Wedding Costumes, Part 2

Okay, so in our last segment I just needed to serge the Şalvar pieces and put them together. The serging was pretty straightforward. No curves, no odd angles, just straight edges to sew. Excellent!

For those that have never seen, much less used a serger machine before, immediately to the right of the presser foot is a very sharp cutting blade that trims off excess fabric and/or threads from the garment pieces to give them a finished edge. Garment pieces can also be sewn together on the serger. Look at the seams of any garment you've bought from the store. Knit garments especially. All the stitching you see on the seam edges is done with an Overlock machine that is known commonly to home sewers as a Serger. These machines have been a Godsend to the home sewer. (I hate that specific Heteronym!) They allow the home sewer to make a garment that looks just as professionally made as anything produce at a fashion couture house. Though you have to be a bit careful when sewing with a serger if you've never done so before. I suggest practicing using some scrap fabric to get the hang of the machine before serging your actual garment pieces. I think one of  the reasons the machine is called a Serger is because it can Surge ahead of you if you aren't paying attention. But I digress.

So then I sewed the Şalvar together. First had to make sure I got the cut edges in the correct order. I separated the pieces and then opened them up. I had cut the pieces on the fold so I now had 2 big garment pieces cut straight along the bottom and top edges, and cut at an odd angle along both sides. If you look back down to Wedding Costumes, Part 1, you'll see what I mean. Putting the Right sides of the fabric together, I stitched both the pieces together along the upper angle cut.

 Then it was time to stitch the legs together. Because of the of angle of the edges, stitching the legs together required a stop in the middle where the crotch came together. I stitched all the way to the middle of the crotch seam, back-stitched a few stitches, made sure the needle was down in the middle of the seam, lifted the presser foot and turned the fabric to the new angle. When I started stitching again I made a few stitches, back-stitched back to the crotch seam, and then continued going forward along the seam to the end. Pretty straightforward, to those of us who sew on a regular basis. Though some are probably asking, "Why the extra backstitching?" Well, crotch seams are notorious for ripping out, especially in those garments not made very well. (I hesitate to use the word Cheap, but inexpensive clothes are made cheaply.) I just don't want DF's backside to come out at the wedding.

So next I stitched up the hem of the pants. All I did was a simple 1/2 inch hem. Because of the angle of the leg seam, I needed to let out the seam a little bit. Because there is a wide enough opening to accommodate DF's foot, I don't need to worry to much about seam coming apart. Also I did some additional back-stitching to insure the seam wouldn't seperate. I then just topstitched the hem in place.

I'm just glad I'm not making this costume for a historical reenactment because I would probably be laughed off the premises.   Historical reenactors are sticklers for accuracy.

The next-to-the-last thing to do on the Şalvar is the waistband. When I was looking at pictures of actual garments of the time period online I noticed that the waistband was just some other bit of fabric added to the top. It didn't have to match the garment fabric. Cool! While I like the fabric I chose, it would been too bulky for a waistband with a drawstring. So I chose a piece of scrap fabric I had that was the right length to fit the waist of the Şalvar. I cut it to a width of 4 inches to allow for seam allowances, serged the edges, and stitched it in place along one side after making sure to fold over the ends 1/2 inch. I did not stitch down the ends which I realize, in hindsight, would have made for a neater edge. But I can always do that by hand.

So with the waistband partially sewed on, time to finish it. Press the waistband so that the seam allowance is up on the waistband. Then fold the waistband down to cover the seam allowance and making sure the waistband edge is at least 1/4 inch past the seam allowance. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when I sew, so I decided to stitch-in-the-ditch, sewing from the right side very closely along the seam line. It's hard to do well and even the most experienced sewer will mess up once in a while.  Good thing this waistband will be under the rest of DF's costume so it doesn't have to be 100% perfect. Thank goodness!

The last thing I need to do is get them on DF again so I can mark the placement of the buttons and loops at the ankles. I'll be making matching buttons and stitching a line of thin elastic loops at the hem of the Şalvar to peg them. It was the fashion of the time, though probably not with elastic button loops.

Normally I'd have a picture of the finished garment, but I'm going to wait till I have everything done and DF gets to model. Hope you don't mind the wait.