Ruffles

I wanted to experiment with ruffles, and this is what I came up with! I cut the ruffles by cutting a spiral out of fabric. I used a knit/net fabric for the ruffles to prevent fraying. The shell of the dress is knit because I wanted the dress to hug the body naturally. The downside of using a knit dress and huge ruffle applique is that the heaviness of the ruffles pulls on the knit, creating ripples.

With every dress I make I try to utilize a new technique that I have not used before, so I am constantly learning new things and I have more options in designing.

This dress was entirely sewn by hand, by the way. I'm such a big fan of hand-sewing! I bought this book called Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire B. Shaeffer. It has been such a help! I find sewing by hand to be very, very relaxing. I sit in front of the television or radio, watch something that's educational (or not), and sew up a dress! It's how people did things in the old days. Picture old time women, at home sewing dresses with their daughters, all by hand! Magnificent things come as a result of this. I find that when you spend a lot of time on a dress with hand sewing, it tends to turn out better, rather than throwing it through a machine with devours the fabric quite quickly you might make a mistake, or worst, the machine sucks in the fabric.