Monday 5 March 2012

Pleats

I had a day off today so started working on the pleats. Here's what I've ended up with:

I'm using the foundation layer as my base as the cotton and the dress net are more durable, and can withstand a lot of pinning! So I have now basted the one side (as above) of the front drape, and cut out some organza to underline the piece (with pleats on the dupion layer only, and organza flat). 

In case anyone is interested, I started off with this:



So I used a large piece of tissue paper to try out the desired effects. With the front drape detail of the LBD-simplicity 2251 dress, I found this a lot less daunting so I could vizualise the whole thing better. 


With lots of pins in, and once I was happy with what I saw, I cut off the excess paper and marked the tissue paper with key things. 

And then... well, I decided that I wanted the one-sided skirt to go the other way round! Only if I thought of this properly before I started pleating the tissue paper. Anyway, this small crisis was easily solved by using the wrong side of the tissue paper as my pattern. 

After I told myself about 10 times that 'it's just fabric', I finally had the courage to cut into the beautiful dupion. I cut it on the bias as I think this would benefit the drape. I left a lot of excess on all sides (and this explains why the front skirt doesn't look perfect yet) just in case! 

Then I started pleating with the dupion on the dress form. It was relatively simple, just needed a bit of patience. After trial and error, I was finally happy with the result so I pinned everything to keep the pleats in place and to mark the stitching lines. 

Following my questions re how to underline this on Pattern Review, I decided to go with the method of not pleating the organza. So after I basted the pleats in place, I used the resulting dupion piece as a guide to cut out the organza for the underlining. and the hand basting begins... (and yet to be finished).

Now I'm getting really impatient! As I can see how this will all come together and what the finished product will be like, I just can't wait to make it happen!

2 comments:

  1. You are my hero!!! You are doing such an amazing job with this dress:) Can't wait to see what's next!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I had a slight panic though as I thought I did the underlining incorrectly! but thankfully after a lot of research last night, I realised that what I'm doing is actually just fine... phew!

      I'm going to start playing with the tissue paper for the other side of the drape shortly and finish underline the pieces. I'm so excited now!

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