Saturday 2 May 2020

Pleats, Patterns and Holes


Going through my stash last month I came across this piece of material, which has been sitting in the cupboard for a few years waiting for its time to come.  I used it as a test piece a few years ago to try out a gathering foot (which didn't work - the gathers were inconsistent) so I rammed it back in the cupboard and forgot about it.

Earlier this week I spent an afternoon carefully unpicking five lines of machined gathering so I could start a project.     


I have long wanted to make a little girl's dress with tucks, where the tucks are sewn first and then the pattern piece cut out afterwards.  However, the design of this material worked better with pleats, because I could keep the white grid, but hide the columns of empty squares in a pleat and end up with horizontal rows of cherries.


Once all the pleats were machine stitched into place, I sewed a piece of ribbon to give extra strength at the bottom on the lines of stitching, and a decorative touch for when the dress is finished.


The paper pattern is ready, prepared from this outrageously complicated sheet from a pattern book I bought in Spain.  



Having started this little dress, now I have to stop.

A fortnight ago we had an eventful morning.  A rather large patch of ceiling plaster fell down, landing on my husband's chair by the table.  He was in the adjacent room, and I was upstairs, so there was no blood, just dust.  Next week we are expecting the plasterer, and shall have to empty the whole room.  We are in for a chaotic few days.  So no sewing for a while.  I shall be in the front room with my knitting and surrounded by cardboard boxes.

8 comments:

  1. This dress is going to be so sweet! I have a ceiling that looks like that, above my bathtub. One day I’ll have to get that fixed!

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    1. Thanks Barbara. I'm looking forward to picking up the project again, with the fiddliest part already finished.

      Above the bathtub!!! Gosh, that's terrifying! Our plasterer was here yesterday and had the whole ceiling replastered by 3 o'clock. Do you want me to send him round?

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  2. The cherry fabric looks nice with your tucks/pleats. Sorry about the ceiling. Hope it is an easy fix.

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    1. Thanks Cheryl. The ceiling is already fixed. The plasterer did a grand job! Now we need to redecorate - it's long overdue anyway.

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  3. I have occasionally used Japanese pattern books, and I hate tracing the patterns! I do look forward to seeing your finished dress.

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    1. It was quite an experience. I have never seen so many patterns crammed onto one sheet.

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  4. Hi Muv, I really love the pleats and the red ribbon. It's such a sweet fabric. It's going to look great! I'm glad to hear that the ceiling is fixed. Have fun re-decorating and of course thanks for linking up!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Andrée! I'm looking forward to working on the little dress again, but I might have to wait a few weeks...

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