Built by Wendy Dresses Review & Project

Okay, so I got a little distracted from the six patterns I told you about last week due to a Borders 50% off coupon.  I have Wendy Mullin’s Sew U: Home Stretch book and I think it’s great but I had only glanced through her Built By Wendy Dresses and Built by Wendy Coats & Jackets.  Not being able to resist the 50% off coupon despite Borders’ lack of books on my must-buy-immediately list, I decided to give this one a try.

I like Wendy Mullin’s approach in this book.  I think it’s great for sparking new design ideas and I appreciate how she makes the pattern alterations seem so simple and non-intimidating (which they are, especially with a couple pattern-drafting rulers).  She does some really cute things with three basic shapes (sheath, shift, and dirndl) although a few designs are just this side of kitschy.  Or just the other side of kitschy depending on who you are!  But I found that kind of fun.

I love that the patterns do not include seam allowances–this is what really facilitates easy pattern alteration. The edge of a pattern piece literally matches up to its neighbor so you can easily visualize and double-check your changes.  That’s how we used to do it in costume shops.  Once you’re sure you’ve got  it right you slap that baby on some oak tag, punch your notches, and you can just lay it on the fabric, trace around it, and add your seam allowances as you cut (measuring, of course).  The tracing pencil line is then your stitching line so you can be really exact when you sew.  Sewing on the lines is so satisfying–kinda like coloring inside the lines for the first time when you were a kid.  In this case, the book recommends adding seam allowances to the final, altered pattern which is fine too.  Maybe a little easier for home sewing applications.  But I probably will put the three base patterns on oak tag once I get the fit perfect.

Here are things you might want to have on hand before you make anything from this book: tracing or pattern-drafting paper, a french curve and hip curve or combo of the two, and a general knowledge of garment sewing.  As Wendy says, this is not a book for beginners.  One of the steps is literally, “insert the zipper.”  So you need to be comfortable with basic skills like that.

Project 1 (“Workin’ Nine to Five”) appealed to me immediately and I have some pink madras plaid I’ve been wanting to use for a summer dress for, oh, about five years now.  I wanted a more open neckline, so I stole the neckline alteration off Project 4.  I made a size Medium and ended up taking it in just at the waist a little bit after I tried it on.

I chose this pattern...

...and I used the neckline alteration from this one.

Happy Things:

• The size chart was very accurate.  I made exactly what it said I needed based on my measurements and it fit.
• Cute pattern in general
• Very quick to make–she does facings instead of linings, and the bias binding I used made it even quicker.  We’re talking a 3-hour dress (including cutting and marking but not the pattern alteration).

Sad Things:

• The neckline is HUGE.  A lot of the reviews on Amazon complained about this too (which of course I read after the fact).  The raglan seams are just not right–they need to be taken in on the body and the sleeves.
• The sleeves made me look like I was going to fly away.  I had to cut a triangle out of the hem of each sleeve and make a keyhole/tie to save the dress from closet obscurity.  The detail ended up being cute, but still.  They did not fit correctly.

I guess I really should have made a muslin to check the fit of the plain Sheath pattern (like she said to do in the book), but I honestly don’t usually have the patience to do that.  I tend to think of the first garment I make from any pattern as a potentially wearable muslin and I’ll just make it again if it doesn’t fit perfectly.  This can result in tears over wasted labor but it’s hard to stop me when I’m on a Sewing Mission.  And more than half of the time it does indeed yield a garment that fits just fine.  Of course, this isn’t what I recommend my students do in lessons because it can be frustrating.  But, you know, do as I say, not as I do.  It’s for your own sanity.

The finished dress

neckline detail

side detail

So, final verdict: super-cute dress ideas but cut for a football player. Make a muslin first!  If you make a sloper/muslin for each of the three basic patterns as Wendy instructs you to, then all the altered designs should come out fine.  Granted, I have not tested them all yet.  But I think I’ll be making more from this book so I’ll keep you posted!

UPDATE:  I fixed the fit issues! There is still a slight issue at the front underarm area, but I think I would have to cut an entirely new dress with a different sleeve pattern to remedy it completely.  Here’s what I did:

• Took in front raglan seams at the neck from dress front only (ie, I preserved the seam line on the sleeve front and took all the extra out of the dress front).  I took out 1.5″ on each at the neckline and tapered it to a couple inches from the underarm seam.
• Took in raglan seams at the neck on back (1.5″ evenly out of sleeve back and dress back at neckline).  Same tapering as front.
• Added dart shaping to match the dress front on the dress backs.  The back waistline was so baggy.  I was surprised when I cut the pattern out that it didn’t have back darts, but I went ahead and tried it the way it was.  It NEEDS the back darts desperately.  I highly recommend putting them in.  I made them exactly the same as the front darts but a few inches longer at the bottom because I have a rather flat booty.  The dress fits so much better now!
• Reshaped the neckline (only because there were jogs from where I took in the raglan seams).  And of course I had to redo the bias tape at the neckline.

Now it looks pretty adorable!  Disastrous project salvaged.  The neckline was dreadfully huge before and now it’s fine.

the new and improved dress!

Have any of you made dresses from this book?  How did they come out?  What alterations did you make?

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