THE DRESS

AnneMarie and I discussing how to make "The Dress

I hand washed the beaded silk as it was quite dirty - we think it is quite old

Heather with 1 of the many muslins

Second of the muslins with more of a back - previous muslin just had spagetti straps- changed the panels to princess line too

 

Final muslin created from previous muslin - decided to change the line of the front - see pencil lines just below bust- also Heather didnt like the shape of the top so making that more curved - see pencil lines

Can see the alterations I have to make - hope it works!!

This Judy is bigger than Heather

Muslin for the beaded top

Working out how much fabric I will have to buy for the top fabric, and underlining - Tom did a CAD drawing too

Test on miniature skirt - seeing which fabric to choose for underlining

Shows how important it is to cut the silk satin all in one direction  - you can see the  change in shine here

What changes need to be made in top pattern

 

 

 

 

Preparing the silk dress fabric and the underlining to be handstitched together - I hung them for a while to see how they would drape - had to recut one underlining as it dropped too much

underlined pieces hung to let them drop before sewing them together

Trying a different way to hang the pieces

Finished dress - while as much as I can do until Heather tries dress on in London - will have to adjust length of spagetti straps, sides of dress and the very large hem  - still have to cut, sew and attach lining!

Trying to fit the pattern on the fabric avoiding stains - nearly didnt make it!!!

Flood on July 8th - no damage to us but both our neighbours were flooded - sewing suspended to bail out basements!

Added silk mesh to back as underlining to support weight of beads- stitched together along all the lines of beads!

Working at Sheila & Rays cottage on the deck

Working on the beach - too hot on deck - Sheila set up the chair with cushions so I would be comfortable - thank you

Sheila inspecting the progress - just the basting done which will have to come out when I have handstitched the 2 pieces together

thanks to Ray and Sheila I was able to work in a beautiful setting - going for a swim when I got too hot