Detail of hand-sewn neckline, sleeves, and hand-woven trim. |
The (Saturday!) training I had to attend this morning let us out early, so while the wool for another project (a bartered apron dress) is drying I thought it would be a good time to put some thoughts down about a couple previous projects.
Lately, I've been having sour luck with underdresses. It's the strangest thing, but I keep messing them up in one way or another. Probably too much experimenting. But on to the underdress! I used a linen blend from JoAnn and used a simple long tunic pattern with slightly inset sleeves.
I didn't take pictures while I was weaving the trim for this underdress, so here's a picture of another project on my loom. I have fallen in love with this pattern generator, and it has really been helping me design different patterns for my trim.Before I started cutting the pattern I was played with fabric dye again, but unfortunately I strayed from the RIT that has treated me so well to something that had a pretty pine cone on it that looked just perfect. It didn't turn out that way, so I tried to undo the damage with some dye remover. That's what led to the interesting shade that my underdress now sports.
Another pre-cursor to scissors actually hitting the linen! This is the finished trim, shown on top of the fabric I was using to make my sleeve patterns. I experimented with a couple different trim patterns, but I seem to have become obsessed with little chains... especially in 5/2 cotton pearle copper!
I have also developed a hatred of underarm sleeve gores that is so intense it is nearly a living thing, so I decided to revise my sleeve pattern for inset sleeves. I spent a lot of quality time with both sleeves and safety-pins. By making a false seam with the safety pins, I could pull the sleeves on and off as needed, adjusting the positions of the safety pins until the fit was perfect.
You can't tell from this picture, but I cheated a little. I wanted a tight-fitting rolled hem, so I actually used my sewing machine to zig-zag the neckline's edges. That allowed me to keep the roll teeny-tiny without worrying about unraveling. I absolutely love the effect!

The final result, finished just in time for Gulf Wars! The outfit camped really well, although I will make a couple changes to the other pieces. I am sad that one of the chains you see here - with the Viking needle case from Raymond's Quiet Press - went walkabout during the event. Hopefully it has a nice, caring new home and didn't end up in a ditch or something.
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