Dressmaking

VanyaHargreeves

Hi,
Wondering if anyone has any experience in dressmaking? I want to make a dress similar to this one: http://www.kenphillipsgroup.com/Phillips/2860681415_a2f66dcb49_o.jpg for a fancy dress party, and was wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

Here's the bottom:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81392520@N00/3628799204/

Penelope_Penguin

What advice do you need? What experience do you have? Do you have a pattern? Do you have a sewing machine? Have you bought the fabric, or do you have a fabric in mind?

Penny. x

VanyaHargreeves

I have never made a dress before, and I don't have a sewing machine and have no space for one but I CAN use my friend's. I've not got anything at all yet, because I dont actually know what I need, haha.
Any help would be appreciated.

Penelope_Penguin

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

I have never made a dress before, and I don't have a sewing machine and have no space for one but I CAN use my friend's. I've not got anything at all yet, because I dont actually know what I need, haha.
Any help would be appreciated.

I've been helping my DD who has an A* in GCSE textiles to make a dress today. It's taken us much of the day to make a simple bodice. That dress looks really complicated If you have no experience whatsoever, that dress looks like a tricky one to start on. Can your friend with the sewing machine help you out?

If you're determined to make that dress, try a sewing shop and look for a pattern similar to what you want. Then look for fabric. Follow the instructions that come with the pattern, and you're away

Penny. x

VanyaHargreeves

I've got till may to make it, so... xD

valk_scot

Have you any dressmaking experience whatsoever? And are you going to want to make the entire thing, including the fitted and boned corset?

I have to say though that this particular dress is possibly one of the potentially difficult ones I've set eyes on. You would need basic corsetry skills for a start...I think of myself as a pretty good home seamstress, and I couldn't make a corset without a lot of reading up and practicing the technique. Possibly it would be simpler to make it as a two piece dress ie skirt plus corset, with a bought corset top? Making a big frilly skirt is a lot easier than a corset...look for a flamenco dress or skirt pattern and go from there..

Edit...flamenco skirt patterns here or here.

ChocClare

Right, here is my two penn'orth for what it's worth!

Don't even BOTHER with the bodice - it's boned and that is advanced stuff. Similarly the jacket is fitted and the sleeves are close-set, which is not for a beginner. However, you can buy a basque-type top very easily and a fitted jacket. I would think that's your best bet. Did you have a particular colour in mind? I ask because if you could get eg a black basque and jacket then it would be easy enough to buy some black material for the skirt which would then make it look like a dress. Or are you after the redingote look of the first photo - different top and bottom?

The skirt isn't as complicated as it looks. What you basically have is a mini ra-ra skirt with layers of ruffles on the back only. The first picture looks like it is a wraparound skirt and that might be an easier version to try.

You need a basic miniskirt pattern. Make it short. Don't hem it. You need to cut a piece of material at least twice the bottom width of your miniskirt and preferably more if you can manage it. This piece of material should be about six inches deep. Join the two short ends, press open the seam and then turn up a half-inch hem all along one long edge. You should now have a "hoop" of material with one finished edge and one unfinished edge. Using a LONG stitch and loose tension on your sewing machine, sew all along the unfinished edge 5/8" inch away from the edge. Don't sew in your threads. Now repeat 3/8" from the edge. Grab hold of the two ends of thread and start pulling. The material should gather up. Make the gathers even by spreading the material along the thread, and when it's reduced to the same width as the bottom of your miniskirt, join the right side of the ruffle to the right side of your miniskirt and sew together. You now have a miniskirt with a ruffle at the bottom. Yay!

You now want the overskirt bit. You want it to reach to the floor, and you want it to meet at your waist, but you don't want anything in front. So you need a sort of upside-down trapezoid shape. You are going to sew ruffles like the one you made for the miniskirt all the way down this upside-down trapezoid. The good news is they don't need to be joined into a circle like for the miniskirt bit. Make them at least double the width of the piece of material you're sewing them too, gather as before and stitch. You need them to be overlapping to get that very ruffled look so you are going to need quite a bit of material, though each ruffle is only six inches deep.

