Ench By Sew-36: Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress

Dress creation brings out the romantic in me. When I looked ahead to my summer sewing, I thought if I could sew only one garment for the season, it would be a dress. Fiona, the Irish Laurel dress, satisfied my yearning to design and sew the perfect summer frock.

Hey let’s listen to the show! To do that you can either download the ‘cast from iTunes - Click on this link to iTunes  , 
*OR* listen directly on the web, by clicking on this link
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This dress was a very satisfying project for my arty romantic style. 

In between sewing summer essentials - shorts and tees - I worked off and on to determine what design lines spoke to me about summer, mock up a miniature sloper pattern to test my ideas, draft a pattern from my sloper, and then finally to sew up Fiona, while summer was still on!

* Pensamientos Primeros - Thinking through my idea for this summer dress
     - Part 1 - Planning Fiona
        - Part 2 - Farewell to Summer Romancing Fiona, the Irish Laurel Dress  

*Technicos - Pattern Drafting and Kissing Zipper using a Prick Stitch

*Pensamientos Finales - Fiona's Design Lines have roots in my own history

Finians Rainbow was a modern American fairy tale. It expressed late 1960's dreams for racial harmony and folks coming together. Fred Astaire (Finian McLonigan) and Petula Clark(his daughter Sharon) added in the romance of America seen, and idealized, fresh from Irish eyes. The story of Finian's determination to plant himself a crop of Irish gold, intertwined with romance of countryside and a new happpily-ever-after love for Sharon draws me in as well today as it did when I was a kid who'd only recently arrived in a new place myself. Any wonder that the movie's costumes inspire my pattern work and sewing today?

Visit Me Encanta Coster/Enchanted by Sewing - my regular sewing blog for other summer sewing I enjoyed along the way... in between time spent bringing Fiona to life

Technicos Bustier: Dem Bones

This inner shell layer of the bustier is made from
one layer of cutile (heavy white) and a another of lining, fabric
Lining's the antique blue flower Liberty Tana Lawn print

Dem Bones, Dem Bones gonna walk around.
Dem Bones, Dem Bones gonna walk around.

Dem Bones, Dem Bones gonna walk around.

Oh hear the name of the Lord!

You just know that old spiritual* tune has been buzzing around in my head, while I've been working on adding spiral steel bones to my bustier project.

I created the boning channels from
cutile fabric cut on the bias
I used two side by side 1/4" spiral steel bones
in each channel
For curved channels - use three bones.

After sewing all the seams and fitting more times than I want to recall, then it's time to sew in the boning channels. First I sewed them down the seams, then I interspersed between the seams with more boning channels.

The bones are placed no further than 3" apart all along the shell. It's possible to add a bust shape into the front too, but I had created a pattern with such narrow pieces in front, that I had issues with that concept. So all my bones are more or less vertical, with no curvy bits.

A spiral steel bone sliding home
Cut those threads!

After the channels were sewn, I inserted the spiral steel bones I purchased at Lacis. You can buy them in different lengths from just 2 or 3" up to 18", possibly longer but that was the longest I bought. You can also cut your own from a roll of wire, and add your own tips - cheaper but challenging.

Spiral steel bones are flexible. We're not talking old-time, unforgiving whalebone here! (poor whales:-(  ) Also remember the definition of a bustier, I'm following, this is not a garment that imposes a shape on my body. 

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* Web Resources

Dem Bones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dem_Bones

Bustier is not a corset: http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/01/bustiers-not-corset-plus-free-printable.html

Whew! This is a long-time project for me. A previous Bustier post that links several other bustier posts I've written. http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/02/bustiers-excuse-me-arent-those-your.html

Lacis is in Berkley. They also sell via mail order

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/03/field-trip-lacis-field-berkley-ca.html

Gypsy Skirt is Also NOT the Assignment - More Historic Draping

Instead of thinking - work with the circle-
I was thinking...
"A gypsy's life is gay and free not cares have we!*"

Remember my other two in-class draping projects that focused on draping a full fabric circle? 

The jacket one was the right way - The Gallant** way. (OK, I journaled about that project first, but it was actually my last creation. The one where I finally figured out what was being asked for). The first two were my Regency Romance bodice novel cover inspiration and this gal. 

Both were Goofus style, and oh so fun! 

The jacket was fun too, but controlled fun.

Yes, this skirt  was another one that my teacher indicated was not at all what she was looking for!

The problem? I just loved it. I loved it as much as the Regency Romance novel cover bodice.

Once more, I incorporate a little twisted rose at the side. I love those. 

Clumps, my teacher said. "You really like those clumps. Work with the circle. Let it flow."

Flow? The gypsy needs her skirt out of the way.

She studied the tiers I'd pinned so carefully into asymmetric lines. "Don't fight the circle."

I'm not fighting it. I'm giving it character! No self respecting gypsy wants her skirt to just fall from her hips. She wants style. 

Yup, I finally figured it out and got on with my jacket. It helped a lot when I remembered how inspired I'd been,  sitting and listening to Sandy Ericson talk about Madeline Vionnet's work as a fabric technician. (See  "Vionnet and Ericson Inspired my Circular Work (Draping)"  

And along the way.... I had an awfully good time!

Not taking my sewing designs too seriously is the kind of thing that keeps me..

Enchanted by Sewing!

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Inspired by the work of Madeline Vionnet, Sandy Ericson creates beautiful fashions 

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/10/to-drape-or-not-to-drape-no-question.html

* Do you know the "Gypsy's Life" song?

It's a jolly little tune I learned as a kid

“A gypsy’s life is gay and free, no cares have we.

 No taxes need a gypsy pay, no wealth has he. 

What care we for castles high, o’er our heads is the bright blue sky. 

Never a hurry and never a worry, a life that’s free.” 

** Remember Gallant in  Highlights magazine ? That's right the magazine you read in the dentists office as a kid. He's the little boy who always pays attention and does things 

right the first time. Goofus was the sluff off kid who didn't do things right and always suffered the consequences.

Hint - We are supposed to want to be Gallant. But sometimes he is just a bit much.

Technicos: Simple doesn't mean Easy (Zippers)

It is a gift to be simple, isn't it? Here's a youtube video I created a couple of years back, singing about that very thing ('Tis a Gift to Be Simple', is an old Amish tune you may have sung yourself).

The thing is that simple and easy aren't really the same thing, though we often assume they are. Maybe that's the meaning behind the song - really understanding that.

These two zippers, center and lapped, are regarded as the most simple zipper techniques. Sewists have been putting them in since zippers first came into vogue, though nowadays you'll see a lot of invisible zippers and fly front as well.

But simple definitely doesn't mean easy. Frankly these two samples took me quite a lot of time and unstitching, and I've sewn this style off and on for a long time. Now I remember why I avoid them.

I used a glue stick to position the centered zipper and, yes, I used the seam-basted approach as well. I also hand basted both zippers into place more than once before I machine-stitched.

A Lapped Zipper

A Centered Zipper