I have been haunted...seriously haunted...by thoughts of a black victorian skirt with lots of trim. I have ideas of what I would wear with it. And I finally decided I just needed to make it. Get it done. Clear my head. I have 2 pieces of thin black silky stuff (the dreaded silkessence), one is 3 yards and one is 2 yards. I used the 3 yard piece to make the main part of the skirt. Again based on that 1895 walking skirt. It is lower calf length. I used the two yards to make pressed pleats about 7 inches long. Yessiree....120 inches of 7 inch tall pressed pleats. I used the vinegar water technique to set them and it worked really well. (google it...there a hundreds of examples on the interwebs). That actually took most of the remaining two yards. I made two inch strips with the rest. I used a candle to 'burn' the edges so I wouldn't have to hem. It worked OK. I wasn't totally steady so have some uneven melty parts. And yes, I melted fabric to the candle and spilled the whole thing in my lap. I HIGHLY recommend using soy candles for this. The 'wax' washes out easily. I'm going to gather up the thin strips and use them to make designs on the dress. I'll attach the pleats at the bottom with a bit of velvet ribbon. And make a pattern with ruching above the pleats.
Of course I had to make a new petticoat. This skirt will be a bit shorted than prior skirts. It needs it's own petticoat. And the petticoat might have lace at the hem. And it might peek out a bit. I got that mostly done too. I just need to attach the lace to the ruffle and the ruffle to the petticoat. I was going to use french seams but I got lazy. So I zig-zagged the seam allowance. Like a flat fell. A Zig-Fell.
And then Rob and I spent the day working on her frock coat. And it was a LOT of work. We got most of the parts put together. All the interfacing and junk attached. Lining pockets done. She just needs to put the parts together. And figure out the crazy instructions for the back pleat. (For reals, she has a ton of work still to do, but we did a lot too)
And with that, I'm going to have to tidy up the sewing and start getting ready for Thanksgiving. Probably won't do to have twill tape, pins and scraps of ribbons and lining all over the dining room table. And the living room. And the sewing room. And the bedroom. Uh, yeah, I've been making a mess.
Sorry, no pics. Black on black didn't photograph well, and I was just too busy to fiddle with it. Seriously. Black skirt, white petticoat, frock coat, all 60 - 70% done. In a weekend. And there was some playing of the new Drake's Fortune game.
We did an amazing amount of sewing in one day. It helped to have two machines, each with a different color thread in it (lining is red, fashion fabric is grey). It was like a little production line. Lisa hates ironing, so I did all the pressing and interface bonding. It helps to have another brain with you so that when you are staring at instructions that somehow have turned into a foreign language there is someone there to translate. All in all, a fantastically productive day. Now I feel as if I have a chance to finish this as opposed to feeling overwhelmed. Unfortunately for me, this is pay-forward for all the blackwork I'm going to be doing on Lisa's Ren outfit!
The jacket looks fantastic! And you'll be doing blackwork for yourself too. ; )
