Thursday 3 July 2014

Papercut La Sylphide Dress in raw silk

This is one of the projects that came all the way from New Zealand.  I cut out the XS before I left, with no changes to the pattern.  Since returning from Switzerland I've been on a sewing bender.  I have to say that I miss the peace of sewing the Georgia and taking a month to do it.  On one hand I really want to get all these languishing projects completed, but on the other hand, I don't have a burning desire to own all these dresses...I am starting to appreciate taking more time with each project, instead of rushing through them, as well as actually picking projects that I really want to wear for a specific purpose.  That has definitely been my goal and my mindset for this year.

Unfortunately, a lot of projects from New Zealand have come with me and they predate my new mindset.  So I still want to get them done, preferably now now now!  (Not known for having patience.)  It seems best to finish them and learn from them before I move on to some more difficult, and slower, challenges. 

I liked the fit of the La Sylphide shirt, but I hated the bow.  So I cut it off.  I wasn't sure how that would work for a neckline.  The raw silk that I got is from a seller on etsy and is hand-dyed with organic materials.  This does mean that there is some colour variation and that ironing it can leach the colour a bit.  It is amazing to work with - it irons easily, behaves exactly as you want, and has a lovely drape.  In fact as I came around to that neckline...I thought that bow might have been less annoying in this fabric.  Oops. 






I paid extra care to the little space between the top of the placket and the neckpiece, and manage to get everything topstitched without a gap - I had a lot of trouble with that gap in the first version and I know other people did too and just camoflaged it with the bow.  This time around I also finished all my seams by zig-zagging the seam allowance together.  For some reason I hadn't thought to do that in the past except on knits, and it created a great finish.  I french seamed the skirt and the shoulders, but the silk is really too thick for that to work anywhere else. The buttonholes were a bit of stress as the last time I tried to buttonhole on the Necchi it created a thread-birdsnest. I practiced a bit first and they actually went really smoothly.  Unfortunately I ignored the button placement instructions and I think that mine don't look well placed- I left irregular spaces and I think I'll put a tiny snap at the widest part of the bust to make sure it stays together.  I'm not too concerned about that though, I'm happy with how this came out. 

I knew the fit was spot on from making the shirt, and in the end this has turned out a really fabulous dress! 

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