can from one fitted pattern -- given how long it takes to fit one this only makes sense.  It may take a lot of time but the end result is worth it.