A Bird In The Hand......

I have been taking pity on my poor student daughter and doing a bit of Christmas unselfish sewing.

Courteney and I were in a fabric store before Christmas
 when she admired some lovely chiffon with tiny horses printed on it.  There was also a bird version.  This fabric did not come cheap though!  At $20 per metre, I thought I could perhaps do better online, and I did.  Fabric.com had the exact print for around half the price, landed at my door.  I quickly hit buy now before too many other treasures found their way into my shopping cart, and believe me some did! 

Upon it's arrival I quickly set to work.  I was a little daunted by working with chiffon as two ball dresses had tested my patience with sheer fabrics at the time.  The gelatine method was trialled for insurance.  I actually used Kbenco's method which uses measurements I understand.  Initially I wasn't sure whether it actually had any effect and put it down to spinning and tumble drying, but actually, I think it was easier to work with.

Once again, at Courteney's request, I made an Grainline Archer.  Given the fabric is so sheer, I wasn't sure how to go about the print showing through issue on the yoke and pocket.  I didn't want a second layer of birds visible through my outer fabric.  I solved this by backing my yoke with voile curtaining I found in my stash.  It is the perfect shade of off white to match the blouse.  The second area of concern was the pockets.  I interlined these with ivory voile as well which both cut down on the print showing through and stabilized the pocket enough to make it simple to sew on straight.

The only other change I made from mine was to lengthen the sleeves, because although we wear the same size, either Courteney has monkey arms or I have t-rex arms.  The jury is out on that one!

I am thrilled with the result and actually wouldn't mind stealing it for myself!