Sunday, April 19, 2009

Format Question to My Readers

Here's a question for anyone following this blog - when it comes to presenting images of our process, which do you prefer - individual images in a row, or a slideshow of images? If you prefer the slideshow, which do you like better - the format from Picasa, or the format from Flickr?

Please leave a comment below to answer these questions.

Your answers will help me to decide how to format future posts.

Thank you!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Steaming Lace

What construction techniques were used to make this dress?

I wish I hadn't forgotten to bring back the camera today - I missed a great photo op.

Today we almost were ready to start cutting the lace skirt, but when we tried to lay it out, we realized that after the dyeing, the embroidered parts had shrunk a bit more than the overall body of the lace. So, luckily Emily Leimkuhler (VC ' 10) got to steam it all out! She pinned the whole length of yardage up along the storage boxes that line one wall of the shop, and then set to steaming. It would have been a great photo, and I'm sure she would have loved to record the moment for posterity. Because the lace is pretty sheer, at times it looked like she was just steaming the boxes!

Anyway, thanks, Emily!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Construction Order of the Original

What construction techniques were used to make this dress?

After carefully studying the construction details of the original dress, I think I've figured out the steps taken to put it together. Here's a slideshow with some detailed images:



For our construction steps on the reproduction, I've made a few changes to incorporate some modern conveniences, like serging raw edges.
To view a table with the details, go to: