Vogue 1393 Progress

An Update

Progress on Vogue 1393 is going well so far.  I sewed a muslin of the bodice and it fit my daughter perfectly, right out of the pattern envelope.  However, I did not make a muslin of the skirt but checked the fit by tissue fitting the skirt lining.  I sure hope that I don't regret skimping on this part.

I have all of the underlining pieces cut out and all but two of the lace pieces cut out.


An underlining is cut from the same pattern piece as the fashion fabric, then the two are hand-basted together and treated as one unit during the rest of the garment construction.  In this case I used crepe back satin to underline lace fabric.

Problem #1

How to keep things organized so that I would not be playing the matching game when it came time to baste the underlining to the matching lace piece and then reattach it to the correct pattern piece for the purposes of transferring pattern markings.

Solution

Realizing that I would need to reuse the same pattern pieces to cut out the lace fabric I decided to layout the pattern on the lace while the underling was still attached, but without actually pinning the pattern to the lace at this point. After ensuring that I had the correct layout and enough fabric, I removed the pattern from each underlining piece a few at a time, carefully setting aside the underlining. Then I pinned these pattern pieces to the lace using pins that would not snag the fabric and cut out the lace a few pieces at a time. After cutting out the lace piece, I immediately pinned it to its corresponding underlining and basted the two together.

Problem #2

How to properly align the lace to its corresponding underlining and baste them together without shifting.



My first thought was to baste around the circumference in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. However, in doing so I noticed that because the crepe back satin was so "wiggly" (how's that for a technical term) that the fabric shifted.  By the time I got around to the point where I'd started basting, the underlining had shifted so much that it no longer appeared to match the corresponding lace piece.

Solution:

To cut down on shifting while basting the underlining to the lace I followed this sequence:

1. Hand-baste the two shorter sides matching the raw edges.
2. Then gently maneuver the underlining to match the raw edges on the remaining sides and baste.

Look at the photo below--
 

The raw edges of the  underlining and the lace have been matched and basted together along the right edge.  Notice how the remaining sides are not lining up?

 

After matching and basting together the raw edges along the opposite side, then matching and basting together the remaining two raw edges...

Voila! An exact match!

Problem #3

How to properly realign and pin the pattern back to the now underlined lace piece so that the pattern markings can be transferred? 

Solution:

I very carefully realigned the two underlining/lace units, or re-folded the units that were cut on the fold, matching the raw edges and pinning them together to make sure everything aligned properly.

And flipped it over to double check the alignment 

Then pinned the pattern piece in place. Note:  you may want to use a lot of pins around the perimeter to keep the pattern from shifting as you transfer the markings. 

Sometimes, even with my best effort, the pattern and fabric did not match perfectly (usually as a result of less than precise cutting).  In those cases I trimmed away any excess fabric.  Then,  I clipped the notches and thread marked the dots, darts, and any other necessary pattern markings.  

What has been your experience with underlining?  Do you have any hints or tips to share? If so, please share by leaving a comment.  

And until next time...Sew something you love!