Sewing with silk: camisole; blouse

I purchased two lengths of silk in Montreal in March, to make blouses. I made one (the Remy Raglan) a couple of months ago, and had to do something nice with the offucts, and a camisole fit the bill. 

I did not want to spend too much money on a pattern for such a simple garment, so I went with a free pattern by Tammy Handmade: the Etty camisole. Interestingly, I notice that the same company has at least one other camisole pattern - paid - with finer finishing details!

This one has a pretty scallopped edge at the front neck edge. Well, let's say pretty if you get it perfect. Mine is just barely visible.

I did rouleau loops instead of flat straps. I found a good refresher video from Just patterns which encouraged you to keep the seam allowance to add body to the rouleau. It comes out like a cord this way. Fortunately I had purchased the required tool at some point to use to tuck in serger ends. (I only did that a couple of times before I gave up!)

 

I did a rolled hem for the facing edge. But I did not properly adjust all the settings - so it is a bit wobbly. (I don't do them often enough, I guess!).

I also did a French seam for the side seams. 

The facing is sewn as one with the main bodice pieces, so that you have four layers. It is fine with this light silk. In future I would sew front and back facing together, and front and back bodice together, then 'hide' the seams inside. (I would fudge it so that there was a French seam below the facing.)

it is a good fit

facing rolled hem

rouleau strap

Second length of silk

in the pot

I remember clearly that the previous length of silk was a silk twill. This one might be as well, but I am not sure. Why does it matter? Well I noticed that the silk twill has enough body to work with fairly easily. But since I was not sure about this second piece, I decided to use the gelatine method to firm it up.

I have used this method before; I relied on this post from Threads. The problem is that the amount they give is for a very small piece, and I couldn't find many more posts. One post (can't remember which one), said they had doubled the amount. So that is what I did. I mixed it around a few times to make sure that it all got coated.

rolled in towel

I let it rest for the amount of time they said, then put it on a rack over the pot to let it drip dry a bit (withoug squeezing, or anything.). Then I rolled it in a towel to absorb much of the moisture. Finally I hung it on the clothesline.

And much to my delight, when it was dry it felt suitably stiffened. 

I wasn't sure how heat (iron) would affect it, so tried it on a corner, and again, it kept the stiffness.

Obviously, the garment will need to be rinsed, or washed, after completion before wearing.

But it certainly makes it easier to work with.

line drying

I will post a review of the blouse after my vacation. I got it started, and am looking forward to making it.

circular loom

Also posting an in-progress photo of my new rug weaving project. I got my hands on a bike wheel rim that would have been discarded and am using it as the loom to make a circular rug. 

What I REALLY am trying to make is a basket. Unlike other weavers, I am hoping that it WILL curl up. Other weavers ask how to avoid that, and I will do what they are told to avoid! I will also go from weaving around each warp thread, to around two at a time, then three, and will also somehow try to guide them upwards. If you have any thoughts on this, please leave them in the comments!

Hard to see in the photo, but it HAS started to curl up after I switched to every two warps. I plan to lengthen each one so that it gets looser and easir to shape.

in progress