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Gown Update
Jun. 23rd, 2008 12:22 pmIn other news, during the La Belle weekend I managed to make good progress with Jeff’s gown. On the way there, I finished putting the test stuffing in the mock up, and tried it on him. I cut the skirt shorter, and determined that I’ll like the look better with the pleats stuffed all the way up. They’re so round and poofy, that I think that solution will work best. Even when I test pleat on my fur lined dress, they still don’t quite look that round, so I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the stuffed pleats as A solution (not THE solution thankyouverymuch).
I had a cutting snafu, but luckily it was on the hemp, not on the silk. Whew!
The stiffness of the hemp has led me to make some decisions on how to sew it together. I’d been toying with the idea of the “finish all of the seams first then sew together” method that my 16th century friends are so fond of, but I didn’t think that sewing together right sides together, and then turning each piece right side out was going to work so well. I think I will try it on the sleeves, which I’m only going to line in heavy linen. I will say this: though I love the way the hemp is looking, my fingers are killing me. Considering my time constraints, I wish I’d used linen. I might not have needed the stiffness of the hemp with the stuffed pleats. BUT, the drape and look is really lovely. It’s giving those glorious 15th century stiff folds that are ubiquitous in the art.
Sometimes it drives me a little crazy when there are several ways to go, all equally good. I’m so damned indecisive! Had I gone with heavy linen, I’d probably be wishing for the hemp. Oh well.
For construction, I lightly stitched the silk to the hemp on the front side pieces, loosely following the pattern on the fabric. It’s sort of quilting, but with only two layers instead of three. I then put *wrong sides together* (on purpose) and sewed the front pieces to the single back piece (I cut that on the fold, to save a little sewing). I stitched down the seam allowance towards the back piece, which was thus far only the hemp lining. The seam allowance was thus facing outwards. Placing the back pieces right sides together, I stitched on the silk, and when turned right side out, it covered up the seam allowance nicely.
The method was loosely based on a more modern lining technique that I’d heard of, but it worked very nicely to hide all of the seam allowances. I’m not certain what I’ll do at the other edges – it doesn’t have to look perfect since it will all be covered in fur. I’m considering just sewing a binding on.
I decided to do everything by hand. As I sat down at my machine to sew together the denim test piece and replaced my silk needle with a heavier needle, I realized that I’d have a problem with machine sewing. A silk needle would surely break when sewing the hemp. A heavier needle, appropriate for the hemp, would kill the silk.
Tonight, I’m going to lightly “quilt” the back pieces together. This not-quite-quilting will just hold everything in place better when I go to pleat it. Then I have to start focusing on getting things ready for sewing that I can do in the car. I’m NOT going to cut squirrel fur in the car, so I’m going to try to get the strips all prepped, and cut linen strips to back it with. In the car, I’ll attempt to get all of the fur backed with linen. Pleating is going to require space to lay out.
Arg. Even now, a big piece of me wishes I’d used the linen. Maybe it’d hang/pleat better, maybe it’d be easier to sew in the car, maybe…
I had a cutting snafu, but luckily it was on the hemp, not on the silk. Whew!
The stiffness of the hemp has led me to make some decisions on how to sew it together. I’d been toying with the idea of the “finish all of the seams first then sew together” method that my 16th century friends are so fond of, but I didn’t think that sewing together right sides together, and then turning each piece right side out was going to work so well. I think I will try it on the sleeves, which I’m only going to line in heavy linen. I will say this: though I love the way the hemp is looking, my fingers are killing me. Considering my time constraints, I wish I’d used linen. I might not have needed the stiffness of the hemp with the stuffed pleats. BUT, the drape and look is really lovely. It’s giving those glorious 15th century stiff folds that are ubiquitous in the art.
Sometimes it drives me a little crazy when there are several ways to go, all equally good. I’m so damned indecisive! Had I gone with heavy linen, I’d probably be wishing for the hemp. Oh well.
For construction, I lightly stitched the silk to the hemp on the front side pieces, loosely following the pattern on the fabric. It’s sort of quilting, but with only two layers instead of three. I then put *wrong sides together* (on purpose) and sewed the front pieces to the single back piece (I cut that on the fold, to save a little sewing). I stitched down the seam allowance towards the back piece, which was thus far only the hemp lining. The seam allowance was thus facing outwards. Placing the back pieces right sides together, I stitched on the silk, and when turned right side out, it covered up the seam allowance nicely.
The method was loosely based on a more modern lining technique that I’d heard of, but it worked very nicely to hide all of the seam allowances. I’m not certain what I’ll do at the other edges – it doesn’t have to look perfect since it will all be covered in fur. I’m considering just sewing a binding on.
I decided to do everything by hand. As I sat down at my machine to sew together the denim test piece and replaced my silk needle with a heavier needle, I realized that I’d have a problem with machine sewing. A silk needle would surely break when sewing the hemp. A heavier needle, appropriate for the hemp, would kill the silk.
Tonight, I’m going to lightly “quilt” the back pieces together. This not-quite-quilting will just hold everything in place better when I go to pleat it. Then I have to start focusing on getting things ready for sewing that I can do in the car. I’m NOT going to cut squirrel fur in the car, so I’m going to try to get the strips all prepped, and cut linen strips to back it with. In the car, I’ll attempt to get all of the fur backed with linen. Pleating is going to require space to lay out.
Arg. Even now, a big piece of me wishes I’d used the linen. Maybe it’d hang/pleat better, maybe it’d be easier to sew in the car, maybe…
