Thursday, January 26, 2012

Victoria's Chemise

This was probably one of the easiest things I have ever made, yet it turned out so pretty!

Materials:



2 1/2 yards of cream Lawn
2 1/2 yards antique beading lace
2 1/2 yards pink velvet ribbon



 Before I talk about how I made these three formless textiles into something pretty, I must say how much I love the materials. Lawn, while a little slippery to sew, is so much fun to shape into a garment. And I have fallen in love with antique laces and ribbons. I acquired these from the Etsy store: Textile Art Lace. I totally recommend buying from here for interesting lace and ribbons. They were in excellent condition, and got to me fast!

Being cotton, cutting wasn't near the chore it normally is. Of all things in sewing, I think I dislike cutting fabric the most. It's terribly tedious, and for now I have to do it on my floor since I have no cutting table, meaning sore shoulders!

When sewing with cotton, however, it ends up not so bad. I don't have to use anywhere near the care, or pins, I use when cutting out something silky.


Putting this together was quite easy. In fact, it took me basically one after noon to complete the whole project.

I sewed the gathering stitches into the neckline.


All four sleeve pieces were sewn to the front and back of the body, which was then sewn together.

Then the sleeve edge pressed,
And hemmed!



The most complicated part would have to be the band around the neck.





After folding down and ironing the edge, each piece was sewn together,
Then the long edge to be sewn to the back of the garment pressed down. I'd like to add I can't stress how much easier all of this is when every thing is pressed before you sew it together. There is no fussing with fabric to get it to sit where you want, once you press it, it will stay!



Then, pinning the right sides together, the gathers are taken in to fit. I just love to look of gathering like this! It's so pretty!
And the band is folded back over the front, pressed down and stitched together! You could do this by hand if you wanted to keep the stitches super invisible, but since I was going to put trim around the edge, I didn't worry about it and used my machine. This is an easy enough project to sew completely by hand if you are so inclined, but alas, I am not so inclined. Machines are just too convenient.

Here is the finished product without the trim!



At this point I could have added buttons to the shoulders to fasten it and left it. If I had only been planning this piece for function, I'd have done just that. But this being a piece I can wear in many different ways with a lot of the things I already have, I want it to be pretty. Next time I post, I'll show what it looks like with lace and ribbons added!

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