When I made the inner layer for the dress (the one lined with interfacing), I failed to comprehend why people say that sewing in silk is hard. Let’s just put it this way, now I know better. Sewing the middle layer really tested my temper. Simply sewing straight lines isn’t that hard. The problem arise when you reach a curve. the fabrics slides around and it feels like it’s harder to avoid puckering.

My friend with the pink evening gown, was a bit cross with herself for not buying silk for the inner layers of her dress while she had the chance. But now I can honestly say that it might have been for the best. Making it out of that grey lining fabric most likely saved both time and mind ;)

When sewing in silk, it feels like half the work is how to press the seams. Here’s a little tips that I picked up somewhere on the interwebs. I never really thought about that first step but now I will never forget it. Trust me, it makes a huge difference.

First press the seam without opening it. Then press it open on the wrong side. Lastly, give it a good press on the face side.

By the time I had “finished” the middle layer and began to admire my work, I realized that I needed to fetch my unpicker. I know, I know sometimes you have to unpick seams and that’s a part of sewing but at that time it felt like such a setback. Fed up with the dress for one night I said to myself, “screw this I’m gonna work on something different for the rest of the night”. Since I wanted to practise making bone channels before doing it on the real thing, and I was going to make another dress based on the same pattern anyway, I decided to kill two birds in one stone.

Cutting out the pieces for the second dress was super easy. I cut out two layers at once with the rotary cutter and didn’t bother with any interfacing. Even sewing was much easier this time. I guess half the reason’s the fabric and half practise.

Here’s me trying it on after ~1 evenings work. I have come to admire people who manage to take pictures of themselves in the mirror, it’s damned hard!