Ok, I know what my problem is...

[lovetriangle]

Regarding the PDSvN dress, anyway.

I get hung up on projects when I attack a certain aspect of it and it doen't work/look the way I want it to. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to work on the entire thing again until I come up with a solution to the sticking point.

My current hang-up is the strapwork sections on the kirtle for the PDSvN dress. I like the look and everything is cut out but the silver soutache gets torn up by even a size 9 machine needle. I've done 3/4 of a panel by hand and my sticthing isn't fine enough - it looks lumpy and I'll have to tear it out.

I really want to do this by machine to make sure it sits flat on the sleeves. Not to mention there are 4 panels per sleeve and I'll be working on this to my grave if i try and do it by hand. Any suggestions?

Here's what the design looks like:


And here's the braid style - but all metallic.

Comments

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

Just thinking - what if you tried to fuse it with that fine line fusible web with the paper on one side? That would get it to lay nice and flat (and straight). Then you might be able to stitch it down invisibly - but I also find that the fuse layer can be a bugaboo.

I'd also think about trying to sew the trim down over the top of the trim to add a textural element and make it all easier. Let's see if I can explain. Since the pattern is a Chevron and I don't especially like working with metallic thread, I would take white pearl cotton and stitch from the back of the fabric to the front at the side of the trim (in the white area) and bring the needle to the center of the trim, following the slant of the pattern. Kind of a big overcast stitch that followed the chevron pattern. It might also be cool to do it in a thread that matched the base fabric for additional texture. Am I making any sense?

[love3angle.livejournal.com]

Yeah that makes sense. I had been stitching it right down the middle with a running stitch but it just isn't smooth because my hand stitching isn't that fine.

The other thing is that the trim I'm using is all metallic, not striped like the picture, and that is teh root of my problem. The metal outerlayer doesn't like to be pierced. I like the overcast stich from the edge idea and it may not show using gray thread...

I'll ty a couple of things over the weekend and report back.