SWAP 2007 - Part Four

2 Tanks and a Shrug

I achieved my goal of two SWAP garments this week. I know there are three in the picture, but when we planned the SWAP, I counted the tank and shrug as one garment because that's how they're pictured on the pattern envelope.

The cross over tank was fairly easy to make, it's just one pattern piece that is both front and back. The piece looks like a one shouldered top, but you make two of them and then tack them together at the underarms. I tacked them together all along where the two front edges meet by topstitching along the first topstitching. The pattern is Butterick 4784

The other tank and shrug are Simplicity 4209, and again both items were pretty simple. Very few pieces and straight forward construction. At first my daughter didn't want trim on the tank, but once she saw the item made up, decided to add the trim. This trim is another Wally World Special, a Wright's trim that was on clearance and just happened to match this project. It's also a stretch trim, so it plays nicely with the knit fabric.

Next week, I'm making another t-shirt and one woven top. I wanted to do all the knits at once, but I got mixed up with my list and thought that the last t-shirt was white with blue trim, and it's actually blue with white trim, so I need to go and pick up another piece of the blue knit. It will have to wait until the next week!

Tagged, Vol. II

Laura tagged me, again, so here I am with another 5 arcane facts about myself:

1. I had LASIK surgery in December of last year. I love it. It's wonderful to wake up open my eyes and be able to see without trying to remember where I put my glasses! I had it done on a Thursday, 3 days before the big church choir concert, but by Sunday night I was able to read the music without any problems. I had all the music memorized, just in case!

2. I've never carried a baby to term. My daughter was premature, born at 34 weeks. My son was term, but born at 38 weeks. Thankfully, I was spared the agony of overdue. It tends to run in both families, so needless to say, I was pretty thrilled.

3. I am a direct descendent of Ann Pudeator who was one of the people hung as a result of the Salem, MA witch trials. I have visited Salem twice, once with my dad and once with my brother and have seen the memorials and the museum. Her name is both on the medallion on the floor in the museum and engraved on stone at the memorial.

4. My great-great grandfather was an engineer. I did not know this fact until last summer. Between my dad, my son and myself, we are pretty mechanically inclined and like to make/build things. For my dad, it's all sorts of carpentry, for me it's sewing and my son it's anything he can take apart at this point. We all love puzzles and challenges. We have pictures of my great-great grandfather when he arrived from Germany in the early 1900's by boat, and he's was always very well dressed. Too well dressed to be a farmer, which is what he did when he came to America. My dad could never figure it out and my grandmother finally told him.

5. When my husband and I decided to get married, he didn't have the ring with him. We were at college and had talked about many ring styles and decided on an anniversary style band of diamonds rather than a solitaire type setting. I'm a klutz and would have lost or destroyed a solitaire and it's setting. He also knew he had a ring in a safe deposit box at home that his grandmother had left him when she died. He had never seen the ring. Turns out that this ring, which is now my diamond set, was exactly the same design we had looked at and talked about! I don't wear it much now because it is antique and the prongs are a bit loose, so I just wear my plain, really wide gold band.

Now, back to the disaster in the sewing room (this is only one side of the mess, I'll explain later):

Let me tell you about Jen

Enabler Alert: The post you are about to read contains information that may be devastating to your bank account, but will improve your vintage pattern stash.

I was dredging about the Net the other day looking for a vintage pattern for short jacket for a new ensemble I'll start working on in February. I have a few places that I usually look, including good old eBay. At eBay, I typed in "vintage pattern bolero". Up came a list of about 50 patterns. I sort of knew what I was looking for, but rejected quite a few for some reason or other, including this one:


It's not that it's not pretty or cute, but it's not quite right for the fabric and design I'm hoping to achieve. I did find this one, and bid, won and paid for it:


The red jacket is the one I'm interested in (for the current ensemble, the others are good, too!) - won't it be great made up in white channeled faux mink? (Hint!) Coincidently, Macojero (eBay seller name), listed both patterns for sale. I get the pattern in the mail, and lo and behold, both patterns are in the envelope! Um, I didn't bid or pay for the other pattern. I emailed the seller, and explained that I had an extra pattern. She checked her records and she couldn't find it in either her eBay listings or her website. I could have sworn I saw it listed, but she said she didn't have that one. She said to either keep it, donate it or pay it forward. I can do that, no problem, in fact I was thinking of offering it here for the first person to email me about it.

