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Vogue 8888. Robe with shawl collar, inside ties, back tucks with tie ends, and side pockets. Camisole or slip pattern and panties also included. I made View B.
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The floral is called Silky Prints, Navy Scattered Blooms stretch crepe, 93% poly, 7% spandex. It's heavy and feels like scuba. The peach color for bias tape is Casa Stretch Satin Peachskin, 97% poly, 3% spandex. The 1/8" cord is poly. All from Joann.
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The only narrow cording at the store was this 100% polyester. I had no trouble sewing it, but when cut, little sparklies came out and onto everything else. In the future I'd like to try cotton and see which I like best.
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The armcyes and sleeves are huge on this pattern and some reviewers said next time they will alter them. I decided to do it on the first make of this pattern.
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Note that the waistline is higher on this pattern than most, so check it with your measurements. I am high waisted and left it where it was.
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I raised the armscye only 3/4" because by doing too much it will either add more to the sides of the armscyes, or will change the curve too much. In a robe you do need a lot of ease and I didn't want to over-do.
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Now I have to fit the sleeve into the new armscye. I started by using a curve runner to measure the existing sleeve and new armscye to decide how much to reduce it.
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By drawing two vertical lines inside the notches (to preserve them), I have made guides to use for folds.
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I folded out 1" on each line for a total of 2". This will help narrow both the sleeve and the sleeve cap. After measuring I realized there was more ease in the cap than I wanted to deal with.
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Since I made folds and narrowed the sleeve, there is a little extra from notch to edge of the sleeve. Both front and back pieces need to be compared from notch to edge this way and fixed.
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I decided to fold (rather than cut) the excess all the way down and tape it in place. I also tapered toward the hem. This took an additional bit of width from the sleeve, which turned out fine. Those sleeves are crazy wide!
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Not pretty, but this is the finished sleeve. (Naughty me should have traced it! Lol.) In the end the sleeve fit well into the altered armscye and the sides matched up too, so that's all that counts really.
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This is how I mark large dots. I fold back the pattern piece just enough to draw half a circle. Take the pattern off, and draw in the other half. Even if you can't draw, you can do this. Ha!
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I usually use sticky dots to mark front, back, wrong, right side, etc. but I didn't have them out so I marked UN for undercollar and UP for upper collar.
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Once again I used the continuous bias binding method, that starts with a square of fabric. I have a calculator to determine the size of the square, but can't post a link here. :( Cut the square diagonally, turn one half over and sew one seam.
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On the wrong side of the fabric, using a ruler, draw lines from bottom to top. I made mine 2". With my 1/8" piping this left me a 5/8" seam allowance, same as the pattern.
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Here is a pic of mine pinned. I pinned at every line to keep them in place. Sew 1/4" seam, and you're done with sewing your bias tape. No more piecing together strips. I love it!
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Again press open the bias tape's seam allowance. A sleeve board or even a ham is really handy for this.
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Oodles of bias tape and so quickly made! Nothing to sew or press, and it can be done on wovens or knits.
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Don't fold and press your tape unless you are not going to use cording inside it. I used 1/8" cording, so I didn't want a crease in my tape. No pins for sewing, just a zipper foot. Went fast!
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The wrong side of my fabric is white, and although I would love to have all the stitching white to make it look it's best inside, it was more important to use navy on the left serger thread. This way if the robe pulls at any seams, navy will show.
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Belt loops made from my fabric were too thick and stuck out in a weird way, so I used navy satin ribbon from my stash instead. The light is showing it to not exactly match, but in normal lighting I think it looks fine.
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Next up is attaching the belt. My markings were on the wrong side so I pushed pins up from the circles underneath and drew a chalk line on the outside. I Positioned the belt ends between the circles.
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You can see from the stitching it worked out perfectly. Yay! I did the other side the same way. Yeah...I see the threads nest there but I cleaned that up later.
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The back tucks encase the raw edges of the belt ends. Bring the lines together and press toward the center.
