SILK CHIFFON PRINT

The second printed dress is finished. The bias corded tubes weave took a bit of time, it really was a bit of a pain, but it was done. The technique was the same as the MAKING A VALENTION , this time I made the bias tubes are smaller and filled it with yarn.

I used Silk Chiffon, silk organza and Silk charmeuse [for the tubing]
I’m still in the mood of “LIGHT, SOFT, TRANSPARENT”. I used the organza to line and underling the dress. The underline skirt is 2” shorter, the lining is 2” shorter than the underline.

A close up look of the bias corded tubing weave, this took a bit longer than I expected.

Rolled zig-zag hem on all three layers of skirt

PRINT CHARMEUSE EVENIG DRESS

The dress is finished. Thank God!! I did not think I will be done with the dress. I was designing the dress as I was sewing it, and keep changing my mind about the ruffles [which are made out of silk chiffon of the same print], did I want one, two or three? How wide did I want them? I settle on two ruffles, the first is 4” wide the other 6”. I did made them smaller, but did not like the proportion on the dress, so had to take it apart and start all over again, part of the design process.

After it was done, I did not like the way it looks, something was missing. I want the lace to be beaded, took a piece of the lace that was left, try few bead work till I got the right “feel” [keeping the light, soft and transparency of the dress]

The fact that my mind was on another design did not help moving alone faster with the dress, I already working on that, will keep you posted.

GARDEN PARTY

I have two passions in life, books and silks! When I was in NYC I had a large collection of fashion books, some I have keep after I move to Miami, others I sold or gave to the library. It broke my heart parting with them, but I just could not bring them.

One of the books I’m glad I keep with me is “The Opulent Era” by Elizabeth Ann Coleman. The book is a rare look at the early haute couture houses in Paris. It gives the reader an inside of the houses of Worth, Doucet and Pingat. I love the dress on the cover, it is an evening dress from the House of Worth [1902] designed by Jean-Philippe Worth. I love this dress and always wanted to design something base on it. The dress is so feminine, light and airy so unlike the other dresses from the era.

The opportunity to do something inspire by the dress is finally here, I found a print with the feel of the dress. It is on Charmeuse and Chiffon, I got them both, just have to have them. I will be using also one color Charmeuse in both the pink and the violet.

The fabrics had arrived today and I’m very pleased to see the print is just perfect. I will be making several dresses out of these fabrics, but I’m still not made up my mind about trims, or technique I’d uses. I’d let the fabrics talk to me. In the mean time, here are some pics of fabrics and a lace, I might or may not use, I hope you love them as much as I do!