A Review of Sewing Part 2

In mid June, a client sent me three sarees to make two dresses and a jacket. Also in the box was two ready made outfits to add embroidery and bling to.

On the first outfit they wanted crosses embroidered onto the vest and jeans. A lot of work that I wasn’t ready to do. I had to come up with an alternative and come up with one quickly.

Each of the crosses was embroidered onto organza and water soluble stabilizer. When done, I rough cut the cross, soaked it in water, dried it, added steam-a-seam to the back, and cut out each one carefully. I placed them, ironed them into position and then hand stitched each one down with invisible thread. Silver studs were added to the outfit.

 

The second outfit consisted of a dress and a jacket, which is a muslin on steroids. A saree was sent that was the starting point of the dress.

 

 

To get a good colour match, stretch velvet was purchased. To stabilize the stretch, the dress and jacket were both underlined with a nice lining I found for 2.00/meter in the bargain center in Fabricland. The patterns used for the dress were McCalls 2401 for the basic dress pattern, Vogue 8766 for the scoop neckline, and McCalls 6770 for the skirt. The jacket pattern is McCalls 5668.

 

The dress came together quite nicely. The appliques from the saree were placed so the two joined together on the body and the third one was placed on the sleeve. I used two pieces from the bodice of the saree for the cuff. All were hand stitched down. The edging from the saree was sewn around the bottom of the skirt. Again, all hand sewn down. The dress has 20ss clear crystals put on it.

 

 

As there was enough fabric left over from the dress, I decided to try out the jacket pattern. I lengthened the sleeves and took them in some. I lined the jacket and had some issues to work out and they are now recorded for the next jacket. Once done, it was good enough to gift to the client and needed some jazzing up. There were pieces left over from the edging which included where the saree turned corners at one end. When the jacket was done, I threw those corners onto the jacket and voila. I got a unique look. I handed tied off the beads at the shoulder edge and started to sew the edging onto the jacket. I worked the edging so they met and looked like they were part and parcel of each other. The closure is two large hook and eyes. I used two more pieces from the saree bodice on the cuffs of the sleeves. The crystals are 20ss volcano crystals.

 

 

Stay tuned for Part 3.