The fabric I used for my dress is weird. It has a lovely weighty drape, but because of the shiny plastic grain (which is also sheer) with the cross-grain black thread, it does not like to fold or keep a crisp press.
The flounce at the bottom is very curved at the bottom edge, especially in the back. So I knew it was going to fight me for a nice hem. I tried samples of double fold (it was ugly as expected) and even serged edge with single fold. Neither was pretty. A rolled hem on the serger was out of the question.
The pattern instructions said to hem the outer flounce and the lining flounce separately. While that would be pretty in a fabric like chiffon, it would have been double the frustration in this fabric and I didn't want the lining to be a different fabric.
So I decided to bag-out the hem, and then attach the flounce. In some ways, this probably simplified the alterations as I was able to make all the adjustments from the top without having to redo the hem or spend lots of time leveling anything up from the floor.
I used pinking sheers to trim the bottom edge after sewing the two layers of fabric together. Pinking the edge both "clips the curve" and keeps anything from fraying away without the added bulk of serging. Then I understitched the seam allowance to the lining side just beside the seam. This fabric needed to be controlled as much as possible.
I had to steam press really well and use the clapper on the bottom of my point presser to make it lay flat. Once I had forced it into submission, I lined up the vertical seams (sides and center back) and stitched-in-the-ditch to keep the open seam allowances from rolling around between the layers and getting puffy again.
I basted the top edge and trimmed any areas of overhang from the lining side. And then I attached it to the dress as one piece.
(fyi, this is also how I hemmed the sleeves of the shrug.)
#Butterick4731
I spent the day priming things for paint and then I remembered to shoot a quick video. #SewingStudioBuild
I started cutting all the edges while Janet was away yesterday morning. When she got back after lunch, she pulled out a roller and started filling in. I'll put a pic below in the comments. #SewingStudioBuild
We broke for lunch and then came back with a portal ac unit plugged in to an extention cord from the house. Can't wait until they finished hooking up all the electrical and we have the mini split cooling the room for us - it was stupid humid today! #SewingStudioBuild
I finally finished the quilt for my daughter. I couldn’t take pictures of the entire thing (her room is a disaster zone), but here’s some of the patchwork and the embroidered square I made because I ended up being one short. I did learn that I’m going to need to find a better way to lay out any future quilts that are twin sized or larger, because I had to keep shifting it around the slightly too small area of our basement carpet and the backing ended up getting doubled up in multiple places. By the time I discovered it, I couldn’t bring myself to unpick that much of the quilting, so it’ll have to stay. But I think it’s going to be awhile before I do any more quilts. Between this and the patchwork jeans (which I did end up having to shorten some), I’m feeling burned out on big projects for now. I did cut out a basic knit tee, so hopefully that’ll be enough of a palate cleanser to get me over the lack of motivation to sew that I was feeling by the end of this.
