red silk::day 9

I have to say I'm liking the way our red dress is shaping up.  Shall we go onward?  Onward, then!

Now that we've done the princess seams, shoulder seams, neckline, and both sleeves, we'll need to do the zipper.  Deep breath, everybody...

First we'll baste the center back seam:

Now we'll lay the zipper on the center back seam and discover it's too long:

And now we'll shorten the zipper:

We'll do that by zigzagging over the zipper where we want the new stop to be, using a stitch length of 0.  Then, either tie the thread ends, or move the needle over to one side and stitch in place several stitches.  I wanted the zipper to stop a couple of inches above the waist seam. 

Now, because we want a lapped zipper, we're going to take the zipper and place it on the left seam allowance, okay?  The side of the zipper coil needs to touch the basted seam.  In a center zipper application, the teeth go right on top of the seam.  For this one, the coil goes right up next to it.  

Now, with a zipper foot, we're going to baste the zipper tape to the seam allowance.  Remember to breathe.  Don't bite your tongue off. 

When we get to the zipper pull, we'll just put the needle down in the fabric, lift the foot up, and weasel that baby down out of the way.  Then put the foot down and finish going up the zipper tape.

Now we're going to flip the zipper right side up and stitch that fold right up close to the zipper coil:

I should actually have folded that fold closer even than I did to that coil, as we shall see in a minute.

Now we're going to grab the free zipper tape and yank it to the other seam allowance:

Pin that, baste that, and flip the whole thing right side out so we're looking at the back of the bodice:

And we're going to put in that topstitching you see there.  From the basted seam, across the bottom of the zipper tape, and up to the top.  I realize that there are all kinds of tricks to make the perfect topstitched zipper, but I *gasp* eyeballed it. 

My only issue with the finished zipper was that unevenness (can you see it?) at the neck edge.  Sometimes, despite our best efforts, crazy stuff like this happens.  The rest of the back fits together perfectly, so why did the neck edge end up uneven?  Probably the slick-slippery fabric.  (Certainly not my own fault, for sure.) 

So at this point, we probably should rip out the whole thing and figure out why it's uneven, and sew it up again. 

You don't want to?  Can't say I blame you. 

Here you can see what I did instead of the ripping I would have done if I were a good girl:

And this photo shows the next step also.  Yes, that is a hair covered elastic rubber band thing, and not some special button loop.  I tied it off the size I wanted it, and whipstitched it in place. 

Adding a covered button gives us this:

Now we'll pin the side seams up:

Matching, of course, the waistline clip, the armhole seam, the hem and the sleeve hem.  We'll sew those, finish those, press, turn it right side out....

And there's our bodice!

Back view:

Not too shabby!

See how that zipper still shows juuust a little?  I think it had to do with not pushing that fold close enough to the zipper coil.  Still, it's not enough to bother me. 

At this point, I did create the skirt, but, due to overestimation of my own skill, had to spend most of the afternoon getting comfortable with my seam ripper.  I figure that a seam ripper isn't designed to make you hate life, it's just around when you are, so you project your feelings onto it at the time.  So, since I figure there are about two ways you can feel about ripping seams, and your seam ripper doesn't care either way, we all might just as well make peace with this harmless, helpful tool.

Breathing in.  Breathing out.  I love my seam ripper. 

And I will see you back here, for more red dress fun, after I find where I've thrown it.

~Erin~

red silk::rain delay

Today at my house there's thick cloud cover and pouring rain, which means not enough light to take decent tutorial photos.  Well, at least not at my skill level.  So we'll have to finish up the red dress tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 19.  Then on Monday we'll work up the gold dress, and squeak in the final photos just a few days before Christmas.

Since it's such a bleary, dark day, though, I thought I'd go ahead and mention one thing.  The basic patterns are undergoing a much-needed upgrade for 2010, and should be available, in their reformed state, very soon.  When they return, they'll be more accurate, easier to use, and cheaper.  All the things we need in a basic pattern we're going to love practically to death. 

