Complete! Wedding Sewing

'Tis done, 'tis finished, 'tis finished, 'tis done! Yup, the wedding has been and gone, and this is the first night I've been able to keep my eyes open long enough to actually post about it. I didn't realise how nervous I was about something going wrong (that was my fault) until the morning itself. The bride said I could come and take some photos beforehand while the photographers were doing their thing, and I was actually shaking as I knocked on the door! Evidently I'm not a good candidate for ever doing this kind of thing professionally :)

I think the best moment for me was seeing her for the first time - I didn't recognise the dress! I just saw her, and she was radiant. I figure that's a sign I did my job properly :) So, here 'tis:

Silk chiffon skirt over satin backed crepe and chantilly lace over the bodice.

We did the back as a cut out, with a zip as the lower back fastening and buttons at the neck.

A fairly rubbish "back" shot taken on my phone after I realised I hadn't taken a proper one earlier...

We used Salme Patterns' Sleeveless Yoke Top as a starting point. The pattern has the yoke as a separate sheer piece, sewn into the sweetheart bodice. I did an overlay of fine tulle instead, that I could sew the lace to (will explain in a moment). I lowered the back bodice almost to the waist seam and used the tulle for the upper back sections.

This was because the part of the lace that she really loved was the exquisite edging, while the main fabric, though lovely, wasn't really what she wanted. This meant quite a lot of fairly painstaking cutting out. (She pitched in with this, so we called the dress a joint effort ;) ) Below is the section allocated to sleeves - there was a LOT more!

Because we were working with more or less straight lines of fabric now, it meant I couldn't just cut out bodice-shaped pieces. So the bodice was formed from two long pieces, that started from one zip edge at back and encircled the bodice, ending back at the zip, one piece edging the upper bodice and the other edging the waist. (does that make sense??) The shallower scallops were the outer edges, though we trimmed them off at the decolletage.

So far so good. But, as you can imagine, once it was handsewn down at upper bodice and waist, there was a lot of fabric flapping about in between. I got around that by snipping away excess between main motifs, and then layering them to sit flat. You can see in the shots below firstly the pinned section, sitting flat against the bodice (already sewn down) and some "flappy" excess. The second shot shows that excess cut away, ready for layering.

The main trick was keeping each side symmetrical.... Got there in the end though! The really fiddly part was the upper back sections (see third photo above). The scalloped lace edging needed to be along that diagonal line from below the arms to the neck. This is where the tulle overlay was so helpful. Lots of tiny stitches (yup,  it's all still hand-sewing here...) meant I could manipulate it gradually into shape. And I managed to use those deeper scallops from the inner cut part of the edging as the upper neck, over the shoulders and down to meet the front at the bust. The cap sleeves used the outer scalloped edging also, and were sewn into place.

The main skirt was just a bit fuller than A-line; there were talks about whether to make it stand out wider (Helen, I was reading up on your petticoat notes at this point :) ) but in the end she decided she really wanted a soft fall to it. And a train.Which I totally sympathise with - when else do you get to have a train, after all? I think the chiffon overskirt had about 2 1/2 times the fullness, but I can't remember for sure. I do know that handsewing the narrow rolled hem took a freakin' long time...( But when my girl, who's only 12, looked at the machined practice hem and the hand-done practice hem she said, "You really want it to be the nicest it can be..." Touche.)

Something New? Dress. Something Borrowed? Veil. Something Old? Some absolutely beautiful vintage glass buttons. I'm told they're originally from the 1920s. Love....

Does anyone know how to sew buttonholes on extremely fine lace? I don't, so had to improvise. Since we had the last bit of lace from the bolt, there was a narrow selvedge edge. I pinned and basted this to the back of the lace and sewed the buttonhole (Practice piece below). This gave it enough stability to prevent it getting chewed up in the machine. Once done, I trimmed the excess away as closely to the stitching as I could manage. (Embroidery scissors have been my saving grace during this project!). It worked - and was pretty much invisible from the front.

The Something Blue may be my favourite part of the whole dress. And nobody saw it! So I'm going to share it here. I nearly did it as a surprise, but then it occurred to me that a wedding dress probably shouldn't be experimented on. So I checked, got a "yes! yes! yes!" from the bride, and went ahead. The Something Blue was the lyrics to the song they had during the ceremony, embroidered on to the bodice lining. Isn't it nice when what you see working in your head actually works in real life!

And now to the Bridesmaids. And to why I know I'll never be one of the top sewing bloggers. Even though I went to the house prior to the ceremony in order to get close up photos and detail shots, THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO I TOOK OF THE BRIDESMAIDS. Just got too caught up in the emotion and excitement, I'm afraid! Or maybe all those years of Aaron suggesting I put the camera down and start actually enjoying the moment rather than recording it are starting to bear fruit. Never mind, here they are:

Again, I didn't do a separate piece for the yoke; it's a full overlay. This was because the fabric used underneath the chiffon was different for each dress. The "under" fabric surprised me as we were choosing it, because fabrics that at first looked like an obvious match to the chiffon (which was picked first), would often alter the colour of the chiffon over the top - sometimes startlingly. So in the end we choose the under fabric according to how it "disappeared" under the chiffon. So the lemon dress is cream underneath, the lavender is blue, while the mint one is almost silver grey. And thus, we needed a full overlay!

Please, please notice the chiffon bias binding at the neck, shoulders and back opening. That's probably the most fiddly, time-consuming sewing I've ever done. And I shall die a happy woman if I never have to again...

Isn't it a good thing that french seams look so lovely, given how much extra work they can be? I was really reproaching myself over how long the skirts were taking me at the time. But then I worked out, that if there are four dresses, with three skirts on each, with each skirt having six seams, and each seam having to be sewn twice to be french, that's a grand total of 144 seams. (Really : 4 x 3 = 12, 12 x 6 =72, 72 x 2 = 144). I went easier on myself after that. And one good thing - after handsewing the bride's chiffon hem, these ones seemed to be done in a snap! Well, snappish...

So there you have it - my last four months! Thank you to all of you who've left encouraging and supportive comments along the way - I've appreciated your kindness so much. I think it's time for some selfish sewing now. My queued for-me project list is getting out of control...

Oh, and by the way, there was a groom at the wedding too ;)

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Inspired By: An Origami-ish Elisalotte and a Floaty Girly Frock

Well, it HAS been a while since I was last posting here! But I finally have something I'm allowed to show - some wedding-related sewing. Not THE wedding sewing, sorry - that'll have to wait till after the big day this weekend. But as of last Saturday it's all finished and packed off to the bridal party...which gave me a brief window of time to put together some dresses for my girl and me.

This was my original plan for my dress:

I still love it, and fully intend to make it some day, but just couldn't find any emerald lace that I liked. And I'm really not confident enough with dyeing (i.e. have never even attempted) to get around it in that way. Plus, I have to admit that given the acres and acres of chiffon that I've been sewing, the idea of something structured in a fabric that stayed put and did what it was told was mighty appealing! Since time was fast running out I went back through my 'dresses' Pinterest board and decided on this one:

...Mainly because of that two-tone origami-ish bow. Love. I'd just bought By Hand London's Elisalex dress and Charlotte skirt patterns, and thought that the Elisalotte combination would work nicely for this.Once I chopped off some length, that is. (Am I just short, or are the patterns drafted for the statuesque? Actually the answer to both is probably 'yes'...) I wasn't too interested in replicating the lines of the bodice above - I actually prefer the softer curves of the Elisalex anyway. A flying trip to Melbourne netted me some pretty sumptuous shot silk dupion in lavender and aubergine.And here tis!

I hadn't ever tried sewing with this fabric before - it was interesting! Almost like sewing flexible paper, or very thin sheets of aluminium foil. At first I was worried that it was a bit too light-weight for a structured dress like this. But it holds its shapes amazingly - in fact at times it was actually a bit like sculpting. And I think I would have struggled with a heavier fabric, say a delustred satin, when it came to doing the front bow; I think it would have become very bulky very quickly. As it is, the silk sits nice and flat against the main dress - and folds stay exactly where you put them!

