Fortunately, Puresilks recently had some silk at $6 a yard so I snapped up 2 dress lengths. The people at PureSilks were awesome! Neither of the colors that were $6 were in stock, so they let me pick any custom color I wanted. I ordered one in an emerald green shot with electric blue. Ther other one was a sky blue tissue taffeta. Even though it was blue, I immediately thought of these dresses:
Even though they were pink, I felt the blue fabric wanted to be made into something like this. Plus, they have my absolute 2 favorite things in dresses: flounces and scallops. Perfect!
I wanted to have them done before Landmark Inn on March 18th. I got the fabric March 14th and spent the better part of 2 days figuring out the math to make the flounces. I still don't have it right. When I gauged the skirt, it pulled up the top layer and made it shorter, thus making it look like the second flounce was much too long. All I need to do is put the second flounce 2 inches higher. It shouldn't take too long, but I went ahead and wore the skirt anyway.
With the skirt, I made a sheer voile basque with it. The weather was going to be over 80 degrees Fahrenheit so I didn't want to wear my velvet basque. The effect turned out quite lovely and it was very cool. I wore with the ensemble a straw hat trimmed with green and blue ribbon, covered in the veil (I got neither the new bonnet or the parasol completed in time).
The flounces themselves have little scallops within the larger scallops. I accomplished this is a scallop rotary blade. Here are some pictures of the progress and some close ups of the flounces.
I didn't use anything to keep them from fraying so they are fraying a little. Not a lot, though. I used some fray check for the very bottom tier because I knew it would get a lot of wear. It discolored the silk a little so I decided to only do that for that flounce.
I didn't use anything to keep them from fraying so they are fraying a little. Not a lot, though. I used some fray check for the very bottom tier because I knew it would get a lot of wear. It discolored the silk a little so I decided to only do that for that flounce.
I like the seated pictures best because they don't show the unevenness of the tiers. That will need to be fixed before I wear it again. I am very pleased with the overall effect, though, and look forward to my next project.
I am pondering a sheer basque for an upcoming event. I love yours. Is there anything you would have done differently in making it or anything that stands out as important?
ReplyDeleteAnna
I've worn the basque a few more times and there are a few things that I did that I would change if I could/if I make a new one. If I were to make another one, I would put bishop sleeves on it instead of pagoda, simply because it gets really hot in Texas and if I had bishop, I wouldn't have to have sleeves AND undersleeves. Also, I would use a really opaque lining so my corset won't show through. I have a light blue corset and you CAN see it through the lining (I believe I lined with plain cotton. Cotton sateen may have worked better.) so I have to wear a corset cover and the lined bodice together. If you have a white corset, it may not be as big of a deal for you. Next time, I would just make an unlined basque and just use my cotton sateen corset cover to cut down on layers. But that's just me.
DeleteThank you so much for the quick reply.
DeleteI like the idea of the unlined basque and the cover. I do have a white corset, but it has color here and there.
The sleeves are a big help. I was thinking bishop sleeves would be best to keep from knocking things over or getting caught on things in the shop. This confirms that is the way to go.
Thank you!