Bon Voyage! And Jumpsuit Reveal!

Knock on wood: it looks like my cruise is going to happen. We are departing Orlando tomorrow and sailing to the Bahamas, St Thomas and St Maarten. Wish me luck that my flight gets out this afternoon. We leave for the airport in about an hour. 


To get me in the mood for some R&R, here is the final reveal of my jumpsuit!

With white accessories - cruise chic.

And disco fabulous with gold accessories.

I have to tell you, I'm rather happy with the results. Don't I look ready for a mojito and not for prison? In my mind, I'm already sipping a drink with a little umbrella in it while the sun sets over the Caribbean. Ahhhh... Plus, I've already got about 3 occasions that I plan to wear the jumpsuit to. 

A few details:

• I initially had trouble with the invisible zipper being invisible and laying flat. Once I added interfacing in the zipper area and focused on rolling the zipper coil open as I fed it through my invisible zipper foot, it was a cinch.

• The only other problem I had with the pattern was dealing with the bulk at the top neckline - there are many layers of fabric there. Strategic trimming and understitching was key. Even so, I ended up topstitching to make sure that the lining wouldn't peek out the top.

• Boning is not scary at all! It was easy to use so long as I didn't accidentally sew over it (broken needle for sure). And steel spiral boning is very comfy to wear.

• I am officially a big fan of the waist stay. The matte jersey I used is pretty heavy, and without the stay (made of 1" petersham and bra hook tape) it would pull the garment downward (ie: tug tug tug to keep it up). With a waist stay, the jumpsuit is tug free. Everything stays where it should be and I didn't have to make the top ridiculously tight in order to keep it up. I have no idea why all strapless, boned dresses don't have waist stays; it's a marvelous and easy solution to any insecurities about the dress staying put.

• Because I was unsure about using boning and constructing a waist stay, I bought the Craftsy on line class, The Perfect Fit Bombshell Dress with Gretchen Hirsch of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing fame. She covers both in this class, as well as a number of other good techniques for muslining, fitting, etc. It was worth it IMHO. But if taking the slow and hand-stitched approach is not your speed, it probably isn't for you.

Not so pretty on the inside, but very functional!

• Finally, a few fellow bloggers deserve credit for the small, invisible stuff that helped make this project come together. Peter (the Bold One) suggested stitching the boning casing closed at the top and bottom so the bones stay where they should be. This was very good advice. Sherry wrote an excellent tutorial on sewing a handworked thread loop and button instead of using a hook and eye at the top of a zipper. My results are a bit less perfect than hers to say the least, but this was a great skill for me to add. (Plus I really hate those stupid sew-on hooks and eyes.) And finally, I picked up a great tip for adding hanging loops that will lay flat and not hang out when you wear the garment from Lindsay T's blog. Thanks, everyone!

So, I'm off! I've decided not to take any sewing with me - I just wasn't happy enough with how the project dress sleeves are fitting to cut fabric yet. So this will be a real vacation. Happy sewing everyone! I hope you all have a great week while I'm away and those of you in the path of Hurricane Irene stay high and dry.