A silk dress fit for a princess!
Every girl wants to be a princess sitting in a castle in a beautiful dress and waiting for her prince to come. As I grew up, I came to understand that such fairy-tales were nonsense (look at what happened to Kate Middleton), but a beautiful dress never did anyone any harm! A proper ‘princess dress’ should be made of gorgeous silks and flowing through the air.
Like many of you, silks inspire nothing but fear in me. In October, I’ll attend a week-long workshop with Susan Khalje and my main goal is to become friends with silks. But before the workshop, I intend to work on some garments and get used to these nasty creatures. During one of my recent trips, I acquired this beautiful crepe-de-chine with the idea of transforming it into a princess dress. Also, a friend’s wedding was approaching and so the pieces of my challenge came together. Now I only had to take it on!
Like many of you, silks inspire nothing but fear in me. In October, I’ll attend a week-long workshop with Susan Khalje and my main goal is to become friends with silks. But before the workshop, I intend to work on some garments and get used to these nasty creatures. During one of my recent trips, I acquired this beautiful crepe-de-chine with the idea of transforming it into a princess dress. Also, a friend’s wedding was approaching and so the pieces of my challenge came together. Now I only had to take it on!
This Burda dress was the winner of my ‘princess dress’ contest for many reasons. 1. I had always wanted to own a silk maxi dress. 2. Due to heart surgery in my childhood and a huge scar crossing half of my back, I was scared of dresses with open backs and hardly owned any. 3. Any princess would die for it!
Fabric: 3.5m of crepe-de-chine
Size: 36 for the top and 38 for the skirt
Cost: $18 (yesssss, I scored some great fabric on sale)
Modifications to pattern: none
What I learnt from this project: patience!I Besides spending two weeks to complete the dress, I discovered not only how to tame silks but also myself. But let’s start from the beginning!
Challenge #1: cutting on bias. Silk should not be cut folded in half, but as a single layer of fabric to prevent slippage or distortion. You can see from the technical drawing that the main skirt piece is quite large. None of the tables in my apartment is big enough for cutting, so I had to lay the fabric on the floor. Did I sweat or have cramps? Oh yes, I did! All of the pieces from the fashion fabric and lining were cut on the floor. Holy Moly! How happy I was when it was over!
Challenge #2: thread and needle. Most of the sources that I’d consulted before starting the project suggested using cotton or polyester thread for silks. But for some reason, none of it worked when I tested it on swatches of the fabric beforehand. Silk thread worked much better. The Mircotex needle which I used performed miracles; no complaints!
Challenge #3: assembly. I assembled the dress in two stages: the bust pieces, and the skirt with godet. Once the skirt had been sewn together and the godet attached to it, I let it hang on a mannequin for a day to stretch and adapt to its new shape. In fact, having read Marina’s article since, I should have let the skirt and the godet hang separately before assembling them. I will definitely do so next time.
Challenge #4: zipper. As a result of being lazy and not wanting to attach the zipper by hand, I had to rip the seams and re-attach it three or four times. Bad idea! In some places, the fabric got stretched and puckered a little bit.
Another issue I faced with the zipper: a piece of fabric in the middle curls over and I have no idea why. I shortened the top of the skirt from both ends of the zipper, but the issue remains! Do you know what could have caused it?
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| You can see on this photo how the fabric curls over ;( |
Lastly, when I tried to play around with the bust pieces, I came up with an alternative way of wearing the dress. Instead of tying the straps behind the neck, I let them go over my shoulders, cross over on the back and tie a knot in front.
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| New Look :P |
Having conquered this challenge (despite a few hiccups along the way), I would say, sew with silks and make yourself princess dresses!
P.S.If you happen to be in New York mid-October and feel like going fabric shopping together, let me know! I could be fun!
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Goodies from the August Burdastyle magazine
I am not the only one excited about the new Burdastyle August issue. I can't wait to start preparing my mini-autumn collection. My top 8 from the magazine are pictured bellow
Have you picked your favorites?
Have you picked your favorites?
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Why I started sewing?
Yesterday I spotted this cute jersey black dress (on the left) @ All Saints sale. But, seriously, I am not paying $200 for a dress on sale which I can make myself for, at least, half the price. The Burdastyle sheath dress pattern (on the right) offers slightly different neckline (which, on my opinion, is even more flattering), but overall looks as good as All Saints'.
That's one of the reasons why I started sewing! And you?
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Origami skirt & new hair
When I saw this origami skirt I knew I had to make it. The original pattern, which I purchased just before my holiday, belongs to a Burdastyle member.
Pattern: Origami skirt from Kleinformat
Fabric: 1m of Poppy Collection by Laura Gunn
Time spent: 2.5 hours, I did not make muslin for this skirt
Cost: $16 (fabric, pattern & invisible zipper)
The original instructions show this skirt made of knit jersey. But I wanted the fabric to be more suitable for the hot and humid Japanese summer, so I used this beautiful quilting cotton. The fabric is not very stiff (as most of the quilting cottons are) and feels nice against the skin. Due to many very detailed photos, the pattern and instructions are super easy-to-follow (the instructions are in German).
I also have to show off my beautiful sun-tan before it washes away, and a brand new haircut. My hair was chemically straightened because my curls and waves were driving me nuts and I did not know what to do with them, especially with hair as short as I like to have. For the past 2 summers in Tokyo, I constantly looked like a sheep. My hairdresser said that it'll remain like this for 5-6 month!!! Guys, that's the best thing I've done to my hair since cutting it off!!!!
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But I made a huge mistake cutting the belt when my tummy was empty. After lunch in our favorite Thai restaurant, I had to breathe in for the photo-shoot ;) I'll increase the belt's circumference by 2-3 cm or so.
By the way, what's your favorite cuisine?
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| Yummy black noodles |
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Fashion Zen
That's what they called a collection in the April issue of Burda Style. Nine Zen patterns for a relaxing summer. And because I'm going on holiday SOOON, I desperately need a few outfits for my early summer break. This pattern caught my eye from the very beginning and I put it on my 'To Sew' list.
Fabric: NaniIro Star Fog double knit. I bought 4.7m (used 4.5m) because of the strange width: 80cm.
Time spent: 4 hours without muslin.
Size: 38
Cost: ~ $75
Modifications to pattern.
The instructions suggested to use lightweight jersey, but I just fell in love with Star Fog. Hence the fabric is heavier and does not require any lining. You can clearly see that that the fabric does not drape the same as on the original photo. I don't regret using heavier fabric - it creates a smarter look and I could wear it to the office!
I reinforced the neckline with silk organza. I also omitted the casing. Since the fabric is pretty heavy, the waistline would have looked bulky and not very flattering.
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| Instead of the casing, I attached the bodice to the skirt with two rows of elastic thread. |
Smooth feel of the fabric on the body and lots of "holes" create a nice air-conditioning effect for the hot weather ;)
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| Using twin needle I stitch all along the armholes and the neckline |
Oh, and if you are a NaniIro fan as me, and like their knit collection but cannot find it in your local fabric store, I would recommend Miss Matatabi on Etsy. Her prices are the same as in the shops here in Japan, plus the shipping cost is a good deal!
What are you sewing for summer?
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