The Sewing Place

I'm learning!

Catllar

I'm learning!
« on: June 27, 2018, 18:01:12 PM »
Just had a call from a dancer I haven't seen for years:

Jan I need to ask a favour. Are you till making flamenco frocks? I have a dress which isn't lined ( this is not sounding good right from the get go) and I've put on a bit of weight  ( right) and the seams have split a bit (oh really) So I was wondering could you just line the  top bit ( thats essentially a sheath dress top bit!) and let it out a bit. You can use the skirt and the sleeves are OK.

I'm loving the "just". SO I said - and you'll be proud of me:  Bring it along for me to see - do you have lining fabric and do you have any more of the original fabric. I will look before I commit. This isn't a "just" - all needs to come undone sleeves out, skirt off , adjustments made lining added ( flat- lining is what we do) and then re-made. It's not an adjustment -  sounds like a total re-build. Bring it to me and I'll have a look and give  you a price if it's do-able.

Aren't I  a big girl?? Proud of me?? :D
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

Lolli

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2018, 18:10:28 PM »
Well done you!! And rightly so too, you should feel proud of yourself for that  :flower:

Sewingsue

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2018, 19:19:02 PM »
Very proud, Catllar.

Er, if any seams have split then there isn't any continuous material to let out - unless she means the thread has broken.
Bernina Aurora 440QE, Brother BC-2500, Singer 99K (1938), Juki MO-654DE overlocker, Silver Viscount 620D overlocker.

Yellowfeather

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2018, 20:10:40 PM »
Good girl!!!  I really hate "Can you just".  Or my other favourite - "it is an easy alteration".  REALLY!!! If it is so easy, why are you asking someone else to do it???

Well done, keep it up. :toast:
xx

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2018, 20:22:46 PM »
I reckon the fabric has shredded  at the seam line - probably some cheap market crap ( I know the girl who made the original frock - her name shall not be spoken in this house!).  I am having a rose spritzer to celebrate my strong will.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

Bowerbird

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2018, 01:25:22 AM »
Well done, and have a second glass  :toast:.

With any luck she'll have heard the sub-text in your reply, ie it's too hard & will be too expensive, so she won't turn up.

Or she's really obtuse and only heard 'do-able' in which case double the price.

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2018, 23:21:03 PM »
She turned up and yes the thing needs remaking and lining.  I quoted €100  - she gulped and said fine. So off I go - later.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

b15erk

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2018, 11:10:58 AM »
That's the way to do it!!

Wonder if she will come back.....?  ;)

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2018, 13:46:09 PM »
Hope so - her dress is now in bits and the sewing is :S :S :S :S  Who here would make a dress in a fray-horror fabric and not finish the seams round the armholes nor the wrists ( I know there are frills covering the wrist bit but still - I couldn't do that! The part where the skirt is sewn to the bodice is raw too. No lining, impossible to wear a dance bra under it so not very acceptable from a modesty point of view - specially if it's cold - if you get my drift! Bodice seams are well stitched,  in as far as they are overlocked - that's it - just overlocked so no seam allowance for me to play with and I've got to unpick the overlocking to get it all apart.

Anyway I'll get on with it next week, got the gala today and then another gig next week.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

b15erk

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2018, 14:16:56 PM »
Sounds like you have a job on your hands, but at least you're getting paid for it!

It sounds like a rotten job though....

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2018, 19:58:53 PM »
Taken it to pieces, recut the fronts and lined out front  and side panels and re-assembled the panels. Maybe I'm going to regret this but its' going smoothly at the moment.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #11 on: July 14, 2018, 22:43:26 PM »
FINISHED  Miss!  Wasn't too hard - but she doesn't need to know that does she?

I got another one last week ,  from a  different client, but this one is even more interesting.

Take a black ( yucky  sore eyes - hate sewing black) flamenco  dress with the usual princess seams but this one  has the panels right down to the floor and the frills (black georgette and 5 rows of them) are stitched onto this. Long georgette sleeves. So not  the usual construction where you can just unstitch the skirt and all the frills - with me so far?  She has bought some gorgeous embroidered lace and she would like me to attach the lace to the bodice and leave the skirt black. The fabric is one that doesn't crease or hold a seam line so this is what I'm doing : remove sleeves and top frill - I will fight the other frills in place - remove zipper and unpick one back panel. Thread mark all seam lines as I unpick so I can see where to re-stitch. Wrestle the thing onto the  table and lay it out RS down onto WS lace . Pin securely. chop out the lace so I can manoeuvre it. Thread mark again attaching the lace to the bodice, then run a couple of tacking lines down through all the layers to keep it nice and flat. repeat for next panel. Baste panels together. Repeat for all panels. Now if you think in 3D you will realise that once sewn together the lace will be trapped into the seams - hooray - but the bottom edge of the lace will be on the outside as there is nowhere for it to go. I  have a cunning plan and will replace the top black frill with a lace frill which will be attached to cover the raw edge of the bodice lace. Anyway, that's the plan - I may be some time.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2018, 18:46:20 PM »
So I did all the above and was quite pleased with myself until we fitted it and I  noticed that all the bodice seams from the waist down are twisted and off grain. This was far less obvious in the black fabric but is screaming at me now the lace overlay is added. I also forgot to allow for the turn of cloth with the additional thickness of the embroidered lace and it's come up skimpy on her. She also, to be fair, said she has put on weight since classes stopped in end June. SO I unpicked all the thing - removed all the
 skirt frills, took out the zip - basically took the whole thing to bits and pressed it all. Started from the shoulders and I can see that some of the panels have been cut cross grain to save fabric ( I didn't make the original dress) but they are on the squint so this throws all the seams out of whack. Cut new panels and added new lace ( have a lot left over) Pinning it all back and it looks a lot better - it's hanging square now. phew. I'm really glad I'd marked all the seam lines, so I have the measurements Im aiming for!. Doing this a bit at a time as it's BLACK - grrrrr..
« Last Edit: August 04, 2018, 15:42:45 PM by Catllar »
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

fajita

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2018, 21:02:40 PM »
Oh that sounds like a lot of hard work. Here, have a cuppa  :toast:

Catllar

Re: I'm learning!
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2018, 15:41:42 PM »
Oh that sounds like a lot of hard work. Here, have a cuppa  :toast:

Don't mind if I do!  Not sewing today - can only use my sewing room in the morning in this heat - and the collection of slut's wool on the floors was up to my ankles, so cleaning called.  I know I"m getting paid to do this  :frock: but it's an interesting challenge to correct it. Oddest construction I've come across for a long while.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !