Browse Tag by Bridal Heirloom
Bridal Heirlooms, Classic Style, Forever Classic, Pleating, Sewing Techniques, Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Smocking, Uncategorized

Smocked Bridal Purse- Construction and Attaching the Frame

By | On November 27,18 | 0 Comment

I’m back!  Wedding is done, and new grandson has been sufficiently cuddled for now. As promised, I’m going to explain the remaining steps for the Smocked Bridal purse I made.

To refresh your memory, I talk about the previous steps here and here.  I’ve been tinkering with this project for a while and I’m pleased with the outcome, however, I have some tweaking to do for the next one I make.  I used the Upstyle pattern from Esty, found here.  Their frames are very high quality and the pattern is easy to make.  However, I don’t care for the loose sides that will fold in unevenly, making the frame look off-center, as in the photo above.  That’s a tweak for another day.

In my second post about the purse, I described using a stay to stabilize the pleats and support the embroidery.  It was much easier to do the silk ribbon embroidery this way because all of the ribbons and floss were actually secured to the back of the stay instead of the pleats.  Also, the pleats didn’t shift around.  They stayed in position which made consistent stitches much easier to make.

 

Silk Ribbon Embroidered Smocking

 

I blocked the smocking to the size of the frame and then steamed the pleats.  When the smocking was dry and cool, I secured the stay to the top of the smocking.  I stitched 3/8″ from the top cable row, then I trimmed the top to 1/2″ from the cable row to the cut edge.

 

 

Next, I needed to control the fullness of the gathers along the bottom of the pattern piece.  The original pattern instructions place the pattern piece on the fold of the fabric, but there is also an option for one way designs and I used that.  Add 1/2″ seam allowance along the bottom of the pattern piece and cut two.  I measured the distance from the top of the pattern piece and marked the same distance from the top of my smocked piece.  Then I stitched 3 rows of gathering stitches and distributed the gathers until I was satisfied.

 

 

The gathers were stitched to the stay along the bottom seam.

 

 

Then the stay is attached at the sides along the seam line.  I also stitched around the cutting line to control the gathers in the seam allowance.  Then I trimmed just outside the cutting line stitching.

 

 

 

I stitched the back of the purse to the front along the bottom seam.

 

 

I pressed the seam open.  Here you can see where all the embroidery threads have been secured to the stay instead of the pleats.

 

 

Here is the fusible fleece being attached to the wrong side of the purse.  I only fused the fleece to the back of the purse and to the back of the smocking.  I DID NOT fuse the bottom gathers or the area of the silk ribbon embroidery.  I didn’t want to crush the embroidery through the fusing process and I didn’t want to crease the gathers.  I did fuse along the sides where the fabric is flat.

 

 

Here is the purse all assembled.  The lining is interfaced and there is also a Peltex inner structure.  I forgot to take pictures of the frame being attached, but the instructions included in the pattern are very good.  I was skeptical about a glued frame but it seemed to be very solid.  I was pleasantly shocked.

 

 

I think the smocking adapted to this pattern very well.  I have to work out a better design for the sides so I think I’ll dig out my mother in law’s vintage bags and do some research.

 

 

I also forgot to take a final picture in good light.  The lighting in the church wasn’t very good, but I think it’s a pretty picture anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bridal Heirlooms, Forever Classic, Sewing Techniques, Uncategorized

Bridal Party Shirts!

I’m back from a little hiatus and I just wanted to share the shirts that Esther Conrad Grant embroidered for my daughter’s wedding!  She is the owner of Tiger Swallow Tales Children’s Boutique and she also has a stunning dress in the latest issue of Classic Sewing Magazine that you must read about.

