Hacking a Red Silk Dress for Helen - part 1. The original. And I'm Slimmer of the Week!

Original

A long time ago, Helen bought herself a sandwashed silk dress in red. She loves this dress and has worn it again and again over the years. Its cost per wear is negligible as it has been worn so many times. I would say worn to death, indeed, but as Miracle Max said in the Princess Bride, it's not dead yet, just nearly dead!

Helen wearing the original red silk dress under a kimono - I don't have a photo of her wearing it on its own

Front on Missy*. The front is one piece
*for those not aware, Missy is the model we altered to my daughter's sizes when I was making her wedding dress last year. She's not perfect but not too bad. Helen did change shape for the wedding and lost a little weight , don't know where she had it to lose, but is probably back nearer to Missy's size again. Their shapes have never matched perfectly.

Back on Missy. Bodice has centre and two princess seams and waistline casing with tie, over seam.
You can see the pocket from the back as it crosses over the side seam.
The back waistline is clearly too high on the original but I can't show that here

There is no lining in this dress. The seams are overlocked together, folded to one side and topstitched in a double row - is that a mock fell seam? The hems is simply turn up and the raw edge turned under. It is badly worn, with separation of the layers at the fold.

Fraying at hem fold

From my point of view, the biggest issue is with the pockets. There is a pretty large gusset pocket (not sure of description) on each side,  with a flap. There are metal poppets for closure. The flap is two layers of silk, but not apparently interfaced. The flap gets very creased and its shape has distorted somewhat. The pocket had a simple double turned hem (or more likely bias binding turned to wrong side) at its open edge but the poppets are placed below this. Not surprisingly, there are a number of holes in areas of strain.

Overall pocket view

Pocket with flap opened. There is only a single layer of silk where the poppets are - they sit below the hemmed edge.

David's hand in pocket showing gusset

Closer view of flap

Silk torn around poppet as no reinforcing of any kind here

Helen asked me to hack this dress for her Christmas (instead of the tartan skirt I had planned).  I agreed but said

1. I need to borrow the dress. Helen agreed provided that the dress wouldn't be destroyed by my hacking.
2. It won't be ready for Christmas

Helen initially said the dress was just ‘perfect’ but then said she'd like the waist position 1”/2.5cm lower. However she said the length was perfect and she didn't want it any longer.

My first task was to get some matching red sandwashed silk (or bottle green as a second choice). I didn't manage on line so planned to visit Goldhawk Road in early December when I was in London for a few days. In the event, Helen wasn't able to go with me, as intended. However, I took the dress with me and matched up some silk. Helen saw the silk at Christmas and said it’s ideal.

I've washed the silk so that Helen can wash the dress rather than paying expensive dry cleaning bills.  The silk isn't ruined. I didn't measure before and after. I think it should be fine. There is ingrained staining on the crinkled bias bound edges of the original.

The neckline edge isn't that well sewn

Ingrained staining. This is inside of neckline, showing selg bias binding strip.

I then looked at the dress carefully.

Armhole dart

The front part is one piece with a small dart from armhole towards bust on each side,  no waistband plus two gusseted pockets with flaps,  closed by poppets.

The back is 5 pieces - skirt, centre back bodice x2 and side back bodice x 2 - plus a waist casing and tie

The seams are overlocked and top stitched.

The bottom hem is simply folded over,  approximately 1” deep

The armholes and necklines are double folded narrow hems,  as is the pocket edging or more likely bias binding. I'm going with bias binding

The pockets cross over the side seams so will have to be added at the end

This was a little more complex than I realised at first!

I carefully laid out the dress and pinned through the seams into paper. With wearing,  there had of course been some fabric distortion. Fortunately,  the dress is symmetrical - when I was hacking an asymmetrical dress for myself, it proved very complex to get the pieces matching;  in fact I haven't managed yet but plan to move it on in February when Nikki,  one of my co-students, and I will be attending a pattern hacking session. I can true up my pattern there.

