I am so sorry for the delay but I quit work on the dresses for 2 weeks due to school beginning, but I am back at work;
The skirt for the Bennett gown project I have had an idea for from the beginning. Before I decided to do a simpler Empire-style gown, I was going to go all the way and do a gorgeous, big Rococo ball gown.
After searching around for some easy way to do it, I decided to let it drop. I am not that good and I am not fast enough to do the thousands of seams required, but I hung on to the idea of making a drawstring-style waist to give a gathered look and keep it adjustable. These instructions, therefore, are for a high-waisted Empire gown with a gathered, adjustable back, made for my sister Augusta (mine will be made, eventually).
I used a sheer curtain, some muslin and about a yard of wide white grosgrain ribbon to make this skirt. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using a sheer curtain for my pattern. It has the pre-made hems needed to make sewing simple.
INSTRUCTIONS:
First I took the curtain, held it up to Gussie, and cut it at around her underarms. Then I laid it on muslin, keeping the selvage edge of the muslin lined up with where the hem of the curtain ended (this makes it easier to hem) and cut the muslin right at the cut edge of the curtain. Then, putting the curtain right-side-in, I sewed a running stitch across the cut edge, trimmed it, and flipped it right side out so that the curtain faced up. Then I tried it on Gussie, bringing it up to her underarms, and it was too long, but I left that for hemming later. Then, while she was wearing it, I lined up the edges of the fabric and made sure they were near the center of her back, and I used a fabric marker to mark under her underarms where the drawstring would begin. Then I took it off her. I laid it out and folded it in half lengthwise. Then I checked the marks and made new marks that were identical(i.e. right on top of each other) and lengthened them so that they reached about to where I wanted the bottom of the casing to be (i.e. 2-3 inches) and made vertical 1" wide lines connecting the marks. Then I unfolded the fabric and put it right-side-up and cut my yard of ribbon in half and made one edge of both angled (this will be the edge that shows) and stuck the non-angled edge in between the skirt layers so that it went about 1/4 in. beyond the casing mark. Then I sewed a running stitch back and forth over that mark to secure the ribbon. Then, making sure I did not sew the ribbon, I sewed a running stitch from the casing mark to the edge of the fabric. This creates 1 drawstring complete with casing. I repeated on the other side of the fabric-marker rectangle (if the fabric marker is fade-out and will not fade out, I use this method; Take water, wet your finger, and rub the mark for all it's worth. It will seem to get brighter, but after about 20-30 seconds of rubbing, it fades out). Then I folded the skirt in half, right-side-in, added pins, and sewed a running stitch, backstitching at both ends, starting at the bottom of the skirt and going up to about 5-6 in. below the top edge. The fabric will be uneven, so sew the seam 1/2 in. from the edge of the shortest piece of fabric. Then I turned it right-side-out and tried it on Gussie, gathering it in the back. Then I folded up the curtain edge and put pins in, took it off, and ran a seam there. I did this a few times till it was to her ankles, sewing the last hem with a wide zigzag. That way I'll be able to let it out as she grows. Then it was done!!!
