once again i took a break from making the dress to work on something else, in this case beading a necklace to go with it. after several attempts that yielded nice necklaces that just didn’t work with the dress i finally made one that i think will work
the white looking beads are actually clear aurora borealis beads and look much prettier in person. even if it doesn’t end up working with this dress i am happy with the result
i love doing face ups and seeing how i improve with practice, but always hated adding the lashes ’cause i just couldn’t seem to get the hang of it. it would usually take half an hour of fighting and glue everywhere! not to mention i would be unhappy with the result. so when trying on a dress caused ember’s lashes to come partly unstuck i decided to try andreja’s method and it worked amazingly. who would have guessed that cutting them in pieces and using tweezers instead of trying to push a full length strip into place with a toothpick made such a difference. less than a minute per eye and i have perfect lashes!
for anyone else who would like to see how she does it here is a link to her video
i decided to go with the underskirt idea to add the bottom ruffles. i made a net underskirt with just enough volume to allow movement and gathered it to a waistband, which i finished with a hook and sewn eye.
the skirt is raised in the front so that it is easier to walk without stepping on it, and flares to a slight train in the back
next step will be to finish the top…
i started on the skirt for the dress. the first layer of skirt ruffle is done, and that is the end of my “art quilted” fabric. i’m happy with how it is coming out so far. i made the ruffle to be flat in front and increasing in fullness to the back. i’m thinking now i may make the rest of the ruffles as a separate skirt so that the dress can be worn long or short. as long as i keep the top part narrow and soft, it shouldn’t wreck the lines of the over skirt.
here is a side view
and a back view
it is just pinned in place at the back as i still haven’t decided on the closure and also need to add the top ruffle.
i finally got a chance to sew the bodice together from my “art quilted” silk. i have to find time to work on this or the challenge will be over before i’m done. so today i put it together and tried it on ember for final fittings. it’s hard to see in the photo, but the bust is a little big, and needs to be pulled in. the tiniest change in cutting out the pieces shows up when sewing this small, as does changes in the fabric. it will look better after a good press, but i want to fix the bust first. i also need to be careful not to stretch out the top edge which has nothing to hold it in place yet.
here is the bust line fixed. the underarm seam looks a bit high, but that should be right once the lining is attached. the extra height is just my seam allowance. my “quilting” lines are showing up nicely on the bodice now. i don’t know if its the angle or the light that makes the difference, but i’m very pleased with the result.
i also have to somehow fix her posing. she was pretty “kicky” today, i’m almost sorry i switched her from a cutie bust to a small bust. her old body posed better, but wouldn’t really suit an evening gown, she just looked too young to me. however she is going to be hard to pose in the requisite “glamour” shot if i don’t figure something out.
i played around with my embroidery patterns and the layers and decided on a line drawn paisley. the stitches will be close enough together to hold all the threads from the hankie in place, but open enough to let the colors come through. i chose pink point d’esprit for the top layer to brighten up the hankie which was a little to pale for what i wanted. it also mutes the greens and makes them more subtle.
my first attempt was done in white thread to add another dimension to the fabric. it was nice but not quite what i wanted. a good thing since i accidentally grabbed a cutaway stabilizer instead of the tearaway i had planned on. the fabric was much too stiff, and the stabilizer showed through far to much. upon reflection i realized the tearaway would end up with similar problems since the stitching was so close together.
for my second attempt i used a heataway stabilizer instead and my palest pink embroidery thread.. success! i loved the colors. the green was still there but very subtle and the pink had lots of dimension and definition. only one problem… i failed to read all the fine print that said this stabilizer should not be used on silk since the heat needed to remove it could scorch the silk :doh!
undaunted i used a press cloth and with great care was able to get rid of most of it, without scorching the chiffon bottom layer or melting the point d’esprit 🙂 (happy dance). the fabric is still a little stiff but that should work out well for the bodice. i’ll just use a lighter weight lining than i had planned.)
here is the finished fabric
in real life the quilting forms a definite pattern rather than the random stitches you can see here. i’ll have to figure out how to photograph it properly.
tomorrow i’m going to try to make some more fabric using a water soluble stabilizer, since i need to skirt ruffle that will be made out of it to drape better. i didn’t try it before because the silk can stiffen when it gets wet, so i’ll just have to cross my fingers. if it does stiffen i can probably soften it by crunching and wiggling it.
so my “craft add” hit today and instead of working on more of the pattern, i started designing the fabric. (how can i make the pattern until i know what the fabric is like? :lol:) i haven’t figured out how to put pictures from my screen up on flickr, so nothing to show here for all my work today. i’ve got a couple of embroidery patterns made to test out and hopefully one of them will fit the picture in my mind. i’m planning to embroider thin silk hankies over the silk and then cut out the bodice pieces from the resulting sandwich, we’ll see how it goes.
the challenge is now officially started, so today we started sewing. ember is going to be the model for this challenge, since she will be representing meldilorn manor at a charity ball at the end of the month. chloe usually dresses in a casual style, but for this event she needs a very formal dress.
the first fitting shows lots of changes are needed to the original draft.
the second fit looks much better but still needs some adjustment. also the top is not working out as we had hoped in this stiff fabric so a reworking of the design is called for. the black shows where the pattern will be split.
a miscalculation in cutting off the side back will be an easy fix. the fit is good. those little wrinkles should disappear when the seams are clipped.
we had to make a small adjustment at the top to snug it up but overall it looks good. chloe now wants a shorter dress from the pattern as well, but she’ll have to wait till the formal one is finished 🙂
“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
the journal so far is clippings of bits and pieces that appeal to me: textures, colors, details…
these are just random pages
of things that probably won’t be recognizable when they make they way into a final design, but they inspire me and are a good starting point…
i took pictures of the swap goodies i sent out for this swap and then forgot completely to upload them once my partner got her stuff.. so here are a couple of what i think are the highlights of the swap
here’s amberglas modelling the mad hatter hat and key necklace.
she thought it was a leprechaun hat and started step dancing.
noni had to checkout the quilt.
she didn’t want to let it go till i promised to make her a pink one, “which you still haven’t done” she pipes up.