Baby Silk Embroidery - Simplicity 2392

One of the classes I am taking this semester is Silk Embroidery.  I've dabbled in regular hand embroidery a few times and absolutely love it, so when the opportunity came up to take this class in place of another one that was cancelled I was excited.  For those of you who may not know what silk embroidery is here is how it is different form regular embroidery:

while regular embroidery typically uses cotton thread,

silk embroidery is done with 100% silk ribbon.

You even do the same stitches as you would in regular embroidery, but of course the size of the ribbon is what makes the stitches have a different look.  Silk ribbon embroidery is used a lot for doing floral motifs on things since the thickness of the ribbon gives good texture.

Now that you know a little about silk ribbon embroidery, back to the project!  The first project we were assigned for the silk embroidery class was a child garment.  No particular style or requirement for the garment, except that we did the embroidery on it and add lace somehow.  As soon as I saw this vintage pattern reprint from Simplicity I knew I had to use it for this project.  The feel of the embroidery just fits so well with the dress style.

I chose to sew up view B (the pink and white) but did the sleeve from view C.  

The embroidery I did on the front yoke of the dress is similar in layout and style to the embroidery idea they include in the pattern instructions.  I did a twisted/stem stitch for the flower stems, la daisy stitch for the flower petals, knots of r the flower centers, and ribbon stitch for the leaves.  I was still figuring out the twisted/stem stitch so the stems on these flowers look a little wonky.

 The part of the embroidery I did change was the embroidery on the bottom band.  Instead of the small flowers they did I wanted to make it look like the flowers were growing out of the hem of the dress.  I did all the same stitches as on the yoke, just bigger :)  and the twisted/stem stitch looks A QUADRILLION TIMES BETTER!  Ok, slight exaggeration there...but they do look so much better.  I was finally getting the hang of it.

And here are just a couple more pictures of the rest of the dress.  The armholes are faced, and the pattern even includes a piece to make the bias tape for them!  For the back yoke I chose two button that have a rainbow effect iridescence to them.

I am so pleased with how this dress turned out!  It is so adorable!  I even considered at one point selling it, but it's too cute to give away and plus I can save it for my future little girl...3, 4, 6 years down the road! lol

Snow (Ice) Day Blog Catch-up

I can't believe it's been since June that I last posted! Major slacker, but most of that has to do with being in school.  There's never really a lot of homework for my classes just a lot of projects...since it is a hands-on design school.  I've been saying for a while that I was going to update the good ol' blog but kept putting it off and getting involved with schoolwork.  Well, today we had a round of bad weather come through and we actually got something!  Living here in Middle TN the weather is so finicky and usually they say we're going to get bad winter weather but we don't get anything.  This morning all the rain we got yesterday and last night turned to ice and roads were ridiculous.  Thus, we finally got a snow day from school!  I also have no homework due in any of my other classes later this week so I'll take the time to update.

The first project up is some jersey knit t-shirts I made.  I refashioned these from the maxi skirts I made a long time ago when I first stared sewing.  I never wore the skirts so I figured I'd make something useful from them.  I traced a t-shirt I already owned for the pattern.  I added bands around the neck and arms and did a simple zig-zag stitch around the hem since I don't have a double needle.

My next project is the first assignment that was due for my Clothing Construction 2 class.  The pattern for this top was from the one we drafted in Flat Pattern 1.  It has princess seams on the front and a back yoke with an inverted box pleat.  The fabrics I used were all something I had in my stash.  I used a simple solid black cotton and a fun Hawaiian-esque printed cotton I received from my former boss when she wrapped up a gift card she gave me.  I knew that fabric would come in handy one day!  And of course I did my favorite thing...fabric covered buttons!

  

This next project was also for school.  This was the second assignment due for my Clothing Construction 2 class.  The patterns used were drafted in our Flat Pattern 2 class.  I am all about making patterns and clothing that I will actually wear, so I made a simple circle skirt.  Nothing fancy.  I used a printed cotton and lined it with a regular acetate lining.  I did a fun green zipper, even though you can't see it because of the lap and I did a simple faced hem with bias tape.

 And of course I had to do some fabric covered buttons to coordinate!

Up next was a little fun project I was asked to do for a little girl, little Miss G, of one of my mom's coworkers.  Her family was going to be in Disney World for Halloween and the little girl wanted a Bollywood-esque, Princess Jasmine-esque costume.  I didn't have much to go on so I began creating the costume myself.  I drafted every piece of the outfit and the little girl's mom supplied all the materials.  For the top I did a simple sleeveless bodice block.  There is a solid pink satin under the pink sequin chiffon.  There is a strip of gold beads around the front hem, and to get the top to fit well I did elastic around the back hem.  I faced the armholes with self-made bias strips and then slipstitched a little chiffon sleeve around the top of the armhole.

For the pants, I first drafted a simple pant block.  For the outer chiffon layer I modified the pant block into a baggy pant so that they would fit loosely and billow at the ankle.  And of course since it was a chiffon I made some shorts from the basic pant block out of a solid orange knit she gave me.  I must say I was extremely happy with how the little costume came out and little Miss G was even happier! That's what mattered most!

The third assignment of the semester was to draft and sew a pair of pants.  For this project I created an awesome pair of 70s-esque trouser pants.  I used a fun floral printed 21W corduroy and found a cute wooden flower for the button closure.  I even went a little insane and created my own bias tape to bind every seam, instead of serging them.  Yep, I created over 7 yards of bias tape!  Very tedious but I was happy with the end result on the pants.  We were also required to do a welt pocket on the pants.  This was my first time ever doing a welt pocket.

Alrighty, second to last assignment!  Now you can see why I've never had time to update.  This assignment was to pattern and sew a pair of jeans.  I created a pair of skinny jeans from an awesome stretch plum denim I found.  The good thing about making your clothes is that I was able to make these to fit higher up on my waist.  They sit just below my bellybutton and I did a contoured waistband.  I lined the pockets with some leftover cotton from the first circle skirt.  I ran out of plum denim for the back pockets (required) and the belt loops, so I used some black denim I had from a pair of jeans I previously cut up.

Now for the final assignment of Clothing Construction 2.  We had to sew a garment from a copy of another piece of clothing we already owned.  I chose a front button sleeveless dress I have and love.  After making the muslin for Flat Pattern 2 to test fit I did not like the dress anymore, so I shortened it and created a top.  For this top I used this blue and black checked cotton flannel.  There are princess seams on the front and back and when I was construction the back portion the bodice was too big for the yoke so I did an inverted box pleat.

Whew!  That sums up all the sewing projects I worked on since my last post.  I'm going to try and do better this semester about keeping y'all updated.  I appreciate all my readers and am so glad y'all take the time to read my happenings.  Until next time!