And they're off!

Saturday was a checklist day:

- Dining Room table cleared off and wiped down.     Check.
- Material laid out on the table.      Check.
- Altered pattern pieces pinned then cut out.     Check.
- Skirt front marked and cut.     Check.
- Skirt back with wider train marked and cut.     Check.
- Sewing machine cleared off.     Check.
- Machine cleaned and new needle put it.     Check.
- Bobbin and a spare wound.     Check.

Let the Sewing Begin!

I zig-zagged the edges to all the pieces, then sewed the bodice together, ironing the seams as I went along.  The material is 100% polyester but 'requires' dry-cleaning.  Not sure why.  (I asked a friend who's studying fashion design why this is so.  In her opinion, it's just a way to make sure people don't toss the item into the dryer after washing it.  I hate Nanny-States.)  The material also calls for a cool iron, which does little to iron out wrinkles or iron open seams so they stay open.

So I experimented and came up with my own solution to keeping the pressed seams open.

~ Iron the seams along the stitching while closed to set the stitches (something I learned many years ago from Nancy Zieman on her show Sewing With Nancy)
~ Using a well-wrung, damp cotton cloth, such as a single-layered diaper, run a line of dampness along open seam, being careful to not wet the rest of the material.
~ Iron open the seam.  The cool iron will be warm enough to dry the dampness, creating just a bit of steam to set the seam open.  The iron's steam setting will not work on such a low setting, so it would be best to have a dry iron to begin with.

And it worked wonderfully!  The princess seam on the bodice came out particularly lovely because I finally have a Tailor's Ham to iron curved seams.  Yeah!

I finished the bodice (outside only, the lining is on for next weekend) and attached the skirt.  By this point it was time for bed, so I wouldn't have been able to add the zipper even if I had it.  It looks as though I forgot to buy it when getting everything else.

Part of the day was occupied with taking Hannah shopping for wedding shoes.  We successfully found them at Boscov's.  We also picked Chris up from work and ran a few more errands.

By the end of the day, I had the first part of the wedding dress done.  Another full day like this one and I should have the basic dress assembled, ready to be hemmed and have the lace applied.  I will probably spend part of the week cutting out the lace.

I'm still in the race, close to the lead!

~ Hannah's Mom