Once again I forgot to keep blogging about my sewing projects and left you hanging there, dear reader, wondering how the rest of the Evening Dress went and what else I might be sewing up.
Well, with the exception of one TEEEENSY moment when I cut a hole in the front piece right at the waist seam, while I was trying to trim seam allowances from the lining, it went great! I managed to fix that major problem by unstitching the waist seam and pulling the fabric up in the center so the hole was above the seam. I could only pull this off because the front panel was cut on the bias. It makes a very subtle distortion on the front panel but you’d have to know to look for it.
For the hem, I used a 3/4″ wide horsehair braid to give the hem some body so that it wouldn’t just flop around. I also MacGyvered a ‘bustle’ point for the train so I can walk around with it up. Not that I’m walking around with it anywhere, because I still don’t have anywhere to wear this beauty.
I had to redo the zipper four times to get it to sit kind of flat on the back skirt portion, because that center back seam is cut on the bias and the fabric was stretching like a mofo. I reinforced it with woven interfacing but it absolutely wanted to stretch when the zipper was sewn in, even if I hand-basted it flat. I got it to a point where only an expert would notice the bubbling at the back, and since it’s at the back I can’t see it (but I know it’s there!).
I don’t think I’d volunteer to work with this fabric again – while it’s very pretty, it’s also very light and floppy. Pattern matching was a challenge that I mostly gave up on for the skirt. The pattern calls for the spaghetti straps to be made with bias cut strips but they have a lot of give so maybe not the best choice?
I forgot that I meant to put a waist stay into this dress, but it’s all right because the skirt isn’t very heavy.
I really enjoyed this as a project – it’s good to test myself every now and then with a garment that calls for all kinds of dressmaking skills that I don’t have to put to use very often.
