Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Delicious dress: deliciously slow

Thank you to a dear reader for a great suggestion: Vogue V8578. This is quite glam and could be extended to maxi length. 

The one to try next:
Vogue 8578

In the meantime we chip away at the Hot Patterns Deco Vibe Delicious dress, which is so easy to make...unless you make it extra hard. The usual: a couple of seams, no zip, no buttons, all agony. So far, I have interlined all the pieces, pressed them nicely, and begun to assemble the dress. It isn't anywhere near ready to photograph but I include a photo anyway, so you can see the idea.


A pile of underlined pieces
Pinned together before sewing

Some initial learning: 

Work area: This is fairly self-evident but you need a big work surface to cut out the pieces for the maxi dress. 

Max-imize: I have the sense that the maxi dress works better aesthetically than the short dress. The long length gives somewhere for all that drape to go.

Basting: I basted all the underlining pieces to the fashion fabric pieces along the grainline. I've also basted the seams in place in areas where pieces were likely to slip. It's a bit of work but results seem good.

Pressing: The shoulder seams are curved. I pressed the seams flat after sewing, then pressed them open over a tailor's ham (with a bit of card underneath to prevent leaving a line), then pressed them on the right side, again over the tailor's ham and covered with silk organza. 

Sleeve gathering: I am now trying to figure out the ruched sleeves. The pattern suggests that you slit the sleeve opening, and then roll a narrow hem while inserting a bit of narrow elastic in the slit hem. I think this could work, but I am not sure I like this method. 

I took a break to walk around in downtown Manhattan Beach, and I passed a shop window where I saw with a beautiful spring dress, pale green with white flowers. When I looked closely I noticed that the white flowers were embroidered with beads. What a lovely idea. I might try adding a beaded detail to the hems of this dress if I need to weight it toward the hem. Do, and overdo, in other words.


Some segments now partly basted, partly pinned
(It's not as bad as it looks)

More to follow...

2 comments:

Allison said...

so excited ! can't wait to see the finished product! I love the process you've taken for finding the right pattern. it's very interesting :-)


Allison

Miriam said...

Have you finished this dress? I'm about to make it in the maxi in silk jersey and I would love to see your finished product!