Fairy sewing explained - pattern #1034

I'm always given two pieces of Amy Brown's art to work with. I have to figure out how to make as many pattern pieces as possible work for both designs. Sometimes it makes my brain hurt. 




For the Candy Corn costume I decided wide single fold bias tape would be the way to go. I couldn't ask everyone to find and then buy a tiny piece of black and white striped fabric just for that center front panel.  And wide bias was need to go around all the waist petals anyway.

So everyone of those stripes is a piece of bias tape topstitched down.

For the petals, first press one side of the bias tape out flat.

Stitch that pressed-out side to the outer edge of the petal. Stop just before reaching the point.

Then miter the point. First fold the bias back on itself and mark the center line for sewing.

Stitch that marked line.

Then cut along the fold so that tiny seam can be pressed open.

Finish stitching the petal along the outer edge and then stitch down the inner folded edge close to the fold.

Now the petal can be stitched to it's lining piece in the usual way.

One of the big challenges making one of Amy Brown's fairy drawings into an actual costume is keeping the blended look of artwork.

These skirt petals are made with 5 layers of alternating solid and sheer fabric. And this is what I wrote to the instruction writers at Simplicity.

I, on purpose, flipped all of the jagged skirt petal layers this way and that so the seven petals would not be identical. I don’t know how you can say that in the instructions, but I am going to write about this when I blog after the pattern comes out.

So ... I am writing about this now.  You can flip any and all of the layers to make each petal slightly different.  Up to you.

Zig zag the layers one by one, starting with the top layer. Cut away the excess fabric from the back after each layer.

Press well and often. I pressed the fabrics before layering. And after each layer was added to allow any shrinking to happen.

This is what they looked like from the back after the first three layers were put together.

Do not cut away anything from the largest bottom layer after stitching it on. Instead it should have  fusible interfacing pressed to it.

In this photo I'm doing a little repair work, but I want you to look to the right. Those pencil lines are the outer edge markings. I rough cut the largest main petal outside it's finished line, so I could get a nice zig zag on that line and then cut it away.

Like this! The first photo of the finished skirt above will show you how it looks.

Phew! enough fairy sewing for today.

Gotta get back on my current project you will see in 6 months or so.