The little black dress

Every lady should have a little black dress.

I had been dreaming of a lace dress for some time. With a full skirt and sheer lace sleeves... And then there was this black lace fabric on sale at the fabric store. I bought 3 meters of it, along with some black satin and began scheming. After lots of hand stitches, i now have a new favorite dress. Anyone want to go party with me so that I have a reason to wear it?

I incorporated a few "couture" techniques in the process, just because I love how it looks. The dress feels so luxurious because of all the time and attention I put in it. The facing is understitched by hand with a prick stitch and the zipper is inserted by hand. I binded the waist seam with self-fabric bias tape and added a waist stay, as the skirt is quite heavy. I am also happy with how the "hemming" of the skirt and sleeves worked out, with the decoupage of the lace. I love the scalloped effect!

I am really happy with the dress! The skirt is less full then I envisioned, but I think it makes the dress more modern.

Back view.  Yes that is ice on the pond.

I love the V in the back. Also notice the guys posing on the other side of the pond. You think he also has a sewing blog?

The fit is also quite good. A tad big in the waist, maybe. The waist stay need to be a little tighter.

Pleats in front and back.

Detail, showing the understitching and the fell stitching on the facing.

The hem, inside out. Yes, I pinked the SA, it makes me happy!

Inside out, showing the waist stay and the all in one facing.

The zipper was inserted by hand. The stitches completely disappear in the lace.

This dress is also my entry for the Burda style Sewing vintage modern contest. Hop over there and vote for your favorite frock!

Work in progress - burdastyle LBD

I spent the week-end working on my dress for the Burdastyle Vintage modern sewing contest, and I made lots of progress.

I made the final adjustments to the muslin as I was not quite happy with the sleeve. I have to say I totally hacked the sleeve by tracing a sleeve from another Burda pattern and adjusting the bodice armhole accordingly. I sewed a muslin (ok several) and adjusted from there until I was happy with the fit. I know it is absolutely not the proper way to do this, but it worked well enough. I am not quite ready to dive into block-making (too much maths involved, ha). I then ripped the muslin apart and used it as my pattern pieces. I was the first time I did that and it was quite a revelation. The pattern doesn't move at all on the fabric, and it solves the problem of what to do with muslins... I don't muslin quite as much as I probably should, so maybe this is another argument in favour of muslins?

Pinning pattern pieces to lace fabric.

 I then proceeded to cut the pieces for the bodice in both the lace and the underlining fabric, a black polysatin. I also cut pieces for an all-in-one facing. I debated wether I should line the bodice or use a facing. I thought the bodice was thick enough so the lining or facing was just to enclose seam allowances. I opted for the facing because I judged it would be easier to deal with, considering the thickness and body of the underlining. I always find it hard when a light and drapey fabric meet a stiffer one. Also, my fabrics are not fraying much, so a full lining wasn't mandatory. I did have concerns about the whole thing beeing too bulky, but it turned out ok.

I am treating the satin as a underlining for the bodice and a lining for the skirt, hopefully that won't cause any unexpected problems. For the bodice pieces, I hand-basted the lace to the satin, both facing up, and treated them as one piece of fabric for the rest of the process.

Basting the fashion fabric to the underlining.

 Then I constructed the bodice. The pattern has really lovely curved darts, which makes for a really nice fit.

Pinning darts. Front bodice at the top, back bodice at the bottom.

I setted the sleeves flat (another sewing first!), thinking it would make it easier to sew the facing in this was. I first basted the sleeve to the bodice, and then pinned the facing, and finally sewing the whole thing together. It was pretty akward, with the different curves, and making sure not to catch any layer in the seam. I did have to rip and redo a few times after sewing in the facing. Lastly, I sewed the facing on at the neckline and turned everything right-side out through the shoulders.

That is as far as I got. Here is the list of what is left to do
- understitch the seam allowance to the facing unit. I think I'll do it by hand, it's far neater and it makes the dress feel much more luxurious.
 - sew side seams and underarm seams
- pleat the skirt pieces and attach to the bodice
- bind the waist seam in some way
- insert zipper at center front. I am planning a lapped, handpricked zipper. I think it will really be invisible, considering the lace pattern.
- hem the skirt lining and hem sleeves and skirt by cutting the lace.
- if needed, sew in a waiststay.
Oh. That looks like a lot when I write down everything, but I think it'll be 3 to 4 hours of work. I'm really trying to take my time and make it well. Handstitching when it makes a difference, for example. I still have a few weeks before the closing date of the contest, so I am confident I'll finish in time to enter.

Now I'm off to do that understitching!

Scheming

I had something else planned as my next project, but there is a contest over at Burdastyle... It has the most amazing prizes so it seems like it's the perfect way to spark things up in my sewing room! I had ordered the book Sewing Vintage Modern even before it was available, so I'm all set.

Of course, I'm going to go with something 50's inspired, so the Elizabeth dress will be my starting point. I'm thinking a full skirt, fitted bodice and sleeves. I had picked up a few meters of black lace at the sales a few days ago, without have a specific plan for it. Well, now I have a plan! I'll make a litte black dress (I can't believe I wear black all the time and my closet still lacks a lbd!) with the lace as an overlay, and lace sleeves. I have this idea of cutting the lace around the flowers at the hems for a feminine effect. Hopefully, the lace won't ravel and it should work. I put together a Pinterest board (my username is joellestlaurent) as inspiration. 

I have a fair bit of drafting to do to get the bodice as I envision it, mostly around the shoulders. I want set-in sleeves as they will be in lace only. That means I'll have to draft sleeves too... hmm I'm in for quite a challenge!

The bodice of dress will be underlined in black satin, except for the sleeves and the skirt will be lined with the satin so that the lace can be free flowing. I foud a quite nice black satin with a bit of body, which should suffice to get a full skirt. 

Off to my desk for some drafting!