Day 12

Day 12: Sewing!!

My first real day of sewing! I started making a 1950s pleated dress with bias tape along the seams and up around the armhole. The bias tape also doubled as the shoulder straps. In other words, there was a piece of fabric that was used to cover up all of the side seams and went all the way around the arm and tied above the shoulder. For the most part, I followed the pattern. The costume designer and costume shop manager wanted the opening of the dress to be in the back instead of the intended side seam, so we had to change parts of the pattern.

I'm doing the middle pattern.

I started by serging all of the pieces together. Basically, serging is the process of making the ends of fabric neat by sewing around the edge of the fabric. Most sergers will cut the extra trim away, too, leaving the edge tidy and unable to unravel.

source

So I serged all of the fabric, half of which was an iridescent green thicker fabric and the other half a silky blue chiffon. Chiffon is the type of fabric that is terribly difficult to keep still and slips and pulls through the machine, making it bunch up. I had difficulties keeping it on the machine. After serging I flat stitched the two fabrics together. Flat stitching is where you sew two fabrics together, with both of the right sides facing you rather than sewing right sides together and turning it inside out, like many girls learn how to do when they make bags or aprons in a sewing class in school. Fairly simple. The back had two pieces that would eventually be put together with a zipper, and the front was just a long panel. I put four darts in the front for a more fitted bodice. 

front of bodice

That took me a few hours, mainly because it takes forever to change out the serger thread and put it in the machine. I started cutting out the bias tape at the end of the day, but I had to make it rather than buy pre-made bias tape, so I was in a little over my head and decided I would learn how to make itfrom start to finish the next day.

I'm so excited to have started sewing!