Amewarashi - Summer Frilly Dress #2

 

the cravat

Still not really starting this costume, but I couldn't resist making her cravat, I had almost all materials in my stash, after all.

the embroidered crown

I started by drafting the pattern, mostly eyeing it, hand drafting on folded paper, to mirror the design. It's just one piece, in an hourglass shape, folded in half.

I first drafted the embroidery pattern (and the crown), from the manga images, and had them printed. Then, I traced the cravat pattern twice on leftover white satin, from the Card Girl♤. Without cutting the cravat, I traced the crown design, using my light box, with a Frixion pen (I recently got them from Lidl or Aldi), to the middle of the front and rounder part. That was mistake nr.1: although these pens work really well on cottons and similar fabrics, on satin they bleed a lot, loosing the sharp lines...

I went to my thread stash, and decided to use the "silk" thread I used for Chocolat's pendant cord. Mistake nr.2: the thread is quite old, fragile, and breaks quite easily, so I got an uneven and sometimes fuzzy embroidery. I guess that's what the beeswax is for, to keep this kind of embroidery thread in place while embroidering, but I have none, and went hadcore. Still, I'm quite satisfied with the result, and if, a big "if", I'm in the mood later on, I may remake it...

unsewn cravat

Then I pressed the embroidery, and cut the cravat, proceeding to hand sew it, with a backstitch, leaving an opening at the bottom of the back side, to turn it. Before turning the cravat, I trimmed the seam allowance and scored it at the curves. Then I pressed the allowance at the opening, turned it, and pressed it. Finally I closed the opening, with a ladder stitch.

finished cravat

Finally, I cut a piece of white grosgrain ribbon, and tacked the cravat to the ribbon, by folding it over. Then added the slider and closing hook (the only items I bought), much like a pre-tied bowtie. 

The last time I went shopping for bowtie "hardware" it was the early 90's. They stopped selling those since then, but I think my solution works fine and looks good.

100% polyester damask, black
F: 76 O: 2197 P: €9,50
at Ouro Têxteis 

I've since gone fabric researching downtown, and maybe I'll make this one 100% black and white, as there is a very affordable black poly damask, 2,80m wide, in Ouro Têxteis which will look really nice for the jumper skirt (they didn't have it in dark blue). I'm liking the medallion pattern the most...

+ I always have fun with these small projects, which I can hand sew in front of the TV, while watching stuff. This time it was the WCS 2025 finals.

- well, both mistakes made a less than sharp result, but I'm still satisfied with it.

THE CUNNING PLAN

I'll probably make the crown, as I already drafted it and have PVC scraps in my stash. And, coming Autumn, I may buy the fabrics, the damask and the voile.