Wedding Prep

The wedding dress project continues with lots of prep – just like a wedding.

I took the dress apart at the seams – which was pretty easy because the thread is reaching the end of its life.  The stitches broke away with no fight and a gentle crackling sound.  There are sixty-plus years of wrinkles to press flat before cutting the patchwork.  This takes quite a bit of steam.

I took part of the project home, trying to stay on schedule and knowing that we would be snowed in. Nothing better than being by a toasty iron and an indoor project anyway.

Strips were cut, based on my design: A center panel, taken from the bustles.  I could only get a 24″ square from that piece.  So I cut 6 1/2″ strips to bring the center/monogram panel up to 36″ square.

Sewing  satin is a challenge.  I use a pinning combination that reduces slippage in both directions,  when right sides of satin are facing one another.  The pins are very close together as in “over-pin.”

The pins stay in the whole time.  Some slip out, but the result is better if you can keep them in while sewing.

I’m pretty happy with the seam.  

I chain pieced anything I could.  This is a 12 1/2 piece stitched to a 4 1/2 strip.  They will be sub cut into a brick-type block that will give a woven effect when I’m finished.

Press the seams open.  I’m really surprised at how well the satin takes the heat from the right side with no major adjustments to iron temperature.  I can smell 1946 in the fabric as it heats up.

While I was pinning another strip for the center panel, I noticed how beautifully the satin draped over the edge of my sewing table.  Stopped to enjoy and take a picture.

The finished center panel is draped over the back of a chair in my studio while I continue piecing.

So far, I’ve gotten the basket weave patchwork laid out for sewing.

I will continue the process until the entire quilt top is completed.  Stay tuned a few more steps and the reveal.

A Wedding Story

One of the most enjoyable things I do, in the course of my work, is making something old, new again.  From a client’s mother’s 1940’s silk-satin wedding dress and several bathrobes his dad wore, I am entrusted to build an heirloom quilt .  I have had these pieces in my care for a couple of months.  I’ve sketched ideas to demonstrate the possibilities in the client’s price range, but it is not until I begin the work, that I actually know what will become of this tangle of wrinkles.

I have been scrambling to finish some hand binding on another job.  I love hand-work, but the urgency to keep on schedule steals my calm.  To regroup for this sentimental journey, I spent a good hour, communing with the fabrics in the shop.

I examine the details of the dress, the buttons, which I plan to turn into a central monogram, the button loops, a scallop of handwork that I think must go somewhere on the quilt, or be lost.

The pleats in the side bustles, a store of wide fabric, folded and sewn so no raw edges would show.

I marvel at the handwork that has remained secure for so many years.  The discoloration of the knot, a place where the seamstress left oil from her fingertips.  I imagine how adeptly were sewn the strings of covered buttons with one thread.

scissor marks, perfectly straight lines os sewing machine stitches.

I start to deconstruct, saving the buttons, a couple of silk roses, the scalloped fretwork, the train.

I estimate 10 or 15 feet of trailing silk – a good piece for the 60″ pillar details I’m imagining for the sides of the quilt.  That should work nicely with the basket weave brick pattern I dreamt up the other morning.

Next episode: pressing, cutting, assembling