There was no lace insertion but strips of lace were sewn together to create a wide lace border at the bottom of the skirt. I used this website for tips and hints on how to do this.
I didn't have an edger foot for my machine and so I tried my blindstitch foot. It worked ok but in the end found I had better or more control with my regular foot. Decreasing upper thread tension is a must otherwise the lace will become puckery. The hardest row was the last one which was sewing a gathered lace edge to entredeux. I gathered the lace by pulling one of top header threads in the lace. I had to sew really slow and adjust the gathers as I went with a straight pin. The presser foot wanted to keep pulling out the gathers but it worked out in the end just lots of patience.
One change I made to the construction was finishing the edge of the dupioni skirt before adding the lace band. According to heirloom sewing, the lace would be attached using a narrow zigzag roll described here as flat lace to flat fabric technique. This method rolls the fabric very narrowly while attaching the lace. I have worked with dupioni and feared the unraveling would cause some problems with this, at least to my inexperience heirloom sewing skills. I instead opted to serge the bottom edge first and then overlap the top lace edge over the serger stitching with a narrow zigzag. I don't think anyone will notice.
Here is the end result, enjoy.
Update: Baby was blessed this last Sunday, June 2, 2013
 |
| Maria in her dress |