If you'd like to be notified when the basic patterns are available, drop me your email address using the contact form (for which you can find a button link over in the right sidebar) and I'll let you know.  To those of you who have already bought patterns, as soon as they're redone, I'll send you the upgraded sizes and styles you bought gratis.  Because I appreciate all of you so much. 

I hope that all of you are having a lovely holiday season, and will see you all tomorrow.  Tomorrow's forecast: more sewing.

Until then,

~Erin~

red silk::day 8

I had to cut my fingernails. 

And I have a little pile of pins that I've set aside to be run through one of those little emery-filled strawberries to deburr them.  I know where every snag on all my sewing equipment is, because this fabric tells me.  Oh, yes, it lets me know.

Still.  Oh, so lovely.  So shiny.  So...red.

Shall we dive in?

First thing we're going to do is tackle that center front panel. 

On the bottom you can see that I've run two rows of gathering threads down the sides of the center front panel.  Then I've pinned the seam together at the waistline clip, at the bottom edge, and at the upper edge.  Up at top you can see where I've pulled up the bobbin threads to make that sucker fit the side front panel. 

Sewing it on both sides gives us this:

Excellent start!  See how the front neckline is all ripply?  We're going to need to put gathering threads there too. 

Here, we've put the gathering threads in the front neckline and pulled up the gathers to fit the lining center front panel. 

Just a little while ago I discovered that I'd been sewing and shooting all afternoon with no memory card in my camera.  Oh, do you understand the heartbreak?  I had many more pictures to show you, but they went wherever pictures go when they miss the memory card that should've been in the slot.  So I will have to tell you a couple of things instead of show you. 

-I sewed the two back side panels to the two center back panels along their respective princess seams. 

-After pulling up the neckline gathering threads, I sewed the shoulder seams, matching the princess seams.

This photo is from a little later in the game, but it's the shoulder seam, all the same.

Then I sewed the lining just the same way as the bodice, only sans the shirred-center-panel part.  Princess seams front and back, and shoulder seams.

Now we'll pin the bodice neckline to the lining neckline all the way around, matching the neckline corners, center backs, and shoulder seams.  Sew that, and we get:

See the clips into the corners there?  Those will help us turn it right side out. 

Now what we want to do is turn it right side out, and press the lining just to the inside, so that the bodice fabric ends up being the only thing showing from the front.  Here's the lining side:

Now we have to make a choice.  If we were going to sew the sleeves "in the round" (with the side seam already sewn up), we could sew the side seams on lining and bodice separately, so that neither of them would show on the inside when we're done.  If we want to sew the sleeves in flat, however, we'll have to give up the nicer side seam.  I prefer to do my sleeves flat, and my daughter doesn't have issues with seams.  So that's how we'll proceed. 

At this point we'll need to baste the lining to the bodice fabric down the center back as shown in the picture above, and baste the lining to the bodice fabric at the side seams.  Now we'll treat the bodice and lining fabrics as one piece. 

Next thing we'll want to do is baste the lining to the bodice at the armhole.  But wait!

The lining is wider than the bodice at the armhole!  Remember how we pressed the lining to the inside?  Now that width is sticking out at the outer edge.  If we'd thought about it when we were designing the pattern, or when we were cutting out the pattern, we'd have removed that little sliver of lining so it'd fit here.  Since we didn't, we'll have to remove it here. Baste it together first, then trim away.

Sadder, and wiser, we'll remove 1/8" from the bottom of the sleeve lining.  Then we'll sew the sleeve lining to the sleeve at the hem:

And clip the seam allowance like mad.  I know I said I don't usually clip curves.  But there are curves and there are curves.  This is a serious curve, and would probably be hurt by a lack of clips.  One tip about clips.  If you do clip, don't use steam to press the seam once you've turned it right side out or your fabric will collapse into the little notches and you'll see those babies from the right side.  Yeah.  That'll make it look "homegrown" as my mother used to say.

