I am so happy to be done with this gown! I think it turned out so pretty, I’m sure my friend Lucia will love it!
I made these sleeves in a totally jackass sort of way– sorry. They have no basis in historical reality at all, I made them so they would be super easy to wear and alter, meaning they needed to be one piece and have an inner seam that completly controls the size of the sleeve. I have thought of a better way to make them easier to deal with, but naturally I didn’t think of it until everything was all done. Whoops. Always learning! I wonder when everything will stop being a prototype??
The bodice fronts came together pretty smoothly, which is totally not normal!
In the continuation of the Violet gown, I painstakingly cut out all the remaining pieces needed, sliced up and prepped the furbelow strips, and then was suddenly struck to make the stomacher first. I usually leave the stomacher until last, but couldn’t this time– with such a meager amount of fabric left, I had to make sure I had what I needed for the stomacher, and then I could fudge the skirt furbelows with scrap-pieced strips. Couldn’t do that with the stomacher! It’s such a focal point I wanted it to be lovely– and I wanted it to be echelle.
The back is done! I love the saque backs, they are just so damn pretty! The fabric, though– yet another fabric that I can’t photograph well! Ah well.
Crosspost from my LiveJournal Dress Diary 5/27/2013
Here is the underskirt of the second gown I am making for my dear friend Lucia, who is a historical dancer, artist and party organizer in Italy. I LOVE IT! Wow did it turn out nice. It is a violet dupioni silk– a fairly rough weave, but I don’t care, it’s pretty.