 I feel a bit like I'm channeling my inner Barbie, but hey, there's a time and place for that :) And it really feels wonderful on. Back view for Nessa below :) (Must watch my posture in future...) The lower scooped back is possibly my favourite feature of Elisalex.

From the inspiration picture, I worked out that there was one main bow which had the ties originating from the side seams at the waist. Then there's a second piece - imagine a capital T shape with a wide trunk that narrows diagonally each side to the base. The ends of the T's upper crossbar are also sewn into side seams, but underneath the main bow's ties. The "trunk" is folded up concertina-style and slipped through the loop that forms the knot of the main bow. Confusing? Yes. In the end, I didn't have enough fabric to do that "T" shape anyhow (only bought a metre of each colour) so had to adapt. I ended up instead with just the "trunk" - see below:

I folded this and slipped it through the knot and then positioned it where I wanted it. I swear, it really is like sculpting, it doesn't move unless you make it move! I did do a few hand stitches in a couple of places, just to be sure it would absolutely stay in place when worn all day.

I do wish I could have gotten some nicer lining (this is just bemsilk), but I kind of spent all my money on the main fabric....

This last shot gives a much better idea of the bodice fabric's colou. It looks a bit washed out in those outdoor photos. And honestly, could these two patterns go together any more beautifully?! (Pretty proud of that invisible zip work there, too.)

So that's me set for Saturday! But I'd also promised my girl a new dress, and she asked if I'd make her one. I said I would....right before she asked - apologetically - if it could be made of chiffon. (She may have overheard some chiffon-based ranting once or twice.) I stifled my urge to shriek "Dear God, no!!!" to the heavens, and we had us a look at Pinterest. Almost immediately, she found this:

Being twelve, she thought the colour was boring, so requested aqua instead. And she wanted the flowers going right around the neckline/yoke. I had a fossick through my patterns and found New Look 6785, which I'd never even used. I think I got it in one of those 3 for 1 sales once upon a time:

Look at View A! Done, and done. It really was just a matter of making sure the yoke wasn't gapey - I had to take it up at the shoulders about 1", and pinch 2cm out of the front fold. I made the chiffon layer of the front and back as wide as the fabric itself (115cm) and cut it out the length of View B. She's pretty happy with it!

I wasn't much looking forward to making the fabric flowers - I'm really, really tired! - but then I remembered that Kaisercraft, who I work for, sells lengths of these chiffon ribbon roses:

Yay, and hooray! Happy girl, and happy me. And I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have a quick project after the past four months - this was Saturday evening and Sunday morning before church. Win!

Now, assuming there's no eleventh hour problem with the wedding party dresses (rationally I know there won't be, but I don't think I'll fully relax until they've all made it down the aisle), I can put the machine away and reclaim my dining table....

I plan to do the Wedding Post on Sunday. If I'm not asleep, that is...

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Please Indulge Me...

Hello again :) Even though I've been sewing almost every spare minute, I've still got nothing I'm allowed to show here yet. I'm right about at the stage where it feels like this is all I've ever sewn and all I ever will sew.

It's all going fairly smoothly so far (I'm happy and, more importantly, the bride's happy), but do you mind if I test the friendship for a moment with a brief but heartfelt whinge?? Here goes:

I really, really hate chiffon.

Thank you. I feel better now.

Completed: Audrey Jacket

It's been a little longer between posts than I planned, sorry, but I haven't had proper internet access for a good two weeks. In the meantime though I finished my coat/jacket (Style Arc's Audrey Jacket pattern) I was going title this post, "A Fail Or Not A Fail?", since that was my question, but we'll get to that! Here 'tis:

(Huddled under the eaves in this shot - the rain and wind were evidently competing to see which could be the most energetic...)

And a back view for Nessa! Wish I'd adjusted my top first... :(  And for all of you lovely people who commiserated with me on the Buttonhole Debacle (and thank you, by the way - I would take you all out for coffee and cake if we lived nearby):

Hooray! Bound buttonholes sewn AND positioned correctly! So why was I thinking Fail? Well, it all went together fine (eventually...) but when I tried it on, I didn't like it on me. Painful moment! I loved the slightly retro shape of it in the pattern picture, but it's not a style I've ever worn before, and it just felt wrong on. I didn't make a muslin, so I guess that's my own fault. If I'd tried it on in a changing room I'd have rejected it immediately. Can you call it a successful project if you don't end up wearing it?? Has this ever happened to you?

