Dressmaking (buried underneath a project)
Mar. 8th, 2012 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzI feel like I've been overwhelmed and buried beneath this dress project. Kat asked me to make Gwyneth a new dress for Legendfalls and before I finally had a working pattern we were only a week away from the event. Suffice to say that after my homework was done on Monday I have been sewing madly ever since. The trick about homework is that it returns every week and I need to start on the new homework before the weekend. I won't have enough time to finish it all on Monday and do the unpacking too.
Of course it's challenging to make a dress in a week, but I remember being faster about it. And if a simple a-symmetrical dress with one pleat and lacing in the back takes me three to four days to make, I don't want to contemplate how much longer the harder stuff will take. Never mind the additional time I'll need if I'm thread tracing my patterns like they really want me to do in school.
If you look at the professional and official way to do it, the method I am now learning in school, we use tailor's chalk to trace the patterns. But tailor's chalk gets erased easily, so you need to thread trace your patterns as well. In all other dressmaking I do I have a chalk pencil that doesn't get erased so quickly (which I learned the hard way, having bright green chalk on a white coat...). It makes sense to thread trace if your chalk gets erased quickly.
And then I learned that there's a very good reason we fit the garment on the person wearing it. All those little tricks and tidbits of wisdom we get told in class can go right out the window if you fit a garment. "You need to gradually decrease towards the waist, because there's still a breast that needs to fit in the garment. If you just cut across, you will not have enough room in the bust"? Bullocks. Depends all on the person inside the garment. The particular gradual decrease I had could just be taken out all at once, and two centimeters at the bust besides!
In short: a big pile of work but that's now very nearly done -- and I'm learning piles of stuff in the bargain. The dress is coming along nicely and I love the look it gives the character. Green is also a very good colour on Kat. =D
I have myself to thank for this workload, but it's pretty and will be an addition to the portfolio! It's all worth it.
Of course it's challenging to make a dress in a week, but I remember being faster about it. And if a simple a-symmetrical dress with one pleat and lacing in the back takes me three to four days to make, I don't want to contemplate how much longer the harder stuff will take. Never mind the additional time I'll need if I'm thread tracing my patterns like they really want me to do in school.
If you look at the professional and official way to do it, the method I am now learning in school, we use tailor's chalk to trace the patterns. But tailor's chalk gets erased easily, so you need to thread trace your patterns as well. In all other dressmaking I do I have a chalk pencil that doesn't get erased so quickly (which I learned the hard way, having bright green chalk on a white coat...). It makes sense to thread trace if your chalk gets erased quickly.
And then I learned that there's a very good reason we fit the garment on the person wearing it. All those little tricks and tidbits of wisdom we get told in class can go right out the window if you fit a garment. "You need to gradually decrease towards the waist, because there's still a breast that needs to fit in the garment. If you just cut across, you will not have enough room in the bust"? Bullocks. Depends all on the person inside the garment. The particular gradual decrease I had could just be taken out all at once, and two centimeters at the bust besides!
In short: a big pile of work but that's now very nearly done -- and I'm learning piles of stuff in the bargain. The dress is coming along nicely and I love the look it gives the character. Green is also a very good colour on Kat. =D
I have myself to thank for this workload, but it's pretty and will be an addition to the portfolio! It's all worth it.
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Date: 2012-03-08 09:17 am (UTC)Tom and I got your present in the mail and thank you very much. We haven't tried the tea yet, but really like the tea dispensers. :D
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Date: 2012-03-08 11:16 am (UTC)I'm glad you like the present. I felt so silly for forgetting it! I hope the tea is nice, I've never tried that blend myself.