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Guest Blog post by Lisa AKA Selvedge.and.stitch
"Frocktails" for sewists is a sewing event celebrated all around the world, where members of the sewing community meet up (aka find an excuse) to discuss all things sewing-related. And – importantly – admire each others' handmade frocks!
This year I was part of the Adelaide Sewcial Club crew (@adelaidesewcialclub on Instagram) who organised and hosted the Adelaide Frocktails, on 14th October 2023.
I was inspired to make a fancy dress, a little outside of my usual style – and after spending a bit of time on Pinterest I decided a one-shouldered party dress was the way to go.
I had been eyeing off the gorgeous Liberty silk at Pitt Trading, in particular the gorgeous yellow "State Room" fabric. Julia very kindly offered a discounted rate on the fabric and provided the lining (silk crepe) and other notions for my dream dress to become a reality.
The lovely Jo (@purkinje.fibers) gave me Butterick 5987 as inspiration, and then the stage was truly set.
Toile
I made a rough toile of View B with a stretch cotton – in a size 12, graded to a size 14 at the waist. It was still a bit roomy but it was a nice fit on the cap sleeve
The real thing
Sewing this pattern is pretty straight forward – I think with a less intimidating fabric it would have been a fairly quick sew. For silk, I definitely took my time and didn't rush.
On the recommendation of a much more experienced sewist, I underlined the bodice, to give it a bit more shape (a first time for me!). I hand stitched the layers together using a very sharp needle.
The skirt is fully lined with the silk crepe. I made the skirt lining BEFORE I realised that I didn't have enough yardage of the Liberty silk for the full size 14 gathered skirt. In the end I cut a size 8 gathered skirt, which was the maximum size I could fit onto the width of the Liberty silk. Then I recut the lining to the size 8
In the end, I was very happy with the fullness of the skirt, I'm not sure I would have wanted it bigger anyway.
From there, I attached the bodice to the skirt and installed the invisible zipper (the pattern calls for a lapped/standard zipper but it worked really nicely). The bodice was too large across the chest/shoulder, so was dropping on the zipper side – so I graded in the side seam with the invisible zipper by another 1-1.5cm on each side.
In reading up on silk, it seems it frays a lot – so to be extra careful, I overlocked all the internal seams on the bodice and skirt. Each seam was overlocked individually and the seams are pressed open. There isn't any bulk showing on the outside so I think this was a good call.
The lining gets handsewn to the skirt so the waist seam is fully enclosed. I used a very sharp hand sewing needle for this step.
I let the dress hang for a couple of days, then finished the main fabric with a narrow hem (using the overlocked edge as a guide). I cut the lining to the level of the finished hem on the main skirt, and then finished that with a narrow hem also.
Tips / Lessons Learned
I learned a number of valuable lessons making this project:
· Definitely make a toile before cutting any of your fancy fabric. It helps to check the finished garment measurements on paper patterns as well, as they may have more ease than you need. By the size measurements I should have been a size 14 – but the bodice had 10cm of ease in it, which wasn't needed – so I decided to size down to a size 12 bodice.
· Always check the width of your fabric to ensure you buy enough yardage (!!). The silk crepe lining was only 98cm wide, so I ran out of fabric and had to order an extra metre about 2 weeks before Frocktails (so much panicking - fortunately Pitt Trading's shipping is always fast & reliable!)
· Lay out all your pattern pieces before cutting ANYTHING (see above!)
· You can (and should) prewash silk (and it dries super fast!)
· Test sew on scraps of your fancy fabric before you sew anything on your cut pieces. I found the top layer of silk was bunching up, causing an uneven seam. For the first time in over 25 years of sewing, I reduced my presser foot pressure for the whole of this project.
I ended up with a size 12 bodice and size 8 gathered skirt (which was the biggest size that fit on the width of the Liberty silk).
Tools
· Silk pins are *chef's kiss*
· An invisible zipper foot is the absolute bee's knees
· Use a new, sharp needle in the sewing machine
Also to my surprise, working with silk was pretty amazing and not quite the mess-with-your-head situation I feared it might be.
Frocktails
Adelaide Frocktails was a raging success! There are lots of photos available of everyone's amazing outfits on the @AdelaideSewcialClub Instagram account. And I definitely wasn't the only one in Pitt Trading Fabric – here's me and @sewing_pains, who's wearing the By Hand London Anna dress in a viscose satin from Pitt Trading.
Many thanks also to Pitt Trading who donated a generous door prize for the event!
