Pink draped dress

One of the sketches that I had done for In The Sketchbook was done from an idea that came to me when I draped some of my fabric on my dress form.

It all started when my lovely friend Wendy from Couture Counsellor gave me 2 sets of opera gloves for Christmas. A beautiful hot pink stretch satin pair and a black lace pair. The pink was the most perfect shade of pink for me, it was MY color!!

Wendy and I at the Lyric Opera House

I took those gloves home and went right to my fabric closet and ran those pink gloves up against my hanging fabric and BAM!  Hot pink silk dupioni and hot pink and black lace on  netting jumped out at me. I really had no idea what I wanted to do with them just that I wanted to use them.

My new opera gloves along with several options of fabrics that I pulled from my fabric collection.

 So I draped them on my dress form and let them take their time in talking to me. Thinking about the free form draping workshop that I did with Sarah Veblen, I was inspired to look over my notes and photos from that workshop. Then I decided to just let my fingers play with the lace fabric. No right, no wrong, no  judgement, just playing. I ended up with the lace draped as one single long piece, with tucks around the body from front to back on each side, I then wrapped the silk around the top to simulate a bodice.

My fabric choices draped on my dress form in a loose idea of what I was 'seeing' in my head.

Leaving that on my dressform, I took some photos and then decided to make a couple of sketches to fill in the details. My first idea was that it would be a knee length sleeveless dress with a defined waistband with the lace attached to the waistband and a bolero type jacket/topper. I spent some time thinking about the silhouette and realized that I had a dress pattern already that I could use as a starting point. In fact, I still had the muslin. This was from the black/red/later cut scuba dress that I made last year. I quickly tried on the muslin and in the mirror drew some changes on the muslin in sharpie. I took the muslin off, snipped here and there and pinned some other muslin on. From here I transferred the changes From the muslin to a newly traced pattern and made a new muslin. With this second muslin I took a piece of muslin that was the exact measurements of the piece of lace. I marked it up with the grain lines and pinned this to the muslin in several ways until I came up with the perfect size of pleats to make a symmetrical drape. The drape was originally inspired by how Balenciaga used and constructed Fabrics in his dresses my brain made the leap to draping and from there it is all history.

Muslin on the dress form. You can see the grid ,arks that I drew on the muslin prior to draping.

Back to my process, I made the changes to the pattern for the princess dress. specifically to the neckline and the amount of ease. I wanted something that was slightly more relaxed so I wouldn’t have to wear shaper wear underneath ( I don’t mind a smoother to smooth out the appearance of the.. ahem, rolls..but , I really don’t like wearing spanx or. Similar garments!) with these changes I took the dress muslin and literally cut it in half at a high waist level, sewed in the giant piece of pleated fabric and sewed the dress back together and that was the muslin.

Final iteration of the muslin in the fitting and design stages.

Making that muslin really helped with a couple of things. I was able to know exactly how the ace fabric would attach and I was able to work out the construction method. In order to make this lace insert the easiest or more practically, the method with the most control was to construct the top of the dress. Each piece of dupioni was underlined in silk organza and lined in a deep purple ambiance lining. Wit the top constructed, I moved to the bottom half of the dress. Thee were also underlined in organza, however not all the way to the hemline. I only did it that way because I didn’t have enough silk organza and since the bottom of the dress was going to have the lace overlay, I wasn’t too worried about it!

Dress details: sweetheart neckline shape, view of the purple Ambiance lining (this helped keep a strong pink color). Bottom 2 photos show detail of the skirt front. I was careful to keep the front panel flat with the pleats not starting until the side front. This minimized some of the bulk at the front.

Once the bottom was constructed I basted the pleased lace to the it and then sandwiched the top over it and sewed it all together. With some trimming and pressing everything laid quite nicely. The zipper was next to go in. I had a 22 inch invisible pink zipper that I installed by hand with a small back stitch. I was originally a little nervous about putting an invisible zipper in by hand! There was NO need for that nervousness, putting that zipper in by hand was so easy and afforded me much more control.

