One down, five to go...

Lovely work, Beverly! That dress came out exactly as you described!

You know how you organize your bits & bobs... I have an old foam mouse mat at the right end of the sewing machine, and I stab needles and pins into it!

Beverly! That is gorgeous. I **love** the way the bodice drapes. Wonderful work. And don't you dare delete the older photos! ;) You are a great virtual teacher and they are a wonderful resource for that. :)

I have to add a personal thank you for showing how you do invisible zippers. I shamelessly stole your method of hand stitching the seam just below the zip for my niece's dress. Worked wonderfully. ;)

I do my hook & eye at the top of the zipper the same way you did this one. I think that works so very well. Now, I just have to find some way of using up the pile of metal eyes..... I'll be hip deep in them soon! lol They never look as good as a thread loop. I'll have to find a way to use them as an embellishment or something..... lol

Great work. And only 5 more to go. Whoo hoo!!!! ;)

Are you making your dress too?

Sharon

Suzan from Amsterdam

Hello,

Very nice photos! Thanks for posting. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind. First, were did you learn to make such nice sketches? Mine look like stick figures from some kid's coloring book. Next, did you use a chalk hem marker? The kind that puffs out chalk? It's had to tell from the photo.

Thanks and keep the photos coming. It's a great reference.

Liz

Beverly,

From one very inexperienced seamstress to a very experienced one :) ... I have a few questions:

1) What did you mean by "rolling" the organza and lining together before basting them?

2) Why is it important to alternate slashes in the seam allowances of curved areas? My guess is that it balances out the stress on the curve? I have never done this, always just clipped the curves where it seemed like it needed it, without alternating.

3) I had also not heard of off-setting the lining from the fabric...gotta try that.

Simple questions, but just trying to learn :)

BTW, is that a Singer 401 or 403 in the photo? I'm quickly falling in love with my "new" 403.

Cindy in WV

High praise, coming from Lady Catherine, thanks!

Funny how trial and error is such a good teacher. My "organizer" is just a large piece of Styrofoam, I stick the tools in at an angle, and when it gets too many holes, it's very cheap to replace.

When you create a "sandwich" of fabric pieces, it's a good idea to line them up, then pin or baste down the 'center' of each piece and "roll" the two over something (dowel, magazine, whatever) in order to create the "cylinder" to fit the human body before basting the edges together. In the case of organza underling applied to a lining, I rolled the lining material inside the organza. Each piece from the skin out is _slightly_ larger. I'll try to find a link with photos detailing what I mean.

Yes, alternating the slashes on each side of the seam does just that, puts less stress on the thread in the seam, as there is un-slashed material on the opposite side. It also provides a smoother finish on the outside, as there is better transition between the slashes.

fabric...gotta

For a fully lined garment, if the lining is sewn both top and bottom, making the lining just a skoosh smaller in every dimension helps keep the lining edges from rolling to the outside. It's a matter of very small degrees. For up-down, I usually try to keep the lining an eighth of an inch shorter. For side-to-side, I make the lining seams just a smidge deeper than the fashion fabric.

That's one of the great things about this group! :-)

I have two Singer 401As, and two sergers, all in use at the present. One of each has purple thread, the other white. I bought my first

401A brand new in 1961, the other is an eBay find a couple of months ago. I love the 401As!!!

Thanks so much! Some of those pictures are a little out of focus, I'm still learning to use the new digital I recently bought.

My "secret" is that I trace off the figure on a pattern. I have no skill at all in drawing the human (or any other) figure, but if I start off with a tracing, I can add the changes to the garment I want to create. You'll see the "similarity" of the drawing of DD's gown and the Vogue pattern sketch. ;-}

No, I used the pin-marker I got from my mother. I have a chalk marker, too, but the only time I use it is when I mark my own hems and there is no one around to help. I find the chalk tends to smudge and drop off, the pins are exactly where I put them.

I will try, thanks again.

Thanks,Sharon. However, if I want to put more up, I'll have to delete a few, I hit the "limit" on my Comcast account last night. Maybe I'll try to learn how to link other pages, I have five other screen names.

Not stealing at all! The whole reason I put the pictures up was to share my often hard-won knowledge. I quit using hidden zippers for a long time, because I never liked the way the seam below the zipper looked. I finally decided to do something about it, and worked out the hand-sewn method.

I actually use the metal "eye" with the hook in most cases. I've seen too many thread loops break. I'll try to put up a close-up of the entire set.

Yup! 1. Finish the bridal gown. 2. Make older DD's matron-of-honor dress. 3. Make DGD'd flower girl dress. 4. Make my outfit. and 5. Make the other bridesmaid dress???? I'm not putting scissors to satin just yet, there have been some "issues".

For years my pin "cushion" has been a chunk of the blue styrofoam. I still haven't had to replace it! It doesn't trap moisture at all so the pins don't rust and I can't "spill" it.

Lizzy

Again, thanks for all the great tips!

My little brain is expanding by leaps and bounds :)

Cindy

I cheat too! I have spent most of the day making drawings of historical garments for my price list: I use the figure from the measurement chart on my web site (well, ok, I DID draw that originally!), and just add the styles I want over the top! Makes it MUCH easier to get the figure proportions right each time! I even re-drew it as a vaguely male figure for the blokes' costumes... Mine look like paper dolls...

Well, it works, right? And I'm a firm believer in doin' whatever works best. :-)

Threads also has downloadable croquis figures with differing proportions:

And Beverly, great job, as always!

Kay

Well done! It looks fabulous. Getting the first one done is always the hardest. The rest will be a breeze.

Please don't delete the previous pics unless space forces you to - they are a wonderful virtual sewing lesson for us.

Viviane

Well, actually the bridal gown is the _hardest_ and it's a work-in-progress, but whenever there is a point at which I can't proceed without a fitting or additional hand beading or something, I work on one of the others. I'm headed out today to pick up the train sections I had to have embroidered a second time with DD's initials and wedding date, the first effort wasn't quite right.

I think I can put up pictures on one of my other screen names, and then set up links, but I'll have to do some additional research to find out how. I'm very close to the limit, I should have down-sized some of the images. I do appreciate your kind words! :-)

Thanks! I keep saying a wedding gown is just a pretty dress made with more difficult fabrics. ;-} You should do well, just give "us" a whistle if you need help.

The first weeding dress I made I approached with the "its the same as an evening gown/prom dress" attitude and then (in the wee small hours) suddenly realised that this was going to be the focus of many eyes, for a while,... no pressure ;-) Liz, who still makes, and alters wedding dresses, amongst other things.