The velvet dress is not done. The bodice is complete, but the overskirt still needs bustle tapes and the sash. And half the sash still needs to be hemmed on the sides, which I honestly think I might leave for backstage sewing on Friday night. Part of that is because I ran out of velvet ribbon on Friday, and the new spool came Sat night, which was ( Read more... )

The bodice is basically done! I made the cuffs yesterday, which are velvet with canvas inside, with more of the velvet ribbon trim around the top of the cuff. They did make the sleeves a bit tight at the bottom because yikes that is thick. But I think/hope it will still work. And I set the sleeves into the armseyes. Picture here. I hope to try on ( Read more... )

On Tuesday, between work and rehearsal, I took 15 mins and sewed together my sleeve pattern to test it, even though I had made notes on it previously about what needed changing (but I apparently never made a new sleeve pattern that included those changes, or if I did, I can't find it). And yeah, the sleeve head is way too tight/small for my ( Read more... )

I think I briefly mentioned in my goals post that I started the burgundy velvet 1874 gown! The overskirt needs a hem and for bustle tapes to be added (or whatever I'm using to bustle it). The underskirt is fully assembled, but is now getting all the velvet ribbon trim added to it. I ordered 60 yds of 3/8" wide velvet ribbon from Amazon, which ( Read more... )

All the wide lace is sewn on! That took soooo much longer than I had anticipated. And the sash is about 1/4-1/3 attached. My 1840s pattern also said it arrived in a city 10 mins from my house this morning, so I'm hoping that will get here soon. If it does, I will switch to that for now, but I'm not holding my breath. Otherwise, I really really hope ( Read more... )

*Sigh* Still working on the dress. I am apparently the world's slowest hand-sewer, so although I worked Wednesday night, Thursday evening/night, all Friday, and Sat afternoon, it is still not finished. And yet, for most of that time, it has felt so close!

I made and attached the last ruffle on the skirt train, sewed on 25 hooks and bars, tried it on ( Read more... )

*Sigh* I wrote out half this post and then my computer crashed and didn't save the draft....

So, as per usual, my sewing did not go as planned yesterday. Of the 2+ hours after work that I was supposed to be hand-sewing, I wound up spending about 1.5 hrs working on putting together my set for my two 4th of July gigs tomorrow. Finding an hour worth of ( Read more... )

The ruffles are going sooo slowly. Or at least, that's what it feels like. For the bottom silk organza ruffle, I had to rip nine 8.5" tall strips of the organza, join them all together, press them in half the long way, run them through the ruffler foot, and apply vintage lace to the bottom edge with about a 1/8" or less overlap, press the whole ( Read more... )

I don't typically post over the weekend, but I do sew! Or at least, I did a lot of sewing this weekend. I'm starting to feel like I'm in a decent place with the gala gown, and that I maybe even *fingers crossed* can finish it by the end of next weekend.

At this point, the skirts are on the bodice; the whole opening/neckline of the green part has ( Read more... )

I tried on the bodice yesterday, and was still not happy with how it was fitting at the bottom. I wound up tapering out about 2.25" more at the hem, and taking some out of the CB at the waist. I've also given up on trying to figure out how it appears to be gathered or pleated up the CB over the rear, because every time I tried it, it made the rest ( Read more... )