I'm not sure if I mentioned that I ran out of the original material and didn't have enough to do all the pleats in it. So I ordered new fabric which was slightly darker and as such did the middle layer of pleats in that color to balance it a little. Again, if I had enough to do all 3 layers of pleats in one color, I would have. But at least doing the middle layer makes it look like I meant to do that.
The pleats are basted down so that it can travel with out them all coming out. I'm still going to have to reiron it, but hey, at least I'll know where to.
And I decided to put snaps underneath the bodice lace to attach the bustle. This way it can be removed (and washed).
Some progress shots :
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| So much pinning. |
So, mom asked me how much it cost, and how much effort went into it. But, I rarely make something this big without seriously scoping out sales. It took me forever to find a fabric that had enough and I liked enough (oh green taffeta from joann's...why couldn't you have had enough!). All in all, I think it cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100.
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| After they were sewn, before they were ironed. This goes across my entire living room. |
I put grommets in the back to lace it up, which I already had. And the hoop skirt I got last year. The boning I got in a half off notions sale. Lining was leftovers. Hooks and eyes were left overs.
It's 13 yards of fabric (there's very very very little left) and at least 3 spools of thread. The hoop is 140" I believe at the base. So that's about 140" of finished pleats on the bottom tier and I believe I only got to shave off 1 yard per layer. The pleats took about twice as much fabric cut in 8" strips. Pinning, sewing, more pinning, basting, ironing. I ironed some with Rajah cloth and some with just starch. In the end, the starched pleats were holding together better. But initially, the Rajah cloth did better. Go figure.
The lace was dyed (I believe there was a post on that) using acrylic paint and water. And the rest of the trim was fabric sewn into a tube, gathered and pleated using the ruffler. Also, all the pleats, the bottom, and all sides of the bustle have rolled hems.
SO MUCH SEWING. And this isn't all that I did. EDIT:
Pretty!What did you use for dying the lace? Ironically, I used the 100% polyester white pointy lace too and dyed it with rit apple green dye, but it turned out beige.
ReplyDeleteI tried rit dye at first and it just turned it grey. So I had to get more lace and found a tutorial online about watering down acrylic paint. So all the lace was painted over a few days. I had to find the right balance because the more paint it had in it, the stiffer the finished lace was.
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