(can you tell I'd been wearing it all day - sorry!)
Another (creased) lace skirt, although in my defense the first made with the princess seamed pattern!
This blue lace is an Italian embroidered alecon from Prada...and my yard was a very lovely gift indeed from Alice of Goldberg Mendel back in the spring.
Its a seriously gorgeous fabric, embroidered from lots of different blue hues for a very deep 3D effect and corded in a continuous loop - in the seemingly typical "lets make this couture fabric super hard to sew way"!
The cording is run around the edge of every concentrated area within the fabric to seal the ends of the cottons, and helps gives the lace an incredible depth, but the second that cording is cut it starts to fray instantly...
Its a super wide lace, - 56" which I think is very unusual, this yard could have made me a really nice fitted dress, but honestly these skirts are so versatile....and so easy to dress up and down. How often could I wear a fitted lace dress?
and in the interest of keeping me amused, I thought I would make it harder and try the princess seamed skirt pattern to see what the difference would be between the original and this garment....
and while I definitely prefer the closer fit on this.......it was really hard to sew the lace smoothly and with control.
I can see a tiny bump on the back of the skirt now when I look at the photos that will need redoing (and, I think the waist needs to be tighter still, as it almost looks like its being pulled down a little although that could be the way I am standing)...
and while the front does actually lays flat when freshly ironed, it took days to get it right.
I ended up hand sewing most of the upper portion while the skirt was on my dress form...which is not the most relaxing way to sew but it did work well...
Construction
This skirt was made in exactly the same way as the first lace dress...shown here
I used a muslin pattern again for the base and joined that to a double faced heavy luxurious black charmeuse.
You can see above just how badly a princess seamed skirt flattens out!
The lining is a black crepe de chine, with French seams....and there is a contrast petersham ribbon just for a pop of colour..
and thats about that!
I am not sure what I am going to make next.....I have a single yard of Valentino red lace that needs to be made into a skirt this summer, and I just started to cut out some black cashmere for Marfy 3226..
I'll be back in two weeks, its July 4th this Friday and we have mini break plans!!
Wishing everyone a wonderful 4th!!
Leisa