Wednesday, February 13, 2013

1863 Dress Project: Trim Progress....

While working on the trim for my skirt, I ran into a couple of problems.  I do believe they occurred as a result of my being super tired and being in a hurry.  Both very bad things when you are wanting to do a really good job on your project.  The first problem I had was not paying attention to the grain or weft or warp or whatever it is called on my velvet.  Remember when using velvet to always cut your pattern pieces in the same direction.  Like all of your bodice pieces need to be top side up....or you will run into trouble...


Like this.  I had cut out three trips of velvet for the bottom hem of my skirt and ended up sewing the wrong pieces together.  I realized this when while I was sewing the second piece started slipping around like craze.  The first length stayed nicely on my green fabric, but when the second length came along....slip sliding away!!!  So, I did what my fabulous sewing friend, Josie, told me to do when I ran into this brand of trouble while using wool....take a picture of your fabrics using the flash of your camera.  If it looks like the above image, pieces were sewn together the right way.



I ripped out the seams, pinned the fabric pieces together the right way and took the picture again and checked it out.  The pieces looked identical signaling that they were going the right way!  Yeah!!!   


Ribbon tabs and soutache sewn on.  I ran into trouble sewing on the soutache as well.  One evening I pinned and sewed on all the soutache on one half of the skirt.  Then as my stupid luck would have it....I ran out of soutache.  After acquiring more soutache, I set about pinning and sewing the soutache to the other half of the dress.  I was ecstatic to sew the back seam together and start on the hem....when what should my disgusted eyes see?  I had sewn all of the soutache on the other side of the skirt on WRONG!!!!  Holy Monkey!!  Oh how irritated I was.  And because I am me, I spent the next three hours picking out the soutache, repinning it and sewing it down!!!  GAH!!!!  Reminder to myself....check, double check and triple check!!!!

I think it is so cute that Rosie the Cat loves to hide under the skirt!! 


I just need to share this photo.  I am so in  love with this fabric.  It has a raised window pane grid that has proven so handy in sewing just almost all of everything that has to be sewn on this skirt!  Here, on the bottom of the picture is the green taffeta that I used for the 14" deep hem.  It nicely covered all the black stitching from the soutache and ribbon tabs.  Every intersection of the crosses I used as the stitch mark for my hem stitch!  Love it!!!






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