Do you remember turning 17? I don't. It's pretty much a blur for me, sort of like the photo above, where my daughter has made it to one of the final rounds of Musical Chairs at her birthday party last Friday night. To commemorate the event, she ordered a very special frock from the design studio of yours truly. She needed it by 5 p.m. I finished it at 4:59 p.m; and no, I'm not kidding. Tensions were high, but it turned out beautifully.
The pattern was a Vintage Vogue pattern from 1952. Daughter chose dupioni silk, woven in two shades, one a hot pink, the other a green. Strangely enough, the resulting color is periwinkle, but changes according to the light. First, I made tiny button loops, the sort found on bridal attire:
Finally, I got the whole thing together.
Finally, I got the whole thing together. So was she happy with the dress? You can see for yourself.
10 comments:
WOW, that's gorgeous!! I love the fabric and the style.
Good job, Mom!
Thank you, Sweet Suze!
Awesome!
It's beautiful. But you're psycho for doing those button loops. Of course, I'm sure your daughter adores you for it. (Or, she ought to!)
Amy
Thank you!
Actually, Amy, I think I am a psycho anyway, without doing the button loops. And yes, daughter liked them.
Dear Stephanie,
Oh wow! It's really beautiful! Great job! [s]
Gorgeous!
Oh, by the way, tag!
Dear Sarah,
Thank you!
Thank you Deniz!
Been thinking of you--I've got the sleeves done on the sweater, and the entire body up to the arm pits. But now it's getting hard--lots of decreasing while still maintaining a pattern. YIKES!!! Hope I can get the thing done.
I'll have to check out this tag thing.
Wow, that's truly gorgeous! The color effects are quite striking (and probably more so IRL.) How long did it take to make it, button loops and all?
Thanks for stopping by my blog--I answered your comment there, and added you to my blog list.
Dear Rose,
How long did it take? Hmmmm... I can't exactly say, other than too long. Of course I'd do it again since it all turned out, but the button loops did give me fits.
To make the loops, you sew an extremely thin strip of fabric, cut on the bias for stretch, together, then flip it right side out. The directions say to take a sewing needle to do the flip. No matter how I tried, I couldn't do that. So I had to trudge back to the sewing store and find a tool specifically for this purpose. (I live in the mountains, so civilization is far away.)
Another reason the dress took longer was because I made French seams on the skirt so that between the lining of the bodice and the French seams, there would be no raw edges at all; a real couture finish. You want such a finish for another reason: dupioni "sheds" all over, and I am still vacuuming the little threads off the carpeting.
Thanks for reading and for the compliments!
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