I’m mostly finished with BWOF 09/2008 #114 (which, you’ll remember, is the spitting image of a Versace dress) which I’m making in navy blue silk with a square neckline. The silk is really lovely and drapes beautifully, and I love how it feels, too. I’m super pleased with how the whole dress is turning out, actually, but this morning I noticed the two front seam lines are doing a funny thing towards the hem:
I’m not sure how easy it is to see there, but the seam is sucking itself inwards at both places where the centre, straight-grain panel meets the outer, bias panels (I changed the grain of the outer panels to eliminate the centre seam at the top).
Here’s the tech drawing, with my new grain lines:
Edit: And because it’s difficult to see how far that bust dart brings the bottom onto the bias, I think maybe my manipulated pattern piece drawing might help to visualise, too:
Is this just a result of not letting the dress hang before sewing those long straight seams? Should I just unpick the problem areas, let it hang, and restitch, or is there something else at play here? Bias experts, lend me your ears!