Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ruffled Edges



The Mom-of-Groom decided to finish the top and bottom edges with a small ruffle on the diagonal, in the shiny side of the same fabric. (the satin side is used in the flower and stem detail too). This will draw attention to the two parallel diagonal lines and create even more movement in the hemline.


One more fitting and installing the zipper, this one will be done!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Dresses and more sewing

The next dress is from a great Vogue pattern 1205. I am using a stretch knit in royal blue. The beauty of this pattern is the stabalizing ribbons used in the seams around the neckline, armholes and under the diagonal bodice line. The whole thing is lined, a sign of a good dress design. A simple looking dress that has all the details of couture. Nice.




I also made a great new style jacket, Vogue 8028, a Marcy Tilton design. This one allows for hand embellishments, and I used a couple of different textured fabrics in similar tones. I used Wonder Under to fuse the shapes to the jacket and used the machine to zigzag stitch over all the edges. I really like the results, and the fabric used for the jacket is a stable knit (not TOO stretchy) that has enough weight to drape perfectly.



Not much to show in a photo, but I spent a couple of hours finishing the fitting alterations for the plum mom-of-groom gown, and making the lining, and attaching it to the dress. The last fitting will be to set the zipper, and to mark the hemline. The first fitting last week was great, the gown only needed tweeking for fit, slimming the hip made the gathers fall in the perfect spots. The flower detail was approved by my friend and all of my knitting posse (we did the fitting at our weekly knitting get together).



Now that summer fabrics have started to arrive at my local Fabricland, I was able to find some cotton gauze fabrics and cotton-silk blend gauze, both will be great for nuno-felting. It has been difficult to find local fabrics this winter, and I have had to order from the internet (I have some lovely printed silk chiffon coming from an ebay deal...) Spring is the best time to sew!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Felters Workshop

Last night was the premiere event... a felters workshop for the Niagara Felters. The first meeting was a short evening affair (in my basement) and we had 11 in attendance. We launched all the new felters into the hot water, and they all learned to make a sweet merino ball (bead) using hot soapy water and rubbing and rolling into shape. As they discovered it is trickier than it sounds and takes just the right amount of pressure. But all succeeded! Look!




The more experienced felters, tried to tackle a slightly bigger project, one doing a purse using wet felting and bubble wrap rolling, and another making a flower necklace (stems and leaves and petals using the wet hand rolling method).
We had lots of fun, and wine (yes, we are THAT type of felters). Here is one of the purses, still wet, waiting to dry and add a button or clasp, and stitch-finish the handles.
I also showed the final stage of fulling (shrinking) and already felted (fully rolled and firmly joined together) silk and merino shawl. Picture below, it's still wet.
We had a blast, and will follow up with a future workshop with everyone doing purses and scarves!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Spring Dresses

I have five dresses to make in the next three weeks... so off we go. The first is a plum coloured gown, very glamorous, and detailed. I love it so far, and still have the first fitting and the lining to work out. The second is a summer dress, bright and cheerful and simple. This one is for me, and I will be making a wrap of black chiffon, nuno-felted with black and purple merino and flags of the dress fabric. Stay tuned to see the combination of these two garments. The third is a simple black stretch knit sleeveless wrap. It's almost done and needs a final fitting with the future owner. I have also had some wonderful comments out in the town about my coat. Strangers have asked me about the fabric and the origin of the coat. I am enjoying wearing this one of a kind coat. I have already made plans for a shorter spring jacket.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

New Dress, first step... sketch...


The dress begins with an idea, and a sketch. Crossed bodice, perhaps with embellishment of ruffle or crystal details... to be decided later.

There will be a lovely hip drape, attached with a fabric flower or crystal detail.

Then an asymmetric hemline, again perhaps with ruffle detail at hem.
(yes, I know, I cannot draw feet or faces... oh well!)