high drama fabric

oh so nearly true for me (got to love Japanese translations!)

Today I made a quick visit to my local fabric shop to pick up a few odds and ends before class on Saturday. Whilst there I indulged in some mild paranoia, and asked the assistant to confirm they still had plenty of my chosen project dress fabric left. I’d been told they always had it in stock, and had done for years.

So imagine not only being told they don’t have any, but that the supplier won’t be providing any more! Slightly gutting to say the least…seeing the abject disappointment on my face, the assistant returns with a pile of the same fabric, which had been offcuts because of flaws. It’s going to take some careful pattern placement, but I think I am going to be ok! given that it’s taken quite a while to find something that will work in terms of drape and body for the design I want to make, the idea of finding a substitute was not pleasant.

I hope the remainder of my sewing experience with this dress is less eventful…..

gathering the threads – of my thoughts

Having completed my little quarter scale model of dress, I finally feel like I’ve crossed some kind of invisible hurdle. The kind of stage in a dress making project where you finally see all these disparate pieces, carefully prepped, fussed over, pressed and tenderly cosseted in to readiness for the final meeting with all their brethren.

I can now see the benefit of previous hours spent wondering where an earth I was zig zagging, seemingly without direction, or much apparent output. It’s been at times hard to keep the faith that actually I was (roughly) heading in the right direction. I still need to await the final reality check of my grades naturally – don’t take these comments as complacency! there is still much to do.

But, first some more finished samples. Apologies, for the lack of chronological order. These were done a few weeks ago, but I’ve just dug them out of storage bags from class and given them a good press.

I wish in some ways life was more like dressmaking. Give it your all, concentrate, focus and study and you’ll see the progress you make with each project. Unfortunately life is on a much bigger canvas. The steps are invisible until you look back on them, like writing with invisible ink!

 

two firsts. My first proper standard zip insertion (lapped) and also if you look at the back….

there’s my first personally drafted placket!

machine smocking
this is SO much easier than hand smocking! do you think Dior would approve of the design?

what’s in my diary today (coursework…)

I’m feeling quite virtuous today. Instead of remaining glued to the pages of one of my favourite authors who has just released a new book I have instead been a faithful student. That’s right, you get some more stuff to read! Lady Amberley (in short, me) has been busy writing more dress design diary entries. Fear not, time travelling is not part of the plot. It’s just some “days” (how I’m splitting the chapters of my portfolio) are more complete than others. I doubt reading pages littered with half completed bits and pieces will be of much interest to anyone.

So, here’s what I have so far. Please note, you won’t see much in the way of pictures, as these are already carefully cut out and added to the actual portfolio. This is the text to go with it.

Foreward

Introduction dior

day 3 pattern blocks Dior

day 5 inspiration dior

Feel free to let me know if a) it works for you or b) I have truly lost the plot!

a waist(ed) morning!

I should have known that at some point my relatively straight forward dress design journey would eventually meet a hiccup. Suffice to say drafting an asymmetrical waist band was probably always going to be stretching my skill set, so I guess in some ways I should have seen it coming.

The good news, I eventually got the thing attached looking roughly like I wanted it to. It resulted in chopping off a piece of one side (I split the waistband in to two pieces) and the other piece being a little too short. I also need to add a bit more curve to the point where it meets the centre front waist bodice seam otherwise its going to look a mess. In retrospect, all the above are drafting errors, but you learn from experience, right?

A few other problems discovered. My union fabric does NOT like being turned. I used my trusty organza for the reverse side of the band, and tried to use my tube turner. It was a battle of wills. I won (stubborness is my middle name) but I think I might go for another fabric for the real thing, it will make my life much easier. Besides, I want a contrasting colour so this was likely to happen from day one.

One thing I can certainly say. Thank goodness I am doing this on a mini scale, so I dont have to to worry about using up lots of fabric. It really takes some of the frustration and worries about cost out of experimenting. I highly recommend it.

