Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: All That Glitters (Holiday Edition)

Hey all!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Now that the turkey and pumpkin pie have been consumed, it's time for Christmas cookies, latkes and holiday parties of all sorts!

But, what to wear?  Maybe something from the Sequins & Sparkles section!


That's where I found this Betsy & Adam sequinned stretch velvet, which is unfortunately now sold out, but you can find similarly adorned gorgeous textile goodies here.

This is Butterick 6415.  I'd originally planned for a knit dress with this fabric, but it turned out that this stretch velvet knit wasn't quite as stretchy as originally indicated.  I wasn't too surprised, since it's completely sequin encrusted; how COULD it stretch more than 10-20%?


And so onto this Plan B: this Butterick, which is intended for woven fabrics.  The plus of using a highly stable knit fabric with a woven pattern is you have just a little more give and fitting doesn't have to be quite as precise.

Lets take another look at this gorgeous sequinned border "print" fabric.


And a close up of some of the spectacular motifs.


The first issue I faced with this project was a ton of crocking with the fabric.  Crocking is when there's so much excess dye in a fabric that it transfers onto other surfaces...like my hand here.  It's like bleeding but without the water factor.  The yardage took a soak in my tub with a very gentle detergent and vinegar for the good part of a day, which seemed to resolve the problem.


The first design decision with this dress was how to use this gorgeous array of sequins in a pleasing manner.  I decided I wanted some swirls on the front bodice panel (this is a princess bodice dress, so there are center front, side front and back panels), but they needed to be somewhere that didn't create an unfortunately lady-high-beam effect.


To make it match up I laid the center front I'd already cut back on the yardage, matching it up with the pattern perfectly (upper left).   With the curve of the side panel it's not possible for every part of the panel to match up to the center front, so I had to decide what was important, and I decided the large swoop coming down from the swirls was it (pointing to in upper right), then found where the 5/8" seam allowance would hit (lower left) and placed the line I'd drawn on my side front pattern piece in that location (lower right).  It still felt like a bit of a crapshoot, I'm pretty pleased with how the matching of this turned out.


I decided to cut the top edge of the skirt at the edge of the border, so there wouldn't be any sequins to remove from the upper seam allowance (AKA the join to the bodice).

So, once it was all cut, how did I attack this project?  With this tray of medieval looking torture devices...also, here's a before and after sequin removal!


I spent an entire weekend more or less ignoring my poor kids (shout out to my husband here) while I removed the sequins from the bodice seam allowances.  I used a double pronged approach:  completely ripping the threads out on the outer half of the seam allowance, but then cutting the sequins and removing them with tweezers, once I got closer to the stitch line.  All told I'd say it was a 12 or more hour endeavor.



But the craziest part was finding these things every-dang-where.  They were on the couch, on the carpet, in the mac and cheese water, and I know for a fact that the toddler grabbed and ate some directly from my tray, but we never did see the resulting sparkle poo.  Sorry girl!



The best/worst part of the sequins was running out of time to remove the them from the skirt seam allowance.  I decided to just plow through them with my machine and was able to do so without any issues.  Not one broken needle.  So perhaps I didn't need to go through the pain of taking them out of the bodice (but I also feel like it's nicer to have less bulk in the more fitted portion of the dress).


For the yoke I used a black stretch mesh and point d'esprit from my stash that I purchased at Fabric Mart many moons ago.  You can find similar fabrics here.


I ended up fully lining the dress in a stretch poly lining fabric, also in my stash from Fabric Mart.  It was a really great choice to allow the dress itself to stretch slightly along with it, for both comfort and fit.


This pattern only has you line the bodice, so I had to decide how to line the skirt, taking the pleating into account.  I basted the skirt and skirt lining wrong sides together, except for about 4" or so on either side of the center back, pleated the skirt as directed, and then sewed it all onto the bodice (starting and stopping on either side of the loose lining).  Then I hand-picked the zipper and hand sewed all of the lining down to it.


Between the interlining for the bodice, the full lining, and the hand finishing on the mesh, there was a significant amount of hand sewing.  There would've been a little less of it if I hadn't accidentally finished on of my mesh sleeves inside out wrong TWO TIMES.  Whew.  Even after almost 2 and a half decades of sewing I still make these silly blunders, and I'm sure I always will.


With all of the sequins, the dress is just a tad heavy for the lace yoke, is definitely part of the pulling issue you see. But, part of that is also fitting, as this whole dress turned out just a little bit too big for me; definitely a function of using a knit fabric for a woven dress pattern.  I used a pretty straight 14 C cup here, with the bust point lowered 1/2".  If I were to do it over again I'd probably do a 12 C or D cup in this same fabric, and would've shortened the bodice 1/2" (a usual for me, but it's been so long since I've made a Big 4 pattern that I forgot!).




That all said, I feel like this is a pretty successful make overall!  A plain black crepe for the skirt would have been much lighter, but there's just nothing like a whole lot of sparkle for the holidays, right?







What are you planning to sew and wear for your holiday parties this year?

Jess

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Basics vs Fun Clothes

Every summer I make flowy, pretty dresses because they are so fun for me to make, wear, and they keep me cool as temperatures rise. But when the days get shorter and autumn rolls around, I’m not always confident on how best to transition my summery dresses into garments that will allow for the seasonal changes. In an effort to be more intentional about maximizing the use of my clothing, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make for August. It’s been a hot summer in New Jersey. From what I can see, it’s been a hot summer across the US. Looking for clothing that will keep me cool, perhaps hide some sweat stains, and allow me to transition between seasons, I decided to make separates that would pair well with each other and allow me to mix and match with the rest of my wardrobe. For the top, I wanted a basic tank top, something I could layer later on. For the bottoms, I wanted flowy, summery pants that can last into brisker weather or become phenomenally cozy in front of my wint...

Made By A Fabricista: Sewing Summery ITY

Hi sewing friends! I’m dropping in to share a few makes sewn with ITY fabrics and inspire you to try out this slinky, cool-to-the-touch fabric for hot weather if you haven’t yet, or to recommend some patterns that work fabulously if you already love it. This is by far my favorite knit to wear in summer. Since it moves easily there’s lots of airflow, and it just skims the body. More often than not, it has a four-way stretch that doesn’t grow when worn, so it works great for loads of styles.  ITY stands for Interlock Twist Yarn and the knit gives it some wonderful drape and stretch. There are lots of different weights and even some differing textures. Because it’s so fluid, the fabric really resists most wrinkling. I’ve sewn three different weights and prints here to show off just what ITY can do!  This white floral is a lighter weight and features a slightly crepe-textured finish, and I think that combined with the large and spread-out floral makes it quite elegant and eye-cat...

Made By A Fabricista: From Paris with Love!

Bonjour! I am still in bliss from my recent trip to Paris!!  It was much more than I expected and I absolutely fell in love with the city. I can honestly see myself living there one day. I knew before leaving I wanted to make something to fit into the Parisian landscape because I knew it would be a special opportunity. I was inspired by one of my favorite fashion creators Juliette Foxx. Her checked gingham corset and wide leg pants were on my list to remake. For fabric I used this red and white pin stripe denim twill and deep red sateen for the pants.  The pattern I used for the corset was McCall’s #M8182 with a few modifications.  The fit was a little large so I took it in along the sides and shoulder seam.  I then lowered the neckline since the shoulders were taken in. I used the sateen as my lining which gave a great contrast.  My pants are my unreleased pattern which happens to be exact from the inspiration.  I drafted these last year and have been wo...