double boro: This beloved summer dress, the first of my popovers, has been patched many times since I first made it back in 2010, and continues to pull apart at the seams; I made a basic error in judging the character of the fabric while doing in the original sewing, and cut the seam allowances too narrow for the serged seam finish to hold from fraying... So, I decided on radical treatment and went for visible mending. Hug Snug rayon seam tape is applied on the outside of all the seams. The tape is so thin and drapes in a similar fashion to the textured Japanese rayon the dress is made from. Square mitered corners add a subtle, vaguely early 20th C embellishment to the front panel near the neckline...
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More loose summer popovers are necessary, since our heat wave shows no sign of ending, alas. Despite having no idea what I had intended back when I chose to cut the pieces for a new dress from some rather colorful if summery rayon fabric, (since I neglected to leave myself notes, and then stuffed it all back into a project bag and promptly forgot about it) I shall now do my best to turn it into a wearable garment.
In the cool of the morning today, I ironed out the various bits... some are obviously the front and back panels, and the assorted other rectangles can become or be pieces into the hemline gores that give the popover dress a bit of graceful twirl. My plan is to measure and record the dimensions of the initial popover above, as that one fits more nicely than any subsequent iteration. In a few days, I should have another needful addition to my summer wardrobe.
Unfortunately, the stripey fabric was printed quite off grain, and the stripes are skewed. As the fabric is also rather more vividly colorful and contrasty than is my wont, I shall probably overdye it once the garment is completed, as a way of toning down the contrast, and somewhat making the off grain stripes less noticable. Though I was originally thinking indigo blue, I am now leaning towards a sort of chocolate color. Blue overdye would turn the magenta to purple, which is not a favorite of mine, whereas brown would make all the colors more subtle. Overdyeing is always a bit of a surprise what you end up with, and I can take some time to consider what will work best. ※※※
a lovely, cooling fragment of Minoan-inspired animation
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July SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | wool apron dress | planted tarragon | yard waste bin |
| 2 | large border block | LED light shield | venetian blind |
| 3 | Thora mousie block | harvested garlic | bag to Goodwill |
| 4 | interstitial block | garlic braided | paper recycling |
| 5 | pie block | soapdish | bag to Goodwill |
| 6 | mini pallet | popover seams | bag to Goodwill |
| 7 | 3M enamel | x | bag to Goodwill |
| 8 | x | x | bag to Goodwill |
| 9 | x | x | bag to Goodwill |
| 10 | x | x | canning jars |
| 11 | x | x | old magazines |
| 12 | x | x | - |
| 13 | x | x | x |
| 14 | x | x | x |
| 15 | x | x | x |
clever approach to mending, I think it works well.
ReplyDeletere overdyeing. if you have any small scraps left you could try dyeing them first to see if you like the effect. You could also try a subtle grey as that would just soften down all the colours and the contrast without changing the colours, so the pinks will be greyed pinks, the turquoises more teal blue, the white a pale grey etc.
I thought about just flipping the fabric to the revese side, as that is much less high contrast, but instead it is very pastel, which is so not my style either... I will likely try sampling the overdye process with the colorful rayon, since I am planning on doing a chocolate brown dyebath anyway, since I have some linen for a Viking Age style gown that I mean to dye brown (brown was one of the few colors, along with indigo, that linen could be dyed prior to modern dyestuff, as walnut hulls give a dark brown color... linen was notoriously difficult to dye up until modern time)
DeleteA good grey, on the other hand, is notoriously hard to dye even now, I have had grey dye turn out khaki green, or lavender, for no obvious reason I could fathom. I have mostly given up, although there is some new product coming through Dharma Trading that promises a nice true grey...
Sew Ruthie has some good ideas re overdyeing. You could also try dipping a piece in tea or coffee to get an idea of what brown does to the colors, although I'd go for Procion dyes for the final overdye. I think it will be very attractive garment once done.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely be posting my progress both here and on Stitchers Guild...Id be going for a much darker brown that either tea or coffee would yield, and yes, Prociaon dyes are my go to, unless I am trying to dye wool or silk, when I go for Jacquard acid dye
DeleteI'm afraid the rayon ribbon won't last very well. You can buy tight-weave cotton ribbon here, 5 yards for $10 in the 5/8" width:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.shopangelaliguori.com/products/italian-cotton-ribbon-tight-weave-1
Other widths are available, as well as loose-weave ribbons. Many colors. I've used her ribbon on Roman shades for my home and been very happy with it, although I never washed it. Even if it loses its crispness when washed, it would work well on a garment.
I will let you know how the Hug Snug works out; I would be surprised if it didn't wear well, since it is and has been sold for years as hem tape. Thank you for the link for cotton ribbon, that is something very difficult to find! indeed I have never seen it available in the shops
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