Fast forward not quite a week. I get a pretty frantic email asking if I still had the pattern. Of course I still had the pattern - in fact the envelope and other pattern were still in the "I need to do something with this stuff" pile on my desk. Turns out, she did have it on auction and the person who bought it had just paid her. To make a long story short, I sent back the pattern to be sent to the right person.

While we were emailing, I mentioned the fact that I don't just collect the patterns, I actually make them up. I gave a link to my blog, where she got to see American Beauty. After a few more e-mails, we decided to exchange links.

Jen is great to do business with - very prompt and willing to take care of any problem. She's sold over 10,000 items on eBay and has a 99.9% positive feedback! She's been professional and courteous and the patterns are a good price, too. Do check out her eBay listings and her e-store, Momspatterns (she has 8,000 or so patterns!) if you're looking for vintage patterns.

A Tale of Two Shoes


Here we have both styles of brown shoes that I own. I also wear both styles (at different times) to work. Sometimes I'll wear the heels and then change into the flats if I happen to be digging around in the scenery/props storage closet or climbing on scaffolding or jumping rope in the gym or whatever strange thing you might find me doing at school. This only becomes a problem when I'd like to wear the same pants with either pair of shoes.

Which is precisely what I intended with this new pair of pants. I found an old muslin in the closet from last fall. I fitted them and cut out a pair with the new pattern last week. I made the same protruding front thigh alteration as I did with the Marfy's, but no other alterations, which I was pleasantly surprised about. The pattern is Vogue 2925, and I've made every other piece in this wardrobe (something I've never done!), so why not the pants too? The pants are very simple - two pieces, front and back. There are front and back darts, grosgrain finished waist, and a back zip. That's it.



At any rate, from the front:

From the side/back:

Anyway, back to the variable hem issue. To solve this problem, I made an adjustable hem. I made a narrow 1/2" hem to the length that I'd wear the pants with the platform heels. I then made an in seam buttonhole (in it's simplest form, just a hole in the seam with either end of seaming tied off) right above the hem line, large enough for my button (these are 5/8" buttons). I then tried on the pants with the flat shoes and pinned up the hem. That determined where to sew the buttons. The buttons are sewn to the seam allowance only so they don't show from the right side.

Hem let down to full length:

Hem turned up to shorter length, you can see the button coming through the buttonhole:


Shorter hem:

You might be able to do this with snaps, too, if you could attach them so they don't show and the snaps are secure and won't unsnap.

Now, for the disclaimers. This might not work if your pant leg is extremely wide; the larger distance between the side seams means there's nothing to support the hem in the middle when the pants are the shorter length. If I were wearing these like this all day, I'd just give the hem a quick iron, otherwise I might need a hook and invisible (from the right side) thread loop at center front and back. This also might not work if your fabric is really heavy or drapey - too heavy and the hem won't stay at the centers without help, too drapey and the hem won't stay either or you'll get a shirred curtain like effect. Which isn't bad unless you like your legs to look like Austrian blinds.


Tomorrow I'll introduce you to a new friend I made last week, and it is SWAP sewing day!

Thank you!

I owe all of you a great big thank you for all your positive comments on American Beauty! I'd also like to thank you for the words of encouragement and help during the long process of making the ensemble. You don't know how much it helped to see a comment when I was going through a particularly difficult, long or boring task.

Not many people would undertake such a task, and not many people have such wonderful friends from all over the world. Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings and helping me out.

One more thing - I forgot to show you what I did with the appliques, so here's a picture of the ones on the front lining edge. The small ones ended up on the sleeve lining and the large one on the upper back lining.

SWAP 2007 - Part Three

Skorts!

Skorts were the one thing my daughter said she absolutely had to have. Ok, I can do skorts. While I don't favor them for myself, I can see their usefulness for an eight year old girl. They look nicer than shorts, but still give her mobility. Here's the pattern, Butterick 4439.



They were pretty easy to make, basically: make skirt, make shorts, attach together with waistband. I liked the fact that they were joined with the waistband/casing, as this dealt with the bulk that would have resulted from turning two layers of fabric under and trying to make a casing. The elastic waist is a plus for my tall, thin girl. She's really about a size 6 around the waist, but about a 10 in length. Makes for a few strange pattern alterations, but she doesn't have curves. Yet.

I put in my usual ribbon tags for the back - it's hard to tell with this sort of clothing. You can still see the pencil marks I made so *I* could tell the back from the front! Yes, I still don't have serger. I know, one of these days I'll get out of the dark ages of sewing and buy one.