After I drew out my first attempt,  I altered and trued it. I did this in my sewing bee and had available help from Rory and Dan.

Helen had asked that the waistline be moved down 1” but that the dress length remain unchanged. I therefore then lengthened the bodice pieces by inserting paper into the pattern on the back bodice pieces only and removed that amount from the back skirt. Distortion around the waist seam caused me some problems. It wasn't clear whether this seam should be curved or straight and this would have to be sorted out at toile stage. I made it curved in this rendition,  longer in centre back, shorter towards the sides.

With Dan's help, I trued the pattern. I managed to cut out the main pattern pieces but didn't, however, get a chance to sew up the toile until after Helen arrived for Christmas.

I haven't shown any photos of the pattern cutting process but will if I'm asked.

Helen tried on the toile on Boxing Day. This is a loose fitting dress,  but even so,  this appeared rather too loose at the back so I agreed to take the princess seams in just a little. I don't think I took any photos of that, stupidly - at least I can't find them

Helen felt that she would like the waist seam even lower. I had pinned out the curve I had drawn into the back bodice, thereby shortening it in the centre but this looks like it was the correct length to start with. On the pattern, I lengthened the sides to match.  This means that the waistline will be straight rather than curved.

Interestingly, Helen decided that she liked the length she tried the toile on at. It didn't have the hems sewn, so basically I need to add additional length. I did that while sorting out the waistline.

Helen wanted to keep the pockets the same as in the original. She doesn't use them,  rather they are decorative (why then have they been torn?). Rory had advised interfacing in the pockets but Helen didn't want this,  at least not in the pocket body. She reluctantly agreed to a very soft interfacing in the pocket flap. Even that took a little work.

I drew out the pocket pattern and Helen checked the sizing for me.  The pocket,  I think, will be the most complex part of this but I will get any required help from Rory and Dan. I took photos of the red dress and thought Helen would take it back with her, but she decided to leave it for  reference. The above photos are new ones I took today, Sunday 5 January, as I'm posting this first part.

My first steps are:

• Preparing the silk fabric - done
• Altering pattern and truing again - done
• Making a test pocket (this is the bit that scares me) - done, though not attached
• All that before I cut into the silk and make the bias binding

Progress

I've had two sewing bees since Christmas. I had altered the pattern before going along but asked for a quick check of it. I then went ahead and cut out my pattern pieces from dark green crepe. I said to Helen that I'd like to make another dress, a wearable toile if you like but designed to practice all the components, and offered her blue silk-like material or dark green crepe. She chose that even knowing the fabric was thicker and spongier.

So the red silk dress I was making us now a green crepe dress. Bear with me!

The first few steps of construction caused me no problems. Then I ran into some issues:

The fabric is too thick to have French (?) bias binding at armhole and neckline. Is it French bias binding where you attach on right side, turn to wrong side etc and stitch? I’ve decided to go with commercial bias tape, after trying out various techniques, and following advice at my sewing bees. Helen doesn't mind as it won't show. The red dress will have self fabric as that is much finer and will crease better.

I had allowed 1 cm seam allowances including at the top of the pocket. Rory advised a double turned edge with interfacing for stability. I did that but the resulting fabric was difficult to turn nearly and stitch. I did manage though

I spent Wednesday evening in class constructing a pocket. One of the other students is a professional upholsterer. She showed me how to do lovely boxed edges,  like you get on chair cushions, which applied to my design. I did one in class and have since done the other at home. The original is edgestitched and I'm going to try that but this fabric is awkward. Here is a taster of my next post on the dress.

