Making Garments

*Haven't been here for awhile, no excuses, no apologies, just getting back on the train*

Making Garments - that is what my practicum is all about.

My goal is to make beautiful feminine garments using silk, cotton, and wool.  Using the wool fibers and the laminate felting process to join fabrics and seams, I will be sewing very little of the garments together, and using up all of the fabric without any left over scraps.

After working on some swatches last week, tonight was my first go at making a blouse using these techniques and restrictions.  And I must say I am extremely happy with the results!  The blouse is by no means finished, I have only fitted and felted the shoulders and sleeves, but I will be finishing the design of the blouse tomorrow morning.

Here are some photos of the process and what I've got so far...

This is the rectangle of fabric I started with and cut a diamond shape out of the center to create the front and back neck-line.

This is the beginning of the sleeve.

I first needle felt the wool fibers into the layers of silk I want to join.  This is to help get the felting started, and to lessen the amount of time I need to wet felt the garment.

This is what it looked like after being needle felted, but before being wet felted.

Detail of the sleeve before wet felting.

Sleeve Detail

 

Ready for wet felting!

Here is the result after wet felting, I am so excited it turned out exactly as I have envisioned it in my head.  A great feeling of accomplishment!

Here it is all wet felted! 

Sleeve detail

Sleeve detail

Back

 Now my head is swimming with ideas of how to finish the blouse!  Is the closure on the side, or the front? A nice invisible zipper?  Does one side come over and cross in the front with a nice hook and eye or button?  How do I close up the side seams?  Keep them symmetrical, or go crazy?  How will I ever decide!

How would you finish this garment, how do you see it in its final design?  I would love to hear what you think in the comments below:)