As promised, a process reblog for the final result!
A quick recap: I had finished piecing the daytime side, sewn together my two backing pieces, added scrap fabric along the perimeter of the bodice for easier mounting on the longarm machine, and handed it off to be quilted!
After just a few short days, Laura handed it back to me, fully quilted and
The original pantograph I chose was called Echoed Swirls, but unfortunately it was too large. At the scale we wanted, it would have been 22 inches tall, which was longer than the working bed size of the longarm machine. So we had to do a quick pivot to a new design. I ended up choosing Breeze. It maintained the 'Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night' look I was going for, while also fitting into the quilting 'zone.' We chose a gold metallic for the upper thread, and a stronger grey for the bobbin. Apparently, metallic threads require a lot of supervision, as they are prone to breaking, but Laura assured me that she had it handled. And boy, did she have it handled. I cannot praise her enough! Even with all of my weird requirements, she did a remarkable job :)
I feel like the pictures don't do it justice, since it's hard to capture the beautiful sparkle of the gold threads, but here are a few close up shots I took:
I then did the work of trimming and cleaning up the edges. All along the top where I had sewn scrap fabric to help with mounting onto the longarm, I had to painstakingly cut around the fabric with applique scissors and then tease out the scraps from beneath the quilting. Could I have just trimmed about half an inch away all around? Technically yes, but I was a bit worried about losing more seam allowance just in case I ended up needing that extra wiggle room for adjustments. Especially since quilting already has a slight shrinking effect on the fabric. I also had to seam rip the pocket slits open and tie off all the loose quilting threads. I re-drew the quilting lines that I had to rip out with a heat-erasing pen and back-stitched over them by hand, using the same gold thread that Laura was kind enough to give to me!
Once all my edges were trimmed, I began working on the watteau pleats. I pretty much just followed the instructions in The American Duchess Guide to Eighteenth Century Dressmaking by Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox. My pleats measured about 4 inches in length down the back, and each center pleat was about 2.5 inches. While laid flat, I pinned them, and then prick-stitched in place.
I then worked on top-stitching the other pieces of my dress that I had assumed were too small to bother with the longarm for. I used the image of the pantograph and scaled it to the same size that was used on the rest of the dress. Using my projector, I traced the image onto the sleeves, shoulder straps, and bodice fronts. I then followed the chalk marks on my sewing machine. I assembled the sleeves, and prepared the dress for my final fitting.
I don't have any pictures of this process, but it involved trying on the dress, and having my wonderful partner help to pin the skirt and sleeves in a flattering way. I then went back, and sewed them permanently to the bodice lining. The shoulder strap edges were turned under and sewn on last to cover the raw edges of the sleeve heads. Strips of fabric were sewn to the front skirt openings to cover the raw edges, which were likewise folded under. A strip of gold velvet was used for the hem facing. A silver star patch was appliqued on to cover an old tear in the backing fabric.
And with that, the dress was complete! All I had left to do was gather my accessories (including a pocket bag I made to wear under my panniers), and don my battle armor (a.k.a heavy, quilted dress).
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