Thursday, April 5, 2012

More Hand Sewing


I am really finding that hand sewing a christening gown is extremely relaxing and satisfying, as with the Waterfall Christening Gown. Especially when working with such a wonderful fabric as Bearissima batiste. It's fairly tightly woven, not too fine, and finger presses beautifully. Now that dotted Swiss is another matter altogether. Those dots are a real pain to sew through, as shown above, especially when I leave the thimble at home. I have several holes in the third finger of my right hand, along with all the little pricks from the needle's tip on the same finger of my left hand.  Luckily, though, I haven't bled on this dress at all. I'm working my way through the side seams, which are french seams. These, as you know, are first sewn wrong sides together, then trimmed and pressed well with right sides together. The seam is then sewn, enclosing the raw edges.


One of the techniques of hand sewing that I have trouble with is hand rolling a hem. It's hard enough to do it on plain cotton batiste, but that dotted Swiss brings the challenge to new heights. But still, it came out acceptable. I certainly won't win any awards with this sewing.

Luckily for me, I have a great deal of hand rolling left with which to sharpen my skills.  I need to add an extension on to the bottom of the dress, which will be hand rolled on both long ends. Oooh, my fingers are aching in anticipation!

To see the complete project, just click here




1 comment:

  1. Io credo che invece tu abbia fatto un buon lavoro, noi lo chiamiamo birello o birellino,quando avevo circa 12 anni, mia zia che faceva la sarta, me lo aveva insegnato e ricorderĂ² per tutta la mia vita, l'estate in cui mi fece fare il birello sullo strascico di un abito da sposa, vuoi saperlo? circa 20 metri..... le mia dita erano diventate insensibili. Baci
    Emi

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