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The problem with weaving is that there are only so many scarves a person needs. . . . Linens are nice, but I want my linens to fit in with my decorating scheme, and that means limiting myself to certain colors. I suppose I could weave things to sell, but that means dealing with selling venues, and frankly, if I wanted to do production work I'd get a job in a factory! For me, the joy of weaving comes in the dreaming, the planning and the production of something I've not done before. But once it's done, I'm done and it's time to start a new dream.
Contemplating this, I decided to weave fabric for clothing. Here are some of the results. Some of these pieces were made from the normal "flat" pieces of cloth that you get when you weave, but some are 3 structural woven pieces. To learn more about how I weave fabric that is not a flat rectangle, see the 3D structural weaving page. |
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Some notes about sewing the 3D woven Butterfly Vest:
I used rayon fiber for the vest. But since rayon wrinkles easily, and the butterfly wigs would need to be ironed from time to time, I needed to devise a construction method that would allow that. There were other constraints as well. For one, I wanted to line the vest with some silk fabric. Second, I didn't want to cut into the fabric used for the body because I didn't want to cut into the woven butterfly pattern - but I also wanted some shaping. At first I thought of pleats at the sides, but that started to seen a bit bulky. I finally decided on a construction method that satisfied all these constraints. I made a lined, silk bodice for the front that I could attach the two front panels to. The back was silk lined, creating a back panel, and everything was attached at the side seams. The front panels overlap in the front and reach around the back, under the back panel. In the back the front panels are held up and provide some shaping at the waist through the addition of a silk waist band. That band is sewn onto one side panel and buttons to the other, allowing for easy ironing. The butterfly wings attach only at the shoulder seams and the side seams, from the armhole to just above the waist. They are held together in the center front with a separating zipped, with the zipper tab at the bottom. |
(c) 2017, 2018 Sally Eyring - all designs, pictures, and text on this web site