Purple Senate Gown - it begins.

kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:06 pm Post subject: Purple Senate Gown - it begins.

start of embroidery:

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i336/Kimberly_Wills-Starin/Embroidery1_zpsb3790019.jpg

Brooch and front dress panel done:
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i336/Kimberly_Wills-Starin/Broochandpanel_zpsae90f6ef.jpg

I'm still not quite sure what set me on this path of insanity, but I'm excited that I now have all the materials I need to see this through as of this morning, when my coat fabric arrived on my front porch. I've started the headdress, and the purple satin is showing up shinier and richer than it is in person - I bought six yards of a matte satin that is a kind of grape color.

I bought the bourdon cord recommended by Kaydee and dyed it myself. I have started with 150 yards so I hope it'll be enough. I've worked out the cording patterns and I'm thinking of undoing the last four loops that I have done in the posted photo because they aren't lined up quite right, and I'm still kind of working out the art of getting a smooth curve.

I'm not sure what dye to use on the coat fabric either.

Kaydee's tutorial has helped me out A LOT. While I'm not fully satisfied with the purple dress color that I have, I decided that it's not worth pulling my hair out to get it EXACTLY right. Kaydee herself said the dress leans more toward purple in person, so I'm going with that. Everything else is too blue, too light or too rich. I think I would have preferred a violet rather than a grape, but I just couldn't find it.

The last thing I 'need' in materials is a crinkled taffeta or other fabric for the coat lining. I found a 'table linen' fabric that seems right for it. I also need some medium purple silk for the piping.
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kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:10 pm Post subject:

This is what I'm looking at for the coat lining. I don't know if it's quite right.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MANI-CRINKLED-TAFFETA-FABRIC-Purple-56-WIDTH-SOLD-BTY-POLYESTER-SATIN/321044530440?_trksid=p2050601.c100266.m3461&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140813132254%26meid%3D9d8f90f045e344c197566ab4ebed0d6d%26pid%3D100266%26prg%3D20140813132254%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D171126280070%26clkid%3D1713284583364403884&_qi=RTM1963930

There's every other color BUT purple in a really nice crinkle polyester fabric that JoAnn's carries. It's more of a patterned crinkle than this straight line folded crinkle, but I don't know what to do about it.

This is what I WANT, but as you can see by the 'black' swatch, it's much lighter than it says. http://www.joann.com/special-occasion-solids--crinkled-taffeta-black/zprd_13262035a.html#q=crinkle&start=4
and I've seen the pink/purple in person, it's much too 'hot'.
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SongofAmazon (Jenna) · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 1:28 am Post subject:

You really are off to a great start! You *can* dye polyester, though it's tougher and involves boiling, if you like the second set of crinkle better. Though, if you got your velvet from the source in the LA fashion district, you will need poly dye for the back of the velvet anyway (though the rayon pile needs to be dyed with a natural fabrics dye).
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kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 1:49 am Post subject:

ah! so it's rayon.. Good to know, I think I already have something for rayon. I'm a fan of idye poly, so I'll probably use that for the backing.
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Quietus () · Joined: 20 Sep 2010 Posts: 16 Medals: None

Wow! Good start! )
By the way, where did you buy this flame burn out fabric?

kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 4:41 pm Post subject:

kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:33 pm Post subject:

PROGRESS.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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Lady Marylin () · Joined: 29 Oct 2014 Posts: 16 Location: Canada Medals: None

You are really talented! The embrodedy is amazing!

JediDWH (Lisa Curtis Saunders) · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:02 pm Post subject:

The embroidery looks fantastic!

Per the store's stock, they've been pretty consistently getting more in over the last couple of years, but I can always hike over there with a swatch and ask for more. I've bought a LOT of fabric from them, and they know me as the girl who keeps coming in for that stuff. Laughing

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kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:37 am Post subject:

Thank you so much for the kind comments. I really want everything to go just right - I found my leftover pieces of worbla that I'm going to use for the collar, which will likely be the very last thing I make. This will be the most involved Star Wars costume I've made, and I did the Lake Dress, which I don't wear anymore. This is taking a lot more work than the rainbow dress already.

I've been wanting a really good Parade gown for a while, so I'm looking forward to being done. I hope it's ready for a parade this winter, but it's hard to say.
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Princess Liz Fett (Liz Welsh) · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:42 am Post subject:

My Base XO is so talented!! Very Happy

kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:09 pm Post subject:

Aw.. thanks Liz! you're always so sweet and supportive Very Happy

UPDATE! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

[/img]

(one side looks longer than the other because of how it's centered in the hoop. Did I mention the skirt panel is over 3 feet long?)
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Lora Skywalker () · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:19 pm Post subject:

Beautiful work. Get going. Very Happy

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kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin) · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the recent response! I've finished the front tabard and need to start embroidering the sleeves. Everything is on hold right now due to commissions - a Hoth Leia jumpsuit+vest, a Zelda character soft parts (woo, dyes!) and a classic Leia gown. Smile

Undocumented progress: the skirt lining is cut, and I had to adjust my hoop skirt due to making the dern thing too big around the bottom edge. Thankfully, I hadn't cut my purple skirt pieces yet.
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Kahna () · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:56 pm Post subject:

Love the embroidery. I plan on redoing my dress with thinner cords and more accurate embroidery. . . someday. . .

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