A Fractured Fairytale

The bodice is one layer of spotted silk charmuese, flat lined in cotton sateen. Each piece of charmuese was hand basted to the corresponding sateen piece and then all the seams were basted by hand before being sewn on the machine using the walking foot.  This method is time consuming, but charmuese is a very tricky fabric to work with and I find the extra effort is worth it in the end.

The edges of the bodice are finished with cream silk piping. The piping is sewn to the outside of the bodice and then raw edges are turned in and slipstitched down, giving a nice clean finish to the inside of the bodice. The seam allowances are finished with pinking and the darts and side seams are boned.

The neckline and sleeves are trimmed with gathered strips of cream silk, layered with vintage cotton lace and navy velvet ribbon. Silk bows with velvet ribbon finish off the neckline, peplum and sleeves. The outer sleeve seam was sewn to just above the wrist, the raw edges were then finished with a narrow hem and the decoration applied.

The belted peplum is based on the pattern on page 28-29 of Patterns of Fashion 2. It’s one layer of chamuese, lined in cream silk with cream silk piping around the edges. Because the silk was so slippery, I ended up sewing all the piping on by hand. The front points were especially tricky and I must have redone them at least half a dozen times before I was satisfied! But I love the look It gives so in the end it was worth it. The belt was constructed separately with a layer of cotton sateen in the middle for stability. The peplum was pleated to the belt and then the cream silk lining was slipstiched over the seam allowance.