Lime-rickey progress
I made some progress on the civil war ball gown this weekend, though not as much as I would have liked considering the ball is this Saturday! But I got the bodice done up, all that's left besides trimming is finishing and attaching the sleeves (which means making more piping as well) and the hand work of finishing and closures and stuff, so then it will at least be wearable! Still a lot to do though, just to get it to that point! I'm going to do all the hand work at work this week since I have so much else to do, but with how much I've managed to do today I think it will be fine.
This project has been giving me a few fits. I've had to unpick and redo things about a million times. And it took me about 3 hours to draft some sleeves that I actually like! Gah! I was about ready to pull out all my hair! All that time was just on trying out a million mock-ups and not even sewing the actual sleeves! Part of it is that I don't really understand how these things are done. Figuring out the undersleeves meant a lot of staring and reading Janet Arnold's PoF and drawing out a million shapes I thought might work on paper and then trying them out in muslin. I hope they turn out ok.
I also was able to seam and hem the skirt but will wait to attach the waistband until I perhaps attach the lace flounces. It will be easier to wrangle that way, though again, at this point, getting this wearable rather than trimmed is my first priority. I used three panels of fabric and I'm hoping it's not too much. I also realized last night that I'd like to add a pocket to one seam, so that means more unpicking. :P
On that note, I need some advice. Which option for skirt trimming should I go with? Oh yeah, I also gathered a ton of lace, though still probably only a third of what I'll actually need. Thank goodness for my ruffling foot.
5 parallel tiers of lace ruffles
Or
2 tiers with a third in loops like the fashion plate below?
I can't decide which I like more... I think the loops are more interesting and also might mean less lace to gather, but I also don't love how the lace doesn't lay flat at the top right now. I'd need to gather the loop portion more than the swags to make up for that and I just think that might take as much time as gathering all the lace evenly. That option might also involve some math, which I try to avoid as much as possible in life. ;)
I also started playing with ideas for the bodice decoration. I really hope I have time to get everything else done because I just don't think it will look right without it. But it will be fabulous once it's all done... I hope at least!
And then I'm really excited to start on my Floral Francaise. I've been having a hard time keeping my focus on this project. Why is that? I know I have a tight deadline and yet I want to work on something else more. Bah, I really don't understand my CADD sometimes. :P But I bought a ton of ribbon to make ruffly panniers and I'm really really excited about them. :)
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