Here is the link to her shop on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tigerswallowtales/

She also has a fantastic blog that you should check out: http://www.tigerswallowtales.com/

My daughter, Rose, found a picture on Pinterest using monogrammed flannel shirts for the bridal party and she had her heart set on doing a similar picture for her wedding.  The wedding is in November and she wanted something a little cozier than little robes for the bridal party.  The picture she wants to use shows the bridal party lined up with their backs to the camera, wearing monogrammed flannel shirts.  Esther was wonderful and she went above and beyond to make Rose’s dream come true.  Esther found the perfect font, in the perfect size and created these beautiful shirts that the bridesmaids can wear when they do their hair and makeup.  She has such an amazing talent and Rose will be ecstatic when she sees them! ❤️❤️❤️  

 

Monogrammed Bridal Party shirts from Tiger Swallow Tales

 

 

Monogrammed Bridal Party Shirts from Tiger Swallow Tales

 

Monogrammed Bridal Party Shirts from Tiger Swallow Tales

 

Monogrammed Bridal Party Shirts from Tiger Swallow Tales

 

Monogrammed Bridal Party Shirts from Tiger Swallow Tales

 

The shirts are stunning thanks to Esther’s meticulous attention to detail.  I just can’t thank her enough!  I also want to thank her for kindly allowing me to post her pictures from her Facebook page.

I’ve been away a little too long and I will be posting more soon.  I have updates from convention and a SAGA meet up at Kent State to share, along with my entry from the Design Show.  I was working on that, then my grandson decided to come 3 weeks early and totally threw off my sewing schedule! I thought I would have a whole month after convention to make him a coming home outfit, but he clearly had different plans!  Now things have settled down and I can get back to my Bridal purse and my Baby Bishop pattern not to mention my next pleating lesson.

It’s been hectic!

Here is the original post with the shirts on Esther’s Facebook page:

Warm November Wedding by Tiger Swallow Tales

Bridal Heirlooms, Construction, Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Smocking

Smocked Bridal Purse- the Next Steps

By | On July 29,18 | 0 Comment

So, I’ve completed the smocking and the backsmocking on the bridal purse.

 

Backsmocking on the bridal purse

 

Now, the next step is to attach it to a stay.  It is very similar to underlining a dress.  A stay is a sturdy piece of fabric that serves to support the smocked piece so that it keeps its blocked shape.  It will be easier to place the silk ribbon embroidery once the pleats are stabilized.   It will also control the fullness of the pleated fabric at the bottom of the purse.  I can arrange the gathers and stay stitch them in place before constructing the rest of the purse.

To attach a stay, merely cut a piece of fabric larger than the pattern piece.  On the stay fabric, mark the center of the frame and mark both ends.

 

 

Lay the smocked piece over the stay, matching up the center the center of the smocked design with the center marking from the frame. Place the end of the smocking rows within the end markings you made from the frame.  You want to make sure all of the smocked area is within the width  of the frame. Fan out the edges a little and pin it all around the edges.

 

 

Baste around the smocked area to hold the two pieces together.  Now the embroidery area has been stabilized and is ready for stitching.

 

 

Here is the reverse side of the basted layers.

 

Reverse side of basted smocking

 

Now to stitch on beads and silk ribbon flowers.  When the embroidery is finished, I will stitch some gathering rows along the bottom and arrange the gathers.

 

 

Bridal Heirlooms, Construction, Sewing Techniques

Wedding Dress

WEDDING DRESS

 

Finally, I’m back and as promised I’ll write about the wedding dress journey.  The bride wanted something simple and considering she lives in Chicago, I determined that we wouldn’t make any style that required any inner corset or boning.  Too many fitting challenges with that and the duct tape mannequin wasn’t working out as I had planned.  I really should have filled it with foam but didn’t have the time.

 

Here is the dress finished.  The bride was on her way outside for pictures before the ceremony.  Unfortunately, the photographer neglected to take the traditional wall portrait pose and this is the closest I have of the dress and my beautiful daughter.  It’s not a great picture, not worthy of the wall portrait, but you can see the dress clearly.

