Pearlessence
concept drawing
South Australian Quilters Guild, 2014, "Festival of Quilts" held at the Quilt and Craft fair in Adelaide, South Australia.
Wearable Art section theme "Pearl" celebrating the Guilds 30th anniversary.
Pearlessence is a unique evening dress designed for the modern women using traditional techniques and inspiration. Cream, ivory and blush colours, reminiscent of fresh water pearls, glint and sparkle with metallic threads, floaty petals and swirling sequins.
Delicate corded battenberg styled lace work using a feather quilting pattern adorns the décolletage with beading and freehand machine embroidery.
Machine quilting is used to further accent the body, blending into the full and flowing Lone Star patchwork fishtail skirt. Each section of the dress evokes the style of traditional techniques more commonly used for embellishments on quilts and tablecloths.
This dress was designed to be the ultimate formal attire for a gala ball celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the S.A. Quilters guild. A tribute to quilting and traditional embellishment techniques, given a modern twist in shimmering pearlessence colours.
My inspiration came from the idea to combine quilting, patchwork and battenberg lace together to make a formal evening dress with a modern twist.
The dress is divided into 3 sections, each one featuring a different embellishment technique.
The Vogue pattern was selected to allow the Lone Star block to flair out at the skirt.
The body has a quilted feather pattern sewn through wadded fabrics.
The bust and neckline are accented with corded battenberg style lace, beading and freehand machine embroidery over a soft tulle backing.
The delicate fabrics were chosen to reflect the soft hues and subtle variations of freshwater pearls which derive their colours from the environment they are grown.
2nd Place winner!!!
Pearlessence is a unique evening dress designed for the modern women using traditional techniques and inspiration. Cream, ivory and blush colours, reminiscent of fresh water pearls, glint and sparkle with metallic threads, floaty petals and swirling sequins.
Delicate corded battenberg styled lace work using a feather quilting pattern adorns the décolletage with beading and freehand machine embroidery.
Machine quilting is used to further accent the body, blending into the full and flowing Lone Star patchwork fishtail skirt. Each section of the dress evokes the style of traditional techniques more commonly used for embellishments on quilts and tablecloths.
The dress is divided into 3 sections, each one featuring a different embellishment technique.
The Vogue pattern was selected to allow the Lone Star block to flair out at the skirt.
The body has a quilted feather pattern sewn through wadded fabrics.
The bust and neckline are accented with corded battenberg style lace, beading and freehand machine embroidery over a soft tulle backing.
I wanted a quilt block that would flow outwards from the fitted knee of the dress into a wide fishtail and train. The long diamond shape of the Lone Star block accomplished this and when sewn together the diamonds created panels that almost fitted the pattern pieces perfectly.
I made over 30 blocks using the delicate fabrics. To insure each line on each blocks diamonds matched points I hand sewed the crossovers on all the seam lines before machine sewing each of the strips into blocks, then the blocks together.
Vogue Pattern
Fabric selection
At the Canberra Textile fair in April 2014 I purchased some beautiful evening fabrics from Pitt Trading.
Included were a blush coloured silk fabric with a platinum metallic thread detail and a blush sequin and lace fabric that matched.
In addition to these two fabrics I found frosted metallic gold and a frosted metallic silver fabric. These complimented the blush fabrics perfectally with there soft metallic shimmer.
The final key fabric was purchased from Jenny's Sewing Centre in Angaston South Australia. It is a soft floaty petal fabric in cream. Lines of scalloped chiffon have been stitched to a net base in a circular flower pattern. As this fabric was sheer I backed it with the frosted silver fabric.
To reduce the weight of the dress I change the pattern so the main fabric only extends to the knee then the lower section of the dress was replaced with 8 Lone Star panels. Each panel has the outer fabric layer, wadding and a lining of cotton drill. The drill was to allow me to trace the quilting pattern directly onto the garment ready for bobbin work stitching.
The top line of Lone Star diamonds are bound with bias binding and positions onto each panel of the dress. The 4 front panels were sewn together and the quilting was added after the diamonds were tacked in place.
Lone Star blocks
Diamond skirt panels bound with satin binding
Diamonds laid out on the front panels of the dress
Quilted Bodice
The body and fitted skirt is made from the shimmer blush fabric. I created a sandwiched of layers using thin wadding with a backing of cotton. When this was stitched with the thick decorative thread in the bobbin case it gave a quilted appearance.
Lace and Net
Notions
The ivory rouleau tubing was bought from DK fabrics by the metre. The bias gives the tubing some stretch and the ability to be manipulated around curves and loops smoothly. I wanted a uniform colour to match the blush tones of the dress so I had to dye it myself to match the sating bias binding used on the diamond blocks. I used Starr Lace Ozpol dye. I was also going to use an opalescent metallic knitted tube braid but I could not get that to dye the right colour so didn't use it.
test samples of rouleau to get the correct colour
The thread used for the bobbin work embroidery is Wonderfil Dazzle colour 7102.
The lace is made using a technique I learned from the DVD "In Motion" by Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beany. Using a sticky backed water soluble fabric I got from Punch with Judy.
applying rouleau cord
pattern removed
second layer of stabiliser applied
bobbin work stitching
stabilisers washed away
Bodice Design
The lace bodice overlay was drawn and drafted in cotton fabric first to fit the dress dummy. It was then transferred to paper ready to make the lace.
Hand beading is stitched on the lace before the water soluble backing is washed away.
The lace is pinned to the dress so it can be cut, shaped and pinned to fit the contours of the bust ready for stitching.
The lace before washing away the stabiliser
The lace after washing away the stabiliser pinned to the dress ready for hand sewing in place.
This dress is a size 10 and is for sale for $1000
Suppliers
Pitt Trading = fabrics
www.pitttrading.com.au
| 274 Rocky Point Rd, Ramsgate NSW 2217 |
www.dkfabrics.com.au105 Port Rd, Hindmarsh SA 5007Phone:(08) 8346 8445
Starr Lace = polyester dye
www.starrlace.com.au
Postal Address:- PO Box 70 Bundanoon NSW 2578
Phone:- (02) 4883 7440
Mobile:- 0413 040 633 or 0417 448 040
Phone:- (02) 4883 7440
Mobile:- 0413 040 633 or 0417 448 040
Punch with Judy = water soluble sticky back fabric
www.punchwithjudy.com.au
"Goldview" Olympic Hwy, The Rock. NSW (near Wagga)
PH 02 69 20 2238
Beads from Spotlight
Jennys Sewing Centre = petal fabric
www.jennyssewingcentre.websyte.com.au
64 Murray St Angaston, South Australia
PH 08 8564 2269
scan the QR code to hear me talk about the dress.