Sewing with Silk for Eveningwear

For the last two weeks I've been working on a gown for my sister. Her daughter is getting married next week, and if you have the experience my family has when shopping ready-to-wear, you just know before you ever get started that there is nothing worth buying. After shopping for months, ordering a dress, then returning it, my sister asked me to make "Grace" from my Gowns by Laura collection. I first made this dress for my Fall Fashion Week debut in 2006.

Grace comes from my Gowns by Laura Collection

If you care to read more, here is an article in my local newspaper about that presentation. The model in the article is also wearing Grace: http://gownsbylaura.com/GT.html

The fabric my sister sent me is a very pretty iridescent or two toned silk that feels like taffeta. It's VERY thin, which at first scared her away, but this fabric is very nice for a design such as this. I always put boning and an inner lining in evening wear, but this fabric shows every ridge, and with such limited time I decided to scratch the boning this time. Working with Silk does require a bit of extra care.

 

To add an inner lining, cut your pattern from a basic white muslin/cotton and pin to the wrong side of each piece.

With darts, mark only the muslin, not the silk. Pin down the center of the dart, and then baste.

Sew inside the seam allowance, each angle sewn independently.

Then check it against your pattern once more. Trim away any excess.

This is the back bodice. The darts are ready to sew.

Pressing the darts to the center would be typical, but this creates an ugly ridge from under neath.

Instead, trim the darts to 1/2-3/8" from the stitching line, clip up into the dart tip a short way, and press open.

Looks much better, don't you agree?

Next week I will be gone to the wedding, but will post the final result on my facebook page before I go.
https://www.facebook.com/SewChicPatternCo 

Have a great sewing day!

Laura