I bought this beautiful red silk fabric at Mood a few months ago and since I had never worked with a fabric that was this costly, I was terrified to cut into it. I spent many months thinking over the technique…then rethinking…and over thinking… until I finally convinced myself to bite the bullet. I started with a preshrink in the tub using a mild shampoo instead of detergent since the fabric is delicate. The tub water turned blood red and looked incredibly sketchy. The fabric seemed to have lost a lot of dye but the color looks the same as it did at purchase time.

One of the things that I had decided on during the trial pattern process was to go with four panels instead of two. When I originally put the four panel pattern together the bunching on the side looked a lot better than with two panels. After steaming the fabric out, I pinned the patterns in place. This was my first time working with silk and I really had my work cut out for me. It’s very slippery and hard to work with overall. Since it also frays terribly, I used pinking shears to cut it out. Not sure if this is a proper or practiced technique, but it seems to have prevented fraying so far.

I steamed out the bottom panels and pinned them inside out on the dress form. Next step is determining the seam allowances and dart placement.