Bohemian dress preview

Just a little taster of what i am working on at the moment, a bohemian dress using only stash supplies.

Here i am taking to the sleeves Edwardian lace that came from a long time defunct silk and cotton skirt.

Mint and Chocolate Dress

This dress appeared on last may’s Burda magazine and as it is really my style i dug straight in.

I chose a piece of cloth from my stash, a mint green seersucker cotton with white polka dots that originally came from my grandmother, so i suppose it is vintage. It is a really really lovely light piece of cotton, but there was not much of it. The instructions call for lining in the top half of the same material, but i did not have enough, so I went with an even lighter plain white cotton. This created a problem, as the seersucker is slightly elastic and the cotton lining is definitely not.

Fudging ensured. And when fudging starts modifications follow and projects become UFO, so i did not finish*till last week, then the weather was too bad to do a decent photo.

Wile i was working with my mother in the shop i spotted a lovely piece of ribbon that reminded me of Pan di Stelle biscuits. Ummm, goody.

I added it on the sleeves and that went well. I added it to the breast gap, as being a big girl, the original dress was a bit too revealing. I tried sewing it directly to the waist but that was a mistake as the seersucker stretched. Had to undo and opted for a belt.

I hemmed the skirt 2 inches high than i would usually do, and let the underskirt hang down. As i was having stretching problems there too i used double-sided iron on stiffening to keep the ribbon in it place before sewing. This had the added advantage of giving some body to the hem. Yes, i also pleated the underskirt twice, cause i like it like that.

So now i look like a Disney princess, and i totally love it.

*still matching missing belt.

Needle VS Pin

Quick post just to say the pin won, jammed the sewing machine but did not break.
I was impressed.

How to buy a Necchi Supernova – A guide in way too many useless steps

• 1) Decide you really need a sewing machine. This is the most important step. The decisions can be unconscious but it must be there. Sewing machines, like cars, don’t just happen.
• 2) Look up dealers in town, take the bus, see places you never saw before. Half decide on a Janome, because it’s a sensible machine.
• 3) Go to the last place on your list, a repair shop more than a dealer, run by an old man, his daughter and an old school socialist mechanic. They have working machines in the front and a whole scrapyard of machine and bits and bobs in the back. Fall in love with a Necchi Supernova.
• 4) Explain to you mother the difference between a vintage Necchi and a new Janome in these terms. The Necchi is an 60′ red Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, prone to it’s own quirks, the Jenome is a 2010 Audi, grey, fully accessorised and reliable, but which is the car you would rather be driving?
• 5) Go on eBay and get annoyed at the Americans, because everything second hand costs way less in American than in Europe. Pity, because the the americans are nice people.
• 6) Be offered but decline a basic used Husqvarna. It does the job, but it’s as exciting as driving a used Skoda.
• 7) Join a Necchi forum, read too many reviews of too many machines on other sites. Get confused.
• 8) You bossy grandmother takes offence you had not asked for her used sewing machine, a 50′ perfectly working Elna that only has one speed: supersonic.
• 9) Have a go in the shop with the Necchi. Drive around the bend the people selling it with your indecision.
• 10) Get side-tracked by a Logica from a man that wants way too much money for it.
• 11) Panic about what machine to get. Have nightmare about owning 15 sewing machines.
• 12) Bid on a Bernina 1008 on eBay, well, because it’s a Bernina, who could say no to the perfect Bernina at a reasonable price. Get out sniped.
• 13) Stop fuffying about and go and buy the Necchi. Daughter does not know where father put the accessory box.
• 14) Return the next day. Machine will not fit in suitcase. Again go home without.
• 15) Get machine delivered in the evening. Place it on the table. Get excited about new baby. Stroke it to for a good measure.
• 16) Wear 50s dress, drink too much punch*. Be quite pleased about the whole retro look.

*recipe for 1.5L punch, if anybody cares.
1 part cedar liquor 15% (and goes to the knees)
2 part water
ice
1 tea spoon of vanilla essence
2 table spoons of sugar
½ apple, sliced.

This was first posted on the 30th of May 2012 on the Necchi Sewing Machine Club