This is Jinjer Markley’s carnival of couture entry. As you may recall, the carnival theme is to tell us about the most technically complex garment you’ve made or owned. I think you’ll agree that Jinjer’s entry is quite complex, interesting and beautiful.
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This is actually 4 layered garments (a chemise that I shibori pleated on a big fat pipe–you’re not the only one who loves pleating!), a sheer handkerchief-hemmed skirt, an skirt made of ribbons, self-lined “petals and paper (this client collected paper), and a bodice. If I have to pick just one, I’m picking the bodice.

The bodice is pretty standard stuff– 5 pieces in front, 4 pieces in back, with boning in the seams. Each panel ends in a a pointy “petal.” The technically tricky part is that she wanted a very open neckline- just slightly off the shoulders (and she has quite round shoulders- see the fuzzy picture of her wearing it), but she was going to be English country dancing in it (similar to square dancing), so she had to be able to raise her arms above her head without the sleeves falling down the shoulders in normal position. Furthermore, the trim that goes across the bottom edge of the low shoulder strap is glass beads -can you say “heavy”?

To get the shoulder line wide enough, I extended the visible part half an inch beyond her real shoulder, there’s a complex folded facing that lines that extended shoulder, then folds back on it self to conform to create an inner shoulder line that conforms her real shoulder. The extended shoulder is boned at the outer edge to keep it up and hold the weight of the bead fringe. To give her a greater range of motion, the shoulder line/princess seam separates from the side bodice for about 3 inches, like a flange, but you can barely tell. It worked perfectly!

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Hopefully more of you will submit entries. Tomorrow, I’m publishing Danielle’s. For guidelines, see the announcement. You have til Friday to get yours in but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t wait until the last minute. Also, if you’re publishing your entry on your own blog rather than emailing them to me, let me know if I can reprint some of your images (I’ll host).