Enough pouff for the WOW dress?

After attaching the crinoline to the hem of the Vogue 2962 dress, I still thought it needed extra fullness, so I made a tulle petticoat. Sugardale makes super cute petticoats and she has a great tutorial, but I wanted something a bit quicker and preferred to use my Ruffler foot than gathering the conventional way. The memories of gathering big bits of tulle remain after making my wedding dress about 21 years ago! So here she is all pouffed out .......

 I did the petticoat in four tiers - each one 20cm wide. I added a soft cotton fabric as a header to the top tier to reduce the amount of harsh tulle at the waist. The top tier was a strip of 5 metres, the 2nd tier was 7.5 m, the third tier was 8.75 metres and the bottom tier was 10metres. Now there is nothing particularly clever about those lengths - really just a stab in the dark. I did a few test pieces of the ruffler foot to work out the gathering ratio - so that I didn't have to pin each piece to it's connecting tier.

Ruffler foot in action

Testing the gathering rate - there are a few settings on the foot, plus you can vary the amount of gather with the stitch length - so in this example, the rate was 1.27.

Basic straight interfaced waistband to finish the top.

I added an underskirt of lightweight soft cotton to reduce the itchiness of the tulle.

The back has a placket opening and one hook with several eyes so that it can be adjusted to suit the petite 40's waistline or ......

So she's all ready for her big night out at Blacksmiths Primary School's Market night this Friday Night (21st Oct) - where I will have a stall -  ... and .....  will I be wearing it? No, she's a pert Size 10 - my daughter may be able to wear it - but alas, she looks so good on the lovely lady mannequin, I'll leave it at that!

Vogue 2962 - using Crinoline / Horsehair Braid

Our local Public school is having a fundraiser market night and I've decided to have a stall to advertise my classes and maybe sell a few patterns and bits and pieces. I thought it would be good to have a special "wow" type garment on one of my dressmaker's mannequins to attract attention. So I decided on Vogue 2962 in navy stretch sateen with a spot or two - fabric from Spotlight (get it??). Anyway, I wanted a really full dramatic skirt and I've been reading about using horsehair braid (Crinoline Tape / Stabiliser) in the hem.

Before Crinoline in Hem

After crinoline in hem

Don't you love those waistlines???

Sewing Crin to the hem on the right side - this tape is 54mm wide

Turn the hem under - pull the little threads at the top of the tape to ease in fullness.

Pin on the right side to stitch

See the little loop pulling the braid tight?

While I was quite impressed with the fullness and definition the tape gave the hem, I think I will have to make a tulle petticoat to add extra fluff. This is an easy straight forward pattern - it's just BIG - heavy - bulky - the hem circumference was 5.35 metres - phew!!

 Check out Gertie explaining this technique here.