summer sewing project

my Remember that fabric I posted a few months ago? This is what I’m doing with it:

I’m trying to make a mock Fortuny Delphos gown, this time out of silk. I made one years ago out of polyester because heat-set pleats stay in synthetic fabrics, but it’s rather stiff and doesn’t have the same flowing drape as silk.

It’s time consuming because to ensure the gathering threads won’t catch the fabric they have to be done by hand, and to ensure tight pleats throughout I need more gathering threads than just the ends. This costumer gathered every 4 inches or so and got fantastic results, though I think she used a drying technique that involved hair perm solution, to make the pleats stay. I think this would irritate my skin so I’m doing it Fortuny’s way (or what we think was Fortuny’s way – the patent images are vague, probably deliberately) – which means if I ever wash it I repleat, by hand, every 4″.

I’ve loved Fortuny gowns since I was a teenager. I’ve even “visited” garments behind the scenes trying to figure out how they were pleated and assembled. The theory I’m working with was that the pleating was performed first, then the fabric panels sewn together by hand.

I’ll let y’all know how it goes.