Random Thoughts

[hsifeng]

OK, one last post. I swear. *crosses fingers behind back*

Working on the dress this past week, and reading along as vanagnessayem has been working on hers, made me wonder something.

What order do you guys put your (German) dresses together in?

Just curious, since it is apparent that vanagnessayem and I have a slightly different order and it made me wonder what other combinations are out there.

Once the basic patterning is done (and I have to repattern EVERY TIME I make myself a costume because I rarely make things for myself and then only when weight loss or gain force me to):

1)      Construct bodice, when bag lining incorporate closures and trim in construction process;

2)      Try on bodice, bitch about fit, swear to not change it. Sleep. Fix fit;

3)      Figure and cut skirt and skirt trimmings, assemble trimmings on skirt while skirt is flat;

4)      Gather skirt onto a) bodice, b) waistband and then attach said waistband to bodice;

5)      Sew up front of skirt, working to match bands of guards in a manner that is pleasing (ie. doesn’t make me cry, curse or drink);

6)      Try on dress again, figure out how much hem I have to turn back;

7)      Hem dress (pray I don’t have to take it out and re-do it);

8)      Try on dress and celebrate;

9)      Remember I still have sleeves to do (although, now that I have a good sleeve pattern this isn’t such a painful thing to remember);

10) After sleeves are done and attached go over dress one last time.

I totally understand if this ‘order of construction thing’ isn’t something you are interested in. But thanks for stopping by anyway!

;)

Comments

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

After I make the bodice, I hem the dress first and then pleat. I adjust for curve at the top not at the bottom which makes the hemming very easy.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Ahhh…I think I avoid this issue by not having a butt. *grin* Honestly though, I would guess that all my dresses are just a little longer in the front than in the back. *makes a face* I should probably do something about that…

[vanagnessayem.livejournal.com]

1) Draft pattern and fabric layout, make a mock up to confirm fit.
2) Cut all fabric bits out (usually using only just enough fabric so must have all ready mapped out and cut properly and clearly.
3) Construct bodice including trim in construction process.
4) Sew skirt into a tube. Attach trim to skirt while in the round (much use of ironing board and ruler to be sure of exact alignment.
5) Put bodice on and measure from waist to floor to be sure of skirt length. Shorten skirt from the top.
6) Attach skirt to bodice (using the maths for pleating and many pins) either by hand or by machine.
7) Do hand finishing and closures (often late at night or in the car on the way to an event)
8) Try on complete dress and celebrate!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

OK, I am curious. I can see many good reasons to make up the skirt into a tube before trimming and attaching to the bodice (for one, your guards don’t all end/disappear into the ditch of your skirt-closing-seam that way; helps to make the trim look nicer).

And yes, it’s all about ironing and measuring, measuring and ironing, repeat ad nauseam.

Also, I believe sewing in the car is a requirement for good costuming, as is sewing by candlelight at events on Friday night. A few years ago I was in a group that had a rash of historical-weddings-held-at-faires; the night before these events generally saw every woman in the guild piled into a tent finishing the sewing on the brides wedding dress while all the men kept us supplied with entertainment and drinks.

We used to joke that we should invest in a generator and spare sewing machines for those occasions.

There are worse ways to spend a Friday night.

;)

[vanagnessayem.livejournal.com]

Also the nice thing about doing all the skirt first is that once is it attached it is finished. Nothing to fuss with. The bodice is always teh fussy part.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*nods in agreement*

I hear you there!

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

1. Make mock up
2. Adjust fit
3. Have friend adjust fit
4. shred first mock-up and start fresh
5. Decide mock-up is as good as it will get
6. Attach interlining to bodice pieces, assemble bodice. Check fit. Assemble lining. Sew bodice and lining togther.
7. Make sleeves and attach. Finish lining. (Hand turn at sleeves or handsew to sleeve lining if sleeves ARE lined)
8. Realize sleeves are sewn on wrong.
9. Curse, get drink. Walk away.
10. Remove sleeves, put into CORRECT armholes, replace, sew lining back down.
11. Make skirt. Sew into tube or cone dependent on which style I've decided to monkey with. (I think the hem of the skirt is affected by whether or not the sleeves are in the bodice when I check the fit. It seems to dip slightly at the side seams if the sleeves aren't in yet. Could just be my imagino-scope in overdrive, though)
12. Get distracted, wander off to a new project
13. Remember what the H**l I was doing, mark 1/2's, 1/4's and 1/8's on skirt AND bodice. Match up and pleat skirt to bodice in usual seat-of-the-pants fashion (I always seem to be in a hurry. I need to try pleating it first and sewing it on second, rather than as a single step).
14. Have husband mark hem. Decide husband was drinking and go join him for a while.
15. Sew hem.
16. Sew on guards, fasteners, and anything remotely "bling-y" Should I do the guards before I put the skirt on? I never thought of that?
17. Go to bed at 3 AM.
18. Get up, forget where I put dress at 3 AM and where something else to the event.

:-D

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

“Get distracted, wander off to a new project”

I swear to god, this (and alcohol) are 90% of the reason it takes me so long to finish any project (that I am not doing on a ridiculously short deadline and with a gun to my head).

