Before Xmas, I mentioned the drape that I was going to make on the front of the wedding dress. To familiarise myself with how this would work, I had a go at Simplicity 2251 which is the closest pattern that I could find.
I had this in mind when buying the fabrics, so I ended up with:
- 1m of white/black silk chiffon with butterflies (for the drape)
- 1.2m of black silky material - I think it's viscose but it's nice and shiny and very comfortable to wear!
- silk habotai lining.
Here's a photo of it as a work in progress. I'm yet to finish the hem and all the seams - as the fabric frays A LOT, I'm going to hand finish all the seams... but maybe after all the hand sewing for the wedding dress is finished first. Priorities!
I haven't made many alterations to the pattern (thankfully I'm usually a standard Simplicity size 6), but then again I haven't followed the steps in order. A couple of thoughts when I made the dress in case it's helpful:
- The pattern called for interlining for the neckline on the wrong side of the lining. I'm not sure how much this add - personally I prefer to use silk organza selvages to stablise the bias.
- I had a 'tube turner' gadget that is supposed to help me turn straps inside out easily... but it didn't work! However the trick explained in the pattern is really useful - I think I'm going to use the 'needle method' for the satin straps for the lace-up back of the wedding dress.
Once I've hemmed the dress and ironed it, I will upload some more photos of the finished product. Who knows, if it turns out well, maybe that can be the dress that I wear to our summer ball this year?
OK so I haven't ticked all of the things off my weekend to-do list but I've done most of it! the only bits left are the time-consuming hand sewing... but that means I've attached all the lining pieces together and tested the fit - phew the fit was good thankfully so no major disaster there.
When I extended the train from the side seams though (previously it was from side back seams only) I allowed extra extra length in the centre back pieces so you can see there's currently a massive train for the lining...
Look how long the train is...! I used a bit of scrap fabric on the carpet (which hasn't been cleaned for a little while so I didn't want the lining to pick up any dirt) and haven't quite bothered to spread the train out as the lining is super thin!
The seams are of course showing on the outside as this is the way the lining will lie once the outside layer is done.
But I think it's looking good!
In the process, I have learned the following about silk habotai...
It's a pain to cut out as it's super thin and slippery!
It marks easily so I used bridal/lace pins which have now resulted in very achy fingers (I didn't even think that was possible!)
It's a pain to sew due to how slippery it is
It puckers easily as it's so thin (despite my thin needle and larger stitches)
It ravels easily as with most other silk fabrics and I'm looking forward to the overcasting....
So all in all, it wasn't the most well behaved fabric I've ever sewn with! but hey we got there in the end (other than the hand sewing).
