Simplicity 2922 - In silk

Dress is done. I really like it. I think it's a great simple pattern for this silk. This is another fabric my husband brought back from Houston. Here I have my helpers who wanted to be in the photos. Yes, we wear pants with our princess dresses. It's summer but it's only about 54 degrees F out there.

The silk was one piece with a loooong painted section and a shorter section. I put the shorter section on the front and the longer section on the back. I did cut a short section of it off because it went on for another 8".

Here it is without the helpers. You can see the front motif ends at about the belt.

It's hand-painted silk and it's supposed to be bamboo leaves. It has a little bit of white and gold in it. This is the true color of the green.

It was really hard to get close-ups of this fabric. It is very matte but when it sees a flash it suddenly looks shiny. This is a close-up of the hem and print. It's really hard to photograph close-up.

Seeing as I went to the Claire Shaeffer class on Sunday, I wanted to practice one of her techniques. This technique uses interfacing in the hem to add a little weight and to smooth things out. For reference, I used a 2" hem. The interfacing is a scant 2". I actually used bias tape I had in my stash. It was the perfect width and it was already on the bias. First you use a blind hem stitch to stitch the interfacing to the hem. You attach them at the hemline. ETA: Claire said you can use anything from a fine silk organza to horsehair canvas to support the hem. The key thing is that is must be on the bias so you get a nice curve. She also said you could interface as high as you want. She specifically mentioned a full-length dress. She said she might interface to above the knee so the dress didn't "break" under the knee. I think she means that it will fall smoothly all the way down to the floor when you sit or walk. She was full of so many good tips and stories. I want to try to use her techniques in the coming weeks so I can always remember them. Well, and I keep a sample book with samples of stitches and notes. I refer back to it often when I'm doing things like welt pockets, welt buttonholes, hemming, etc.

Then you fold up the hem and do another blind hem stitch.

I added some red so you can see the pattern of stitches. On something thicker, you would use a blind catchstitch. It's stronger than this stitch.