The Whittakers Dress

It’s been a whole year since I made the gold chocolate paper dress for the Katoomba Winter Magic festival ‘Haute Garbage’ Show.

I’ve always loved anything bright and shiny. When I discovered a particular brand of chocolate used paper backed gold foil I couldn’t bear to throw it out. I had a slowly accumulating pile on the side-board, what I was going to do with it was anybody’s guess.

Then I saw the ad in the local paper for the Haute Garbage show and a little light when on in my head.

I started by cleaning each paper with a damp cloth to remove all traces of chocolate (I’m sure Nigella would have left it on).

Then it was time to start stitching. I free machine stitched the whole surface of each paper with rayon embroidery thread. It took about 50 papers for the whole dress (yes I did go slightly mad but my teenage son was happy because he got to increase his chocolate consumption to make sure I had enough paper).

Free machine stitching just means I used the sewing machine with the feed dog down (the little teeth that help feed the fabric through) and the foot off. It means I have complete control over where the stitches go. I can literally draw with the stitches.

After I stitched the papers I then ripped them. The stitching held the paper together. It became like a lace. I stitched the squares together and made the dress.