Pictures of the 1931 Dress

I think I have talked this one to death.  I went with the rolled hem on the bottom which I quite like and do not care if it is not period correct.  It is a little wonky but the fabric is so slippery, hemming was a challenge.  I pressed the bejebbers out of the curves and finally got them to lay flat.  The placket…I still have issues with but will consider the dress done even if I do go back and fiddle with the placket .

It's Not Over Until There Are Pictures

Well the 1931 dress is done, finished, complete….over. But no pictures until tonight. I left my camera at work because I was photographing possible office space. If you are interested in the final photos, tune in tonight!

I don’t know about you, but when I complete a dress, I oftentimes am so sick of it, I need to put it away for a little while. I have to say that this was a tough dress. The silk chiffon was a pain to sew. I am still not 100% happy with the placket and may work on that sometime later. I will need to make a slip to go underneath. I have some brown china silk set aside for this…oh YAY….more slippery silk! So not looking forward to that. I think I will give the magic bias slip a go for the slip since it is a 30’s slip pattern.

In response to the comment from Cinquefoil…both hats are black. Cannot wait for them to arrive.

Feeling Better............

Ran out an purchased the snaps.  I am feeling better about them.  I think the hooks and eyes were a) defective - they were not clicking into place and b) with defective hooks and eyes coupled with very lightweight gauzy (read flimsy) fabric, the placket was floating apart.

The snaps should reign in the fabric and keep everything closed up.

Spinning My Wheels

I just do not seem to be getting anywhere fast and it is frustrating. The hooks and eyes I bought for the 1931 dress just do not seem to be doing the trick. They are not staying closed. So off to buy some teeny tiny snaps. I think the snaps will work better. I am just tired of fiddling with these hooks and eyes.


Seriously, I fail. It just shouldn’t be this hard or this frustrating. I am so tempted to call in sick just so that I can finish these two dresses.

Soooo with no further ado, some eye candy of the two vintage hats purchased yesterday:

They are pretty..no?  I love them and cannot wait for them to arrive. 

Now Its a Dress

It should have been easy but it wasn’t.  It should not have taken much time to accomplish, but it did.

The 1931 is now officially a dress.  The bodice is now attached to the skirt and it only took 3 tries.  I needed to sew them together close enough to the edge so the bodice was caught and so that there was no gaping by the skirt.  The first try was too far away.  The second try was too wavy…nothing straight going on there.  The third try was acceptable.  I might have gone for a fourth try if the time had not gotten away from me. 

That’s ok, I couldn’t have gone farther since I need some hooks and eyes as closures.  If only I had the right hook and eye tape, I would use that.  But I only have black and grey hook and eye tape. 

No I haven’t forgotten about the 1918 dress.  I just want to be able to spend some significant time with it so the weekend looks good.

Silk Chiffon is EVIL

I love silk chiffon.  I love the way it drapes.  It is perfect for this 1931 dress.  But seriously, it is evil.

My fabric spits out pins.  Tonight I was pinning away at the sleeve, I turn my head and half of the pins had magically come out of the fabric.  What is that about?  And let’s not talk about what happened when I happened to move.  Or how about sewing in the sleeve.  I would start to sew and then a symphony of pin drops could be heard on the hardwood floor.  The pins needed to escape the terribly evil fabric is all I can think.

I also have a love hate relationship with French seams.  I really love they way the look.  However, as much as I try I always mess them up.  It takes a lot of concentration on my part to get it right.  I have a hard time getting my head around which side to sew first.  Of course, it does not help that the fabric looks the same on either side.  There were many ‘duh’ moments tonight.

I did finish off the sleeves!  The French seams helped with the ease situation so no unsightly puckers.  It did take numerous tries to get those sleeves in but there they are.  Done.  Now, I think its time to make some bias binding and start in on the neckline.

Oh…yeah, my elbow feels better….maybe 

One Armed

As you can guess, it appears that my internet is working again.  Wonder if it will work on the weekend though?

