The Sewing Place
The Emporia => A bit of a 'do' => Topic started by: elisep on July 09, 2018, 15:07:42 PM
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Coming up in August I have my once-yearly work function. Each year has a theme and this year it's "Bond" AKA just black tie.
As usual my decision on what to wear has changed several times (I know better than to start too early as I'll change my mind!) and I've settled on a full skirted, silk velvet gown in "wine purple".
My original plan was to use McCalls 7685 (https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7685) for the bodice and draft my own skirt. But now, I'm starting to get concerned that the pattern is less than ideal for velvet.
I'm liking Vogue 1474 (https://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v1474) more and more, however I would prefer a deeper V neck and I just don't think there's any way I can bone that bodice.
I'd also be drafting my own skirt rather than the skirt on the bias and I don't know how I could get that to work at the centre back seam.
Upon further searching, I've found this pattern (https://evadress-patterns.myshopify.com/collections/1950s/products/1951-evening-gown-stole-e50-8437) which appears to be quite close to what I want, save that the back is closed. That's easily altered though. I'm a bit hesitant to use a vintage reproduction pattern though. Of the three I think this would be the simplest to make though, and I wouldn't have to draft my own skirt pattern.
Any advice or other pattern recommendations welcome!
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Love the Vogue, and love the idea of purple velvet. Although I would rather you sewed it than me!
Jessie
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That's the "what was I thinking" part!! Never sewn with velvet before... probably never will after this!
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My most favourtie frock EVER was a purple crushed velvet mid-dress (it was in 1974)
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There's velvet and there's velvet!
A lot of what you find is a synthetic jersey backing with the velvet pile added. Fairly easy to sew although RS to RS it does creep out of position as you are sewing. It's also very forgiving of being squashed and creased. The downside is that it rolls and curls - the way stocking stitch knitting does. That means that it can be tricky to keep a narrow hem uncurled.
Woven velvet is usually heavier - often sold as furnishing weight! Cotton is very heavy, silk will cost a fortune. Lies flat, but if it gets ceased then very difficult to get it to look good again. When I was 13 I was a bridesmaid and had a dress made from furnishing weight velvet.
The McCalls pattern has a gathered skirt - IIRC my bridesmaid dress had soft pleats in place of gathers as the fabric was so thick. You also need to be very slim to get away with that top.
The skirt on the Vogue dress has a ruffle down the back which shows both sides of the fabric. Ideally satin backed crepe but definitely not velvet!
The vintage pattern, if it's the right size for you (one size only) is probably the best bet. It says horsehair in the hem; that will be needed if you use a jersey/knitted velvet.
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I would use a rayon velvet. It is lighter than most velvets - more like silk and has a lovely sheen and drape.
Personally, I wouldn't gather velvet, pleat if you must.
I like the first and last of those patterns. The 1951 one might be cut on the bias though if it is done as a circle (no gathering at the waist I note). In general, I like the Vogue best.
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The 1951 pattern has CF and CB seams, so it's four panels, not a circle. From the way the checks are drawn it looks as though each panel is on the straight of grain, not on the bias, so would work with a napped fabric like velvet.
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A long, long time ago I sewed several cotton velvet skirts made up of four panels (four gored ? ) as described by @BrendaP. The cotton velvet was very soft but I'm not sure if the same quality fabric is available today. I found one skirt in the back of a cupboard recently and looking at it the straight grain is along the centre of each panel.
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My original plan was to use McCalls 7685 (https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7685) for the bodice and draft my own skirt. But now, I'm starting to get concerned that the pattern is less than ideal for velvet.
Any advice or other pattern recommendations welcome!
I can see why you're concerned that the above pattern is less than ideal for velvet but I think out of the three patterns it's more suited to the Bond theme (in my opinion). I love that pattern for such an event. Can't you rethink the fabric? Does it have to be silk velvet?
lizzy
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I love the first pattern but I don't think I'd do it in velvet - wold look lovely in silk crepe georgette.
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Thanks for your opinions, ladies! I've ordered the vintage pattern but may not end up going with it... at least I'll be able to use the skirt.
