Quick progress update...
Which is... nothing :(
I'd almost recovered from my previous 3-4 week cold #1 when I started to feel cold #2 coming on. It didn't seem to be all that bad at first, just a sore throat and occasional sniffle, so I thought I must have dodged the bullet with that one. Apparently not. Wed night my sinuses were all blocked up and painful, and by Thurs morning, I couldn't get out of bed. I had the most horrible pain from my blocked sinuses (headaches and photosensitivity), plus a runny nose and nausea. I called in sick for tafe and spent the day in bed. Woke up today not feeling too much better, though my sinuses had cleared, I've now got a hacking cough. So another day in bed! It's so frustrating to spend two days in bed doing nothing, but I guess I wouldn't have gotten much done anyway since I should have been at tafe, so I'm trying not to feel guilty about it.
I think I've finally come to a decision about a few of the little things though, as I've had lots of time to think! I found a cheaper source for the larger cream and pale pink pearls, so I'm buying those tomorrow. Just trying to decide if I want to get some of the smaller cream and pale pink pearls for extra decoration. I'm thinking I might use the pale pink lining fabric I bought for the frills around the overskirt, as it actually matches pretty well, though I've got to double check in the daylight. Otherwise I might have to look at getting some cream fabric instead. I've also found a pair of long, vintage satin gloves in a 'peachy-golden'colour that look like they might be a good enough match. They're only $8, including postage, so if they don't match it's not a huge outlay. There's one other pair of ivory long gloves, but the auction doesn't finish til Tues so that would be a last minute thing. Otherwise I do have an ivory pair of short gloves and I can ask some friends if they have longer ones I could borrow. Or I might just have to go without.
The plan tomorrow is to get this darned overskirt cut out, finally! Once that's done, I should know how much of the lining fabric I have left, so I can cut out and sew the frills if there's enough (which there should be). I'm really hoping the lining fabric will be appropriate as I can't sew the overskirts together until I decide on that frill fabric. I've also got to decide if I want to add lace, but I can experiment with that. I'm sure I've got some ivory tulle in my stash also, which I'd like to sew into the top half of the overskirt to help it maintain shape. Otherwise I'll have to pick some up before I sew it all together. I won't do it for the ball, but for the Day version, I'd like to be able to bustle the back of the overskirt with tapes. Sun or Mon I'll focus on the bodice; cutting out a toile, fitting it (not sure if I'll have help with this) and then cutting out the good one. I've been putting the bodice off, but I have to tackle it soon or I'll run out of time!
I also found a fantastic tutorial on making silk roses, which I'm hoping to experiment with this week. It doesn't look terribly difficult and would be a much cheaper option for trimming my gown. I have some fabrics to experiment with in my stash, plus the ones I'm using in the actual dress, so hopefully I can come up with something! I've spent far too much on this gown already!
I'd almost recovered from my previous 3-4 week cold #1 when I started to feel cold #2 coming on. It didn't seem to be all that bad at first, just a sore throat and occasional sniffle, so I thought I must have dodged the bullet with that one. Apparently not. Wed night my sinuses were all blocked up and painful, and by Thurs morning, I couldn't get out of bed. I had the most horrible pain from my blocked sinuses (headaches and photosensitivity), plus a runny nose and nausea. I called in sick for tafe and spent the day in bed. Woke up today not feeling too much better, though my sinuses had cleared, I've now got a hacking cough. So another day in bed! It's so frustrating to spend two days in bed doing nothing, but I guess I wouldn't have gotten much done anyway since I should have been at tafe, so I'm trying not to feel guilty about it.
I think I've finally come to a decision about a few of the little things though, as I've had lots of time to think! I found a cheaper source for the larger cream and pale pink pearls, so I'm buying those tomorrow. Just trying to decide if I want to get some of the smaller cream and pale pink pearls for extra decoration. I'm thinking I might use the pale pink lining fabric I bought for the frills around the overskirt, as it actually matches pretty well, though I've got to double check in the daylight. Otherwise I might have to look at getting some cream fabric instead. I've also found a pair of long, vintage satin gloves in a 'peachy-golden'colour that look like they might be a good enough match. They're only $8, including postage, so if they don't match it's not a huge outlay. There's one other pair of ivory long gloves, but the auction doesn't finish til Tues so that would be a last minute thing. Otherwise I do have an ivory pair of short gloves and I can ask some friends if they have longer ones I could borrow. Or I might just have to go without.
The plan tomorrow is to get this darned overskirt cut out, finally! Once that's done, I should know how much of the lining fabric I have left, so I can cut out and sew the frills if there's enough (which there should be). I'm really hoping the lining fabric will be appropriate as I can't sew the overskirts together until I decide on that frill fabric. I've also got to decide if I want to add lace, but I can experiment with that. I'm sure I've got some ivory tulle in my stash also, which I'd like to sew into the top half of the overskirt to help it maintain shape. Otherwise I'll have to pick some up before I sew it all together. I won't do it for the ball, but for the Day version, I'd like to be able to bustle the back of the overskirt with tapes. Sun or Mon I'll focus on the bodice; cutting out a toile, fitting it (not sure if I'll have help with this) and then cutting out the good one. I've been putting the bodice off, but I have to tackle it soon or I'll run out of time!
I also found a fantastic tutorial on making silk roses, which I'm hoping to experiment with this week. It doesn't look terribly difficult and would be a much cheaper option for trimming my gown. I have some fabrics to experiment with in my stash, plus the ones I'm using in the actual dress, so hopefully I can come up with something! I've spent far too much on this gown already!