Shrinking Silk

free, with the breeze running through my fur....

The theme of my wedding is stress free and happy.   (Even if I have to kill everyone to make it happen)   This means my dress can't be so delicate I'm spending the entire day worried something will happen to it -- so I decided to investigate pre-shrinking all the silk chiffon I'd gotten so that the water that I *know* will get spilled on it when I get excited, forget I'm holding a glass, and start talking with my now-empty-because-I-dropped-the-glass-on-my-skirt hands doesn't ruin everything,

I popped a sample into the washer on hot, and then into the dryer on no-heat fluff.  Total shrinkage is at about 14% in each direction.

The process changes the texture and the opacity -- as everything has tightened up, its a bit thicker and not as smooth.   While I prefer the look of the untreated silk, the shrunken is still very nice and will be a lot more robust to whatever I throw at it over the course of the day.    (Although, realistically, I am 100% going to be wearing a full length bibbed apron during whatever part of dinner I get to sit down for)



So-- as its time to start the skirt, I figured out what I needed, added 14% to the length and popped it into the washer.  (This is sounding so much more carefree than it actually was.)

and now I wait as 15 yards of silk rumble around where I can't see them.....

so many yards.....

soon to be 12.9 yards.....

halloween!

We went as a black plague -- Greg was a doctor and I was the patient (victim / body / whatever) or.. more accurately, I got lazy and didn't feel like doing the 1400s giant horned hat, veil and gown I'd been planning and just made myself a shift instead and declared it a couples costume.

Greg's coat is a combination of a (highly modified) simplicity 2333 for the coat and simplicity 5840 for the hood.   In order to fit comfortably together, we removed the collar and lapels from the coat and changed it to have a center front opening.

He made his own mask -- it is composed of two layers of craft foam, a muslin backing and held together with rivets and waxed thread.   He used the lenses from welding goggles for the eyes and sneaky air holes on the bottom.

The pattern is his own design, based on a combination of tutorials online and images he's seen.   It was a fairly entertaining evening as he tried various ideas and wandered around with a giant cardboard beak.

My costume is actually a civil war era shift - simplicity 1139.   I'm aware its 400 years off - but, I had it (the pattern, not the shift) and I figured no one would actually notice.  (Besides -- how much did shifts really change?)  Anyhow, it is SUPER comfy... so I might see if I can dye it, wear it with a belt and work it into  my regular wardrobe.

fabrics!

silk chiffon!   silk gauze!  cotton batiste!

Its time for a wedding dress!

How will she reach anything?

Greg and I are engaged! 

(and have been, for a little while, but we just got around to getting a ring and making it public)

(This has also meant he has gotten stuck with all my ramblings on about lace and silhouettes and such.   For all that he is learning to sew, I think this may have been a bit much. - SOOOO now I get to yammer on to the internet, and the joys of fancy fabrics I usually forbid myself since they just don't fit into my life.)

Anyhow, I've set myself a few rules for the dress:

1: I need to be able to breath freely and move easily (so no corsets, trains, long tight sleeves, etc)

2: I need to be able to dance without falling over (so just slightly shorter than floor length)

3: I need to be able to use the bathroom without a squad of helpers.  (the skirt can't eat me alive)

I know I want some sort of straps or other over-the-shoulder-something, a long, full skirt, and some kind of textured embellishment - but otherwise, I'm not sure what it will end up looking like.  Right now my thoughts are running along these lines:

okay, probably not this.  I would catch on everything, but its a pretty amazing skirt.

smurfing the couch

Why cover a perfectly lovely couch?   Silly Greg is allergic to cats and doesn't want them rolling back and forth on the furniture until there is a removable, washable cover.

So I'm slowly, but surely, making that cover - during which time the cats are living in the (finished, furnished, has been used as an apartment) basement.

Now, I have to attack the back and sides... bum bum bum!

M7121 - Meh

before and after modifications,
with a hefty dose of why-I-am-putting-these-pictures-on-the-internet?

 Excuse the potato quality pictures.  I was pretty lazy about getting these.  

I'd been particularly excited about this pattern, as I thought the chevron would solve the fabric problem I was having.   My lovely stripy fabric (found on the bargain table) stretched ALONG the stripes, instead of perpendicularly to them.... (which is probably why it ended up on the bargain table.)  But with a bias cut, I could avoid horizontal stripes and still manage to get into it.

Silly me.

Straight out off the pattern (I know.. but I didn't bother to muslin this) it was a mess.  Despite being a knit and what looks to be a fairly close fit, it has an elasticized waist  -- but not enough material to make it bloused -- just enough to make it pull oddly.  Plus, the whole thing hangs rather low.

Anyhow, I have since taken out the elastic, taken it in the waist and pulled the shoulders up by about three inches.  It's helped, but I'm still not very happy with the fit.  (Greg's verdict: 'It's okay, but your other dresses are nicer')  

Whoever drafted this pattern really punted hard - rather than facings or binding or lining or anything, it just calls for folding over and sewing.  Not even with stabilization - no way the armholes won't grow like crazy.   So, someday, when I'm less disappointed by this dress, I'll probably do a binding of some kind.  However, for the moment.  meh.  Mostly just a bit annoyed over wasting fabric I really liked.

If you are thinking about using this pattern, make sure to plan some significant redrafting into your plans.

Carefully, and with extreme precision, I screwed up.

I'd intended to make the front and back mirror images of each other.....