I started by testing cartridge pleates and seeing howmuch went into what, I found about 50cm of calico went into about just under 10cm so therefore I measued the wasit of my manniquin and found how much calico I should cartridge pleat. I had not done cartridge pleates before however with a bit of patience I really enjoyed them. I had to draw them out and sew them before putting the frilly muslin layers onto the skirt however I decided not to pull the pleates in until I had sewn the muslin layer on.
I then measued out the lines where the muslin frills should go. I did them straight and 30cm apart from eachother however when the skirt was all together and on the stand I saw this was wrong as the frills moved were in the wronge place. This was becasue I had not done much of a curve where the cartridge pleates were to go and the bodice was very curved so the line followed the hem of the bodice rather than go straight across. This mean I had to un-pick and re-sew the top frill on. The others worked where they were however I have made a note that if I made the skirt out of top fabric I would move the two bottom frills as well as the muslin is slightly see through and one can see where the lines don't work.
Origenal line of the first layer of musline on skirt. It looked nice however did not fit in with the Norah Waugh picture I was working to -
Revised line on the first layer of muslin -
I also had to gather the muslin before sewing it to the main underskirt. I wasn't sure how to do this was when I did it with two lines of stitching it often broke and I had to do it in sections so I decided to to it 3 different ways. That way, getting thick thread and zigzagging over it and pulling it into gethers which looked really nice, and finally turning it over some piping and pulling the fabric along that. I did a layer of each but feel the zig-zagginf over thick thread worked best, was the easiest to do and also the best looking. I will use this tecnique in the future.
Once the muslin was in place and sewn down (I just used a quick zig-zag stick as it held the muslin in place and gave me an idea of the cut and shape of the dress) I then pulled in the cartridge pleates. I chose not to do this as one long thread incase the thread broke so knotted the threads off every 10cm which proved to work every well as and none of the threads have broken when I have been taking the piece back and forth from uni. I must have pulled the cartridge pleates tighter than my tester (even through the real ones had slightly more wadding between them) and therefore the skirts waistline was too small for that of the bodice however I was running ot of calico and didn't have much time so chose not to re-cut the skirt but not for next time that I should ether not make them so tight or add more fabric.
Lastly I had to do a ''quick'' hem to neaten the toile up. This took much longer than expected as muslin moves so much and is really hard to work with and also there were 4 pieces to hem. However I am glad I spent the time doing it as it gave the muslin frills slightly more drape as well was giving a kind of divid line between each layer thus providing a better look to the toile and clearer line to look at.
I feel I go the shape of the skirt right and the idea behind it however I do feel that the positioning of the frills could have done with a bit more work.
Seccuring cartridge pleates
No comments:
Post a Comment