A Good Ol' 1950s Holiday Dress, Progress on Vogue 2401

Aye aye aye. Haven't posted in a week. Thanksgiving, copious amounts of food and cooking, and a cranky puppy. Those are my excuses. Good ones? I don't know. But I have made some good progress on Vogue 2401, henceforth known as my holiday dress.

So, I finished lining all the bodies pieces. This took a while, but I think it will be worth it. The first order of business (i.e. the directions actually in the pattern) was to sew the darts in the back bodice piece. There are a couple in the back portion and in each arm:

the back

the arms

Nothing I haven't done before. I really like the idea of darts on the arms pieces. Why don't many modern blouses have darts in the arms? It adds structure, and look quite nice, giving the garment a tailored appearance. (Looks like I answered my question there, modern garments hardly ever look tailored since that's the style? now) 

There's also a couple little darts near the neck edge:

The back bodice is cut in two pieces, so I had to sew those together, hence the seam running down the back.

Next was the front bodice pieces. I ran into a bit of a snag with these. I forgot to turn the pattern piece over when cutting the alternate side. Result? Two left sides. No good. Rookie mistake. After I figured out what I had done there were a few little darts in each piece. Next was the front bodice side piece to attach to these pieces. Making sense? No? That's okay, here's a picture:

the piece attached at the side is the side piece

Not too bad. You do have to sort of twist the piece to get it to attach straight. The side front piece is a little rounded. FYI-if you make this dress DO clip to the dot of the front bodice. The top of the side piece must slid under the bodice at the armpit. If you don't clip, it won't. 

The last thing I've done on this dress is the sewing (pre-attachment) on the other bodice side piece (piece # 4). Its kinda weird. You end up making this piece a triangle on one side with the wrong side facing out:

the seam is sewed at the bottom

The last thing:

still the same piece

Clipping! So very important on this garment. This is the top of the same piece.The folded down triangle part must be clipped at the top. I think I see where they're going with this, not sure yet though.

Whew, that's all for today!