I think I have got the main steps tried out now. I would like to practice making the inverted box pleats on a larger scale because these ones are just not big enough to make neatly or accurately.

my attempt at drafting (the smaller piece is duplicate for the other side of the waistband)

the back, this is where the waist band pieces meet, in the real thing there will be a zip

the front

time to take a portrait (collar)

So, on to the next step. Take center stage, the portrait collar. Not something I have seen much of in current fashion, but when I was dreaming up the design for this dress, it just seamed (pun intended) to finish off the neckline beautifully, and make the most of my broad shoulders. It also nicely accents the Dior emphasis of an hour glass shape. Since my bust (ahem) isn’t quite up to Dior statistics compared to my hips and waist a little bit of help doesn’t go amiss in terms of optical balance.

First challenge, given I couldn’t find any guidance on how to draft one after a quick google search, it was back to the drawing board (or rather, pencil, ruler and piece of fabric) to figure out what to do. I butted the shoulder  straps of the bodice pieces together, and traced the outline. First attempt was too short (despite adding seam allowances). I added a bit more to the front section of the collar to enable an over lap, and left the back open, it looked more cute that way.

Next, add a silk organza facing, stitch and press the whole thing after turning out the collar. I hadn’t left myself a seam allowance on the neckline (I wanted to see exactly where to cut it back to) so have stitched it straight on to the neckline. Of course the final dress won’t have this rather inelegant finish, but you can see what it will look like, which is the main thing.

Based on how beautifully (much to my amusement) the entire dress literally stands up all by itself, I think I may only line the bodice as it will have an organza interlining for the skirt already. We’ll see. I’ve trimmed the back neckline by a few mm just to even things out.

On to the waist band for the next challenge. Not so sure how best to add this. Add on top of existing waist seam line so it’s purely a cosmetic rather than functional feature?

My sister has suggested adding some boning, its hard to tell at this stage if its needed, because lets face it I cant exactly try it on at the moment! but what makes me very happy is that its really starting to look how I envisaged.

the front

the collar pieces sewn together (with organza facing)

lets dance! the back (with open ended collar)

work to rule (and scale)

OK, all you doll outfit sewers out there, hats off to you. Working on small scale projects is rather fiddly to say the least. My housemate eyed me up as truly loosing the plot after proudly waving a doll sized outfit in front of her displayed on the end of my sleeve ham (hey, I dont have any dolls to demonstrate with!) after an evening of piecing together little bits of fabric.

So, lets start with the good news. Interlining with organza does wonderful things for a nice big skirt and keeping the shape of a bodice. Majorly worth the extra time and expense. I’ve merged the two side darts in to one diagonal dart. The dress kind of looks like my hoped for design. There are a few minor issues, like the rather Madonna esque bust shaping (need to work on that!) and how to best add the neckline collar and waist band. I think a bit more shaping round the neckline is in order. But hey, little steps (or stitches in this case) first, right?

I’m feeling a small glow of satisfaction right now. I’ve worked out how to do this by myself, and regardless of what my tutor says next week, its been a project well worth doing.

You’ll probably be wanting to see what I am going on about now. So here we are (all at quarter scale from my original pattern blocks, I even drafted a circle skirt at quarter scale to my actual size)…

the front, look at that lovely full skirt! alas, not much bust shaping going on as this is a sleeve ham…

the back

its time to crunch those numbers (the dreaded maths bit)

Today has been a bank holiday for those in the UK. This means you lucky people get another post from me today (trust me, this wont happen very often in future!) as I’d love some advice on my nervous first steps in to the world of creating imaginings to actual dress.

A few posts back saw the unveiling of my “dress to be” design. A reminder can be seen below – in retrospect I forgot to finish off the waist band on the other side! I thought it would be a good idea to do a model from 1/4 to scale. Half way through I am reminded a) I dont really like maths and b) how great a calculator is. I’ve attempted to scale down my bodice block and draw a 1/4 scale circle skirt, with the front section including 3 inverted pleats.

with ample help from my french curve ruler!

