Prep work
In the Threads article, Susan Khalje mentions that silk crepe de chine would be better suited for underlining wool crepe than silk organza because of the difference in drape. I have plenty of silk organza but no crepe de chine. So it was time for evaluation.
Here's the wool crepe draped alone.
And here's how it looks with a piece of silk organza under it, grain aligned as best as I could without pinning or basting.
I'd say it looks fine with the organza, not too stiff. The folds are soft, just not as numerous.
I'd washed the crepe on Thursday - it had a mildly weird odor so I dunked it in water with some Eucalan and hung it to dry. After it dried, I steamed and pressed it (while the organza dried). It turns out that washing wool crepe makes it rather limp. I mean, wool crepe is always pretty drapey but I compared my washed crepe with a piece of unwashed crepe and the washed one is definitely limp. I think the organza will add some body rather than impeding the natural flow of the crepe. We'll see.
I pinned the organza on top of the wrong side of the crepe. I was a pinning fool. I pinned all the way around the pieces and several rows across to keep it in place. Then I basted the two layers together. Like this:
And this:
And then I fused a 3" strip of interfacing at the hem. I also interfaced the zipper area at CB with 3/4" interfacing strips. I have huge seam allowances at the neckline (1 3/8") and armholes (1 1/4"). I staystitched the two layers together on the neckline and armhole lines, but I'm keeping the basting stitches in the seam allowances for now. Less floppy that way.
In this picture you can see I also basted through the darts to prevent the layers from shifting when I sew the darts. I avoided the very points of the darts so that the basting thread wouldn't get caught in the stitching and be difficult to remove.
And that's as far as I got today. I had to take advantage of the lovely weather, you know.
6 comments:
Hi Alexandra,
This is Paula in Zurich. Is this the organza you ordered from Dharma Trading? I'm getting ready to place an order with them and have decided to give their organza a try. Can't decide between the 45 and the 55 inch widths. Any advice?
I think your wool looks beautiful with the organza underneath. Thanks for the photos of with and without.
I recall in an earlier post you were in search of invisible zippers. Have you found them? I was in my local Bernina store yesterday, purchasing linings, etc. and the sales associate recommended I try one of the "new no-show" zippers. New to the shop or new to Zurich is unclear, but it's an invisible zipper and kept behind and under the counter. It is a YKK zipper. Quite nice. She also sold me a Bernina invisible zipper foot. I share this in hopes that it might be helpful to you in navigating the sewing supplies in Germany.
I'm looking forward to seeing the finished gray dress. You do such meticulous work; it's a real pleasure to view your garments.
Paula
I personally like silk organza with wool crepe and all the prep work that you are putting into this dress will definitely show in the finished garment. Thanks for all of the wonderful pictures of the process!
Paula, yes, that is the organza. I ordered the 45" because I plan to use it mostly for dresses and would have had too much waste with the wider one. So I'd say it depends on what you plan to cut out of it and what's most economical for you.
I found some invisible zippers at Karstadt (department store chain) but not all the colors and only a few lengths so I think I'll just order online from the US.
Thank you very much for the compliments on my work.
Thanks, Alexandra. I did end up ordering the 45 inch width.
Paula
Hey Alex, I finally found your blog! Thanks for coming over today, it was fun watching you learn to spin. (BTW, if you send me your email address I'll send you the picture of when you first started out plying the yarn.)
Wow, you're really good at sewing. I hope that I get bit by the sewing bug again soon (perhaps in the summer?), because I'd love to learn from you.
Cheers!
This is going to be lovely. I adore gray wool and look forward to following your progress on this. I have not yet tried underlining with silk organza. I have a lovely Pendleton black wool that I hope to use at some point and would like to underline it. So I've pulled up a front row seat and am ready to learn. :)
Charity (from PatternReview)
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