*chuckle*

“Should I do the guards before I put the skirt on? I never thought of that?”

I do them before attaching the skirt because working with gobs of uncooperative fabric is easier for me when they are flat than when they are made up as a tube or attached to a bodice. Then again, I chose this order of construction AGES ago and maybe doing the guards after the skirt is a tube (or cone) is better because it allows the guards to not all ‘end’ in the same ditch where the skirt comes together (although I generally cleverly disguises this ditch by leaving the ends of the guards loose and then sewing them up pretty once the skirt is a tube (or cone).

Who am I kidding, the only person with a circle (cone) skirt in my family is my husband, and it’s on his Waffenrock. I should really try a circle skirt someday…

Order of Operations

[nibuca.livejournal.com]

1. Fit bodice (I also tend to make clothes only when I change size so I always need a new bodice pattern)
2. Make bodice from pattern (including closures, sleeves and guards). All the seams end up on the inside of the bodice and I bind those (usually after I've been wearing the dress for 6 months)
3. Pleat skirt onto a waist band.
4. Attach waist band onto bodice.
5. Close front of skirt.
6. Hem skirt. Machine hem if I'm pressed for time which I later replace with a hand hem.
7. Add skirt guards. They're measured up from the hem to keep them even. Usually the top edge of the guard is machined and the bottom edge is done by hand.
8. Bind the bodice seams (this has happend up to 6 months after I started wearing the dress)

On my last dress I had to do it in a different order (skirt/sleeves first) because I was waiting for a friend to fit my bodice and I needed to get something done on the dress.. but normally it's bodice first.

Re: Order of Operations

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* I also tend to have dresses that become ‘continuous projects’ even after I have worn them. This dress will be no exception, as I will be going back to replace some machine sewing with handsewing because I am persnickety that way. ;)

Usually the top edge of the guard is machined and the bottom edge is done by hand.

I do this as well!

[etaine-pommier.livejournal.com]

My methodology is pretty close to vanagnessayem's, though I actually find sleeves to be the fiddliest bits (probably because I end up making so many Saxon gowns) and what I like doing least is guarding the skirt.
1) Make pattern/pattern adjustments as necessary
2) Cut and construct bodice, final fit tweaking (my bodices are flat lined) and then fininish bodice entirely (including any trimming)
3) Cut and assemble sleeves, finish in entirety, whipstitch into bodice
4) Cut skirt and guarding
5) Piece and press guarding, swear a lot about so much ironing
6) Piece skirt, set guarding
7) Pleat skirt and set to bodice

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

”…swear a lot about so much ironing…

I think my iron runs on swearing as much as it runs on electricity. *grin*

Now see, you actually put your skirt guards on while the skirt is flat…right? Which is what I do. Unless piecing the skirt includes closing all the seams (which I think is what ou are saying)? I am pondering the differences between these two techniques - tube vs flat - and I am not yet sure which I prefer.

*hum*

[etaine-pommier.livejournal.com]

I make the skirt into a tube before putting the guards on (well, some of them are gored, so I guess those I make into a truncated cone :)

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*nods in understanding*

OK, got it!

[love3angle.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I have to fully construct a garment in order in my mind before I can cut it out, so I think about this stuff a lot, LOL. I generally:

1) drape, cut & construct bodice, leaving bottom edge raw
2) trim bodice, add closures, then lining (haven't bagged in years)
3) trim skirt flat, sew it up and finish closing edges
4) hem now if leveling at waste (probably for Germans because of guarding)
5 fit bodice again with skirt to set bottom edge of bodice, sew skirt to bodice or waste band
6) sleevils

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I have to fully construct a garment in order in my mind before I can cut it out, so I think about this stuff a lot, LOL.

I totally do this. In fact, there are several instances on this blog where I work out the construction of garments in detail That I Never Ended Up Making. *head desk*

*chuckle*

Hold up, you line your bodice after adding the closures. I don’t follow…how does this happen? (Imagining this in my head, I am trying to figure out if you don’t line the bodice where the closures are, or if you have some sort of cool closure method I don’t know about…)

I am going to force one of you brilliant and semi-local women to help me level a skirt at the waist someday…I am starting to feel like the slow kid when it comes to this aspect of garment finish. *grin*

SLEEVILS! Can I say, I just love that term; even if it doesn’t apply as much to me anymore.

XD

waist leveling

[erzimagdalena.livejournal.com]

It is really pretty easy, although it is the only part of my gown construction that requires help the first time.
Put on finished bodice.
Have the boY measure me from bodice hem to floor at center front, sides and center back. There is usually about a 1.5" difference between c/f and c/b.
Mark c/f, sides, and c/b on top edge of mostly finished skirt.
Measuring from the hem up, mark the length at these points and connect the dots.
Iron the extra fabric to the inside at this line. Instant padded pleats!
Mark and pleat as desired. Sew pleats.
Attach skirt to bodice.
Fall over because it is now very late. ;)

Re: waist leveling

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

OK, this seems totally do-able on the next dress: Thank you for the explanation!