Hopes of working from home this afternoon were smashed to bits. Ah well. Also, didn't get anything done sewing wise this morning, since I was up at 6 am dealing with client stuff. Grrr. So much for the early morning sewing plans.
Last night was sorta productive - at least it's wearable now! The hem is done, and the fluffy guards fluffed. I like the way it looks in the picture better than in real life. Has anyone tried to to the fluffy guards that seem to be so popular in Italy the first half of the 16th century? This is the only method I've come up with so far, and I'm not quite sure it'll pass muster for other gowns. It's fine for this one, tho.
Anyway.
Here's the whole dress, minus sleeves. Still wiffling on the sleeve issue, and driving me craaaaazy.
(And check it....I got *more* gold brocade the other day. I need to stop this gold brocade madness. Because it *IS* madness, I tell you!)
I am coming to terms with the skirt pleating. After ironing and hemming and petticoats, I think it will be OK. I just need to remember how unhappy I am if I ever to pleated skirts again....I'm highly addicted to cartridge pleating skirts....I fall back on cartridge pleats for just about *everything*.
I didn't get nearly as much done last night as I was hoping to. Argh.....it always happens that way, doesn't it?! Something that you're absolutely sure will only take 20 minutes ends up taking hours and hours.
(Please note that since I'm forcing myself to work from my stash only, the colors are not what I would have picked out if I were starting this project from scratch. As it is, the shades are *close enough* for my purposes....)
So, here's my completed eyelets, complete with (nasty) ribbon lacing:
Last night I hand sewed the two skirt side-back seams. Yay me?
And I started on the guard along the top front edge of the bodice. After I have the two rows of backstitching complete, I'll fray and fluff out the edges. There are two layers of linen in the guard to give extra 'fluff'....
So, my goal for tonight is to finish the guard, and hem the skirt. That gives me two nights to figure out what the &*^$# I'm going to do about the sleeves, make a coif, try to find an appropriate camacia and petticoat/s (and make sure they're washed).
I want Friday off work. :(
So, this is what I was originally going for with my "from my stash" theme I have going (this will be the fourth thing made almost completely from my stash...woohoo!)
I really, really wish I had done my pleats differently. I think I would be much happier if I had done organ pleats, or even padded out the skimpy knife pleats, or lined the skirts even. I'm hoping that most of my unhappiness will be set to rest after I beef out the skirts with a deep hem and some petticoats. (And give the skirts a good ironing. They're pretty beat to hell right now) I also think I would have gotten a better line on the bodice if I had corded the bodice instead of using rigid boning. The pleats bother me a lot more, though. This is not a terriby attractive waistline on me, but hey, the chick in the portrait is no stick figure, either!
Ok, now to gripe about the sleeves. The sleeves!!! I got way ahead of myself and didn't plan this dress out like I normally do when I start work on new gowns; leaving me with the huge problem of a side back lacing that goes into the armscye. How the muckin' hell do I deal with those boofy sleeves now?! I'm really frustrated at myself at the moment, and I have no idea what I'm going to do. Argh.
On the other hand, I had a spiral lacing inspiration! I'm sure I'm not the first person to try this, but I'm pretty stoked I came up with it on my own.....I'll let you all know how it works out!
So, this is what you do;
Tie the end of the lacing to a flat, shanked button. Use the button to anchor the end of your lacing. TA-DAAAA! No messy knots on the end eyelet, extra rings to stitch inside!
Tonight, I'm not going to waste valuable time mucking about with sleeves, rather, I'm going to figure out exactly what to do with the sash, make the cute coify thingy, see if I can make a frayed/layered guard across the bodice front play nice, and possibly see if I can whip up a camacia and/or partlet.
I'll keep agonizing over the sleeves in mah head.
Speaking of coify thingy, I have this fabric in my stash that I think will be pretty OK.
Sorry, I'm back on sleeves again now. Here's another portrait, within -/+ 5 years of my inspiration portrait, where the sleeves are tied on....which would totally solve my problems, but I'm still not quite convinced I *want* to tie my sleeves on. Hmmmm.
Because the weather looks like this.....
.......I don't feel too bad that my 'camp dress' looks like this:
In all honesty, it's further along than this. The bodice is completely constructed and the skirt is attached. I'm 1/2 way through doing all the eyelets (Only 10 more to go), then I need to stitch the skirt panels together and get the skirt hemmed. That would bring it to a wearable state. I'd like to get the sleeves done (I"m still wiffling about how to construct them.....), and the guards on the top of the bodice.
So.....worst case scenario, I wear the black velvet *yet again*, since the weather could possibly warrant a warmer gown.
I'm very *meh* about the whole thing right now.