Pocket for green dress, wrong side. Pocket edge has been double folded and top stitched. The gusset has been attached and raw wedges overlocked. The hand stitching is holding the pressed edges together ready for edgestitching

Slimmer of the week

In other news - I was Slimmer of the week at Slimming World on Thursday past! I joined between Christmas and New Year, lost 2 lbs in my first week and 4 lbs in my second. So only 1 lb to go to my half stone award. I'm particularly pleased as we were still entertaining for part of that time and using up Christmas goodies. I'm happy to say I'm already starting to feel rather better - more lively, less sluggish. I got a step counter for Christmas and I'm still getting nowhere near a reasonable number of steps in a day. No wonder I was gaining weight even on a reasonably healthy diet! But small steps as they say! I'd like to lose 2 lbs per week if possible as that seems a safe and reasonable amount. So for my birthday in 26 weeks I should have lost everything I want to - but I know it doesn't go like that and gets harder and harder. I'm feeling really rather inspired just now!

Hacking RTW for Joanne; culottes

Hacking - clothes not computers. I did get a reply in connection with my previous problem (previous post) and have been advised not to worry, ignore it. It'll go away after a while. Okay. At least,  I'll try.

Joanne loves a particular pair of shorts she has. They look like French knickers but are intended as outerwear. 

I forgot to take a photo of her wearing them!

The fabric is drapey and crepe-like and self-lined. I don't know what it is (the fabric content label is blank I assume due to repeated washings) . It is edged along the bottom of the legs with fairly heavy wide lace, caught between the bottom fabric layers, has a waistband, an in-seam pocket on each side and a side zip closure inside one of the pockets. There are no darts. These shorts are fairly easy fitting. She wears them a LOT. She has tried to buy a replacement pair with no success.

I have repaired them previously. I found it difficult to nicely repair the zip/pocket junction. 

Invisible zipper in inseam pocket
Tearing at bottom. Again. 

This has again come apart. I didn't previously replace the zip,  although it needed replaced,  as I didn't feel up to that task (also I would only have had them for the briefest of time) The crotch seam is also showing signs of the fabric separating and the zip doesn't pull up properly at the top due to distortion and fabric separation.  They are very much at the end of their life now and Joanne asked me if I could make her a similar pair.  

Zip opened. Zip and fabric distortion  clear

We decided to try to make a copy of these. There are different terms in use for this process. Reverse engineering. Hacking. Tracing. Copying.

The zip and pocket area will present me with the biggest challenge in both tracing and in making up.

I know that as these shorts have been well worn, it's likely that the seams will not be as they were.

When I made the hack pattern of my RTW potential MOB dress, I failed to properly true the pattern. I started to make up the dress and it isn't right. I need to go back to the pattern and measure and true up in general. Also,  with it I actually measured the dart pleated areas and reproduced. While these looked good on the patterned fabric of the original, they didn't on the plain fabric of my copy - they just looked as if I had got my measurements wrong as the distance between the middle dart and the dart on each side of the middle were different. That will need to be modified too. I had actually cut out the whole dress and its lining and don't know if I can salvage it. At least the lining is fine,  apart from some inequality in length but I need additional fabric at the bodice sides in the main dress. I'll modify the pattern and recut sometime... 

So with Joanne's shorts I can put some if what I have learned so far into practice, I hope. Joanne was here for the weekend and we traced out the shape of the shorts using pins/awl onto paper.

We had a bit of difficulty with the crotch seam which didn't lie equally on both sides so we lengthened on the basis that it's easier to shorten later than to add in.

We then measured the shorts and the length on the paper to check they were the same.

There were some seam distortions and we smoothed these out.

We added a 1. 5 seam allowance to all seams.

I cut out the pattern in calico to test for fit. No waistband,  zip or pockets.

Joanne wanted the shorts (I might call them culottes) to sit below the natural waist, as did the originals. Indeed she wanted an identical clone.

Joanne tried on the toile and was overall very happy with the fit. This was with the lengthened back crotch. 

Tried on inside out. Back higher than front. 

I later clipped the crotch seam - not done here- and that helped the way they lie. 

I thought the back was a little tight but J didn't want it changed

They were a bit too high at the back (?because I had modified the crotch seam) but okay at the front

We made the necessary adjustments to the paper pattern. I trimmed off at the top of the back seam tapering out to the side seams. I made sure all the seams were trued.

I thought the shorts were a little tight at the back but Joanne didn't want them any looser. I removed a touch at the waistline at the front crotch seam where they were a little loose.

