My OMG was to update this dancing dress. I like the dress, but it needed some pizazz. It has been sitting in my closet for years because I couldn't figure out what to do with it. When I "fixed" my tank top earlier this year I decided to tackle the dress, too.
This project turned out to be a lot more challenging than I had anticipated. Plus I kept getting distracted... and interrupted.
What did happen: lots of pinning and unpinning. Started the design on the front, didn't like it; moved to the back - and hit upon a pattern I liked. The upper front had several false starts before I got the hang of what I liked. I was going to have the loopiness zig-zag across the front, and that didn't look right. Instead I kept the ribbons swirling in one direction around the whole dress. Working around boobs and butt added to the complexity. LOL There was a lot of fittings, being very careful not to stick myself with pins. Ouch!
Once I pinned it where I liked it, I basted it - I didn't want to try sewing it with all those pins. Stitching it took hours. I've quilted quilts in less time than it took to stitch down this bias tape. The humidity unfurled chunks of the tape. I could re-iron that before it was pinned in place, but afterwards, it was a lot of work to keep the raw edges tucked underneath.
To ensure it stayed smooth and things overlapped properly, I stitched the tape from back to front. It required constantly swapping out thread as I moved to ribbon to ribbon. I soon stopped swapping the bobbin thread, just to speed things along!
Isn't it pretty in motion?
I made it. This has been something I wanted to do for four years. I'm thrilled! For whatever oopsies there may on there, I think it looks pretty cool.
Sharing with
Elm Street Quilts - One Monthly Goal
My Quilt Infatuation - Needle and Thread Thursday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?
What a perfect dress for dancing! Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that you kept going with so many obstacles through the whole process! Worth it though - it looks fantastic! You go, twirly girl!
ReplyDeleteWow! This looks great. I love that you showed pictures of how it looked while you twirled. All of your effort was worth it. The dress looks beautiful. Now if we could all just get back to dancing.
ReplyDeleteLove the dress. There is an easier way to put bias tape designs on stretchy material. It involves using tissue paper. I saw it done on a craft show that used to show up on HGTV. The show followed the Knitty Gritty when it was on the air. Can't remember the name of the show, it was a man and a woman who showed people how to do various crafts in ways that made them easier. The airing had the guy showing how to sew on stretchy fabric to not so stretchy fabric. Some kind of velvet to regular cloth. He stopped the stretch by pinning the velvet to the tissue paper, then to the other fabric. Nothing stretch when he was sewing it together and the tissue paper pulled away much like tear away stabilizer does.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteYour dress is beyond beautiful - and you look fabulous twirling in it! Your efforts paid off handsomely!
ReplyDeleteVery nice! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.
ReplyDeleteYour dress looks great! It really is perfect for that dress. Enjoy while you dance away in it!
ReplyDeleteA gorgeous dress, how well it has turned out and such a delicate pretty colour.
ReplyDeleteLOVE how you have embellished your dress, Sally! Regardless of the hurdles along the way I think your design is perfect. Love that it grew organically. Now you will be able to twirl your day away. =)
ReplyDeleteI’ve been interested watching your embellishments progress. It turned out so cool! Then I had to go research contra dancing! Fun! And now you have the perfect dress, for when you can get back to dancing. We used to square dance, and there is guilty pleasure in having a twirly dress or skirt! Bravo!
ReplyDelete