Flower Tutorial

I was going to start sewing in a few minutes, but Koshka decided it was a good time to sit on my lap. I can't let my big boy down, so here's the flower tutorial!

First, I completely made this up. It's easy and makes pretty flowers though!

These trim the neckline of my pink and gold 1920s dress, and I used the opposite side of my two sided satin, so the gold coordinated nicely with the pink. Also good, the pink nearly matched my skin tone, so the gold really made the neckline pop. I was worried making the dress that you could barely see I was wearing one!

On to the flowers!

First, cut your petals. You need ten total--you sew them right sides together to finish the edges. I didn't take measurements, but just cut what looks right for the size flower you want. They're vaguely Pacman ghost shaped, proportionally :)



Sew them right sides together and turn them right side out. Press them flat.



Run a gathering stitch at the bottom, and pull tight.



Don't disconnect the thread! Gather the next petal and pull tight.



Repeat this until you have five petals. Then sew through all of them a few times until they feel secure.



For the center, run a stitch around a small circle. Pull it tight, and tuck the edges under.



Sew this center to the flower.

See, I told you it was easy!

1920s Pink and Gold Satin Dress

For Costume Con, I decided I wanted to wear 1920s on Saturday. In part, at least, because my tennis dress took up a suitcase of its own. I had a dilemma though--I wanted to wear a tiara on Saturday night, and neither of my evening style dresses worked with a tiara! So, with 11 days to go and a corset yet to make, I found Ida Frances Pobliner Parker's wedding dress at the Center for Jewish History. I'd directly link, but the links just expire.

I had stash fabric--meant for a pink Tudor dress, which is very fortunate as I cut the overskirt out upside down--and patterns so similar I wouldn't really need to do any fitting, so went for it.



The dress is fairly straightforward. The most interesting part of the construction is the waist. On the right side, there's an extension of the bodice that wraps around the back. It took quite a bit of staring to figure out what was going on there, since there wasn't a good side view of the dress. It was obvious that the waist decoration didn't end on the side, but not instantly obvious why!



It's a very good thing the fabric had been bought for a Tudor dress! The overskirt is huge!

It's really quite simple. Except for the waist extension, it's a sheath dress. The overskirt is sewn on over that, and then the waist extension and decoration hides the overskirt join.

The flowers are made with the opposite side of the fabric, and how I made them will be the subject of another post.



And some side views without arms in the way!







Construction, showing the overskirt, side extension, and four little tucks I made under the waist decoration to bring it in in back a bit. It initially hung more like a 1960s dress. Oops :)

The waist extension was gathered on the bottom edge, drawn to fit, and sewn right sides together. The top edge was gathered over a cord and then sewn wrong side to right side.