Then I asked Joanne to draw out the pocket shape she wanted and I drew out a waistband. I've drawn patterns for both. I discussed with Joanne the various waistbands possible but we concluded I'd try to do it as close to the original as possible - invisible zip going right up through waistband. This was the zip treatment in her bridesmaid dress but future alteration are more difficult.

I have lots of books but one of the disadvantages of books is that when you can't remember what book has what you want, it's very difficult to find it. I wanted a method for sewing an invisible zip inside a pocket. I know I had one but could I find it! I used the internet and quickly found a good tutorial from the dot to dot studio link http://www.dottodotstudio.co.uk/tutorial-adding-pockets-into-a-side-seam-with-concealed-zip/ (sorry I tried to leave a message unsuccessfully). I've read it through a couple of times and looked at all the photos. I think I'm ready to give it a go.

So now I needed to find some suitable fabric. I have some black single crepe but is too thick as the fabric is doubled. I wondered if it needed to be doubled? The fabric isn't underlined as such as the pockets sit between the front fabric layers - but they are joined at the bottom as lace is inserted between the fabric layers. I thought I might use a lighter weight fabric such as cotton batiste which would be cooler. Joanne knows I might have to make some changes for this first version - she plans many more!

I asked advice at my sewing class.  Dan thinks the closest fabric type is georgette. We decided the single crepe wouldn't work doubled and was a little too transparent to be single. She advised me on likely construction order and picked up that I had drafted my waistband incorrectly so I redid that.

When I got home I ordered some double georgette fabric and some guipure lace trim from Minerva. That has arrived and I've pre-washed the fabric and lace trim. The fabric looks pretty good but seems slightly crisper than the original - but that's been washed over and over again.

The lace against a double layer of fabric

I can't start the shorts just yet as I'm away for a few days on golf duty (not playing) but hope to get them done, when I get back, for Joanne's birthday which is in August.

She'd initially asked me to make her a kimono like I made for Helen (she decided that as I was making the shorts no to the kimono but I'll do later)

Longer than original pattern

Joanne likes this fabric. She'd also like a big,  bold but not necessarily colourful fabric

 I'm happy to do this;  it's a simple make.  More difficult will be finding suitable fabric. The  local choices are far from inspiring so I’ll have to look further afield. A bold pattern. Cotton? Joanne and I had a look online but didn't see anything suitable so I'm putting this off until after my next trip to London. Possibly the Knitting and Stitching Show in September (that's where Helen got her kimono fabric) - I'm not sure yet as I prefer the Harrogate show in November. Joanne would come with me.

My older grandson’s birthday is the day before Joanne's and I hope to make him a shirt (which I’d enter into the PR contest ) but I need to get some sizes first. 

I'm doing view C shown here. 

I do have the fabric which I bought last year but didn't get around to making up. I bought a pattern, burda 9419, last week, see above. I've made a shirt before - for my college course - and Rory says that one was absolutely fine and so I'll have no problem doing a shirt for J. Hopefully. Note that one didn't have nice seam finishes, just overlocked edges.  I've never done a proper shirt with good finish.

He's visiting next weekend and I will have a toile done. Nothing fancy,  just reached together to check for chest size, neck and length. I'm making age 9.  He'll be 7 but is very tall. My husband thinks the size looks good but the size 8 may be better. I don't have recent measurements and he and his brother have shot up each time we see them.

Toile started. 

The making up instructions don't talk about the types of seam finishing required. I'm thinking that shirts usually have fell seams? This is a burda pattern and looking through the instructions, I'm a bit confused though hopefully as I start to construct each stage it will be clearer.

I found out what the syllabus is for our level 3 class in September. Exciting!  I'm looking forward to it. This won't be through the college as the college isn't running a level 3 course;  Rory will be running this from her studio, with Dan's help. It won't be a certificated course with lots of irrelevant (to us) content,  just the practical techniques, as all of us on the course last year would have preferred.

Thank you for stopping by.

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