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.

After finishing the baste stitching on the final pattern and trying the dress on, I discovered that the flare at the bottom of the dress is more prominent on one side. This means that there is more fabric on one side of the dress and the seams are not quite right. So, I decided to pull out all of the baste stitching and start again from scratch.

Since both pattern pieces match up evenly and the mistake was made in the pinning process, I did not need to rework the final pattern. To make pinning the dress around the form a bit easier this time, I started out by pinning the front and back panels to each other on all seams. After balancing the material out, draping the sides and finishing pinning, I baste stitched the seams again. I tried the dress on and it appears that the seams are matched up evenly this time. The fit is good and the bottom of the dress flows beautifully when I walk.

Once I was happy with the fit, I put the pattern back on the dress form and stylized the armhole. The armhole turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the dress and it wasn’t even in the original sketch! It dips down underneath the armpit and shows enough skin to look sexy chic and not too over the top. I also started on the pattern for the shell shape that will cover the right breast by cutting a large enough piece of muslin and attaching interfacing in the middle for stiffness. Unfortunately, the stiffness is not enough to hold the material up (the material is pinned to the form in the photo) so I am looking into other options. I read about using pellon interfacing for extreme stiffness and decided to explore that as an option…

My main goal with this dress right now is to combine the top and bottom pieces into one solid pattern. I pinned the top front and bottom front pieces together then removed all of the baste stitching. After ironing out the pinned pattern pieces, I pinned them to muslin. I cut out two panels from the muslin for the front and back panels. The solid pattern looks very obvious and I’m assuming that there is an easier way to do this eliminating a few steps for future reference.

After cutting out the pieces, I strategically pinned them together on the dress form. It worked! The two solid panels work just as well as when it was four pieces (top, bottom, front and back). I started to baste stitch the top and shoulder seams and will finish the rest tomorrow for a final fitting. Then it’s on to fabric shopping!

After removing the draped top pattern from the dress form, I ironed the material and cut around the edges to smooth out the lines. I then cut the pattern from another piece of muslin to create the top back panel.

Now that I have my two top pieces, I strategically draped them on the dress form. They both require bunching on the side and I wanted to make sure that the lines matched up from front to back. After I was happy with the way the bunching looked, I baste stitched the top panels together at the side, top and shoulder seams.

I placed the skirt panels back on the form and baste stitched them to the top panels with all seams matching up. I left open the seam that will hold the zipper so I could easily slide it off and on for fittings. After trying the dress on, I feel that it is ready for the final pattern. The only changes that will be made to the pattern are fusing the top and bottom panels into one. I also decided that I love the way the armpit hole on the left side is open which steps away from the original design. It adds just a touch of sexy to an overall classic gown.

I decided after much trial and error to try a hand-stitch on the zipper. After breaking a needle and jamming the sewing machine several times, it was really my only option. It turned out to be my best option. It came out very clean and professional looking (pats self on back).

I had to go back and cut away the excess fabric on the inside of the waistband that was left after I added the finishing stitch:

After doing this, I tried the skirt on again. There is a weird curve underneath the waistband now and you can faintly see the seams and darts through the linen fabric. I’m contemplating on lining the skirt. What do you guys recommend? Would releasing the darts a bit underneath the waistband fill out this unwanted curve? Also, what are your thoughts on cutting away the excess fabric where the darts are? Keep in mind that you can only faintly see it and I am probably just being too much of a perfectionist so it may not be worth it.

Thoughts on the second episode of Project Runway from last night – I love that they gave them a pregnancy garment challenge! Even though I have never been pregnant, my problem with maternity wear is that it always looks too babydoll-ish. Just because a woman is pregnant does not mean that she does not want to look or feel sexy. I feel that a lot of maternity wear out there takes the sex appeal away from a woman. That being said, while the winning design was beautifully designed and made by Shirin, it was too girlish in my opinion:

The design that I would prefer to wear is the jersey gown designed by Althea. She did a great job of highlighting the pregnant form while also making the body appear slimmer. The fabric color was beautiful and I also LOVED the way she accentuated the lower back (very slimming). My only recommendation was that she ad a bit more fabric to the bust. While most women want to show off the breasts they never had during their pregnancy, there is a such thing as too much.  What did you guys think about the designs?

