November 20th 2007

Hopefully soon I will start my next projects. One of them will be a red gown. I have some red velvet (a darker and a brighter one, I still have to choose which I'm going to use), red satin and red lace. These are my fabrics:

The two different shades of velvet. Left the darker one and right the brighter one. The darker seems to match better with the lace and the satin, but is of lesser quality than the brighter one.

These are my inspiration images:

Bodice: front and back will be made of red velvet and sleeves of red lace. Haven't decided yet which pattern to use as a base.

Overskirt: will be made of red velvet, probably with a small train. I think I will use the TV326 for this.

Underskirt: this will be the TV225 fantail skirt with larger train. Front panel will be red lace, side panel will be red satin with horizontal pleats. Back will also be red satin, with red lace overlay on the fan part. On the bottom a small pleated ruffle of red satin.

I've made a sketch of this design, which I will try to scan and upload in the next few days.

November 26, 2007

I've started! Today I have cut out the pattern pieces for the underskirt. I'm using the TV225 fantail for the back, but for the front pieces I will use the pattern for the parisian skirt. I've done this for my autumn gown (see past project) and I really like that it's a bit wider at the bottom and not so straight.

First I will try to make the horizontal pleats on the side-front panels. I've cut a piece of fabric 3 times the lenght of the skirt and started pleating from the top. The pleats are each 5 cm long.

And this is what it looks like when the whole panel is done, front and back, before ironing:

Cut in the right shape and ironed once: