Experiment with Silk

It's been a really long time since I made a project from scratch so I figured it was about time. One of the easiest things to make, in my opinion, is a dress. I've been looking through Etsy for ideas and finally set my eyes upon these dresses from MyLolaFashion. I had several fabrics to choose from and took a poll from my friends.



Fabric #1 was the winner. And so, the fun begins!

I've never sewed using only silk before [I just remembered it was a pain in the butt when I lined the tote bags with silk] and I didn't want to mess it up. The fabric was a remnant so I would need every bit of fabric available to make a dress (or blouse.) Luckily, I still had part of the sesame street bedsheet to use as a mock up!

I measured the silk and then cut out those dimensions from the bedsheet. I cut out 2 square panels, one longer than the other to fold over and make a tube/ruffle. Reading up on how to sew with silk, I saw that French Seams and pinking shears were a necessity [so I had to buy a pair D:], and then I practiced on the mock-up.  The result:



French Seam & Dress laid out flat [looks like a giant rectangle, right?]

Wearing the mock-up: I made it have 2 ruffles because I measured wrong and ended up having one panel longer by almost 8 inches when I only meant to have 4...but I think it turned out alright with double the ruffle! :] It was a bit too wide so I took off a few inches from the tops of both front and back panel, but kept the width about the same. I used this mock-up to cut out my silk.



My cats made sure I laid out the fabric nicely =^.^= But it turns out that pinking shears do not cut well unless the fabric is held taut. The first method was to use a clothes hanger. I ended up cutting the fabric a bit crooked so the second method [after sewing a bit] was to hold it with my toes >.<



Wooo shiny tunic!

With [subtle?] double ruffle!



I'm not sure where/when I would wear it, but I figured I'd share my weekend sewing adventure anyway :]