Cutwork Away!

Last week BurdaStyle published a great article on cutwork, very inspiring and while I have tried applique (poorly) I hadn't thought of trying this but by the end of the article I had decided to give it a go.  In fact I thought it might be perfect for something I am making at the moment.

It's a great way to add a vintage touch to sewing. Cutwork as a way of adorning linen (cloth, sheets) has been in existence since at least the 12th century and later become popular as a finish for all manner of clothing including undergarments and accessories such as gloves and parasols.
 
As I sat this morning trying it for myself, I can see this would have been one of the ways that Jane Austen's girl's would have whiled away the hours waiting for their Mr Darcys to call or ladies sat by wirelesses listening for news of loved ones overseas fighting for their country.

The BurdaStyle article doesn't have photos for its tutorial, so here a few shots of my first attempt this morning, it is a bit quick and rough, this is about half an hour's work.  I used to be able to handsew beautifully, I am evidently out of practice but I shall be doing much more of this in future so there's opportunity to improve!

I used a medium-weight linen as my fabric, its got quite a clear weave which helps to keep stitches even and tightly woven enough that it won't fray.

Using a tailor pencil I drew an outline of a shape to create. I then drew a second, parallel line about 1/8" inside the original lines.

 I then traced over these lines in thread like sew so --->

They're a bit quick and long to be neat but they're to pad the button-hole or satin stitch and aren't visible afterwards.

Using double thread and button-hole or satin stitch, start a stitch just outside one line and carry thread over to outside of opposite line and finish stitch.

The fabric should be in an embroidery loop to help prevent puckering.  Also with large cutouts it is recommended to sew "bars" across the middle to help prevent he shape skewing.  As this was a trial, I didn't add any bars but I would use them on a shape this size (about height of a needle) done properly .


 

  I used thread snippers to cut through the middle and then around the inside of the stitching.   

Et voila!

Addendum:  These were my first attempts at applique for a show costume - Chilli Peppers!  

I drew the design myself and tried out the satin stitch on my machine, unfortunately the exercise proved that my machine is not up to doing much other than buttonholes with that stitch,I'll make sure my next one will!

Project: Butterick B4790 Retro 1952 - The Walk-away Dress

This dress has much fame which I did not know about when I commenced this project, I just though it was unusual and pretty and I love the way the straight skirt and full skirt are all part of one dress the goes over the head and wraps around the waist.

  

A few years ago I went to Ceilidh event in Scotland and we were instructed to dress in tartan.  Not owning anything appropriate and wanting something that would benice to dance in. I chose this Butterick pattern because I wanted a vintage style dress with a skirt that would twirl beautifully.  I liked the underskirt of this dress design thinking it might protect my modesty if the skirt twirled too high and as it doesn't have a seam at the back it doesn't restrict movement.  

I found some great linen in a cream and black plaid print which is very cool on the skin and easy to sew and teamed that up with a gorgeous black jersey crepe which swirled wonderfully (unfortunately it proved a little too heavy and I now have to do some repair work to the bias binding at some point).  If you want to read reviews of making up this pattern and see what others have done with it go here and here.  Pictures of the (almost) finished item:

Edit 26.06.10 I have just commented about about this dress here.  I thought I should copy it across but it is a critique of the pattern that I didn't put into my review at SPR, although I might change that now:

I gave this dress a pretty sharp review at Sewing Pattern Review then felt a bit guilty and softened it up since it had so many fans.  I made mine in a heavy jersey crepe for the full skirt and linen for the pencil skirt dress and despite putting all that weight into the full skirt do not have these probs but I have others!.  I am thinking why and I believe it is because:

a) the waist curves round and fastens exactly on my waist and there's a good 11 inches between that and my hips (I am hourglass) so its securely held in place.  Also I am only using a button and loop on the back so its not too tight around the hips which would cause it to rise up.  The under-dress fits me like a glove actually, I'm thinking of converting it into a dress of its own.

b) the front and bust darts are in line with my apex - a fluke due to being low-busted - and my full bust fills the bodice with no FBA done.  I can see why that would be a problem for someone who is small busted, masses amount of extra fabric. The problem I have with the bodice is above my bust there is excess fabric but that is a very simple fix, I just shorten it at the shoulder seams and voila, perfect fit.

The issues I had were:  While the underskirt fitted perfectly, the waistline of the full skirt appears to be slightly lower (shoulder seams fine).  This meant that when it is wrapped round front it is too low and awkward and the gathering at the waistband added a lot of unflattering bulk at my hips. To resolve this I pull the full skirt part up a bit but then that causes the armholes to gape.  This was already a slight problem because of the extra length in the bodice and the pattern might benefit from the bust darts being angled down from the lower armhole instead of where they are.

I had fabric related issues too. The weight of the crepe pulled the dress apart at the bias tape and the hooks and eyes on the front so I have to repair the bias tape trim and find a different fastening (I originally intended to do buttons and loops but ran out of time so probably will do that with black elastic loops and an inner ribbon for support).  

On the plus side, when I dance in it the full skirt swirled out beautifully with the underskirt protecting my modesty.  However I was concerned at times that the underskirt doesn't quite extend enough round the back an I might flash a bit more flesh than I'd like when the full skirt drops away...

In summary, if I remade the dress I would extend the front panel where it meets a little to prevent this strain and then trim it back as necessary and instead of bias tape loops I would use elastic to make loops.  I would extend the sides of the underskirt to provide more coverage at the back and if necessary add horsehair braid to the hem to keep it down and wrapped round.  I would also move the bust dart to the armhole and shorten the bodice at the shoulder seams.