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Diary of a Dress: Ball Gown from Sabrina
2006/02/12 :: embroidery madness I've loved this dress for ages. Recently I've become obsessed. Really, we're talking about 6-7 metres of hand embroidered fabric here. Believe me, I've gone through all the options in my mind. I can't find a fabric that is anywhere near the original. I've thought of printing or painting the design but that would give it a costumey look and I want this to be a real dress. The logical solution would seem to be having it machine-embroidered - I don't have access to an embroidery machine so I would have to hire a professional. I don't know if the embroidery can be made onto silk organza (at least the thread can't be silk) and I'm also afraid the result will be stiff and coarse - nothing like the floaty softness of the original. So I've decided to give it a try. Not the whole costume though, just the dress. That much embroidery I should manage. And maybe after that, just maybe, I can start embroidering the train and have it finished in, like, 5 years. I've posted my research here, including the patterns for the embroideries. I ordered some white silk organza and black silk floss (I'm using Zwicky Filo Floss no. 2001) to try out the design. Here's a progess photo - there are some things I'm going to change in the final product. The stems need to be thicker, for example. I used backstitches now but stem stitch will be a better option. Other stitches used are satin stitches and blanket stitches in the leaves. In the second picture the design is drawn onto pattern paper and compared with the original.
Like I said, I'm going to use silk organza for the dress. The original is, however, said to be made of silk organdy (or organdie). I've had difficulties figuring out what's the difference. Some sources say organza is silk and organdy is cotton. What is silk organdy, then? It is also said that organza is not as stiff as organdy. This source claims that organza is "sheer silk organdy". Anyway, the dilemma is resolved by the fact that I haven't found a source for silk organdy anywhere. I'd be happy if anyone can clear this up for me, though. |
