Colorful Lace

Completed March 2018

I bought this colorful guipure lace to make myself a skirt and had enough left over to make a matching dress for my daughter. I don’t remember the skirt pattern I used. I intended to use it for Susan Khalje’s Couture Lace Skirt class, but it wasn’t quite suitable for some of the techniques. Should have watched the first lesson where she discusses what to look for before I bought the lace! I did get to use some of the techniques, such as the Petersham ribbon inner waistband treatment, so it was still a good learning project.

For the dress I used Vogue 7845 for the bodice. I made out of silk taffeta underlined with cotton batiste, and joined it to the lace at the waist. The skirt used the entire length of the lace I bought, which I had cut down the middle so I could use the selvages for the hems. It had no side seams. I gave it a center back seam and simply pleated the skirt at the waist front and back to fit with the bodice. I would have liked a little more fullness in the skirt, but I was using up what I had. I even had to leave a little slit at the bottom so it wouldn’t restrict her movement. I attached a pretty ribbon to cover the waist seam, and used an invisible zipper closure. I used the same ribbon to make bow ties for my husband and son. We wore our matching outfits on Easter 2018.