Hand Sewing is Fun!

Most days I do not mind the fact that it takes me quite a while to finish my projects.  I feel like all of the obsessive finishing is worth it in the end.

A hem, a belt, a few buttons to cover and apply to a garment . . . how long should these things take?  Well, a whole lot longer than I expect, even after years and years of sewing.  How can that be?!

This skirt was one of those projects. 

The fabric is from fabric.com and is a lot more homespun than I was expecting.  I washed the yardage and it really did not soften very much at all.  It is also very sheer.

I knew that I was going to underling the back skirt pieces, and I had anticipated using some silk organza.  However, that was not going to improve the sheer quality of the fabric.  In the end, I decided to go with some pink cotton.  It is not quite flesh colored, but unlike a matching purple color, it does not change the tone of the silk.

Because I previously used this pattern to make my Bubblegum Pink Dress, I knew that I did not have to worry about fit.  I cut the cotton out using the pattern tissue and transferred all of the markings in chalk.  Then I used that cotton piece to cut the silk, and pinned everything together.  I basted the pieces by hand (one of the reasons this takes so long, but really worth it in the end).  And I do LOVE hand sewing; it just takes longer than running a seam through the machine.

One of the big secrets to dealing with underlining is basting darts and pleat lines before sewing them together.  It makes such a difference.

And then there are all of the extra finishing touches that have nothing to do with the actual garment, and everything to do with the OUTFIT.

I wanted something a little extra special, since this skirt was going to make its debut at the Gaultier exhibit currently running at the DeYoung (more on that later).

With one evening to complete, I decided to go with butterflies that match back to my blouse.

I have a few lengths of Russian Veiling from Britex that I sometimes pull out simply to look at and imagine all of the amazing vintage hats out there in the world.

This stuff really is magical.  The idea was to nest a bevy of butterflies in a bit of greenery.

With all the wind in San Francisco, these guys wanted to take flight.  I may have to weigh the felt form down a bit more (or stay out of the wind!).