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".
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.