I worked on the 1931 dress, though you really can’t tell it.  I set in one sleeve perfectly with a French seam and then realized I had done it backwards.  So rip rip rip, out came the seam and did it again.  Blech….it did not look that good.  Another try or 2 and we have one sleeve half way into the bodice.

At least my elbow doesn’t hurt.

Here is a picture of the skirt trim.  I need one more row of these trims, lower down on the skirt.  

A Bodice is Born or When You Have Enough Hand Sewing

The 1931 dress has a bodice….I just got tired of hand sewing.  It wasn’t hard if you discount the slippery fabric, the fabric that wrinkles when you look at that.  Yes, it was super easy if you discount those three factors.

 

Interestingly, from the pictures it looks as if it is a skirt and top.  Nope…It just has some weird double waistband thing that I have yet to figure out.

Like the bias binding around the neck.  I have no idea how to do the “V” portion of the neckline yet.

I Don't Know What To Work On

Should I continue working on the 1918 dress now that I know the bodice fits?

Or should I power on with the 1931 dress since it is still in the beginning stages??

What to do?  Decisions, decisions.

I am trying to switch back and forth but I want to concentrate on one thing!  And no, I haven’t just been dithering around trying to decide what to work on.  I did pin the trim around the neckline of the 1918 dress. 

I also work on the skirt of the 1931 dress.  Curved French seams, what was I thinking??    It does not photograph well. 

I am beat.

Thinking of concentrating on the 1918 dress again because I am looking at a lot of hand sewing which if I don’t start sewing there’s a really good chance I never will.  It is turning out much too nice to make it a UFO.

Picot Edge

I fooled around with my serger for a while trying to get this picot edge thing to work.  I am not really happy with it but am not going to do it by hand.  I think on the bottom of the skirt I will just do a rolled edge.  I think it will look better and have more consistency than the picot edge.  

I am not sure that this picture shows anything but it was the best of the lot.  Really not happy but ripped the stitch out of both sleeves once already and have no desire to do that again.

Options

I cut out and sewed the sleeves of the 1931 dress!  Progress.  However, the instructions say to do a picot edge.  I do not completely understand the instructions provided for a picot edge and it seems like an awful lot of hand sewing.

But miracles of miracles my serger has a picot stitch.  I know it’s not the period correct way of handling this edge but I think I am going to do it on the serger for practicality reasons and swiftness.  We all know that if there is a lot of hand sewing for me to do, it is just not getting done. 

To answer some questions:  This fabric is slippery because it is a silk chiffon but I never even thought of using a stablizer!  Seriously, I am just not that with it.  I am using a lot of pin.  There are many curved seams look mighty scary but since I am doing french seams I am not as worried about it.  I may regret that statement though.  What type of stabilizer would be recommended?  Really as I sit here I have no clue.

I have been playing around with the trim on the 1918 dress.  Here are some of the option I came up with for the neckline.  I am leaning towards the double row around the neckline with space in between the rows.  

What about the 30's

The 1918 dress is on hold until someone comes over to help do the final fitting of the bodice.  I want to make sure it will close properly with the buttons and I need someone to hold it closed for me.  Alas, I really wanted to move forward with it but decided to wait because I do have to put in button holes…yikes!  I may play around with trim placement in the meantime.

Rather than not sew,  I will work on something else.

Here is the fabric a silk chiffon:

The pattern will be a 1931 dress in honour of my friend who just turned 30.  A year off but the best I could do.  I am doing the short version with the 3/4 length sleeve.  I love a bell sleeve!

Because of it being a silk chiffon, French seams are in order.  Blech, that means I have to sew the dress twice!

Now you should know that the 20's and 30's, even though very different in style are my favorite eras.  The 30's to me just oooze romance.  Something just speaks to me about the styles of the 30's.   I remember watching 30's movies growing up and loving the clothes.  I am fortunate to own one vintage 30's dress which is just gorgeous.  So its time to give one a try though with this fabric it may cause me to tear out my hair.