Progress

I continued on with the binding for my smocked jacket. I had one of the lecturers helping me as it was very tricky trying to get the biding onto the 1cm seam allowance. After the binding was sewn onto the armhole i pressed all the seams. One jacket down and one more to go!

I then started on my other frilled jacket which i thought was going to take me longer as it had a collar and a completely different lining method to the smocked jacket. I was hesitant to begin this jacket but once i got started it was a hard as i thought! I had already sewn the jacket and the jacket lining together, so the next step was to attach the collar and the sleeves. When i sewed the sleeves to the jacket i realised that i forgot to insert the frills into each armhole! I started unpicking and then gathered up the tulle and silk organza which was then pinned and sewn onto the top of the armhole. Once the sleeves were sewn in i had to sew and bluff the hem, then pull the jacket out and sew the sleeve hems together, and presto, Another jacket finished!

I cut out pink, cream and oyster coloured binding and pressed four pink strips so they were ready to be sewn onto my pink bodices. Manually binding is a pain in the bum but the binding went on so much better than sewing it through the binding machine! I ended up binding the top and bottom of two pink bodices with patience, a lot of patience!

I had to buy another role of silk Georgette because i didn't have enough of the original colour that i had already cut out to make the overlay skirt. Once i had cut out the new colour of the silk Georgette i sewed french seams and gathered the waist ready for the waist band to be sewn on. I pinned the overlay skirt onto the mannequin so that the fabric could sit overnight so i could get the hem even.

I had to sew the hook and eye tape which i finally arrived onto my bodice but i didn't know what method i had to use. Luckily Tafe is open during our "holidays" and one of our lovely lecturers was coming in so i decided to leave it until then. Once i knew the method i sewed the hook and eye tape in straight away and couldn't believe how easy it was!

I am very excited looking at the garments that i have completed which makes me feel like i am working at a good speed. I have completed three skirts, two jackets and one bodice which is in crusted with Swarovski crystal beads!