Autumn Splendor, with five finished leaves!

I tried taking a closeup photo of the leaves, but it didn’t come out well – the iridescence got flattened out and the camera flash washed out the embroidered veins.  So I’ll just have to tell you: the leaves look exquisite!  Delicately detailed, neatly edged, and with colors shifting as the iridescence catches the light.  Well worth the two hours I spent on each one.

Now I will sew the leaves down – just in the centers, letting the edges float free.  And that will finish the outside of the coat!  (I had considered embroidery or some light beading, but I think it looks great just as it stands.)

Tonight and Saturday I will work on the sleeve linings and the lining hem.  I’m pretty confident I’ll finish the entire garment in time for the photo shoot.  (Not that it matters that much: only the outside needs to be complete for the photo shoot, and I’ve finished that already!)  Soon it will be time for the ritual sewing-in of the label, marking the completion of Autumn Splendor!

I didn’t think of taking photos until I was halfway done, but here is a photo at the halfway point:

second leaf, halfway through

You’ll need to click in for the large version to see everything.

Step 1: Baste the layers of fabric together.  There are three layers: a brick-red silk organza over a deep orange peau de soie, with a  backing of bright orange dupioni organza.  The top two layers give the leaf wonderful depth of color, as the semi-transparent red organza shifts over the dark orange fabric underneath.  The dupioni organza, which has thicker threads running at sporadic intervals in both warp and weft, is there to stiffen the leaf and give it some extra crispness, without adding bulk.  It will also give an interesting visual contrast when the leaf is shaped into a slight curl.

I basted the layers together with matching rayon thread. (Traditionally it should be white silk, but orange rayon was what I had on hand).I basted it in a grid about 1″ square, three rows horizontally and three vertically.

Step 2: Transfer the design.  I used a stiletto tracing wheel and white dressmakers carbon paper to transfer the pattern.  The markings gradually come off as the piece is handled – if you look at the larger photo, you can see that the markings are quite faint even at this point – and most of them will be covered up with stitching in any case.

Step 3: Embroider the big veins.  I used stem stitch for this, hand stitching with two strands of rayon machine embroidery thread.  Using a doubled thread gives me a nice thick line with which to define the major veins.

Step 4: Embroider the smaller veins.  I used a single strand of rayon machine embroidery thread, doubling up the stitches near the major veins to add weight to the lines.  Towards the outsides and tips of the leaves I used only one strand, to give a sense that the lines were tapering to nothing.

I embroidered the veins first because doing so joins the three layers firmly together across most of the leaf, making the later hand-work easier.

Now we’re up to the point in the photo.

Step 5: Carefully cut out the leaf along the traced lines.  Do NOT mess with it, or it will unravel.

Step 6: Using the point of a pin, apply Fray Check in a very very thin application to the edge of all three layers.  Let dry.

Step 7: Hand overcast the edges of the leaf in a matching color rayon machine embroidery thread.

Whew!!  No wonder it took me two hours to do each leaf.

Here is a photo of the most recently completed leaf.  The photo totally doesn’t do it justice, though – it doesn’t capture the iridescence, depth of color, or the glow of the embroidery thread.

close-up of second leaf

And here is what it looks like in situ:

leaves on the coat!

You’ll note that the purple leaf now looks out of place, and the burgundy veins clash badly with the other two leaves.  That’s OK; I’m planning to redo that leaf, probably with deep orange or tan veins to match the other two leaves.

Fortunately there are only three leaves left to do, and I have four days left!  If I can get two done per day, I’ll finish the leaves on Thursday, leaving me Friday and all day Saturday to work on the lining hem and the sleeve lining/hem.  I think I might just get it done in time!

Regarding Proposition 8, the appeals court has constructed the ruling so narrowly that the Supreme Court is unlikely to make any broad, sweeping conclusions about gay marriage even if it takes the case.  California’s situation is unique to the state: in California, gay couples may enter into domestic partnerships which have exactly the same rights and responsibilities of marriage for heterosexual couples.  This doesn’t construct a right to gay marriage in itself – the appeals court explicitly did not rule on whether gay people have a right to marriage.  However, given that Prop 8 was put into place after gays and lesbians had a legal right to marry in California, and its stated goal (the voter pamphlet title was “Eliminates Rights of Same-Sex Couples to Marry”) was to prohibit gays and lesbians from marrying, it came under scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The court concluded that Prop 8 did nothing to change the legal landscape of marriage/domestic partnerships in California, and its sole purpose was to eliminate the title of “marriage” for same-sex couples.  It then concluded that the proposition served no purpose other than to “lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians”, and struck it down.

The point here is that the ruling is very specific to California’s legal situation, and because of that, and the Supreme Court’s general preference for ruling as narrowly as possible, I think it’s quite likely that the Supreme Court will either decline to hear the case or else rule narrowly on the legal bits, not issue a broad sweeping decision about gay marriage in general.  So I am cautiously optimistic that the ruling will stand, and Californian same-sex couples, at least, will have the right to marry.

