Trouble with the tunic

After receiving the top fabric for my tunic, I became concerned as to which was the best way to tackle using it. Velvet is a fabric I am yet to work with, and have found through working with scraps that it's pile can easily shed and the fibres are hard to pick up off other fabrics. I decided the best way to tackle this is to place pattern making paper over the table, lay the fabric out flat and cut very closely to the table. After this a soft lint brush may pick up the loose fibres. I also had to take into account the fake under sleeve in the tunic was made out of the same wool/cotton blend the skirt was produced of. keeping these separate whilst the pile was loose became a priority as it was tricky to reeve the fibres after they stuck.

To begin with I had to unpick the seams of my calico toile which will act as my pattern for the tunic. Once placed onto the velvet and pinned into place it was noticed that if caution wasn't taken, the velvet would manipulate itself into creases especially along the bias. I also found that if I keep the calico pinned to the velvet the calico will pick up quite a bit of the loose pile. After about an hour of pinning and repining, making sure the pile fell downwards,  I was satisfied that the velvet was placed correctly to the calico. Then came that moment of truth, when you first cut the top fabric and worried that you didn't double check everything. One snip later and the start of the tunic had begun. The pattern took an entire afternoon to cut out and brush down but the time and effort it took made the production stage a lot easier. Placing the tunic front and back together and sewing up the side seams were quite simple, however it was the sleeve placement which took time. Due to the fake under sleeves of the garment it bulked up the armhole a lot due to the thickness of the fabric. At the second fittings we may need to look into a way of making this lighter and thinner so the actress will be more mobile.

Once the placement of the armholes were pinned and secure I took my time on the industrial sewing machine making sure the armhole remained the correct shape.  I found myself unpicking one of the armholes after a first attempt as even though I took great care it seemed to move an extra 5mm from the allotted seam allowance.

Once this happened I found that it was best to step away from the tunic and tackle it again with a fresh set of eyes the next day. If something were to go wrong now the fabric would severally pucker and become obvious to the eye.

After all rome wasn't built in a day, and everything that is worth doing takes time.