The dress in a final try on prior to adding the hooks/eyes and snaps for the bustle. I am just holding it up in these pictures with my hands. 

The lining was sewed together at the neckline, clipped, graded and  under-stitched and the pressed the neckline. I’m not 100% happy with the neckline. The shape is gorgeous but for some reason the lining wants to peek out. I pressed again and realy let is set and this seems to have helped. The lining was attached to the zipper by hand and for the armhole I tried a different technique. I trimmed the lining back to the seam-line and then hand rolled the fashion fabric around to the inside and hand stitched it down. I really like how it looks and the lack of bulk.

The invisible zipper was set in by hand, such amazing control when done this way! The lining was then hand stitched to the zipper tape. My label and bra strap keepers were added as the final details.

With the dress lined and all the finishes done the last thing I needed to do was to figure out how to bustle the lace. This gave it the distinctive shape that I was looking for with the deep draped sides. Playing with pins, I figured that I needed 4 hooks and thread bars. 2 on each side of the zipper with the thread bars being just at the level of where the lace attached into the dress. After my first wearing I realized that this was not going to work… unlike were a wedding dress is bustled which is usually at the butt level or below, this was at my high waist so every time I sat down the fabric would push up and come right out of the thread bars. I had to carefully smooth the fabric down before sitting and that was a bit better. The next day I added 2 clear plastic snaps. One on each side just above the outer most thread bars and this helped greatly to give it just the extra security it needed to keep the hooks in.

Close ups of the bustle hardware. the top shows the 4 thread bars and the 2 plastic snaps at the back of the dress on either side of the zipper. (double click on the photo to see it in a larger view) The bottom photos show the hooks sewn on to the lace. I used tiny bits of silk organza under the hooks to give them a little bit of stabilization.

I didn’t make the bolero topper. 2 reasons. 1- I tried on one that I made for a different project, different fabric but just to see how it would look. Not good. Remember I used a high waist to attach the lace drape and it would have had to be so very short and look fairly ridiculous and with the regular bolero length it was way to much. Pleated fabric all around my waist and then a bolero. Took away any shape that I had. The second reason that I was secretly happy about the bolero was not good was a time factor, I was just about out of time!

Close up of the shawl. the top shows the fussy cut portion. I only tacked down the lace in several areas and caught it in the side seam. This left the bottom scalloped edges free and the fussy cut portion just tacked.

With the bolero out I went and got a one of my shawls and this was a much better option! I had enough silk dupioni left to makes long shawl and just enough lace to fussy cut and add it to the ends of the shawl. I love it!,

The dress and shawl hanging. I am leaving the bustle down while hanging to minimize the pull on the hooks/eyes and snaps.

The final dress on my dress form. Top show front and back. Bottom photo shows side front and side.

The entire outfit along with the elbow length hot pink gloves looks amazing! I wore this dress to the opera on a Saturday night. I am just loving living downtown Chicago, so close to so many of the things that I have always wanted to be a part of.

At intermission during the opera.

One of the nicest things was that several other opera goers had commented on how nice my dress was! It really felt nice to bring this cool garment to life!!

Some fun candid shots!!

Special thanks to Wendy for the hot pink gloves, Sarah Veblen for the draping knowledge and to Balenciaga for the inspiration. 😊

Happy Sewing!!

Kisses from my girls!! 

Fabric shopping at Liberty London and Amsterdam street markets! Happy 2018!

Happy 2018 everyone! 
I am starting off the new year with a blasted head cold that has me suffering through sinus headaches, using an endless supply of tissues and trying all the different cold remedies. The temperatures in Chicago are brutal right now so at least i'm not feeling bad about not getting fresh air. Wind chills of  -20 F have left me snuggled up in my place getting lots of rest.

I have also had the time to go through my holiday pictures and reminisce over my trip to Europe that I went on for the week and a half before Christmas. I had such a wonderful time!! I spent a couple days in London and then went on to the Netherlands to spend a week with my brother, sister-in-law and niece. 

As I look back at everything I did over those 11 days, I feel like it should have been too much! But, it really wasn't at all. I had some things I wanted to do and some things on the would like to do but not necessary and then plenty of unscheduled exploring time. I could write a blog post on each and every day! Since this blog is mostly about sewing I will share the sewing side of the trip :) 

I started in London for a couple of days. So most surprising thing about London: The Christmas lights and decorations!! London goes over the top and it was so awesome and so much fun and you just couldn't help but to smile and look around in wonder. They even have an entire webpage devoted to where and when you can see Christmas lights all over the City.

What else did I do in London:

• Had tea at The Grosvenor House (I also stayed here!)
• Walked and walked through and around Hyde Park
• Saw the Balenciaga and general fashion exhibits at the V&A Museum
• Went to the Opera: Power, Passion and Politics exhibit at the V&A
• Attended the British Library Harry Potter- A History of Magic exhibit
• Shopping at Liberty London!!! SO delightful!
• More walking all over the place!

Balenciaga exhibit at the V&A was very well done despite, what I thought, was a relatively small sampling of his creations. It was well curated cross section of his design career and was done very interestingly. It was broken into 2 parts. The downstairs was all his work and then the upper level was all designers that were inspired by him and some that also had similar work. A very wide range of garments as well as 2 video large and loud video screens with looping interviews with new and current fashion designers as to how Balenciaga has inspired them. It was interesting and had some lovely creations but really felt more like they needed some filler to provide more for the price of the admission.

One of my favorite parts of the Balenciaga exhibit were these displays that had a dress (on right) on a rotating stand so you could see all of it! The muslin of the dress on the left, sketches of the garment and sometimes fabric swatches in the display. An x-ray of the dress in full size and on the video screen to the right was a ~2min movie that showed the construction of the dress. There were 3 or 4 of these displays.

This display was of some of the more over the top dresses. The pink one on the wall and the ombre one were all hand beaded by Maison Lesage. The embroidered gown on the left was embroidered after the pieces were cut. This kept the embroidery out of the seam allowances and made things match perfectly across the dress. sublime!

This was a display of some of the day dresses for his clients! Imagine wearing such beauty on a regular basis! The case was lined with mirrors so you could see the backs of the dresses as well.

Another highlight of my trip- Liberty of London!

I arrived in London and to my hotel by early afternoon. A nap, a shower and then I was off to the Liberty shop :) It was the only actual shopping that I did in London other than books from the exhibits that I attended. I spent almost 2 hours in the shop. It was very cool, eclectic and unlike any shop that I have ever been in. Each area was so different and the building itself was so charming. 

Of course I made a beeline for the fabric area! Ohhhhhh so many tana lawns!!!! and the rolls of silks and velvets. I could have just spent all day in there! They did a very nice job of organizing. The center of the floor was open to below so you could see up and down and the outer perimeter of that room was lined with all the garment fabrics. They were organized by special collections, newest releases, childrens prints, older collections and some of there ongoing collections. As you can imagine... I had a hard time not buying everything!!

The photo on the left is off a little alcove on the first floor where they have little gifts and such and these wonderful deer in the fireplace and mounted on the wall that are made with different liberty print fabrics. On the right upper is the notions and quilting fabric room and also houses the collection of buttons. In effort to not lose my mind or ALL of my money I stayed away from the button wall!

Left is the corner entrance and on the right are a shot of the home dec room which was delightful in its own right! adn the view from the upper balcony looking down. There was so much more to the store! Jewelry, clothing, rugs, home dec, live plants, kitchen, bath and lighting. It was a treat :)

The top picture is of the Tana Lawns: Starting top left going clockwise- Liesl from the Alpine Symphony seasonal collection, 2 Winter Florals (pink and smaller piece for contrast in yellow) from the Garden of Temptaion collection and then a piece for the Princess, 

Que for the Zoo from the main Liberty collection.

