15th May '16
I've started dying my final fabric having cut out the two top pieces and put them in the iron filing mix to leave overnight. The two bigger pieces wouldn't dye in the bucket which I realised was because the surface of the fabric needed more air so the iron filings would rust; instead I place hem in a sledge due to the larger surface area which has worked and I'm really happy with how the colour and texture has turned out.
16th May '16
I started marking up the two top pattern pieces using blue tailors chalk and a tracing wheel however, the marks didn't come through so I had to split the paper with a pin and push the chalk through which gave much clearer markings. I using masking tape to write any annotations to the pattern.
17th May '16
I started pinning all the pieces together which I found hard, especially on the two sides, to get the shape the same as the final toile. Once I'd pinned it all together I pressed the folds with hair straighteners which was easier than an iron. I then machine stitched all the seams together and hand sewed and parts that needed tacking. This time around I found it a lot quicker to sew the dress together because I'd already done it twice on my toiles.
25th may '16
I've made all the dissolvable fabric samples by pinning the plastic over the panels I wanted to fill and tracing over that shape. The first panel I did was at the front but once I'd sewn it together and pinned it on I decided it made the dress look too heavy and the dark brown and orange colours weren't right. I made some more panels using more mushroom and muted brown threads mixed with velvet I'd dyed yellow. I decided on only four panels which I'd sew into the folds to make them look more subtle.
26th may '16
I made my own bias binding with the rusted cotton which I cut on the bias and pinned and ironed each piece. I found this to be a long process because I had so many raw edges to do and it was also really hard to sew together that many layers of fabric which made my sewing machine get jammed. I' not really happy with how the bias binding turned out because I don't think it's that neat and some of the fabric hasn't got caught in the stitch.
4th June '16
I made the strap and decided to do it out of dissolvable fabric with rusted cotton underneath so it could support the weight of the dress. With it being in a more obvious place I think it brings out the other dissolvable fabric panels.
6th June '16
I did final finishes such as tacking any loose pieces and snipping threads as well as wiping off the blue chalk marks. The final thing I need to do tomorrow is press all the folds ready for the cat walk!