And I believe in dancing in the streets.  Celebrate everything!  Life is short, and if we wait to the very end to celebrate, we’ll live a grim life indeed.  So, even though we aren’t guaranteed victory in the end, I’m going to dance today.  :-)

Then I decided to see what a very light application of Fray Check would do.  I used the tip of a pin to apply a tiny, tiny bead of Fray Check along the edges of  a test piece.  It came out beautifully, so I made an entire leaf using Fray Check and an overcast stitch.  It’s the left-hand leaf in this photo:

completed leaf (orange, left side)

I really like this leaf.  The veining shows clearly without being overpowering, and is delicate enough to satisfy my taste for close-up detail.  The edges are neat and the overcasting looks good – much, much better than in the purple leaf (center) which has hairy-looking edges and irregular overcasting.  I will redo the purple leaf using Fray Check on the edges, and do the other three leaves using this method.

The Fray Check does stiffen the edges slightly, but for this application, that’s just fine – I want them stiffened anyway.  I have not yet wired the edges of the leaf, but will leave that for the very last, when all five leaves are complete.

And, in other news, Prop 8 has been declared unconstitutional by the appeals court.  Wahoo!  Time to go dance in the streets, and hope that the Supreme Court agrees.

(Prop 8, if you don’t live in California, was an amendment to the California constitution that specifically prohibited gay marriage, reserving the term for a union between heterosexual couples.  The appeals court, ruling 2-1, overturned it because it violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – the Equal Protection Clause, which says you may not enact a law discriminating against a class of people without compelling reason.  (It’s actually more complicated than that, but you can read the entire 66-page decision if you are interested.  I read it already, it’s interesting reading!))

prototype leaf, edged with buttonhole edging

This worked out okay, but not spectacular – it produces a nice neat bound edge, but a thick, heavy-looking one.

Before working on the third prototype, I had finished (?) the first leaf, a purple one:

finished leaf (purple, lower center)

The hand overcast edges look a little ragged, but I like the embroidered veins.  The right half is wired with fine gold wire so it can be shaped.  I still need to wire the other half and shape it in a suitable manner.

I think my final solution will be hand overcast edges, but I’m going to “cheat” and apply an invisible edging of Fray Check to discourage fraying.  A heavy application of Fray Check will discolor the fabric, but a very very thin edging (applied with the point of a pin) came out  invisible on my sample, and discourages fraying rather nicely.  So I think I will redo the purple leaf, this time applying Fray Check to the edges to neaten them up a bit.  I may also machine stitch right next to the edge to further stabilize it.  Not sure yet. More experiments!

Talked to Sharon yesterday and got the fine points of finishing for Autumn Splendor.  I’m guesstimating I have ten hours of work left on it, not including the leaves.  Fortunately those 10 hours are largely things I can defer until after the photo shoot, so I’m going to focus on the leaves!  Those definitely have to be done by Sunday.

Here it is (on the left):

second leaf prototype

You’ll have to click in for the details.

And here is an annotated version:

second prototype leaf, annotated

The green section is blanket stitch done in a contrasting thread (thanks Lara for the suggestion!).  The turquoise section is blanket stitch done in matching thread.  The royal blue section has the top edge turned under and appliqued down (thanks Lynda), and the magenta is blanket stitch but with much closer spacing.

Oddly, I think I still prefer the overcast stitch from the first prototype, as wobbly as it is.  Second place goes to the machine zigzag, also from the first prototype.

Here is my thinking:

• Blanket stitch produces a nice neat edge.  But the stitches are perpendicular to the edge, which is unnatural in a leaf.  Using a matching thread decreases the effect, but when you look closely at it, it is still somewhat disruptive.
• Applique looks really good – the best, in fact – up until you hit the tips of the leaves.  Then it looks awful.  I’m sure this could be fixed with skilled work, but I don’t have the skills now and am not going to develop them in the next 24 hours.  So applique, much as I like it, is out.
• Machine zigzag produces a nice neat edge, but it feels harsh and stiff.  And looks cheap, according to my admittedly biased opinion.
• Hand overcasting, while irregular, expresses the crinkly, diagonal “feel” of the tiny veins in a leaf.

So I think I have decided to do hand overcasting, either in a matching or slight contrast thread.  Rayon embroidery thread is probably a better choice than polyester or silk sewing thread – the first is too springy and the second doesn’t come in an appropriate color set.  A third option is embroidery floss, but I think it’s a little thicker than I would like.  I will have to experiment, of course.

I also think I like the more complex, articulated leaf (the second prototype) better than the simplified version.  It’s more interesting up close, and looks fine at a distance, too.