Wednesday, April 18, 2012

North Star 09/12/11

Original bead work detail

I have been sitting on this post since before the move to the new house. I was traded this very dated yet completely gorgeous hand beaded silk dress to re-purpose into some kind of awesome. I started by seam ripping out the lining and the heavily beaded sleeves off and sewing them onto a bra as giant appliques.

The original dress in all of its glory. 

More original bead work detail.

Original bead work along the skirt hem.

100% silk 

Sleeve removed from dress.


I traced the star pattern onto paper as a guide to build the upper edge of the bra.


 Using grosgrain ribbon to create a new shape to old re-purposed bra cups.
 
Getting an idea of where the applique will be sewn on.

Bottom bra extension.

From the back, the stitches look funky here because I ripped some of them out, moved things around, and resewed.

Layers of felt and grosgrain ribbon stitched along the top edge to create the shape from my tracing.

Cup extensions from the front. It's starting to look like an angry muppet.

Angry muppet face! I'm so funny.


Using an old pair of jeans to reinforce the cups.

Using the denim to cover and smooth over the extension.

From the back.

Angry muppet's eyes are closed.


Checking the fit of the applique again.

A little punch drunk at this point.
 
Using the original polyester lining as a base fabric before sewing on the appliques.
 
Lining pinned in to place.


 Lining folded under

Patching the lining together. It will all be covered by the applique and additional bead work.
 
The applique is trimmed down a bit and stitched to the bra cups.
 
Pinning and stitching more of the original bead work on to the bra.

Now I can get on to posting the current pictures of this project. More to come!

~N

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