Random Thoughts

[hsifeng]

OK, one last post. I swear. *crosses fingers behind back*

Working on the dress this past week, and reading along as vanagnessayem has been working on hers, made me wonder something.

What order do you guys put your (German) dresses together in?

Just curious, since it is apparent that vanagnessayem and I have a slightly different order and it made me wonder what other

Comments

[jillwheezul]

After I make the bodice, I hem the dress first and then pleat. I adjust for curve at the top not at the bottom which makes the hemming very easy.

[hsifeng]

Ahhh…I think I avoid this issue by not having a butt. *grin* Honestly though, I would guess that all my dresses are just a little longer in the front than in the back. *makes a face* I should probably do something about that…

[vanagnessayem]

1) Draft pattern and fabric layout, make a mock up to confirm fit.
2) Cut all fabric bits out (usually using only just enough fabric so must have all ready mapped out and cut properly and clearly.
3) Construct bodice including trim in construction process.
4) Sew skirt into a tube. Attach trim to skirt while in the round (much use of ironing board and ruler to be sure of exact alignment.
5) Put bodice on and measure from waist to floor to be sure of skirt length. Shorten skirt from the top.
6) Attach skirt to bodice (using the maths for pleating and many pins) either by hand or by machine.
7) Do hand finishing and closures (often late at night or in the car on the way to an event)
8) Try on complete dress and celebrate!

[hsifeng]

OK, I am curious. I can see many good reasons to make up the skirt into a tube before trimming and attaching to the bodice (for one, your guards don’t all end/disappear into the ditch of your skirt-closing-seam that way; helps to make the trim look nicer).

And yes, it’s all about ironing and measuring, measuring and ironing, repeat ad nauseam.

Also, I believe sewing in the car is a requirement for good costuming, as is sewing by candlelight at events on Friday night. A few years ago I was in a group that had a rash of historical-weddings-held-at-faires; the night before these events generally saw every woman in the guild piled into a tent finishing the sewing on the brides wedding dress while all the men kept us supplied with entertainment and drinks.

We used to joke that we should invest in a generator and spare sewing machines for those occasions.

There are worse ways to spend a Friday night.

;)

[vanagnessayem]

Also the nice thing about doing all the skirt first is that once is it attached it is finished. Nothing to fuss with. The bodice is always teh fussy part.

[hsifeng]

*nods in agreement*

I hear you there!

[femkederoas]

1. Make mock up

[hsifeng]

“Get distracted, wander off to a new project”

I swear to god, this (and alcohol) are 90% of the reason it takes me so long to finish any project (that I am not doing on a ridiculously short deadline and with a gun to my head).

*chuckle*

“Should I do the guards before I put the skirt on? I never thought of that?”

I do them before attaching the skirt because working with gobs of uncooperative fabric is easier for me when they are flat than when they are made up as a tube or attached to a bodice. Then again, I chose this order of construction AGES ago and maybe doing the guards after the skirt is a tube (or cone) is better because it allows the guards to not all ‘end’ in the same ditch where the skirt comes together (although I generally cleverly disguises this ditch by leaving the ends of the guards loose and then sewing them up pretty once the skirt is a tube (or cone).

Who am I kidding, the only person with a circle (cone) skirt in my family is my husband, and it’s on his Waffenrock. I should really try a circle skirt someday…

Order of Operations

[nibuca]

1. Fit bodice (I also tend to make clothes only when I change size so I always need a new bodice pattern)
2. Make bodice from pattern (including closures, sleeves and guards). All the seams end up on the inside of the bodice and I bind those (usually after I've been wearing the dress for 6 months)
3. Pleat skirt onto a waist band.
4. Attach waist band onto bodice.
5. Close front of skirt.
6. Hem skirt. Machine hem if I'm pressed for time which I later replace with a hand hem.
7. Add skirt guards. They're measured up from the hem to keep them even. Usually the top edge of the guard is machined and the bottom edge is done by hand.
8. Bind the bodice seams (this has happend up to 6 months after I started wearing the dress)

On my last dress I had to do it in a different order (skirt/sleeves first) because I was waiting for a friend to fit my bodice and I needed to get something done on the dress.. but normally it's bodice first.

Re: Order of Operations

[hsifeng]

*chuckle* I also tend to have dresses that become ‘continuous projects’ even after I have worn them. This dress will be no exception, as I will be going back to replace some machine sewing with handsewing because I am persnickety that way. ;)

Usually the top edge of the guard is machined and the bottom edge is done by hand.

I do this as well!

[etaine_pommier]

My methodology is pretty close to vanagnessayem's, though I actually find sleeves to be the fiddliest bits (probably because I end up making so many Saxon gowns) and what I like doing least is guarding the skirt.
1) Make pattern/pattern adjustments as necessary
2) Cut and construct bodice, final fit tweaking (my bodices are flat lined) and then fininish bodice entirely (including any trimming)
3) Cut and assemble sleeves, finish in entirety, whipstitch into bodice
4) Cut skirt and guarding
5) Piece and press guarding, swear a lot about so much ironing
6) Piece skirt, set guarding
7) Pleat skirt and set to bodice

[hsifeng]

”…swear a lot about so much ironing…

I think my iron runs on swearing as much as it runs on electricity. *grin*

Now see, you actually put your skirt guards on while the skirt is flat…right? Which is what I do. Unless piecing the skirt includes closing all the seams (which I think is what ou are saying)? I am pondering the differences between these two techniques - tube vs flat - and I am not yet sure which I prefer.

*hum*

[etaine_pommier]

I make the skirt into a tube before putting the guards on (well, some of them are gored, so I guess those I make into a truncated cone :)

[hsifeng]

*nods in understanding*

OK, got it!