Unfortunately I can't rethink the fabric - 6m of the stuff is already en route to me from ebay (yes I did get a sample first). It's a silk/rayon blend (I think most velvet sold as silk these days is a blend? seems to me anyway) and it is a beautiful fabric.
I did forget to mention that an option with the first McCalls pattern is to use the lining pieces as the outer, thereby getting the same styling without the gathers. I'm leaning towards that at the moment, but I'll wait till I've got the fabric in my possession before I make a final decision! Once I see how it drapes and how gathers will look.
Regarding the skirt, I'm definitely going for a 4 gore skirt. Not sure whether I will need a petticoat underneath, or whether it will be better to line (or underline) it? That's a question to be answered once I have the fabric too. I'm also thinking it may need horsehair in the skirt hem but I'm not sure how full I want it to look - the extra weight I'm carrying around my high hip means that a fuller skirt is more flattering, but I don't want TOO full. (Though my inner child says go full on ball gown... ;) )
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You might want to consider that a Bond theme will need a dress that will fall into an elegant heap on the floor as you seduce Mr Bond, so the horsehair might make it pile up like a lampshade LOL!!
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Well my fabric has arrived and it's really more of a burgundy colour than purple but it's still beautiful (yes I did get a sample but it took a while between looking at the samples and the fabric arriving that I'd "remembered" the fabric as more purpley than it is)!
And I've added another pattern option for the bodice which I'm strongly leaning towards (that may change!) - McCalls 7366 (https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7366), the plunging neckline option. The plan is to mock up each of the bodices and make a decision from there.
I'm also wavering on making a full skirt... the thought popped into my head today that if I make it a slinky skirt with a thigh high split, I could have a (fake) gun strapped to my thigh! But, I think a full skirt will be more flattering to my body type and I've bought 6m of the fabric!!
I just need to figure out if I do go the full skirt option, what's the best way to make the skirt full, as being silk velvet it's quite soft and slinky. It may need underlining with a more stable fabric.
So many decisions! And 5 1/2 weeks now to get it made...
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Because velvet has a nap it won't look right cut as a circle. 4 or 6 panels/gores, each of which flare quite a lot from waist to hem is the way to go.
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I know this is nothing like you have been looking for but I couldn't resist showing you this pattern I have just seen. I have bought one of the Named patterns this evening and thought I would have a look at what other patterns they do (as I haven't used one of them before). But I saw this and thought I would give you the link. The models dress is made up in silk crepe for the bodice and velvet for the skirt. It is quite open at the back though. Just think it is a lovely pattern.
https://www.namedclothing.com/shop/elizabeth-gown/
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I know this is nothing like you have been looking for but I couldn't resist showing you this pattern I have just seen. I have bought one of the Named patterns this evening and thought I would have a look at what other patterns they do (as I haven't used one of them before). But I saw this and thought I would give you the link. The models dress is made up in silk crepe for the bodice and velvet for the skirt. It is quite open at the back though. Just think it is a lovely pattern.
https://www.namedclothing.com/shop/elizabeth-gown/
That is gorgeous!
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That's a lovely pattern Lizzy... unfortunately not a flattering style for me, I'm better with a waist seam at the natural waist.
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That's a lovely pattern Lizzy... unfortunately not a flattering style for me, I'm better with a waist seam at the natural waist.
Thanks elisep. How are you getting on with your dress?
lizzy
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Right, progress continues.
I'm all toiled out and have decided on McCalls 7366 (https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7366), view A bodice (the plunging neckline one) with this Evadress pattern (https://evadress-patterns.myshopify.com/collections/1950s/products/1951-evening-gown-stole-e50-8437) for the skirt. The skirt is cut on the straight grain so luckily I can just get it out of my fabric without having to piece it.
I'll be lining the bodice with silk satin but the fabric I've chosen to line the skirt is a heavy delustered poly satin. Sadly the closest colour match I could get to my wine velvet was "grape" but you'll not be able to see it anyway! I've cut and sewn the skirt lining as I used it to toile my bodice. It drapes beautifully, but I definitely want to hem it with horsehair braid to get a fuller look.
