Camp Dress Conundrum.

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.