Last, but not least, the trim on the solid blue skort - this makes it look sort of sporty meet glam, but my daughter thought it was wonderful. I actually found this trim at Wal-mart. It's perfect because it's built on a strechy mesh base, so it plays nice with the knit fabric.

Two down, 9 to go. I'll be back at work on the SWAP on Monday, until skiing is over that is my day to work on the garments. I've already got two tops cut out and ready to sew!

American Beauty - Final Post

Here's it is, the moment you've been waiting for! The pictures aren't the best, as I only had one photographer (the other one was practicing his piano lessons!). My daughter did comment that I looked a whole lot different that when I go skiing! She thought this ensemble was more beautiful than my wedding gown, which I made. Anyway, I finally did get the coat lining in, but I'm sure you don't want to read about that (basically, I adjust the lining/facing seam and everything lined up nicely and the hem went in! Duh!), you want to see the pictures. So here they are: coat front and back, dress front and back.

Notice how the hem stands out pretty nicely on the dress (thanks to one mistake) and the coat completely covers the dress. I wanted it that way, but forgot to measure when I made the garments. Only when I put it on today did I realize it worked out! The gloves are my mother's prom gloves. I don't have the jewelry made yet and I am going to buy red shoes, too!

So why did I make this ensemble? Mainly, because I can. I love those grand 50's gowns, and I love to take what we're doing currently in embellishment/quilting and use those techniques in vintage patterns. I also like trying out new things - like making the fur from rows of stitched yarn. I also enter this sort of thing in competitions, but that's not why I do it; it's coincidental. Trust me, if I didn't love doing this sort of thing, I wouldn't put the time into it. I also enjoy challenging myself to learn new techniques and to improve my sewing. I have learned a ton from this ensemble.

Is it perfect? No. There are many things I'd change. I don't like the wrinkles on the bodice from the strap seams - trust me, it may look tight in the pictures and that's the usual reason for the horizontal wrinkles, but I can still pinch out 1/2" or more fabric around the waist/ribcage. The lining in the coat bothers me a bit still, and I'm still thinking of doing something with the cups in the corselette (I can sneak in and do that and handstitch it all closed). Right now I need to let it rest and look at it again in a month or so and reevaluate it all. I'm too close to it right now, and can't see the forest for the trees!

So, with one final look, we'll say goodbye to American Beauty. If you like following my crooked paths through the sewing world, I have a two more large vintage projects planned for the year, so look for one to start up sometime in February.

Ski Day!

Our school goes skiing every Tuesday for 6 weeks in the winter. Although this means less class days for me, it also means that I get to ski for free (lift tickets and rentals!) as a chaperone. We're skiing this year at Waterville Valley. Today was beautiful; last week it was windy and 20 below with the wind chill.

This year my son is learning how to ski! We've got 8 beginning skiers this year, all about 5 to 6 years old. They're fun to watch, and they have the littlest skis. He's not doing too bad in the top picture, but this bottom one is right before he went down while practicing his turns.

I'm hoping to post American Beauty photos in the next few days, I'm just too tired and yucky to put on the gown and coat tonight.

Marvelous Monday!

I have had a magnificent Monday! American Beauty just has touch ups to do so I have breathed a big sigh of relief and run head long into new projects.

First, I got new studio shoes in the mail on Saturday. I workout everyday except Sunday, and I typically go through a pair in 6 months. It's not the outsides that are destroyed - it's the inside supports and cushioning. High impact step/hi-lo/kickbox really kills shoes. These are Ryka's N-Gage studio shoe and I get them on ebay from WalkingSue. I've been buying from her for a couple of years, the price is very good and the shipping is fast!

I got two pieces almost completed for my daughter's SWAP. I need to check for hem length when she gets home from school. I'll post more about them tomorrow, but here's a quick photo:

I got to do a fabric manipulation/embellishment experiment, too. It's not quite right for the project I had it planned for, but it might work for something in the future. No time lost and now I know what I am going to do for trim on a new project. Here's Pix, the head of the fabric approval committee, helping out:


I actually got to vacuum and dust my house, too! I think I could use the word "miraculous" for that feat. I don't have ladies group practice tonight and I don't have a dentist appointment tomorrow (like I thought) either! I get to go skiing tomorrow! Tonight I'm going to cut out some tops for my daughter's SWAP, and start some artwork for beading for a new project.

What marvelous, magnificent, miraculous thing happened to you on your Monday? ("Survived" is an ok answer!)

American Beauty - Coat - Part XVII

Are we there yet?!?

Last summer, I drove my two children under the age of 10, down to Georgia by myself to visit my parents. I know what "Are we there yet?!?" means. That's how I feel about American Beauty about now. Some of you must be thinking the same thing. Good news: the hem is in, and I just need to do some final touches.

I did get the labels in:


I use a variety of labels for my artwork - usually something in the shape that is similar to a motif in the garment. In this case, I just wanted something simple. For competition, name, adress, etc. has to be on the label, so that complicates things a bit. One of these days I'm going to get custom labels made up, in the meantime, I make my own.

Here's how I made this one. First, I cut a piece of freezer paper exactly the same size as a sheet of paper, and cut a piece of fabric the same size. Then I ironed the fabric to the freezer paper - you can iron fabric to the shiny side. Then I typed up what I wanted the label to say on the computer and printed it out. Next I went down to our great old photocopier at school and put the piece of fabric/paper to be printed on in the bypass tray. One press of the button later and out came the fabric with two labels on it. All that's needed is heat setting with a hot iron. I then can cut out the shapes and applique them where desired. Do be careful if you try this - you might end up with the paper (fabric) jam in the machine, you could void the warranty on the machine, and the lettering does fade a bit through the wash, even though it's heat set. (Ask me how I know these things!)

Here's hoping for some final pictures in the next few days!

Make It Work!

I'm trying to finish American Beauty. I am down to the hem on the coat. That's where there's a problem. Ugh. I really don't need another problem with this ensemble. I feel creatively drained. It seems like I've had quite a few challenges with this ensemble, and I couldn't finish it easily without one more! I've had quite a productive day, too. I cut the lining carefully and even measured the pattern to make sure, but the hem is slightly too short in the back, and too long in the front. The front is the real issue - I can't trim it because of the appliques. So, while sitting on the floor on my workroom, those famous words came back to me, "Make it work!".

Strangely coincidental because I just read an article/interview with Tim Gunn in the Feb./Mar. 2007 Quilting Arts magazine. I sat down this morning for a break and settled on that article. I think it's a bit of an unusual place to find Tim Gunn, but regardless of media, I think his advice on design principles is applicable. The quote that came to mind was:

"How do you take existing conditions - an in-seam without enough allowance, a
sleeve that isn't set in correctly, a skirt that's too short and there's no
more fabric - how do you take those challenges and create a successful design?
It's 'Make it Work!' time. And I believe that there's no greater educational lesson than making something that isn't working work."

That said, I must go back to the studio and "Carry on!".

I got tagged.

Thanks Lisa! Now I'm sitting here trying to think of things about me that I haven't posted. I must be a really dull person.

So, here's the deal:
If you are tagged, you
1) Post 5 things about yourself that you have never posted
2) Tag 5 people whom you'd like to know more about

So, to take care of #1:

1. I was a cheerleader in high school. If you knew me now, you'd never suspect it as I'm the antithesis of the typical "cheerleader".

2. I absolutely hate being late. Anywhere.

3. I must have my water bottle with me at all times. I seem to have a sense about where it is or if I don't have it. My husband calls is my 6th sense. You probably have seen in it quite a few pictures amongst the sewing stuff.

4. I hate eggs. I will not eat them in a car, I will not eat them from a far. I will not eat them sunny side up, I will not eat them with a dollop of ketchup. I will not eat them scrambled, I will not eat them boiled. I do not like them, Sam I Am. I certainly don't like green eggs and ham.

5. I must load the dishwasher from the back to the front, from left to right. I will rearrange it all if someone else hasn't loaded it right. OCD, I guess.

I have a bonus:

6. I was engaged once to a hard-core Marine. That wouldn't have been a problem, as my dad was career military, special forces. The military wasn't the problem, we both had other issues that didn't end up working out.


Now for part #2, I tag:
Isabelle
Erin
Sue B
Rice
Tini

Now that I'm done, I've thought of a few other things, but I'll save them for another time . . .

American Beauty - Coat - Part XVI

Fit to be tied!

Literally and figuratively. I forgot about having to tie off all the threads in the quilting where the quilting is interuppted by the applique. It's about 10-12 hours of work just to tie off all the threads on the 5 appliques on the lining. That's what I've been doing recently in addition to quilting the lining pieces and dreaming of working on anything but this.

Before:
After:


I'm seeing the end of this project this weekend, maybe Friday if I get the snow day that's in the works. Stay tuned for the final few episodes of American Beauty!

I need a pattern . . . .

(like I need another hole in my head!)