When you have sewn all the ruffles onto your base skirt. Make a ruffle which will go all the way round - ie start at your waist, go down the skirt on your right round the bottom of the back and up the skirt on your left. You don't HAVE to do this, but it will neaten everything. Now make a waisband - use the pattern from your miniskirt - sew along the top of the overskirt and button or hook and eye in front.

This is the sort of thing which is EASY PEASY to show and difficult to explain by writing down. I hope you haven't lost the will to live! By all means ask me if you don't know what on EARTH I'm talking about!

HTH anyway... :rotfl:

jackieglasgow

WOW! ChocoClare that is a fantastic explaination! Makes me want to make it myself, just to try it out cos you make it sound so easy! I'm pretty adept with a sewingmachine, but it looked blurdy complicated to me from the picture. Well Done!

Jackie X

ChocClare

Looking at it again, the miniskirt part is definitely wraparound, with a frill up the wrap part and the long skirt attached underneath the wrapover and on top of the other side.

I could make it but can't explain it to you without pictures! Drop me a pm if you're interested and I'll try to do some drawings :eek:

ETA: No, as you were, what looks like a wrap is not - the overskirt seems to have straps holding it up. Actually, I think it might be even less complicated than I described earlier - if you look at it, you can see ruffles through her legs, and there is a LOT of material. I would suggest that you make a dead easy long skirt, to which you apply loads of ruffles all the way up. Make it two sizes too big for you - so if you are a 12 make it a 16, 14 becomes 18, 16 becomes 20 etc. It can be straight or A-line - the main thing is that it should be much too big in the waist - big enough that one side (ie the back or front on its own) would wrap nearly all the way round your waist and hips. Make it up completely apart from the waistband. Ordinarily, you would gather the skirt onto the waistband. In this case, you would lay the skirt flat, make a LONG waistband and attach it to both front and back of the skirt through both layers. In other words, you can no longer step into this skirt - it has become an apron. You can then tie the waistband round your waist (you'd still be wearing your ruffled miniskirt) and you will have this very full ruffled skirt with no ends showing because it's actually a complete skirt.

The reason for making it two sizes too big is so that it goes over the front of your hips - you don't want it to meet completely in front but you do want it to come round to the front. Two sizes too big plus not gathering it onto the waistband should achieve this. If it's a pattern which sews FLAT onto the waistband, then you'd need to make it bigger still.

Do you see what I'm getting at? There are definitely straps holding that skirt on in the photo, and it looks like she's used them to hitch up part of the skirt still further in front. Look at it closely and hopefully you'll see what I mean.

If you think that's not right, do say! I may be misinterpreting the photo - after all, I thought it was a wrap skirt just now!

Cashwitch

This thread really caught my eye as I love fashion! I really wish I'd done a design course instead of the (academic) ones I ended up doing as i'm quite arty...Anyway, I've read the replies with interest and am afraid I'm going to hijack it a bit and ask everyone about getting the skills...Here goes:

* I did needlework in school and have vague memories of techniques (!) What's the best way of refreshing and adding to these? Is a book sufficient?I get the feeling people may say 'no' as I find demonstration so useful...
* Is it worth investing in a sewing machine (and how much are they?) before knowing what the heck I'm doing?

ChocClare

You can usually do dressmaking at adult education courses for not too much money. The best way really is to join a class as you get everything demonstrated to you and I find having to work on projects focusses your mind much better than reading the techniques out of a book.

I went to tailoring classes when I lived in Wandsworth and our tutor was a Savile Row tailor. I can't tell you how much I learnt from him - and his techniques were different from everything graphically illustrated in the the Vogue book of sewing! I have samples and samples of piped pockets I made with him for example - every time I buy a (usually cheap) suit I look at the inset pockets and think - pah! I could do that better! It really helps when you learn from the professionals (even if you know you'll never be as good as them :rolleyes:).