Ready to start cutting!

Earlier, I’ve read about how hard cutting in silk would be and to be honest, I was prepared for the worst. I would picture how the fabric would slide all over the place like some slippery eel, and all my pieces would end up weird and distorted. To counter this, I even got myself a cutting board + rotary cutter.

I grabbed all my utensils and placed them on the kitchen table. Then it hit me, I probably shouldn’t try cutting two layers of fabric at once. So I put away my rotary cutter and grabbed my scissors instead.

Using a couple of tealight holders, I kept both fabric and pattern in place. Just to be on the safe side, I traced the pattern with a pencil and marked all the places where two pieces should be fitted together. The only problem with my approach was that tracing and cutting all pieces 3 times (2 silk and 1 Vlieseline) took an insane amount of time. Maybe I needn’t have been so meticulous with the details but that’s just me, I like being thorough.

By the time I had finished cutting out all the pieces, I got a, at least in theory, great idea. Since I’m lining the fabric closest to the body with Vlieseline, I should’ve cut that out first. Then I should’ve pressed it onto the silk. Finally I should’ve cut the silk after it had cooled down. It’s probably a good idea to keep this in mind for future projects.

Finally I get to start sewing!

For the outer fabric pieces I only lined the upper seam allowance with Vlieseline. I strongly suspect that sewing the neckline will be a pain in the butt. The silk will probably start to fray because of the way I will have to cut it. Sigh.. just keep your fingers crossed that it won’t end up in glorious a mess.

When I finally got to start sewing I was very happy! Here’s a first picture of what the inner layer looks like. I turned it inside out so that you would see the pretty side. The fitting over the breasts looks a bit weird because apparently, I need to get Jenny a bigger bra (and bigger fake boobs).

Behold my creation! (I apologize for the bad lighting, it was rather late when I shot this photo)

Off-white silk fabric in the front and Vlieseline in the background

Preparations

It’s always nice to prepare for a new sewing project by cleaning out old stuff. It gets you off to a nice start, don’t you think?

• the sewing table has been clear of old fabric scraps
• the waste basket has been emptied
• the usual pins have been removed from the pin cushion and replaced by new, much thinner pins (because I’m working with silk)
• the sewing machine has gotten a new, thinner needle. (I know I should change needle much more often and I just don’t know why I don’t do it. Work it ’til it break maybe?)
• the dinner table’s been cleared to function as a cutting table
• all the fabrics have been fetched from the wardrobe.

New pins, yay!

The fabrics

The fabric’s got a nice little story of its own and it actually makes my feelings for this dress even stronger. My friend Mia went to Bangladesh to study for a while and one day she sent me an email asking me if I wanted some fabrics. She was getting some for herself to make this gorgeous dress (her blog’s in Swedish but I guess you can enjoy the pictures anyway). My answer was of course “yes, yes, YES!!”. A month later she delivered 8 yards off-white silk and 8 yards silk chiffon in the same beautiful colour. I know I’ve said it before but, thank you! These fabrics truly are amazing :D

Right… or wrong?

Telling right from wrong used to be so easy…

When all preparations were done, I was faced with a tough decision. Which side of the fabric is the right one!? It’s not like there’s much of a difference :S. However, I think one side feels a little smoother so I went with that one. I did ask my fiancé for advise as well but he just confused me even more since the thought the other side was the face side. In the end, we reached the conclusion that it probably as a good idea to go with the supposedly ‘smoother side’ . Besides, no-one is going to notice as long as I always use one of the sides as face. ;)