On another note, I took a day off from working on the pencil skirt because of the zipper dilemma. I’m pretty sure that because of the thickness of the folds in the fabric, a machine stitch is pretty much out of the question. My fear is that it will appear sloppy and that just won’t work on a tailored skirt. I am going to try a blind hand-stitch and see how it goes. I like the idea of not being able to see the zipper seam on the outside of the garment. Details to follow…

I finally get to place the decorative waistband, which is something I have been looking forward to very much. There isn’t a how-to guide for something like this; it just takes some strategic placing and a lot of creativity. To do this, I placed the skirt onto the dress form inside out so the band could be properly pinned to the garment.

After making a few adjustments to the waistband and then trying the garment on, I stay-stitched the band into place. I don’t believe that this was an absolutely necessary step but I didn’t want it to slip out of place (better safe than sorry!).

Normally, I would opt for a machine stitch but the fabric overlapped a few times in the ruffle, which made it extremely thick. My fear was that I would break the machine needle. So, I decided on a simple hand stitch. I am very pleased with how it turned out:

Once the band was stitched into place and the pins were removed, I started to work on finishing the inside of the band. The fabric (as you can see) frays terribly. So, I wanted to use a finishing stitch on the machine to prevent further fraying. Big mistake! My initial fear about using a machine stitch was correct. I broke the needle. Stupidity or a right of passage? I’ll go with a right of passage. I decided to give it a rest for the night after the needle deal breaker…

Tonight, episode 2 of the new season of Project Runway. Can’t wait!!

It’s been quite the productive day. I went ahead with the dart placement on the pencil skirt. The darts, in my opinion, were falling too low. So, I decided to take in the side seams a bit to lessen the fabric in the midsections. I’m much much happier with where the darts fall now. Time to sew!

After sewing the side seams and darts into place, I went ahead and cut away some of the excess fabric and did a finishing stitch on the side seams. The fabric that I am using is linen and it frays terribly! Usually, I would wait until the garment was complete to finish the seams but I felt this was necessary step so the fabric wouldn’t fray too much.

At this point, I tried the skirt on. The fit is spectacular! You’ll never have a better fitting garment than one that is tailor made to your measurements. The only thing that I would like to change is the darts. They need to come down just a few more stitches for a smoother look.

I was able to get started on the waistbands today as well (hence the productivity ☺). After attaching the standard waistband pieces together, I pinned them to the skirt only to find that the seams on the band did not match up with the seams on the skirt. I reattached the band pieces together taking them in enough to match the skirt seams. After stay-stitching it in place, I attached the decorative waistband pieces. I’m really excited about this part because, up until now, this has been a simple skirt making process. Now, I get to add an extra dose of creativity!

On another note, I did some serious sketching last night. After the season premiere of Project Runway topped off with a dose of the Rachael Zoe Project, I was feeling inspired. I’m obsessed (like most of you are) with the red carpet. Gowns are my favorite things in the world to design. My dream would be to see my dresses on Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and especially Anne Hathaway – the old Hollywood glamor girls of today. Once I start to work on these dresses, I will post the sketches.

I made my monthly pilgrimage today to the Garment District in search of fabric for the skirt I am currently working on. Believe it or not, I found the exact fabric that I was looking for at Paron Fabric’s. Paron is one of my faves because they have a good selection and the people there are helpful. I purchased 1.5 yds (extra for mistakes) of ivory-colored linen with a little stretch.

I opted against interfacing for both waistbands since the fabric is thicker than what I originally had in mind. They should maintain stiffness on their own. After folding and ironing the fabric, I pinned the pattern and cut the pieces out. The skirt panels are pinned at the seams on the dress form and are ready for dart placement tomorrow.

On another note, I found this amazing rust-colored fabric at the store. A few months ago when I conceptualized the Venice line, I designed a rust-colored gown with a built in corset. Needless to say, I am in LOVE with this fabric. It has a wet-shine look to it in certain light and an interesting texture. I spent some time draping the dress form with the fabric for new inspiration and ideas. I’m working on a design based on this concept: