dyeing Archives - Handmade by Carolyn

Christmas prep

24/12/2024 12:08 pm \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello, Christmas makes!! To be honest though my output is quite modest this year, I haven’t gone overboard with the making of Christmas gifts unlike previous years. Just a few little things…

I’d mostly made this black felt bunny a few years ago, using the Luna Lapin pattern book. He was kinda my first test of the pattern before making a camel brown bunny for Arthur, blogged here, but I didn’t do too bad a job if I say so myself. So this year I decided to complete him as a present for Gilbert.

I made his outfit using various bits and pieces as usual; the shirt and buttons were an old shirt of Tim’s… and I used the same buttons for his eyes, the chinos are a nice piece of cotton twill that I plan to use for a pair for myself sometime… hopefully I didn’t cut too large a chunk for that to happen! and his little waistcoat was from a small scrap of fabric that I discovered in a bag of leftovers given to me by my mother-in-law.

I also made Arthur’s bunny a new outfit. I didn’t have his here to model it so Gilbert’s bunny has been roped in for the job. It’s a summer outfit; comprising a Hawaiian shirt and board shorts.

I had to include this picture of the shirt-making burrito! the instructions don’t have this but I figured why not make it as neat as possible. I used sew-in press studs for the shirt in lieu of buttons; they’re just easier and you don’t have to worry about ruining your tiny little shirt with a bad buttonhole. The fabric is leftover from my first Myosotis dress. The board shorts are white linen and blue linen that I dyed myself using a natural indigo dye bath. Actually, the leftovers from my recently made Mestre shirt.

Every year my family always exchanges some sort of homemade food treat too… my effort this year is gingerbread star biscuits to be dunked into tea or coffee. I made a little more that 160ish gingerbread stars and pondered how to decorate them, finally deciding upon an easy option of polka dots. Yes, I’m super into polka dots at the moment for some reason. Oh, and did I say “easy”? haha. For some reason this very simple concept took an entire afternoon and I’ve still got a numb spot on my finger from the pressure of operating the icing contraption thingie. I’m low key disappointed that so much work resulted in actually quite ordinary results, hmff. They are sadly not at all spectacular, but are definitely very yummy and I hope everyone likes them!

In other making news, not related to Christmas pressies; remember this dress? I made it using our own Karijini pattern and a doona cover. yes I still love it in principal, but had tired a little of its soft inoffensive colourway and last month subjected it to the unforgiving depths of the dye pot. It now looks a bit more eye-catching, ahem. I actually love it, and it feels like a new dress in my wardrobe, which is nice.

Posted in: crafty stuff, sewing \ Tagged: baking, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, Christmas, dress, dyeing, Karijini dress, making luna lapin, toys

pink cushions

15/09/2024 5:08 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Hello! My latest knitting project has been some cushion covers… I’ve had two cushions on our front bench for years, which had became bleached over time to a very unattractive dirty-greige. I took out the inserts and started planning some new covers…

I could have sewn new covers, however… well, why not knit up some of my wool stash instead? You might recognise this orange-y coral pink cushion cover as my April knitting project. It was a neck warmer but I really didn’t like it in the end. I unravelled the whole thing and re-knitted it… and I much prefer it like this. The resulting cushion cover was quite small so I had to downsize the cushion insert, however I really like it that the two cushions are now different sizes from each other; adds to the casual randomness of the appearance of them now!

This bright unicorn-pastel one was from a stash given to me by my daughter-in-law Lainey… anyone remember the Flurry yarn? I don’t know about outside Australia, but here there was a short-lived fashion for wearing scarves made from this type of wool. There was actually just over three balls of the same colour way in the box Lainey gave to me, which I thought could be enough for a cushion cover. I felt it looked quite nice with the other cushion too. The gods were smiling upon me, because there was the perfect amount for a second cover, with zero leftovers. I knitting in the round, then grafted with Kitchener stitch at the bottom end, I then stuffed in the old cushion insert and stitched up the top end with the leftover wool. So no, you can’t get the cushion inserts out again without undoing a seam, but I’ll probably just hand wash the cover and insert all together and I’m sure it will be fine.

I photographed one of the old covers because it made me chuckle a bit… they used to be dark purple, and those dark purple circles are where the buttons used to be and thus were protected from the sun. Also, because I’m very thrifty I saved the buttons too… guess which button was sewn inside the cushion and thus also protected from the sun?!

Some other maintenance issues:

I made these beige trousers a couple of years ago, using the Closet Core patterns Mitchell pattern.

They initially had got a pink wash, and then a deeper pink dye, and I proceeded to wear them about 10 times during their first year. Then, after about 6 months in the wardrobe without getting another wear, now I’ve dyed them again; navy blue. It’s like having new trousers! btw, I’m wearing them with three different Booragoon tops in these pictures! a white one, pink one, and navy one. Honestly, I wear my Booragoon tops a lot!

Our Carolyn & Cassie Booragoon top pattern is available here

Maintenance issues 2: I did a little mending recently which I though to take pictures of… I wear this dark pink T-shirt a lot and love the colour, the fabric is merino from the Fabric Store in colour Red Clay. It’s so upsetting when a favourite T-shirt develops holes! in spite of lots of mothball thingies they still seem to find their way in sometimes… Honestly, I’d buy more of this fabric and make another top if I had too, it’s such a favourite for me.

Anyway, I did some flower-style mending … it’s not too awful, I think and at least I’ll be able to keep wearing it. I’ve learnt over time that it’s best to mend little holes like this early, before they grow bigger, which they most definitely will before you know it!

Posted in: crafty stuff, knitting \ Tagged: Closet Core patterns, cushion, dyeing, hand knit, hand knitting, knitting, mending, Mitchell trousers

tie dyed lingerie, and bikkies

10/02/2024 1:26 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

Hello! I’m back with a few new things…

I had a length of raspberry cotton jersey that’s lovely quality and I wanted to make a new set of lingerie with it, but I somehow felt it boring just as it was… what do do of course but make it less boring. I decided to try my hand at some tie-dyeing…

I cut the right amount of fabric to cut a Watson set of bra plus two pairs of knickers. btw, ages ago I made the undies pattern pieces full size, and added the crotch piece to the front piece to include it, as shown above. This had made the pattern far better suited to me, and far easier to cut out and construct. I hog-tied it securely before boiling it up in a pot of navy blue dye. Definitely not boring now… in fact I’m so pleased with the pretty shapes that resulted. I forgot to lay down the back band in the above picture but remembered to check I had enough for this too before cutting!

I’m happy to report nothing new at all was bought for this set… I still have enough elastic left in my stash for maybe one or two new sets of lingerie before I’ll need to buy more, and I have lately been recycling even the hook and eye closures; although I’m aware that happy state of affairs cannot last forever! However for now it’s very satisfying to be able to make something new and pretty and functional using just what I have.

We’ve had a few birthdays in the family recently, and one little activity I did recently was to make chocolate biscuits with 3yr old Theo for his party. This was of course a delightful way to spend time! Cassie had pre-made the chocolate biscuit dough, and I helped him to roll it out and cut shapes. A few days later I whipped up a batch of icing with him, and supervised the icing and decoration. He pretty much did all this by himself.

He happened to be wearing the T-shirt I made for him late last year, so I took a quick picture of him assiduously cleaning the icing bowl… so cute and funny. I’ve never seen a bowl/plate cleaned out so thoroughly as that icing bowl!

Also, I made this green Meelup skirt and pink Booragoon top last year for my niece Tiffany, but she was a little unwell at the time when we were taking pictures for our Meelup skirt listing. We finally managed to get together for our photoshoot just recently, and here she is. Doesn’t she look lovely?! It gives both Cassie and I such joy to have family members and friends modelling our creations!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Booragoon top, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, cloth habit, dyeing, lingerie, Meelup skirt, own design, t-shirt, Theo, Tiffany, watson

💜 borahae! *

13/06/2023 9:02 pm \ 7 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! So, in the never-ending saga that is my making journey, blah blah blah; I want to try and make at least one thing per month for no reason other than it satisfies my creative desires. This is kinda important since lately I actually seem to make a lot of things that don’t satisfy me creatively at all … strange, huh? anyway, it’s just something I want to make time for, for my own personal happiness.

It doesn’t have to necessarily be “useful” or practical either… just something that I want to make, just because. While also being entirely from the stash, the other important proviso of course!

