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Week 4: Conclusion

 And… we’re done! Figure 1: finished dress!!!!! I’m hoping to do a cooler fancier photoshoot sometime this weekend, but I simply haven’t gotten the time to coordinate that yet. However, the finished dress looks really really good! I’m also very happy with the back of the dress: Figure 2: so clean By the time I had completed most of the dress, I started to get nervous about doing the final step: putting in an invisible zipper. I had to go buy a special invisible zipper foot (which, fun fact, is not eligible for any coupons because it’s technically part of a sewing machine, which aren’t allowed to be discounted), but after I got over the initial intimidation, it wasn’t all that difficult. Given that this was my very first attempt at professionally inserting a zipper of any sort, I’m very proud of the results! Self reflection: This project turned out to be both more involved and more rewarding than I expected. I was forced to be flexible in my scheduling and my process, as well as acc...
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Week 3: Getting there slowly

 This has been a pretty slow week. As Mia and Becky and everyone with any big brain energy predicted, the sewing with the new slippery fabric is far more tricky to work with than the muslin. As a result, though I was hoping to finish most of the final dress this week, I only have approximately the upper third.  Figure 1: the upper 30% I do have some good adventures to share, though! Firstly, though the fabric is hard to work with (and the lines are surprisingly more difficult to make straight than the muslin), after being pressed, the result is GORGEOUS. Take a look at this awesome neckline: Figure 2: beautiful and clean  In terms of the process, as previously predicted, even the cutting part of the process was also significantly more difficult than I expected. I ended up using way more pins than the first time, as evidenced by Maxine’s new outfit: Figure 3: porcupine dozer? She was also joined by Otto, her new cold-weather loving friend, who was forced out of his summer ...
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Week 2: Halfway (already????)

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 Oh, how time flies.  The bad news : Things are going a little more slowly than I expected. It's astounding to me how easy it is to put together the general shape of the dress, but what takes an incredible amount of time is getting from that general shape to the finished shape. Who could've known? A lot of this trouble comes from trying to get the edges of the fabric to look professional and finished, without having any thread actually showing.  Here's an example:  Figure 1: hey, look! it's already taking shape! that was easy. Here's a picture of the pieces of the bodice, having been sewn together in a shape that already looks pretty bodice-like. (This is also a picture of the ducttape and bubble-wrap mannequin I made for myself in lieu of an actual dress form.)  Figure 2: about 5 hours of work later... looks just a little nicer Above is a picture of the "completed" bodice. It doesn't look like a whole lot of improvement, but I'm actually really sa...
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Week 1: Introduction

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Hey! Welcome to my senior project blog. In this post, I'll briefly outline what I've chosen for my capstone project and set some goals for the upcoming weeks.  Long story short, I'm planning to sew a formal graduation dress. I planned this senior project under the assumption that we were still learning entirely remotely, but luckily, that's changed — now, I don't have to sew at home, alone, by myself, with occasional breaks for zoom meetings with my mentor Mia Bane. Instead, I'll be sewing at home, alone, by myself, with occasional breaks for zoom meetings with Mia. Oops.  I've also taken on a short-term machining job which takes up 12 hours Monday-Wednesday, so most of my progress will be happening on Thursdays/Fridays/The Weekends.  Ultimately, I hope to end up with a nice pretty dress that I get to wear as I walk across the stage in about a month. My dream dress is this one:  Unfortunately, it takes more than a little wishful thinking to end up with a fin...
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