 

It consisted of an underdress made of duchess satin.  I made all my fitting adjustments on this, intending to mold the lace over it.  The bride wanted allover lace, so I chose a wide one that had a nice pattern and border for the skirt, with designs that I could cut apart and applique on the bodice.  Unfortunately, in a moment of insanity, I chose beaded lace….so that as I cut apart the lace for the bodice the beads came apart.  Beads all over the house.  This led to endless hours hand stitching the appliques and replacing the beads.  I think I spent about 600 hours of hand stitching on the lace.  But she loved it and that’s all that counts.  I also made a detachable train out of netting and pearl trim to give the effect of a ghost train.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t show in the picture.

Here are the construction steps:

First I just draped the lace to figure out the placement of the designs and how the skirt would look.  I needed to work from the bottom up and the top down, blending in the laces at the waist, so lace motifs at the waist line to hide the seams was very important.

 

Next, I cut square of lace large enough for the front skirt and the back skirt.  They had to be cut around the motifs and a little larger because I needed to overlap them at the side seams and blend them together.

 

I pinned the skirt pieces over the underdress and draped the side seams.  I pulled the skirt out at the side and pinned the lace in place on each side of the side seams.

 

Next came the hand stitching.  I laid the skirt flat and overlapped the two lace pieces.  I hand stitched around the motifs and cut away the excess on the back.

 

Then I started on the bodice. I cut out the motifs and placed some soft netting on top of the underdress.  I arranged the motifs until I had a design I liked then I took the netting off the mannequin and stitched the motifs to the net using a fell stitch.  I traced the bodice pattern pieces on some medical table paper and put the net on top to insure that the design would maintain the proper shape.  All the hand stitching was done on top of the medical tracing paper.

 

Here, I am working on the back.

 

Here is where I blended the skirt and bodice together to give the dress a seamless appearance.

 

I also devised a method for an offset zipper underneath the bridal loops for extra security.  I’ll have that available in a separate post.

This was the biggest challenge of my sewing life.   There were many panicky moments that I wouldn’t finish in time, but I eventually did and she loved it.  I’m glad it’s done and I’m glad my youngest daughter found the wedding dress of her dreams at Kleinfeld’s for her wedding next November.  She didn’t want to put me through that stress again so instead, I’m making the veil, flower girl dress and a surprise that I can’t tell about yet.

Bridal Heirlooms, Construction, Sewing Techniques, Uncategorized

Bridal Mini-Me

I went shopping for a wedding dress with my oldest daughter a few weeks ago.  She lives in Chicago and came home for a shopping expedition.  She didn’t find anything she liked and the shop was really limited in variety as far as different styles go so now I am making her dress.

Since she’s not readily available for fittings, I made a duct tape mannequin of her shape!

It’s something I read about years ago in a Threads magazine and I’ve always wanted to try it.  This was the perfect opportunity.

She put on an old T-shirt and I wrapped her hips in plastic wrap because the shirt wasn’t long enough.  Here is the first layer:

It’s still bumpy and wrinkled which is why a second layer is needed.  This layer is added vertically to help smooth everything out.  It helped a little, but I could quite get the bust area shaped as smoothly as I wanted.  I also think I should have wrapped her tighter, but I was afraid it would be too uncomfortable and I wasn’t sure how long she would be trapped like this.

Next, I marked some horizontal lines up the back over the center back and started cutting it off from the bottom to the neck.

Then I placed it on my regular dress dummy and stuffed it a little to make it firm and stable.  Then I taped up the back to keep it closed.

It definitely needs some tweaking as far as the stuffing goes, so I have to do some more checking against her measurements. Next time I do this though, I would definitely choose a looser T-shirt to get a more definite shape in the bust area and I would wrap a little tighter.  It was a fun project though.

Since daughter was home for the whole weekend, I proceeded to make the muslin for her dress.  I made the alterations that were needed and checked them on daughter, then on the mannequin to see if it would be a good substitute.  It seems to work so far.  I’ll know more in August when she comes home again.  By then I plan to have the underdress done and only the lace work will remain unfinished.