Something that’s bothered me for a while is that I have practically zero purple clothing… and nothing purple in the stash either. Also, today is the 10th anniversary of BTS debut, and being a reasonably recent fan (more on that later) I thought I could observe this milestone and fill the gaping purple hole in my wardrobe at the same time.

I had some cherry red cotton corduroy, originally from Mum’s stash… and I also have plenty of old jeans. I think these ones were also Mum’s actually! Thanks, Mum!

Plans were made, patterns were perused, discarded, dyes checked out. I worked out I could cut out the Named Maisa jean jacket from my corduroy, and also get a little matching skirt out if I cut some of the pieces from the old jeans. To make everything purple, I would dye the cherry red corduroy with navy blue dye, and the blue jeans would get a red dye bath, This may or may not have been a disastrous adventure, but you know me, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I was so excited to see how it was going to go!

Stuff cut out. Here are the bits and bobs. The leftovers (middle right) are, I’m proud to boast; practically nothing. I did save some of them for another little project, yet to be realised…

I made up the body part of the Maisa jean jacket first, and overlocked the edges of the other red jacket bits, for dyeing.

I cut out a few extra pockets… I wasn’t sure where these would go exactly but I just cut and dyed them anyway, thinking I’d find the right spot for them eventually.

The second stage was to make the skirt. The design is my own, that I’m planning to make into a pattern for mine and Cassie’s tiny little company this year, if possible! It has deep pockets, and no zip, instead closing over a hip pocket. I made this completely including lining, before dyeing it as a whole in the same dye bath as the jean jacket body, just with a little bit of extra blue added. I used a green lining fabric (why not, ’twas in the stash) and some leftover pink linen from my Lennox dress to line the waistband. This is how they turned out after the dye job. I’m really happy with how (to my mind) gorgeous the colours look together!

Last step was to construct the jacket sleeves and collar, and dye these and the rescued jeans pockets in a red dye bath. I’d added a tiny bit of blue to this bath too, on a hunch; and am quite happy with the level of purple achieved. Then I finished the jacket construction. The two extra corduroy pockets got stitched onto the denim sleeves of the jacket, and the rescued denim jeans pockets got stitched to the body of the jacket. Of course I’m thrilled to have some useful pockets on the jacket!

Some details: I used copper jeans buttons, these were the only things bought new for the project. For the most part, I used black thread or a dark khaki thread for the skirt lining and some other parts; and navy blue overlocking thread throughout. For the skirt; I had two purple buttons already in my stash, which was handy.

Final verdict; well of course all that strong red turned out more raspberry than purple; though the jacket sleeves are decidedly purple. I still love it though! and am very excited to wear it a lot during winter. Although I “wanted” purple; raspberry is of course one of my favourite colours; so how could I not be happy?!

* “borahae” actually kinda translates to “I purple you”, and is a BTS thing… So I’ve been a low-key fan for a few years, but it wasn’t until I started making wedding dresses and spending a lot of time listening to youtube videos and bingeing on BTS Run while I hand stitched tiny lace motifs onto silk and tulle bodices that I really got into them a lot more. Then during the making of Lainey’s wedding dress, I finally finished viewing the entirety of BTS Run and of course anyone who has watched the show knows you cannot help but eventually became hopelessly addicted! Aaah! I’m not going to say any more, because it’s a little bit embarrassing, at my age! but anyway there it is. I’ve said it now! 💜

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, dyeing, jacket, maisa jacket, named patterns, own design, skirt

madder and madder…

30/11/2020 11:19 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a dress, using this very precious piece of fabric that I have been too frightened to cut in to for years now … ok so I’ve just checked back and it first came into my life back in August 2015, FIVE YEARS AGO!! well it’s about well overdue that I made it up, hey…

So what is this, hmmm? well I did a fantastic one day, natural dyeing workshop with Niji iro Kitta during which I dyed a length of pure white linen with natural madder root. They had two options; you could either choose to dye with madder, or indigo. I (obviously) chose madder, the natural dyestuff from the root of rubia tinctoria and since I later got a chance to also dye with natural indigo too, I’m so glad I chose madder this time! I went along with Nicki (this is moonlight), Sue (fadanista) and Megan (meggipeg), and first posted about it here…

It was heaps of fun! I remember our fabric had been soaked in soya water and dried first, which apparently helps the dye “take” thoroughly. Before dyeing, we had to embroider our initials or something marking the fabric as “yours” in some way. I did mine in red thread; and when it came time to cut out my dress, I carefully made sure to cut around and save the corner with my initials. And rather than use one of my usual labels I stitched the little square of linen featuring my embroidery inside as a sort of reminder of the day.

I used Vogue 2900 to make my dress… I’ve used this pattern twice before and I really love it! I think it’s all of comfortable, elegant, classy and beautiful too… I mostly made it just about exactly as per the instructions, topstitching all the seams with matching thread. I think my only difference was leaving off the pocket facings because I had enough fabric to simply cut the pocket piece and lining also from the self-fabric linen. I also had enough fabric for a mask!

Hmmm, I wonder if we’ll ever need to wear these here? I could be making all these masks for nothing! I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I sure have nothing against wearing one. Also, I know I sound like a broken record, but again we are so lucky to have no community transmission of the virus here. So lucky! for now!

I finished all the raw edges inside with red overlocking thread, and used a red invisible zip in the CB seam. The natural madder root produces a colour that I would describe as more of a coppery pinky-orange rather that a red actually… and I really like the red inner workings inside against this colour, I think it’s a really pretty contrasting feature. Of course a pretty contrasting feature that no one is every going to see, haha. I mean, that’s ok, because who do we do this for but ourselves anyway, hmm? Exactly.

This is the eleventh thing in my list of 12 things I was going to make this year, from the 12 fabrics I nominated as well… hurrah!

I have just one thing left on the list, and I think I’m going to be able to manage it. And I love this dress! I adore the colour, and the style is right up my alley, so I’m so happy Yoshimi recommended the pattern to me all those years ago. 🙂

Details:

Dress; Vogue 2900, madder dyed linen
Mask; using this tutorial
Sandals; super old, from an oppy… I love these and really really need to replace them!

I propped up my phone in a tree and snapped a quick picture on our walk, even though it’s a bit blurry… oh well!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Clara, dress, dyeing, natural dyeing, Vogue 2900

separated Cissy… and it’s green

27/11/2020 11:14 am \ 8 Comments \ Carolyn

Seems like a bit of a non-sequitur, but kinda sums up the whole process actually. Let me explain…

So I set out to make another Homer and Howells Cissy dress for myself because I was so pleased with the rust lace one that I’d made first off the block. This is back in April by the way, back when we were in a lockdown of sorts here in Perth, when we were all terrified of the virus and didn’t know as yet that there was no community transmission here. Yes, I do indeed know how very lucky we are! and it’s fantastic that everyone here is working hard to keep things that way too… but I digress!

I needed a sewing project!

I had some khaki-olive-blue-grey, slightly crinkly cotton in my stash that Mum had chucked my way, when she cleaned out her own stash, and it was just enough to cut out the Cissy pieces. Awesome! It was meant to be! However when I put it together I was just like…. blah. I think when you’re feeling anxious and depressed then your soul cries out for cheer and vibrancy, or even just strength, even in colour form; and drab colours just kinda drag you down … however at the time I determined a waist was what was needed. So I proceeded to cut a straight waistband from the scant remains of fabric, miraculously I had a strip just long enough! I took off the bodice and skinny-hemmed it, making a cute little loose crop top. I the sliced up the centre back of the skirt and inserted an invisible zip, re-folded the skirt pleats into my new waistband, and stitched on a button. Ok! I thought. This is going to be great!

ORIGINAL COLOUR… yeah it’s not awful, I guess

It lay in my wardrobe during winter and I was anticipating a lot of wear once the warm weather hit… and when I did my rainbow week mini-challenge I thought it would be my “green” ensemble… I frocked up and took a few photos, a sample of which is below, and man, at that moment the not-greenness of the whole thing just killed me, so it did not feature in that week after all. I still thought the ensemble had promise and I was on a mission to save it now! I wanted GREEN! I had to wait until Spotlight had restocked its dye supplies but finally they came in. And into the ~~spa~~ dye-pot it went!

looked terrible in this light!…

I used a whole pack of Rit Kelly green, and I very happy with it now, I think the strong colour is just what it, or maybe I – needed! The crop top is very cropped, and I have to be careful about lifting my arms up too high, and I’m planning next to make some pretty little lace camisoles to wear underneath.
Watch this space!

Details:

Top and skirt; from the Homer & Howells Cissy pattern, old cotton, overdyed by me
Caramel sandals; super old, originally from an op shop. I need to replace these, desperately!

Green turtleneck: modified Closet Core pattern Nettie in green merino
Black tights; my own design, black stretch poly
Black booties, from Zomp boutique

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: cissy dress, dress, dyeing, homer and howells, own design, skirt, top

blue Blair jacket

22/04/2020 6:25 pm \ 10 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I made a new thing. It’s sort of a jacket, sort of a coat. What’s the difference between those two things anyway, I wonder? I always thought a jacket was short, like maybe no longer than hip length max, and a coat is longer, like anything past the hip. This pattern is marketed as a jacket, but also as potentially a shirt-dress, and the two variations are called duster and blazer respectively; so I guess you can take your pick! A multi-faceted design, to be sure!Whichever, it’s unlined so a very simple and quick thing to make as far as jackets go, and the boxy unfitted shape makes for an undemanding fitting process too. Oh, maybe I should mention the name of the pattern; this is the new Blair jacket pattern by Homer and Howell, and I made the duster length.

I really enjoyed making this! you normally think of jackets/coats/dusters as being quite involved but this was really easy. Even considering that I chose to bind all the raw edges inside with HongKong binding, which is a process that when you’re about to embark on it you think; oh this is going to take FOREVER… But since I figured the seam allowances were going to show every single time the coat blew open I wanted everything to look neat and tidy inside. And whenever I do get going with HongKong seaming I invariably love it, end up thinking, oh this is FAB!! and why don’t I do this for ALL the things I make, hmmm??

My fabric is a wool-blend suiting that I’ve had in my stash for years and years; so long I cannot even remember who gave it to me. Because, yes; it was donated to me from someone else’s stash once upon a time. I think maybe my grandmother’s? It’s beautiful quality, but I’d always shied away from using it because I thought the colour was absolutely terrible for me.

However right now I’m trying to be more resourceful and use le stash, stay in my house and avoid shopping as much as possible. You know, isolation and all that … so decided what the heck. That’s why dyes were invented, right? I knew the fabric wasn’t 100%wool, but it was worth a try. Sploonch! it went, straight into a navy blue dye-bath.

This actually worked out pretty well… it’s now a lovely shade of … bruise?? ok maybe I’d describe it as smokey blue, or even light teal.. anyway it’s a richly smudge-y sort of a colour that I really like and a big improvement on the original light sky-blue. For the HongKong seaming I used an olive green poplin from my stash too.

Buttons! well obviously I had nothing that matched in size or colour AT ALL and normally I’d pop off to the shops to search for something. But see I’d made up my mind to work from my stash, and giving in on the buttons would be such a fail… so fresh on the heels of making my tea-cup for the bridal shower hat, I thought I’d try to make some from modelling clay. I think they worked out really well!

I don’t think I’ll be tossing the coat in the washing machine any time soon, just in case, although I’m sure they would probably survive fine. Maybe just a gentle hand-wash. But look at them! I LOVE them! I especially love how slightly wonky they are. Of course any and all wonkiness was completely intentional 😉

I’m just going to briefly mention the changes I made to the pattern:

I switched the orientation of the box pleat in the back to be an “innie” rather than an “outie”

I added a hanging loop inside the collar/yoke seam

I put in BIG inseam pockets into the side seams. Yes, there are now pockets in the Blair pattern, but I was a tester for this pattern and they weren’t in the original design. I NEED pockets in a coat! so I actually went in with the seam ripper and added some in after I’d finished the coat completely.

Here’s a little video on the making of this coat, now up on my YouTube channel… I’d like to say that the quality of my videos is improving, but I still haven’t worked out how to even add music. I feel like such a youtube failure! but it’s such a lot to even get this out. I’m trying to improve!

Anyway, blogging/vlogging fails aside; the final verdict is that I’m going to love wearing this… coats are not an awfully common sight here in Perth, we’re so ridiculously casual here, to a fault! But I really love coats, both the making and the wearing of them; and I really love looking at pictures of Northern hemisphere bloggers wearing coats regularly that I’m going to just do it anyway. This is one of those things that is kinda un-Perth, even though I’m deeply Perth in just about every way. This is weird, but it’s just the way it is 🙂

Details:

Coat; the blair jacket pattern byHomer and Howells, in a wool mix suiting
Dress; the Cissy dress pattern by Homer and Howells in a rust coloured lace, underlined with pink/rust dyed cotton, details here
Tights; my own design, black stretch stuff, details here
Black shoes; my own design and made by me, details here
Floral dress; based upon Simplicity 8658, floral cotton gauze, details here
White shoes; designed and made by me, details here

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: blair, coat, daily outfit, dyeing, handcrafts, handicrafts, homer and howells, jacket, pattern review

Cassie’s wedding dress

06/04/2020 6:24 pm \ 39 Comments \ Carolyn

Oh hey! I made a dress for my daughter! it’s a rather special one actually… 😉

So where to begin…well of course I’m teasing; my darling girl recently married her man D and this is her wedding dress, that I might have mentioned before once… or maybe twice, tops.

I’ve already written about making the petticoats, three of them, in fact. Cassie loves to dance and was determined to do lots of it at her wedding, so wanted a beautifully twirly skirt. She also decided she wanted a shorter skirt, hitting above the ground, and wanted it to stand out full and stiff in a 50s sort of a way, which meant plenty of oomph underneath was required.

I made a very full tulle petticoat, and two simple full circle cotton voile petticoats; one to go underneath the tulle petticoat, close to her skin, for comfort; and the other one to go over the tulle petticoat to smooth out any lumps and bumps that the tulle might form underneath the silk skirt.

Full details of making these can be found here

I’ll just quickly slot some shoe talk in here; when she decided upon a shorter skirt, the shoes became an important consideration… we searched and searched, trying on multiple pairs of lovely wedding shoes but then Cassie decided she wanted green shoes; and not just any green. She had the exact shade of green she wanted in mind, and anything else was just not going to cut it. What do you do in this circumstance? well you dye your own shoes, of course! We found a pair of pale bone/beige coloured suede sandals at Hobbs, with a nice low heel and straps to make them perfect for dancing, Cassie bought some Kelly green Rit dye from Spotlight, and over several painting sessions and rinsing in between, finally achieved the perfect shade of minty green. Aren’t they gorgeous?!

Now back to the dress … maybe I should start with the fabrics? All were purchased at Fabulous Fabrics, and shortly after her engagement Cassie and I spent a highly enjoyable morning there playing with lots of beautiful laces and silks. And she chose the most beautiful of them all!! which we proceeded to cut up, overlay each other and generally re-arrange to become something totally and completely and utterly different from how they started. Sigh. That seems to be the story my wedding dress-making life, so far!

The bodice itself underneath all that lace is made of beige silk charmeuse, and the skirt itself is heavy duchess silk satin, just about the most divinely heavy and lustrous fabric I could imagine. So beautiful!!!

For a pattern, we started with Vogue 8470, and almost totally altered it of course. Just as I did with Kelly’s dress, Cassie had a firm vision about how she wanted her dress to be, and so we hunted for a pattern that had the right bones and started hacking. The bodice fronts of the pattern come down in a gentle V and are gathered underneath the bust into the middle bodice, and we gently re-shaped this into the shape Cassie wanted – she wanted more low-cut, for a start; and tailored to fit her which entailed a small bust adjustment, and made the gathers into a smooth dart instead. The middle part of the bodice is different too, a little shallower and with a flatter curve, to fit with the lace placement that she had designed. The bodice back of the pattern is a quite low-cut scoop, which we transformed to a full coverage back with a much higher neckline, right up to the nape of her neck.

I love the slight bustle effect of the lace peplum at the back! My favourite part of the back view 🙂

The skirt of this pattern is simple enough; a full circle, and I added large pockets. Pockets! in a wedding dress! just about every girl’s dream, right?! I’m not sure if she actually put anything into them, maybe just her hands I think! but at least they were there.

With the placement of lace on the bodice; this is 100% Cassie’s artistic vision and mostly her work too! Cassie wanted heavy coverage of well-defined “structural”-looking large scale lace over a gridded background; and I think she did an absolutely magnificent job! I had very little to do with this bit, just some technical advice and I did occasionally pick up the dress and do a little bit of hand stitching of lace when she wasn’t around; but the artistic placement and nearly all the stitching is totally her effort. My clever daughter!!

I did do that “grid” bit in the middle of the bodice… we had some pre-beaded grid from one of our purchased laces, which we used here and there as a background in other parts of the bodice, but it was in small bits and pieces and the size of the remaining pieces weren’t enough to cover this part of the bodice. So I re-created the same look with hand-embroidery and -beading over beige netting for this bit. Those bias strips of duchess satin were pinned down before attaching the lace, then hand-stitched on afterwards.

I had a tiny headache with the zip; Cassie wanted the bodice to be quite tight-fitting so I’d stupidly made the bodice quite tight-fitting; and didn’t take into account that fully hand-appliqueing something has a tendency to shrink it in a little bit. Halfway through all that hand-work one day, she tried it on and we could barely get the zip up … it was awful, I was terrified it was going to split! Fortunately, even though I’d been too dumb to think about the shrinkage thing, I had been smart enough at least to leave a nice wide seam allowance for the zip… so I could unpick the zip and re-insert it, letting it out a bit. Disaster averted! and when you’re hand appliquéing a random lace design like this it’s a simple matter to take off, re-arrange and add more lace motifs to cover up an alteration in an invisible way!

pre-appliqué…

Just like I did for Kelly’s dress, I added a grosgrain belt to the bodice/skirt seam allowance inside, with a sturdy skirt hook/eye to carry the weight of that skirt. It’s hidden underneath the bodice lining for the most part, and emerges just either side of the zip in two little buttonholes in the lining, so the girls could hook it up at the back before doing up the zip of the dress. I didn’t take any pictures of this bit unfortunately, but you can see what I mean in the post on Kelly’s dress here.

I was smart this time, and didn’t stitch on the hook and eye until AFTER I’d pushed the grosgrain ends through the button holes. I don’t think I mentioned this for Kelly’s, but when I made hers I stitched on the hook and eye very firmly and ultra-securely before trying to push them through those buttonholes in the lining. It took aaaaaages to carefully tease the metal hook and eye through those slightly-too-small holes! but I was determined and eventually got them through. It was like giving birth though; a tight squeeze! This time I did it right, though!

I don’t know what else to say… oh maybe only hemming the dress? This took a surprisingly loooooong time… like I think it was a whole full weekend, from memory; and by that I mean two full seven-eight hour days. I made a long cotton voile bias strip and stitched this to the raw skirt edge first, bound the edge, and then handstitched a lovely deep hem. The skirt is just the teensiest bit shorter than the tulle skirt, because we both love the look of just a hint of tulle peeping out underneath. Of course, on the day I realised that when you’re standing up and looking down at the skirt from a normal head-height like every single person at a wedding, you can’t even see that tiny hint of tulle! it’s visible only when you’re lying down with your head on the floor dressmaker-style carefully measuring a hem! Haha!!

But I’m not even the slightest bit unhappy about that of course, my only thought when looking at these pictures of Cassie is that she is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and that making her dress was both a lifelong dream come true and the greatest and happiest sewing creation of my life. Oh dear, and now I’m NOT going to cry! Here, have a massive overdose of pictures instead!

this completely spontaneous snap is my favourite picture of Cassie and her cousins… yes I made their dresses too! all details of their dresses here

These earrings; this was her something old and something borrowed… Mum had some pearl earrings, and she also had some pearl earrings she had inherited from her own Mum; my grandmother and of course Cassie’s great-grandmother. Mum had great-Granny’s earring re-made from a clip-on to a pierced backing, so Cassie could wear one earring from her grandmother and one from her great-grandmother at her wedding. This is so so special, it makes me well up a bit just to even think about this…

I actually made this polka-dot blouse for Cassie quite recently, I just haven’t blogged about it yet. Also; that Stormtrooper toiletries bag? I actually made that for Daniel a few years ago! the pattern is part of the Portside set by Grainline patterns

Wearing the earrings… also; Cassie’s hair…

Something blue; I embroidered a commemmorative patch to go inside Cassie’s dress, just like I did with Kelly’s… want to hear something crazy? I stitched, unpicked, and re-stitched this SIX times…