What a weekend! Part 2 of 2.

That mound of sewing I was talking about yesterday ... oy. Though I'm nearly complete with what needs to be done, it still was stressful and intense and I can't lie, I thought there was a chance I'd be borrowing a gown for this weekend.

Luckily, I have a fabulous support system and I'm really on my way to completing my very first gown.

After the photo shoot, I donned my stays, pulled out my gown and we set straight to work. I though I was almost done; but those damned sleeves! My sleeve pattern ended up having to be redone, the sleeves that I'd backstitched in were taken off, and we found out that one of the back pleats needed to be resewn as well. At first, it was believed that we didn't actually need to take the sleeves off; I'd accidentally caught a bit of the fashion fabric while backstitching the left sleeve in, so cutting that thread should solve the problem. Right?

No.

In the eleventh hour of Saturday, the sleeves came off, and with a new pattern I cut them from my remaining yards of fashion fabric. If you've been keeping track, that would be pair number three of sleeves. Then, I accidentally made two left sleeves, so I had to redo one. Three-and-a-half. The theme of Saturday was, "Thank God I bought eleven yards of fabric!"

The skirts are pleated and basted in, but one part needs to be reworked, then I have to stitch them down in a spaced backstitch. I've already backstitched the sleeves in, both on the bottom as well as on the top, both under and over the robings. The lining is whipped down to the front of the bodice. Friday, I'm going back down to Hallie's and we're hemming the sleeves, making cuffs, and putting the back turn down on the top back of the bodice. I also need to hem the gown before then.

In addition, I have one-half of a petticoat, with a second that needs to be made, and I still have to make my linen work bag with embroidery. I would really like to get to the embroidery since it will be practice for embroidering my pocket. I'm borrowing a cap and neck handkerchief, but eventually will be making my own.

Phew. That's a lotta work! But I'm up to the challenge, and looking forward to it. I've already decided that my next gown is going to be a runaway impression; I had so much fun portraying a runaway that it would be neat to research my own for that specific event, though my main impression is middling class. Plus, runaway ads are excellent research, and I'll get to make other pieces of clothing with it, as they usually took a number of things with them.

And big huge bonus: Hallie has an extra dressform that will become mine! I've been working on the flat, and had I been working on a form, I probably could have recognized that something wasn't working and stopped. So that makes me extra excited for making more garments.