I'm not really sure what possessed me, but I had the sudden urge to make this dress :
Yes, it is the dress from Titanic. I have always liked it, and for some reason I had this vision of myself wafting around in a cloud of chiffon. So, before dance class today, I decided to hit Joann's to see if there was anything cheap that I could use to make it out of.
Of course, the LA fabric district has completely ruined me on chiffon prices. I bought a zillion yards of fabulous georgette out there for the grand price of $1/yard. Now I can't bring myself to buy chiffon or georgette in the stores if it's anything over $2. Everything I found was around the $4 mark, even on the clearance racks. I finally came across a $2/yard butter yellow chiffon, and decided to buy the entire bolt. I also bought some pink silk essence for the underdress so the dress would be a dress and not a nighty.
I bought a pack of purple RIT dye at Wal-Mart, came home, and got to work. While most people don't advise trying to dye polyester, I've found that it actually works quite well if you're going for a soft pastel colour. So, in a move any self respecting seamstress would have a stroke over, I filled the kitchen sink with hotter than hot water, sprinkled in some salt, and emptied the entire packet of dye. I stood at the sink for 25 minutes kneading and stirring hot fabric before getting too tired and exasperated to continue. I rinsed out the fabric and tossed it into the washing machine, where it even now is spinning out the excess dye.
I think it's going to be a very nice, soft lilac colour when it's finished. After rinsing out the majority of the dye in the sink, it was still quite a lovely purple colour. Of course, my hands are also quite a lovely purple colour, since I couldn''t find my rubber gloves anywhere. ^^;
The aftermath :
More in the next few days.
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