Costume ramblings
Aug. 22nd, 2006 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofthethreadThe last few days I’ve been fiddling with my cheongsam pattern and trying to see what I need to alter for the new costume. I started trying out alterations on the pattern and I think I need to make more drastic changes than I thought at first. The pattern originally had no separate pieces for the short sleeves and no shoulder seams. I think I need to make my long sleeve separately because fabric is bunching around there the way it is now. The back will probably need some altering, too, since it looks like it’s supposed to flare a bit towards the hem rather than being straight like a normal Chinese dress.
I think that this dress would be so much simpler to make if it were supposed to go on a female character since, of course, that’s the type of figure cheongsams are intended for and how the patterns are. Count D’s outfit looks like it fits pretty snugly and the fact that I’m far from flat probably doesn’t help since I can’t make it too fitted without that becoming noticeable. -_-;
Also, while experimenting, I found that my sewing machine didn’t want to sew the sueded fabric I was using for the test. (It was stuff I bought very cheaply a few years ago and didn’t have any particular use for anymore.) The machine made holes in the fabric and occasionally made a couple of stitches but mostly wouldn’t sew the stuff. I feel a bit dumb for not knowing what’s wrong when these type of problems come up, especially since I’ve been sewing so long. ._.; I’ve just never had a lesson in how to diagnose what’s wrong so I end up trying to figure it out by trial and error and it doesn’t always work. I tried a few different needles, including a leather one, but none of them worked although they sewed on other fabric without a problem. I ended up just stitching it together with a hand needle.
I think that this dress would be so much simpler to make if it were supposed to go on a female character since, of course, that’s the type of figure cheongsams are intended for and how the patterns are. Count D’s outfit looks like it fits pretty snugly and the fact that I’m far from flat probably doesn’t help since I can’t make it too fitted without that becoming noticeable. -_-;
Also, while experimenting, I found that my sewing machine didn’t want to sew the sueded fabric I was using for the test. (It was stuff I bought very cheaply a few years ago and didn’t have any particular use for anymore.) The machine made holes in the fabric and occasionally made a couple of stitches but mostly wouldn’t sew the stuff. I feel a bit dumb for not knowing what’s wrong when these type of problems come up, especially since I’ve been sewing so long. ._.; I’ve just never had a lesson in how to diagnose what’s wrong so I end up trying to figure it out by trial and error and it doesn’t always work. I tried a few different needles, including a leather one, but none of them worked although they sewed on other fabric without a problem. I ended up just stitching it together with a hand needle.