The fabric is a sweater knit, 60" wide, 1 yard length, black with these neat little flat oval sequins. I only got a yard because it's another one of those treasures I found in the Joann's remnant bin, so that's all there was.

I'm looking for a sweater or top, but not a shrug. I'd like to wear this into spring (not that I've seen any signs of that lately) depending on what I wear underneath/with it - let's think white tank/white skirt with the black lace top for spring. Ideally, I'd like a wrap front and sleeves - nothing big, oversized or with a cowl neck. Not my style, and as a short-waisted petite those things only make me look like I'm playing dress up with Auntie Eunice's clothes.

Help me out here - my brain is still frozen after this weekend's ice/snow storm!

SWAP 2007 - Part Two

Colors!

After we picked out the patterns, we then worked on colors. At first I got, "We can make this in pink and this in green and this in stripes, etc., etc.," Um, no. This is when I had to explain that everything had to coordinate with each other. My solution? To go ahead and to establish the print/stripe/whatever that we'd pull the solid coordinating colors from. Since there were quite a few knit items in the collection, I figured if we found a knit print she liked, we'd go from there. A dozen websites later - she's pretty picky about prints - we found something she liked. I let it rest for a few days, and asked her again. She still liked it, so I ordered this fabric from Casual Fabrics:
The pattern is larger than I thought, but she loves it and that works for me. We then decided what garments would be what colors - I double checked with a little chart to make sure we had a good balance of colors among the garments and didn't end up with five aqua shirts and one white one. Since then, I've been scouting for fabric and came up with this bit of eyelet:

I knew she'd like the butterflies, so when I saw it on the remnant table at Martin's House of Cloth, I snatched it up. It's not enough for a top, but I can use the border side creatively with some other eyelet to make enough for a top.

Saturday (before the ice/snow/wintry mix storm we're having), we went to Jo-ann's and picked up white knit, aqua knit, the extra eyelet and batiste to line it. We saw a stripe that would be perfect match, but I'll have to go back and get it - we weren't sure at the moment, but it'll look great. A trip to Wally World rounded out most of the trims we needed. Add to that the Timmel order of fawn stretch sateen and white twill, and we're almost done with the fabric/trim shopping. I just need to find some lime green light weight twill or sheeting or some kind for the capri pants and few more trims.

Now, if I could get to sewing this collection . . . .

American Beauty - Coat - Part XV

Um, where were we?

Let's see, we left off working on the coat sometime back in November? Not sure. The dress sort of got moved into priority with it having to be photographable for deadlines. Now that the dress is done except for a few minor things, it's back to the coat!

What does it still need? A buttonhole and button. A hem. And, um, a lining. Yeah, a lining would be a good thing. Sad to say, the lining isn't (or wasn't until last week) near complete. Actually it still isn't. It *will* be this week!

I decided to tackle the button and hem issues first, while working on finishing the applique during my commute as school bus chaperone. (Don't even ask - I have learned to be able to applique and beadwork in some of the most unusual places! One day, I'll show you how it's done.) The idea is that when I'm away from the house, I can still make progress by doing handstitching. Anyway.

I've decided for the button, just to do a simple covered button with the red velvet. The button is so near the fur collar that anything else would get lost, and anything with prong set stones or beading would snag. So, I give you the covered button:


The buttonhole was a bound buttonhole - standard variety, nothing exciting there, either. I did the lips for the button hole in the velvet, just for some contrast. The facing, on the back of the buttonhole, I finished with a windowpane-style opening. Basically, you complete the same first step for a bound buttonhole. It just leaves you will a small rectangular hole that is finished on the inside edges. I then handstitched the buttonholes together, wrong sides together. Here's the partly finished product. The buttonhole is on the left, finished. On the right is the facing with it's silk square ready for stitching the rectangle.


Next, the hem. I decided a long time ago to do a hem facing, as the hem is curved and it's just easier than easing in the curve. (See the dress hem post!) I still had to quilt and assemble the facings, and once that was done, it was pretty easy to just stitch them on. I then catch-stitched the facing to the coat. Here's the hem facing being attached:


The only issue remaining regarding the hem is the portion where the front facing meets the hem facing. Usually there is a raw edge left over, as you can see in the picture below.

My solution was to bind the portion that will show after the lining is attached. Neat and easy, and will look much better in the finished product.

So what's left? Finishing the lining!!!! Once the applique is done, I need to quilt the back. Then I need to cut out all the lining pieces, stitch it together and install it. After that, it just needs the button sewn on and a label. I'm hoping to get it done this week, maybe.

SWAP 2007 - Part One

Yes, I got sucked into SWAP! Actually, the concept is very clever: a wardrobe of coordinating garments, top and bottoms and a jacket that will provide the wearer with a multitude of exciting outfits with all the possible combinations. Timmel Fabrics sponsors an annual contest, and I'm game.

So, do I need another wardrobe? Um, actually, sure, I'd love more clothes. *But*. My daughter really needs a new summer wardrobe and this is perfect for her. She's 8, and like some children, has no sense of what goes together and what doesn't. I do try to make or buy only items that will coordinate with what she already has, but she'll still find ways to mismatch things. The other day she came out to breakfast in chocolate brown corduroy pants, an orchid purple t-shirt, a pale yellow zip up hoodie and pink socks with cats on them. UGH!!!!!! Some parts of the outfit worked and others were having hissy fits with each other. I told her she couldn't wear that. Anywhere. Even in the house. "But I don't have anything that matches!" About 2 minutes later, I found a white turtleneck and socks. Much better. Not perfect, but much better.

We started back in December by having her pick out the patterns she likes from the pattern websites. If she absolutely doesn't love it, I'm not making it. I (and her grandmother) have made many lovely things that never got worn because she didn't like one little detail or another. We printed them all out in black and white and then picked the ones she really, really liked.

(Remember that pink turtleneck?)

I printed them in black and white because like some people, she can't visualize what a garment will look like in colors other than the samples on the pattern envelope. She then could concentrate on the *style* not the colors. We weeded through what would work and what wouldn't for a casual summer wardrobe - one she could play in, but add a jacket to an outfit and she'd be ready to go out to eat dinner, etc.

I'll post pictures of the patterns when I actually complete each garment - it will easier than posting them all right now and take up less space. Suffice it to say, we've got some t-shirts, tank tops, a shrug, a tunic, and a blouse in the tops department. In the bottoms we've got skorts (she *had* to have those!), a pair of pants and a pair of reversible capri's. Add to that a cute little jacket, and I think we're set.

We're still working on fabric choices, but I think I'll turn this into a series and next up will be the color choices. Plus, we've discussed a surprise twist to the whole SWAP, but we won't tell until you see the pictures of the completed wardrobe!

American Beauty - Dress - Part XII

Everything's coming up roses . . . .

The roses are complete and consequently, so is the bustle. I promised a close up of the bead work on the bustle. There was a concern about the bustle covering up some of the bead work on the seams, but I fixed that by beading all the edges of the bustle, 1/2" between beads just like the dress. Here it is:

The roses were actually 2 different types. One type was made from long strips gathered along one long edge, rolled and hand stitched. The other type was made from petals of two half oval shapes of stitched together, gathered along the straight edge and then rolled and stitched to form a rose. I used the velvet for one side of the petals and the lighter red dupioni for the other side. The instructions were in Threads issue 111, Feb/Mar 2004. Here they are being cut out, notice the baggies in the second photo to organize the different sizes of rose petals:


I ended up making seven roses total, in varying sizes and fabrics. I actually like the roses made from the half ovals better than the other style. They're more work to make, but to me they look more realistic. Figures that the more labor intensive ones were the ones I liked!

For leaves, I free hand cut out some leaf shapes, stitched a pair together leaving an opening, turned them right side and stitched the opening shut. I then ran a line of gather stitches down the center, pulled up the threads and stitched the gathers in place with some green sparkly Sulky Holoshimmer.

Once the roses and leaves were complete, I arranged them from the smallest on the outside edge to the largest in the center of the bustle, plus some leaves and stitched it all in place by hand.

Last, but not least today, the hem of the skirt. Which I didn't mess up. I trimmed it, bound it, and then had to deal with the curve of the circle skirt. It was a bit too curved to shrink out the fullness. I did try. It looked weird and wrinkly like a Shar-Pei dog. Next option: to stitch out some small darts in the hem as needed to take up that fullness and give a smooth hem line on the inside. That worked beautifully, and the bottom photo shows a dart more clearly:

The only thing left is the dress hangers and a custom label. I've waited on the hangers because the top edge was too thick to begin with, so I'll just stitch them to the corset. I'll wait on the label and do the coat and dress label at the same time. The only other thing I can think of is that I might need to tack the corset to the dress/lining at the seams to keep everything from twisting about while wearing. Not sure yet.

So, it's almost done. Now it's back to the coat, I think I can get it done before the end of January . . maybe . . .