For the time being I am not including the collar or waist band, as those are only worthy trying once I’ve got the main shaping and basic fit right. Just for info, the pleats would translate in to 1 inch sized versions in the real thing.

So, tadaaa, here we go (next step, make up in fabric after adding seams allowances).

modified actual size bodice block showing movement of upper dart (originally at shoulder seam). There is a waist dart included, I just haven’t marked it out.

top section of skirt is for the back, bottom section of skirt includes box pleats

lost and found

Well, after showing my skirt based on my pattern blocks to my tutor, I dont think I am going to be latest new sensation on a parisian cat walk any time soon!

As a result I’ve lost some of my initial excitement in trying out new things in the world of pattern drafting. I think it is handy to have the skill to redraft existing commerical patterns, but I am not sure how often I’ll be drafting a dress from scratch.

But when I am feeling less than enthused, there is one sure fire guarenteed fix to lift the mood. Buy some more fabric. Something I am trying hard not to indulge in TOO often considering I have a nice baby stash already developed (inshort, a set of two drawers full, with bags snuggled up around it for company). But to be fair, this is with a specific project in mind.

Some time ago I wrote about making a dress for my sister’s wedding. I got redirected from my initial planned choice. I am now making Vogue 8543. Except the sleeves of the jacket will not have the wide ended cuffs. http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v8543-products-9218.php I already had a lovely wool in a spring green for the skirt (see current and future projects for a photo).

I’ve now gone and bought the fabric for the jacket. It’s a wool blend boucle, and the lining is a lovely silk (aparently armani design!) for £10.50 a meter, not bad. Intial reaction from one of the first people to see it was, shall we say slightly uncertain. But I think the more work you put in to something, and lets face it, a jacket comes under “lots of work” category, the more special it should be.

So – here’s the fabric choices in question. Feel free to add your thoughts. This is firmly being added to the “start after course has finished pile”. But its good to dream, and I need a bit of that at the moment given the course comitments. Plus it doesnt take much time to shop….

wool blend boucle and silk lining

please satisfy my curiosity……

I must confess, I am a little curious about who reads my blog. Writing posts is an exercise in faith. You hope it is of interest and provides some amusement and diversion.

I dont usually ask for comments, but I know (from the statistics!) that there must be some readers out there who return for further snippets. Improvement is something I strive towards (but dont always achieve).  But today, may I ask for a little feedback.

What do you like in particular? is there anything I could do better? does the format work? or maybe there is something else I hadnt even considered which is worth mentioning….

The floor is all yours. Feel free to contribute!

 

hoping for answers…

a mini (skirt) success!

My dressmaking course requires lots of samples. To be frank, I find it boring to sew things just for a sample book, which I doubt I’ll look at too much in the future (not being flippant, based on experience of last years course where I had to also create a sample book).

So, how to make things more interesting? I’ve decided to approach each sample artistically. What else could it be? so hem finishes have become a flower with many petals (of hems) and I’ve made a picture frame of seam finishes etc.

On to today’s project. Pleats and tucks. With the added twist of using them in the pattern block I have drafted for myself. Oh great. The news was not met by a cheer of joy by the class to say the least. I decided to make it less painful and do both in one go.

Half way through I thought, why not finish the thing by adding a waist band to the skirt top I was making, and a band of contrast fabric to the hem to make it (half) decent. This is not something I am ever going to wear, I hasten to add. It would be a bit too short! but it is my first ever pattern where I have done all the drafting work. Its certainly not perfect – but its something I am proud of. First of all, the all important pattern pieces. Traced off my master copy and “tweaked”.

 

front pattern piece, showing pleat extension (1cm spacing)

pattern pieces for contrast side pleats. Sew a standard seam allowance, then treat as normal pleat

 

and finally, the actual skirt (all made out of scraps!). No zip added (left a side opening) as this is just a sample and I really cant muster up the energy for a zip.

 

front

 

back

close up of pleats, all done in black thread so you can see where I’ve sewn