Below are 2 silks that I could not pass up! 

On the left is Tresco in a silk Satin and on the right is Turtle Thief.

After London I headed over to The Netherlands to spend time with my younger brother, Willie, and his wife, Lide, and their daughter, Roxie.

This too, was an amazing time! We had so much fun together and it was relaxing and I loved just getting to see and experience where my brother and his family live. Some things very similar and some things very different!

Netherlands trip included:

• exploring Utrecht city, trying to climb the Dom Tower built in the 1300's and only making it to the bells!
• Going under Utrecht and seeing an archaeological dig that showed evidence of the ancient roman walls from over 2000 years ago and all the periods between then and now.
• Exploring a floating Christmas Market in the city of Leiden.
• Exploring multiple outdoor markets in Utrecht and Amsterdam.
• they sell everything in markets! flowers, clothes, fish, bread, meats, fabric, leather goods and more.
• Enjoying a lovely tea made from fresh mint, shaved ginger and a lemon slice all served in a clear glass.
• Taking the wrong train
• riding a boat in the canals
• visiting the Anne Frank House 
• navigating and not getting run down by bicycles and vespa scooters!
• buying buttons
• buying fabric
• Spending hours in the Van Gogh museum
• Cookie baking and decorating party!

Fabric fun in Netherlands included: the Noodermarkt, The Albert Cuyp market and a couple small shops in Utrecht. 

My brother and I headed to the Noodermarkt in Amsterdam that is held every Saturday and Monday. The part that we went through reminded me very much of flea markets found here in the US. Lots of used books, clothes and stuff. I found some great vintage buttons and I bought myself some lovely thick double knits that you can see in the photo below

I also found a great button and notions shop in Utrecht (okay so my SIL showed me this shop... I'm just excited that I found my way back to it on my own!) These buttons are so cool and colorful and the best thing they are NOT plastic. they are shell that has been printed on.Very cool!

I had a free day to myself in Amsterdam and had a list of places to go to. I only made it to half the list! The Albert Cuyp market and the Van Gogh museum. I had several other fabric shops in another part of the city on the list but those will have to wait for the next trip! Probably a good thing since my suitcase was quite full from the purchases I already made! LOL! 

The Albert Cuyp market  was quite large, entertaining and had quite a few fabric shops/vendors as well as many other vendors! It was interesting as some of the vendor stalls were walk throughs to get into the shop associated with it and some were strictly tent vendors. Most of the fabric vendors also had shops and did a good job of showcasing sales or specials in the tent which enticed you to go inside! Of course my very favorite fabric shop in the market, Nanucci Tessuti, I did not get any pictures of because I was too busy trying not to drool on the amazing fabrics! 

Several of the shops along the way. Lots of fun and colorful fabrics to admire.
In the photo below you can see a lovely array of special fabrics for possibly mid-eastern and Indian weddings and special occasions. Sort of reminded me of US Prom fabric displays!

This shop, N&N Stoffen had a large assortment of beautiful cotton/lycra dutch prints. Many of which I have seen on Emmaonesock and other online US retailers. From here I kept my purchases at a minimum of 2 cuts because I knew this was all my suitcase could hold!
The first is a panel print that has a large image of the hot air ballons with the animals and is big enough to easily make a cute knit dress for the princess and on the right is this amazing skull print! I have been on the search for a good skull print for quite a while and this one is perfect.

Once you are tired from your shopping you can go from the notions store to the flower and plant shop and then right too the fresh fish and seafood vendors! 

SO in a nutshell... that was my fun and happy trip to Europe for the holidays!

Happy sewing in 2018!

The Princess playing tea with her stuffed animals and baby doll!