Now we'll carefully turn that sleeve lining to the wrong side of the sleeve and press it gently, just at the seam, pulling it so that the sleeve and lining match at the top, and no lining shows on the right side of the sleeve.

And we'll baste across the top edge just to make sure.

Now we treat the sleeve like one entity.  There's probably some parallel I could draw here between human relationships, basting threads, and different sleeve fabrics, but just at the moment, I shall refrain.  You're welcome.

Then, because we have gathers in the top of the sleeve, we'll run gathering threads across the sleeve cap.

Here's the sleeve pinned into the armhole, with the gathering threads drawn up and the gathers packed right against the shoulder seam:

We'll sew that seam, press, finish, and turn it right side out:

Not bad! 

Next time we'll finish up with the zipper, side seams, and skirt.  And I'll be sure to use a memory card. 

~Erin~

red silk::day 7

Welcome back, everybody!  Are we ready to lay out our pattern for our red and gold Christmas dress?  Okay!

First we'll do the layout for the red (under)dress.  

We'll put the lengthened center front panel right there on the fold to start with, and then arrange the side front, side back, and back panels alongside it.  That leaves us enough room underneath to put the sleeve. 

Then we need the ruffle strips and we're done for the red dress.  I find that for a size 5, we'll need 48", or approximately 1 1/3 yards.  I'd, of course, round up to 1 1/2 just to be safe.  (And give myself scraps to play with, for making, oh, I don't know, a little purse, a hair pretty, a flower pin...)

We will also need to cut a lining for the bodice, which will include a non-lengthened center front panel, side front and side back panels, and back panels.  I'm going to cut this out of some white fabric I happen to have on hand. 

Now on to the net overdress.  This one's very basic, just a back on the fold, two fronts, two sleeves, and our fancy skirt panels.  28" total, almost a yard. 

Now we need to think about our order of operations.  (No, this is not algebra class, although at times it may feel just a little similar.)

Red Dress Order of Operations

1)  Princess seams, dress and lining (we'll shir the front panel before sewing the front princess seams)
2)  Shoulder seams
3)  Neckline seam
4)  Sleeves
5) Armhole seam
6) Side seams
7) Zipper
8) Skirt tiers

Gold Overdress Order of Operations

1) Shoulder seams
2) Sleeves
3) Armhole seam
4) Side seams
5) Skirt side seams
6) Waist seam and apply ribbon
7) Hem raw edges

Okay.  I think we're ready to cut it out and go to town.  Are there any questions/objections/corrections before we do?

~Erin~

red silk::day 6

Good Monday!  I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! 

Today we'll work quickly through the drafting of the gold net overdress for our red silk party dress.  We'll start with the

Waist

I think we'll leave the waist where it is for the overdress, and do it in a yoke style.  So we won't change anything here. 

Neckline

We'll lower it 1/2" in the back, 1/2" at the shoulder seam, and then draw the neckline to the waist as shown here. 

Armhole/Sleeve

The armhole needs no alteration, since we're using sleeves.  The sleeve is a straight bell sleeve, the instructions for drafting which can be found in the Sleeve Styles lesson on the lessons page. Basically, we want a long, straight sleeve that we'll add...3"...I think, at the center of to create gathers.  I'll also lengthen the sleeve by 1" so that it's not pulled up quite so much by the puffs. 

Closure

We're going to apply a gold satin ribbon around the waist and tie it at the center front.

Style Lines

None of those here.  It's best to keep such delicate, possibly fiddly fabric light on the seams, I think.

Skirt

We'll make the skirt in two steps. First, we'll add two inches of flare at each side seam, as per the instructions in the A-line Styles lesson.  We'll need two copies of the skirt pattern.  Tape them together at the side seam, and draw the hem of the overdress across the seam.  

Seam Allowances

All pattern pieces, as usual, need seam allowances. 

Now we have the pattern for our red silk dress and our gold net overdress.  That wasn't too bad, was it?  Tomorrow it's layout and yardage estimates, and then we'll start cutting and sewing.  Cutting and sewing.  Yes.  

Have a lovely Monday!

~Erin~