Monday, November 9, 2009

Lovely and Stylish Muu Muu Dresses

I made three very lovely muu muu or caftan dresses, whatever you like to call them, for my aunt out of 100 percent cotton from McCall's 5640. She chose View B, but without the sleeves. It has a square neck. The brown one she had me lengthen 4 inches. They were very easy to make. I only had one problem, the inside shoulder straps, which I will explain with the pictures below. They are all pretty, but the brown one is my favorite. My aunt agrees. I just think the fabric is so gorgeous. She says they are very comfortable. She wears them when she's home relaxing.










I sewed a ribbon on the inside of the back neck piece to show which side is the back.



In the next two pictures, the gathers are very easy to see.






Here you can see where I was having a problem with the inside shoulder seam. I just can't figure out for the life of me how to get those pieces to meet so that I can neatly slip stitch it closed. If anyone has any tips, please share.



So I just sewed a piece of fabric over it on the inside just to cover it up because it bothered me so much. I thought this would look better than leaving it wide open.




I did the French seam on the side seams.








I made my own bias tape for the arm holes with the same fabric. I like how this turned out.



This clearly shows the top stitching. I top stitched the yoke pieces in all of the dresses.



NOTE: As a reminder, and for those who may not have seen my previous post, I have started a separate blog where I post my art: collage, painting, crafts, just whatever. And this blog will, for the most part, stick to sewing topics. Currently on my art blog, I have a tutorial for how to make the card that is pictured. The previous post is of a cardinal that I painted with acrylics. I will be showing some collages I've made soon and the papers I prepared beforehand to use in the collages and explain how I did them. I also plan to show some crafts the kids and I have done and will be doing. I have a beautiful photograph I took of an American Beauty Berry I'll be putting on there as well. So if this interests you, please go and take a look from time to time. Thanks again for taking the time to come to my blog and/or blogs. And thank you to those of you who leave me comments. You make my day. You are so encouraging. You-all are great!

PARTING SHOT:

My nephew is heading to Iraq in December. It's hard for me to believe he's all grown up now and that he is going over there. He just graduated from high school this past May. He made a huge commitment. He signed up with the Army for seven years. He says he wants to make it his career. He's very excited. Please keep him and all of our men and women who are serving in your thoughts and prayers.

18 comments:

  1. Your Aunt will be so pleased with those dresses. And good wishes to your nephew.

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  2. Those dresses look so comfy. I like the navy one. Good luck to your nephew. He's very brave to sign up for seven years.

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  3. Lovely! The French seams look fantastic. As for the shoulder issues . . . Can you tell me more about the construction? Is it an all-in-one facing? If so, I've sewn sheath dresses with a similar issue. What you can do is sew each strap and facing, but leave an inch and a half unsewn at the top. Turn the facing to the inside. Sew the front and back dress straps together on your machine. (the extra bit you didn't sew will give you room to do this) Now sew the facing straps together by machine. (This is tricky to maneuver, but it's defintiely possible.) Now turn in the sides of the straps and slip stitch.

    Does this make any sense? Let me know if not, and I'll send you a scan of the visuals from VoNBBS.

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  4. Very nice muu muus. It's funny, I got to the last one (navy with flowers) and stopped dead in my tracks. I made myself a Civil War day dress out of that exact same fabric! It's a great fabric with a very nice feel!

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  5. Hey, I had a similar problem with the dreaded hand sewing shoulder seams and wrote about it here, where there is a link to this great 'magic seams' tutorial I found. Leaves a lovely finish with no hand sewing!

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  6. My solution would be to line the yoke (assuming there is a CB seam, or you are willing to add one)--sew the shoulder seams of outer and lining fabrics, and then stitch together at neck and shoulder. Turn right side out through the shoulder strap tunnels and you have a neatly finished neck and shoulder with a minimum of fuss. You'd need to finish the armscyes of the lower piece before stitching to the yoke, and either serge the two halves together *or* stitch the lower piece to the outer yoke and turn under and hand-stitch the yoke lining (which might defeat the purpose of making it easier with a lining).

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  7. Thank your nephew for serving our country. My young cousin is there right now, looking forward to his first leave in 8 months and heading home to his bride for a little while. I will definitely keep your nephew in my prayers.

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  8. Beautiful job on the dresses Trudy! I'm sure your aunt loves them.

    I will keep your nephew in my prayers. Our military men and women are very much on my heart.

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  9. Great job on the dresses. Very pretty fabrics!
    I'll keep your nephew and all our service men and women in my prayers.

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  10. Love your mumus, and may God ever protect your nephew.

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  11. I wish your nephew all the prayers and safe tour in Iraq. Muumuus were deadly for me...they were so comfy that I "grew" into mine...it was my freshman 15 more like 30!!! But they are comfortable - especially in the summer. Yours looks so much more stylish.

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  12. Very nice dresses - great prints and comfortable style!

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  13. Nice dresses, but those yoke things make it a bit trickier. Prayers to your nephew, we need more good men and women that are true and honorable to our nation's security.

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  14. Your nephew will be in my thoughts and prayers! It is an awesome commitment he is making to our country and you should be very proud!

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  15. What beautiful dresses - your Aunt is a lucky lady! I will be wishing well for your brave nephew and, indeed, for all the truly wonderful service men and women from both my country (the UK) and yours. I send your nephew my thanks.

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  16. Hi, Trudy!! Thanks so much for your sweet comments on my blog!!! I must say, you do not look old enough to have a college student! ;)

    I'll be back to check out more on your blog, and I'm very interested in your new art blog, too! That's one area where I am very challenged! ;)

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  17. Lovely dresses. Your aunt must be very happy with you! :-)

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  18. The dresses are beautiful. I pray that God will protect your nephew and bring him back home safe to all of us. Thank him for his commitment. God bless!

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