I'm going to show you, day by day, how I turn this dress into a wedding dress! This is day two. For day one, click here. Pattern: Simplicity 1195 Fabrics: Over 3 yds of Satin, same of chiffon, some fine white thread from Dual Duty, and Schmetz embroidery needles 75/11 for my machine from Jo-Ann's. My height: 5'1" - 5'2" My weight: approx. 100 lbs Pattern size: I'm using size 4 Machine: Kenmore 385.12102990 My skill level: Intermediate |
More or less. But I may not have enough material, and I don't particularly want to buy more :( I looked at several more options for overskirts that weren't down to the floor. But then By chance, I found this^ video about a fake serge stitch and it turned out to be perfect for chiffon. The edge is not, perhaps, as straight and clean as some might like, but I find it extremely sufficient. Problem #2: If someone tells you that chiffon is hard to work with, you just tell them you heard it here first. | < This is where I left off yesterday. The skirt still needs to be lined but I don't believe I have enough satin fabric. I'll have to go out and buy more, perhaps tomorrow. I also have not added buttons. My mother has suggested I have a hidden zipper and add buttons for show. But I cannot decide. That just sounds like an extra unnecessary step to me. And I'd have to buy a zipper and figure out how to hide it. Adding (at least 20) buttons sounds like enough work to me. DAY TWO – I spent most of the morning planning how to cut the chiffon. I did research about sewing with chiffon, I looked at a picture of what I more or less envisioned for the chiffon… and I thought about different options. First, I was thinking that I wanted the chiffon to be one long piece per side from top to bottom: one front piece, one back piece, and maybe sleeves were included, maybe they were separate. I examined the proto-dress to see how well I could use it as a pattern directly on the chiffon material. I imagined cutting two pieces of chiffon by merely cutting around the outline of the completed skirt. Once I had some ideas, I laid out the material on the dining room table and began pinning the sides until I realized I had to fold it crosswise. Problem #1: Unfortunately, I may not have enough fabric to do the full skirt. Originally, this is what I had hoped to do: Anyway, so I laid out the pattern on the chiffon, planning to make some of the skirt "narrower" so that it could all fit and there would be an opening (in front or back, to be decided later). |
GET. A. ROTARY CUTTER. It will make all the difference, I promise.
Although I chose a conservative design, I am extremely liberal with pins. Before sewing anything, I lined pins up along the edge like ants.
Here is the finished overlay for the skirt, wrong side out. | Instead of cutting a tab, I just loosely threaded some dark thread through the spot – a suggestion I read somewhere. This particular tab was a guide for where to end the seam so I needed the reference. When I had finished that seam, I effortlessly pulled the thread out. As I said, I found that the fake serge stitch was perfect. I did not go back and sew a straight stitch through because I found that the material did not much like that. So I let it be. Hopefully, it is enough. |
- Will this and how will it attach to the dress?
- How will I attach this to the bodice overlay?
- How will I attach this in the back?
- Should I add a belt in satin where the top seam meets the lower seam of the bodice overlay?