Our first day started with Susan Khalje discussing with the group what we were going to make and what fabric we were going to use. I had purchased some wool crepe for my dress, but found in my stash some wool with a twill texture which I also took along as it was larger piece. The class nominated I use this fabric which I was happy to do as I had now decided I wanted sleeves.
Next up Susan had us putting on our toiles and doing the first round of adjustments. Thankfully my 4th toile was pretty good but still some minor tweaks were made.
These are then marked in another colour marker on your calico and the seams are then unpicked and the pieces ironed flat.
Everything is then laid out on your silk organza and cut out, then this is laid on top of your fashion fabric and you are ready to start hand basting each piece together.
For the next fitting, I used every pin I had and felt like an Echidna whilst Susan did the next round of tweaking.
Then it was more thread tracing of the adjustments and sitting down at the sewing machine and sewing it all up.
The midriff panel gave me some grief and you can see below the different adjustments I had to do to it.
By the time I left the class 6 days later, I had:
- the dress bodice, midriff and skirt all sewn together.
- hand picked the centre back zip.
- the right sleeve was basted in place, and the left sleeve was waiting it's turn.
There is still a lot of work to do, I only finished the catchstitching of all the seam allowances over the Easter break and I am now in the process of making sure all the adjustments are on the pattern pieces so I can cut out the lining.
More to follow.
9 comments:
WOW! That's a lot of progress on day 1. Can't wait to read more on your couture sewing adventure with Susan Khalje.
Sounds like a lot of work but the outcome you have achieved is so worth it.
Thanks for sharing the process
Beautifully done! Sorry to hear you've not been well.
This is a lot of work. I did want to know if you now think of sewing any differently and has it made you think differently about the way you sew, or you consider it as an enhancement.
I am so impressed by your persistence and the dress looks like it will be a work of art.
I hope you're feeling better now - that dress is going to be stunning once it's complete. Definitely worth the work!
What a wonderful project. The dress is looking really good and I very much look forward to seeing the final version.
Hope you are feeling better Sharon.
Wow so much work goes into a couture dress, but it's certainly looking great so far and will truly be a classic piece in your wardrobe.
Hope you are feeling better now! This dress will turn out beautifully :-) I made this pattern some years ago, as it comes with Susan Khaljes Craftsy class. It is lovely, but I did not get the fit right, so sometime I may turn it apart and refit..or make a new one, who knows. Love the couture techniques.
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