I got all the tucks sewn on the skirt (they were just safety pinned before), got a frustrating waistband on and the hook and eye sewn and put the skirt on the dress dummy. I'm right between sizes on the available dress dummies (the ones I could actually afford), so I got the smaller one and plan to pad it if needed. I wanted to be able to use it for a corseted shape and the "normal" me and fiddled a bit with it. So far, so good but not perfect. Then I pinned the Pagoda Bodice on it. After admiring my handiwork, I noticed she looked as if the top of her was....BACKWARDS!. Yes, the sleeves are facing backwards. Quelle horreur! This will be the fourth time I re-do the sleeves. Rats.You can't tell laying the bodice out flat, only when it is on the dummy, so it's a good thing I felt like playing with it. This outfit is not playing nice with me.
I started to lay out Roger's vest in the fashion fabric. When I straighten the grain, I found the piece had been cut wonky and I lost a lot of useable material (3 inch wedges on either side, really???). I gave up and will wait until tonight to try some different layouts, using a different material on the back and under the shawl collar, anything to get it so I can have enough material for the front of the vest. Such a bummer, because I bought extra material for shrinkage and in case this happened and I still might not have enough. Thank you Joanne's cutting department! I think I hate my local store even more now.
On a more positive front, tonight I'm going to enlist Roger's help cutting the bones for the corset. I bought both flat and spiral boning and will need it cut and tipped, which is a two day process since you have to glue to tips on to make sure they don't come loose inside of the corset (crimping alone is not enough). The poor corset is still slightly greenish in tine because I used Simple Green straight to get out the markings - you know, the ones that are supposed to just brush off??? Well, they didn't, so I Simple Greened them and now can't get some of the green out. I may try Oxyclean, but I'll have to read the directions/cautions to make sure it doesn't eat silk. (Note: Oxyclean says NOT to use on silk) Otherwise, I'll just have to live with a slightly greenish corset. Or maybe I'll turn the power washer on it??? Who knows what the solution will be?
So here's what's left to do: Change the sleeves, put on the front closures to the bodice, bone the corset, put bias tape on the top and bottom of the corset, dye the Petersham ribbon for the bonnet and sew it on, decorate the bonnet, sew Roger's entire outfit, make the ruched trim, put the ruched trim and ribbon on the skirt and bodice. I have one month. Hey, no problem.
It might be possible to cut each vest piece individually instead of cutting two at once. It sounds like a pain but should work if the area is the same but it just won't line up.
ReplyDeleteI thought of that but will see what I can come up with before it gets to that. Bugger all!
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