The collar bothered me too. It still does. It's supposed to sit up like this (back view below):

(That looks uneven in the photo - I promise it's not!) But at the front it collapses in on itself a bit. If I ever make it again I'm going to fuse the collar - at least the front sections - twice. It's fine around the buttonholes, which have the extra fabric patch sewn in to make the welts, and that's what suggests to me that the front collar needs a bit more reinforcement. It just doesn't seem to be holding the weight adequately. I'm wondering too whether buttons with a shank wouldn't be a better choice, as much as I like these red ones. I have some dull gold ones in the drawer - might give them a go. Any thoughts???

So it sat there for a week or so. And, because I really do love the fabric, I tried it on every now and then. And slowly, it began to grow on me. I still don't think it's a perfect style for me, but I don't think it's the unmitigated disaster I thought it was at first. It is wearable, and having worn it to work yesterday I can attest that people don't point and snigger. It fills a wardrobe gap. So, I'm calling it a cautious success.

Although I don't consider myself remotely qualified to post tutorials, I am going to show step by step below how the hem lining went together, mainly because I would have loved to have this two weeks ago! Not sure if it's the standard procedure, but it worked. That's the thing about Style Arc patterns - I love their designs, but the instructions given do assume you know what you're doing. I've decided to take that as a compliment.

All was going fine till I got to the point of sewing the lining to the jacket. (Aside: I really wanted a striking print for this, a la Claire's Lady Grey jacket, but couldn't find anything that looked right. And then this silk lining went on sale. Couldn't resist. And that's another reason I kept trying the thing on - wool coat with silk lining....) The instructions said "Sew lining to jacket continuing around hem." Looked down at this:

Thought I'd cut it out wrong at first! Checked. Hadn't. Reread instructions. Didn't help. Googled. No love. So I went to the wardrobe and looked at the way other wool coat linings had gone together, and worked it out from there. This one has an overlocked edge on the front facing - mine's folded under. The lining is sewn at hem and folds down over itself. It started to make sense.

First I had to unpick 3cm of the front facing/front lining seam. This allows for manouevering room when you sew the lower edges.

 Then I sewed the jacket front/front facing seam, stopping directly above the right angle where the jacket front extends downwards. After that (not pictured, oops) I pulled the lining down to meet the jacket's lower edge and sewed them together. Imagine another finger pointing to the edge below - that seam.

This left a 'hole' where these two horizontal seams don't quite match up. The photo shows the reverse side of what's pictured above (i.e. the interfaced part you see below is the jacket facing - imagine the jacket in the above photo has been lifted up towards you.) My thumb is on the jacket front/facing seam, and my first finger is on the lining/ lower jacket edge seam.

When you bag it out, it looks like this, with the lining folding down over itself, hiding the actual seam.

 Hope that makes sense!

In wedding sewing news, we've had the bride's first fitting, and it seems to be coming along nicely. Which is making me rethink my "one sewing challenge at a time" rule.... All of a sudden there seem to be all these online sewalongs and challenges I really want to have a go at! I would love to be part of Thread Theory's Jedidiah Pants Sewalong. And the Sew Weekly Reunion Challenge is waking me up o' nights (Can you be part of a reunion if you weren't there the first time around??)... I know I have a tendency to take on too much at once though. And I think I really need to ensure that wedding sewing is as stress-free as possible. On the other hand, I planned to make a dress to wear to it anyway, and the colours of the SWRC are sublime. Think I'll leave it to chance - if I find suitable fabric next time I go shopping I'll jump in and go for it!

Are you taking part in any challenges or sewalongs at the moment? Do tell!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Hmmm.... Links don't seem to be working, sorry. Will fix ASAP

Bits and Pieces...