Can anyone recommend what width braid to use for a heavy satin? And do I use the braid in both my lining and velvet?
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That's going to be amazing!
I'd use about 4" (10cm) or so horsehair braid (crinoline or crin), I think. Narrower and it may not have enough body, while the 6" (15cm) might be hard to adjust to the skirt curve. Try to get the kind that has the string along one edge - it's more expensive but well worth it. You sew it to the hem along the unstringed edge, then when you fold it in, you can pull up the string to make the braid fit the curve of the skirt. The ebay ones are usually stringless - millinery suppliers are better, or dancewear fabric shops.
As to doing the lining or not, it would make it fuller for sure - you can also pleat or tuck the crin at internals and stitch it to the rightside of the lining like a ruffle for an even fuller effect. The alternative would be a petticoat, which are easily bought, and would help hold the upper part of the skirt out, too.
Whatever you do, if the skirt and lining are the same pattern, try to use a different application of the crin on the two layers - either different widths if you do both as a hem facing, or hem facing on the velvet, ruffle(s) on the lining. If they are the same, they tend to fall in the same folds and not have much motion.
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Thanks Sewingforfun! I've got time so I'll have a play around with the hem treatments.
Progress has been made - I've finally cut my fabric and started sewing (after spending a couple of hours practicing on the scraps!). I'm about 3/4 through the bodice. I'm learning a lot about sewing with velvet. Mostly about patience! There is no way you can rush the sewing. I'm forcing myself to go slow and enjoy the process of double pinning and hand basting! And it's paying off (the first couple of seams I did would have benefited from a little more patience).
I've also learned the best way to hand baste is to use a catch stitch and machine stitch down the centre. Before I figured that out I was using a diagonal running stitch (as I saw this on a website somewhere) and was still getting a lot of shifting side to side.
I hope to have the bodice basically finished by the end of the weekend, and then the skirt won't take long after that. Just need to make a few decisions on how to finish the seams in the skirt - hong kong seams maybe? Or just overlocked? And how to close the collar at the neck. I'd really like to use a self cover button and buttonhole, but I am not sure how a machine buttonhole in the velvet will look. Need to test it out on a few more scraps!
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Can you not think about a couple of fine button loops made from thread?
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Well I haven't had much time online to update this post, but as my event has been and gone, I thought I should come in and share my photos!
I ended up going with a standard buttonhole in the collar. Not super happy with it, but it's not too bad.
I used 3" horsehair braid in the hem of the lining, and left the velvet fabric as is. I decided I didn't want it as full as I had originally planned so just the braid in the lining hem was fine.
The skirt was an absolute pain to hem (predictable) and I'm not sure how, but it ended up too short on one side, so that the lining showed. And not only that, but I had sewed the (white) braid to the wrong side of the lining, so I had to run down to the fabric store at the last minute and grab some ribbon to stitch down over the braid so that it wouldn't be super visible (just don't look too closely!)
The back gaped a little bit, I had planned to do a row of 3 or 4 self cover buttons up from the waist to make it sit better. I only had 1 button left in my self cover button kit - went and bought a new packet, same brand/size/style, and the horrid things wouldn't work :angry: I'm actually rather angry about it, as this is now the 3rd thing I've bought of this brand (the only brand available at my local/chain store) that is really terrible quality. There was no time to go searching for a different brand of buttons, so the back just had to gape :'(
I went with a gold metal belt rather than the self fabric belt as I felt it needed something to break it up and also tone it together with my shoes and jewellery.
All in all, excepting the hem mishap, I'm happy with how it turned out! As you can see the colour is decidedly burgundy, not purple, but oh well. I got some lovely comments on it and felt beautiful!
(https://i.imgur.com/2QrcTKHl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ehgK8R7l.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/12mAH9Zl.jpg)
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It's beautiful, you should be very proud of your skill.
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It is lovely! So glad you persisted.
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Wow what a lot of work. It is lovley and you look really great in it, it suits you. Did you add any boning or bra cups to keep the top in the right place?