The Sirona gown in gold satin.

That familiar feeling of slight trepidation always strikes just as I'm about to start cutting out in fabric.  It's like a little voice in my subconscious 'Are you sure you want to take those very sharp scissors to this beautiful fabric?!' 

Crepe back satin or satin back crepe, depending on how you look at it, cuts and sews beautifully.  It has a lovely weight that makes it easier to work with than a limper satin and it's pretty robust - generally speaking pins won't mark the fabric. I sewed the whole thing together, keeping one side seam open so I could wriggle into it just to be absolutely sure of fit before progressing any further.  Only when i was certain that the dress was exactly right did I unpick the other side seam and shoulder seam thus separating the front from the back.

The gown cut out in gold satin before I unpicked it again.. 

I couldn't help but think when I got to this point how great this could be if it was cut out on the bias. 

  

The train.

 

                                                                

            

 

A view of the side.

From here the fun can really begin.  The next step is to drape the chiffon directly onto the gown.  Yay!!!

Image Spark

I thought I'd tell you about a fantastic website called Image Spark.  I have been using it for several months and I find it an invaluable tool when I'm creating.  It's basically an image library which allows you to upload and store thousands of images, as you find them, in one place.  Creating an account with Image Spark is currently free and each account gives you 1GB of space plus two mood boards.

Image Spark homepage.

The mood board feature is my favourite - in fact it's how I found Image Spark in the first place.  I was hunting high and low all over the internet for any sort of software or website that resembled some kind of virtual, interactive pinboard.  I wanted somewhere I could stick images, make notes and bring together ideas and inspiration thus eliminating the need to print, saving paper and ink in the process.













My mood board which became my inspiration for the Sirona Gown.  The speech bubble notes are not a feature of Image Spark, they are 'Float Notes' - a Firefox addon.

You can tag images as you go, these are from my 'ethereal' album.

Good things:

• It's simple and sleek, ideal for use by designers and creative individuals.
• It's free!!!!!!!
• 1 GB upload space for images -  I currently have just over one hundred images which is only using 1% of that allowance so there is plenty of space for an archive of thousands of images
• You can keep your image library private - this was a big bonus for me, my own little space to play around in.

Not so good things:

•  It works best through Firefox, which, if it's not your current browser of choice could be a nuisance.
• Currently allows only two mood boards - however Image Spark is still a work in progress and that might change in the future.

It's such a handy tool and if you love hoarding beautiful images as much as I do then you will love it too!

Sirona Gown - progress.

I cut my pattern out in polycotton to check the fit and make sure I hadn't made any errors when pattern drafting.  Everything matched up and it only needed a few tweaks to the fit here and there which I transfered over to my paper pattern.  As there were not any drastic changes it means I will be able to use this as the lining - this made me super happy as I despair at wasting fabric.

 

Dress from the front before slight changes to the fit were made.  I needed to tighten it up around the bust and waist to an exetremely close fit, to prevent the dress from slipping on the strapless side.

 

The back -  it has a little train!

I can't wait to cut this out in my satin fabric - the colour is called latte - a very pretty pale gold.

My latest project - the Sirona Gown

I have been busy beavering away on a new gown.  I was inspired by Elie Saabs embellished and appliqued evening and bridal wear.  I just love the encrusted-ness!

Sigh.....

So with a head full of bedazzling lovelyness I thought it would be fun to make something like this....


 
















Apologies for the poor image - if there's a photographer in me, she's buried deep.

Its an asymmetric, one shoulder, floor length gown consisting of a lining and satin outer shell which I have cut from my own blocks.  Once the satin front and back are sewn I am then planning to drape, gather and manipulate chiffon directly onto the satin before bringing the front and back together, putting in a zip and finishing it off with the lining.  The delicate task of sewing on the appliques and beading will come at the end.