The bride's fabrics are in!
Oct. 11th, 2010 08:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellymellDharma Trading never ceases to amaze me at how fast they ship. I was curious how long it would take because I've only ever used USPS Priority as an option with them (is usually the cheapest) and this time I used First Class. I ordered before noon on Thursday and my fabrics arrived on Saturday! I don't know how they do it.
I've never worked with silk organza before and I'm curious as to what I can expect from the pre-washing, as far as shrinkage and raveling are concerned. It's a fairly open weave and I don't want it to all come loose on me. I have three yards of it, which should be plenty for the jacket including a bit of raveling and shrinkage, but I just sort of like to know what I'm getting into.
The rest of it is five yards of silk chiffon for making a second skirt layer. I'll just copy the existing panels for shape and add it in underneath. The dress has a handkerchief hem and where it comes up is a little too high, even for tea length. So what I'm going to do is just shift the new skirt over by one panel width so that the high points on it fall where the low points on the outer skirt fall. Kind of filling in the gaps, as it were.
So I should have everything, except for a little bit of tulle to stiffen the collar of the jacket, to get started on all the final stuff for Brandy's wedding. I should really spend my evenings pulling lace off her mom's dress until I have all of that I need.
As for my dress, well, I've been wrestling with the muslin. This thing is not going to be easy to put together and even harder to make adjustments to the fit. All the pattern pieces fit together like a puzzle and I make myself dizzy just thinking about altering it a bit for some more room below the hips. Right now it fits all the way down to about mid-thigh where it then flares into the lovely bias folds (or they will be on a more appropriate fabric than muslin). But I'd like for it to pretty much fall from high hip or so because I know that looks good on me. I also don't want the waist to gap or bunch at all and I'm afraid if I fit it too much in the hips, it'll do just that. Kind of like the real life example on the pattern page.
Also, those ties are a nightmare! I plan on adding an invisible zipper into the side seam opposite the ties, but I do want them to be there, if only decorative. But I'm having a really hard time getting them to line up right because I've altered the original pattern to account for my long waist (had to add 4" and I must have done it in the wrong spot on the back bodice piece). I've contemplated just doing something like hemming those sections and just sewing up that seam completely. It would give kind of the same effect as my Arwen Dream gown (basically just really big seam allowances left on the outside to fall into lovely folds). I don't know, I'll play with it some more and see what I come up with. I probably have enough muslin to redraft the bodice at least, if I can get all the skirt panels to work together (which they do, but for the fact that they're too fitted for my tastes).
The fabric for my dress (the lovely deep red silk velvet from Sy Fabrics) should be on its way to me now, as well.
Just a month to get all this done... I can do it!
I've never worked with silk organza before and I'm curious as to what I can expect from the pre-washing, as far as shrinkage and raveling are concerned. It's a fairly open weave and I don't want it to all come loose on me. I have three yards of it, which should be plenty for the jacket including a bit of raveling and shrinkage, but I just sort of like to know what I'm getting into.
The rest of it is five yards of silk chiffon for making a second skirt layer. I'll just copy the existing panels for shape and add it in underneath. The dress has a handkerchief hem and where it comes up is a little too high, even for tea length. So what I'm going to do is just shift the new skirt over by one panel width so that the high points on it fall where the low points on the outer skirt fall. Kind of filling in the gaps, as it were.
So I should have everything, except for a little bit of tulle to stiffen the collar of the jacket, to get started on all the final stuff for Brandy's wedding. I should really spend my evenings pulling lace off her mom's dress until I have all of that I need.
As for my dress, well, I've been wrestling with the muslin. This thing is not going to be easy to put together and even harder to make adjustments to the fit. All the pattern pieces fit together like a puzzle and I make myself dizzy just thinking about altering it a bit for some more room below the hips. Right now it fits all the way down to about mid-thigh where it then flares into the lovely bias folds (or they will be on a more appropriate fabric than muslin). But I'd like for it to pretty much fall from high hip or so because I know that looks good on me. I also don't want the waist to gap or bunch at all and I'm afraid if I fit it too much in the hips, it'll do just that. Kind of like the real life example on the pattern page.
Also, those ties are a nightmare! I plan on adding an invisible zipper into the side seam opposite the ties, but I do want them to be there, if only decorative. But I'm having a really hard time getting them to line up right because I've altered the original pattern to account for my long waist (had to add 4" and I must have done it in the wrong spot on the back bodice piece). I've contemplated just doing something like hemming those sections and just sewing up that seam completely. It would give kind of the same effect as my Arwen Dream gown (basically just really big seam allowances left on the outside to fall into lovely folds). I don't know, I'll play with it some more and see what I come up with. I probably have enough muslin to redraft the bodice at least, if I can get all the skirt panels to work together (which they do, but for the fact that they're too fitted for my tastes).
The fabric for my dress (the lovely deep red silk velvet from Sy Fabrics) should be on its way to me now, as well.
Just a month to get all this done... I can do it!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2010-10-11 03:41 pm (UTC)Urgh, I wouldn't unless you want it softer. Washing organza takes all the silk starchy stuff out and makes it soft. If you want to retain the stiffness iron it with steam (or do what I do, spray water on it with a spray bottle and iron with a dry iron).
no subject
on 2010-10-11 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-11 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-11 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-13 05:09 am (UTC)I recently worked with a ton of organza... I serged the ends and it washed just fine, I don't think it shrank much. Have to do lots of ironing though. Just be careful cutting out your patterns, be sure you align the grain because it can be veeeery shifty.
no subject
on 2010-10-20 02:09 am (UTC)Ha! Yes, you did recently work with a ton of organza! I remember you remarking how shifty it was in the post about the bodice construction, I believe. It's something I've had in the back of my mind as I chose fabrics for this thing and I think I even cringed just a little when I clicked "checkout".
Did you find that it softened significantly when you washed it?