A word of warning -this will be a bit of a mishmash of a post, I'm afraid! There are a few things I wanted to jot down so as not to forget, but nothing really felt lengthy enough to warrant its own entry. So I'll bundle everything in together and you can pick out the bits that interest you. :)

The most exciting thing - by far! - is that I've been asked by a dear friend to sew her wedding dress and four bridesmaids' dresses. It's such a thrill - think of the loveliest, sweetest, want-to-hug-her-every-time-you-see-her friend that you have...that's this girl to me. I've known her since she was ten, and the 15 year age difference between us has been steadily decreasing ever since. (figuratively, that is...) Her family is the "godfamily" to our oldest son (technically, her parents are the godparents, but she and her sister immediately dubbed themselves "godsisters" and it stuck), so it's a real honour to be able to be part of such a special and significant time.  We had a lovely day buying fabric - all of hers, half of the bridesmaids - this week, so some fairly intensive sewing will be starting very soon! I've promised her I won't be revealing any details or photos until after the Big Reveal on the day, but there may well be some panicked cries for advice between now and  2nd November! Watch this space....

Not nearly so exciting: in the last week I've had a go at stashbusting my yarn drawer. I now have a Dovetail Cowl made up from the leftover skein of my Beatnik jumper. I haven't blocked or photographed it yet, but it's been a nice project for evenings in front of the fire. Sometimes it's good to have a (relatively) instant gratification make, isn't it? To be honest, I haven't really been up to doing much more. It's been a really hectic last month, with husband away on two separate trips for work, me being unwell (which I NEVER am usually), and my work being crazy-busy and extremely challenging. I think it's all caught up with me a bit! It's frustrating, because I have all these ideas for makes and projects buzzing around in my head, but just haven't had the time or energy to get stuck into them. Still, I think I've needed to go easy on myself, and I've learned that (for me at least) creativity tends to be cyclical, with peaks and troughs of inspiration, motivation and energy. Hence the easy, sitting-by-the-fire-projects in the meantime!

If I haven't regained my energy yet, I have regained my mojo - the planning and inspiration side of it, anyhow! And I've realised a few key things about myself that seem to speed up the process of moving from the sewing "blahs" back to being excited about it:

1.   Being organised and tidy. Dull, I know, but it makes such a difference! My sewing space was a mess, and every time I went in there it was squelching my enthusiasm to sew. I don't mind a mess while I'm sewing - just as well, too! - but I need order in between projects so I'm not spending sewing time hunting through stuff and chaos to try and find what I need.

2.  If it's not working, I need to put it aside.  Your advice was what made me realise this! Instead of wrestling through a project that's only giving me grief, it's almost always better to put it aside and go on with something else. There's definitely something to be said for coming back with fresh eyes / perspective.

3.   Tackling something I've been meaning to get around to.  Finishing that modified Coffee Date Dress (see last post) was a real boost. I really hate having things hanging over me, and as a "list-maker",  I find it really satisfying - and motivating - to tick off the boxes.

4.  I don't have to make everything that inspires me.   I love reading sewing blogs. I love Pinterest.  I love the excitement of seeing something amazing in a magazine or shop window and knowing, "I can make that!" But, there are only so many hours in a day! And only so many dollars in my bank account.  I need to be more thoughtful and considered about what I actually set myself to make. It's ok to simply appreciate something for it's own sake! Adrienne put me on to a great post about this; well worth a look. :)

6.  I reordered my queue of projects.  I admit, I was a little over-ambitious in what I hoped to get done in the first six months of the year. But it just occurred to me that perhaps part of my reluctance to get up and sew might be caused by the fact that it's hard to get motivated to sew a summer dress when you're scraping ice off the car windscreen of a morning! It sounds really obvious when I think about it now, but it genuinely hadn't occurred to me...SO, now I'm just waiting for a decent opportunity to sit down and sew up my red coat. Just have to get over my bound buttonholes intimidation...The Little Tailoress has an excellent tutorial which I intend to follow to the letter.

None of the above are real ephiphanies, I guess. But I think it's helpful to know how you work best. Sewing time is precious, after all, and if there's something basic that's getting in the way, then I want to know so I can fix it.

How about you? What hinders your sewing mojo? Better yet, what kickstarts it into action? I'd love to know your thoughts - there's probably lots I haven't picked up on yet!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo