sewing frenzy
Apr. 5th, 2009 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7Spent yesterday in its entirety sewing. It took me all morning to lay out and cut out the pieces for the dress-- I'm making a blue silk twill dress, lined with blue linen/cotton and interlined with blue linen in the bodice, on the self-supportive kirtle pattern, only it's knee-length instead, and I'm going to leave it sleeveless.
The plan is to wear it to Baby Sister's wedding reception. It is to be a replacement for the nice dresses I can no longer wear because my bras have let me down.
I have finished the major construction. All the panels are sewn together, the gores set in. I lined the skirt, but while it's all cut in one, the bodice is flat-lined and then the skirt lining is made separate, so it hangs inside the fashion fabric. I didn't want the skirt weighed down by its lining, but I wanted it lined for opacity. It's kind of an experiment. I may make a (very simple!) crinoline to wear to give the skirt more motion-- it depends how it hangs. I am trying to get slightly away from the Gothic look of the dress and make it look a little more Generic Retro. We'll see... I had planned to adapt the bodice so the lacing was at the sides as well, but it seemed like far too complicated an adaptation for the nonce, so it is going to either lace just like the others up the front (though I may ladder-lace or shoelace-lace it instead of spiral), or I'm going to put in hooks and eyes in the front with some sort of decorative closure over the top. I don't know yet; I will decide today. I may have to do something-- since I haven't made a chemise or anything to wear under it, if the front closure gaps it will be very risque. (I may be making a shell or something to go underneath it. We will see today.)
It fits perfectly on the first try, though, so that's a good start. Huzzah for having made the same pattern three times now.
And this time I followed the directions in the PDFs![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chargirlgenius put up on her site of how to assemble it, instead of having bright ideas on my own that wind up leaving little obvious mistakes in the finished product. (Err...)
Yes, setting in the gores is extremely easy if you just put it together the way she says to, I'm happy to report.
However, like an IDIOT, I sewed the lining seams so that the finished smooth edge is facing outward, toward the outer layer of the skirt, while the unfinished raw edges face in, so I'm going to have to flat-fell them or finish them somehow. Duh. Oh well.
The funny part, to me, is that the lining material I'm using has pin-stripes on one side. It is sun-damaged, unevenly faded, which is why I'm using it for lining. I have the pin-stripes facing inward, so that they won't peek through the fashion fabric layer no matter what. (I think the silk is pretty opaque but I don't want to find out I'm wrong after I'm done...) And by accident I cut the gores on the wrong direction of the fabric, so the skirt has alternating horizontal and vertical stripes.
Anyway, I am off to drink some coffee and begin the finishing work on the thing.
I have been taking photos throughout. I think I actually am going to have an extremely comprehensive costume diary / overview of the fitted kirtle dressmaking process, don't you think??? :)
The plan is to wear it to Baby Sister's wedding reception. It is to be a replacement for the nice dresses I can no longer wear because my bras have let me down.
I have finished the major construction. All the panels are sewn together, the gores set in. I lined the skirt, but while it's all cut in one, the bodice is flat-lined and then the skirt lining is made separate, so it hangs inside the fashion fabric. I didn't want the skirt weighed down by its lining, but I wanted it lined for opacity. It's kind of an experiment. I may make a (very simple!) crinoline to wear to give the skirt more motion-- it depends how it hangs. I am trying to get slightly away from the Gothic look of the dress and make it look a little more Generic Retro. We'll see... I had planned to adapt the bodice so the lacing was at the sides as well, but it seemed like far too complicated an adaptation for the nonce, so it is going to either lace just like the others up the front (though I may ladder-lace or shoelace-lace it instead of spiral), or I'm going to put in hooks and eyes in the front with some sort of decorative closure over the top. I don't know yet; I will decide today. I may have to do something-- since I haven't made a chemise or anything to wear under it, if the front closure gaps it will be very risque. (I may be making a shell or something to go underneath it. We will see today.)
It fits perfectly on the first try, though, so that's a good start. Huzzah for having made the same pattern three times now.
And this time I followed the directions in the PDFs
chargirlgenius put up on her site of how to assemble it, instead of having bright ideas on my own that wind up leaving little obvious mistakes in the finished product. (Err...) Yes, setting in the gores is extremely easy if you just put it together the way she says to, I'm happy to report.
However, like an IDIOT, I sewed the lining seams so that the finished smooth edge is facing outward, toward the outer layer of the skirt, while the unfinished raw edges face in, so I'm going to have to flat-fell them or finish them somehow. Duh. Oh well.
The funny part, to me, is that the lining material I'm using has pin-stripes on one side. It is sun-damaged, unevenly faded, which is why I'm using it for lining. I have the pin-stripes facing inward, so that they won't peek through the fashion fabric layer no matter what. (I think the silk is pretty opaque but I don't want to find out I'm wrong after I'm done...) And by accident I cut the gores on the wrong direction of the fabric, so the skirt has alternating horizontal and vertical stripes.
Anyway, I am off to drink some coffee and begin the finishing work on the thing.
I have been taking photos throughout. I think I actually am going to have an extremely comprehensive costume diary / overview of the fitted kirtle dressmaking process, don't you think??? :)
