Diary of a Costumer

Apparently, I never posted here about the really stupid mistake I made in my plaid bustle, which I naturally only found out about after it was all 99.9% finished. You've heard this story if you saw it on Facebook or Instagram, but for those who didn't see it, I realized when I went to go put the buttons on my skirt that I made the bodice entirely in reverse of the fashion plate. Of course, the bodice is 100% finished, so there's no way I'm redoing it. The skirt is 100% finished other than those decorative buttons, but I could still potentially rip out the front asymmetrical panel and the waistband, flip the panel (since the fabric is double sided), and redo the waistband.

This is what it looks like currently. The wrinkles are just because I tried it on over the 1860s corset I was wearing for Fairy Godmother fittings:


But, since I have the whole Fairy Godmother project still in progress, and I'm hoping to make the Daniel Deronda riding habit by VicFest as well, I'm back-burnering the plaid dress until I finish the others. If it comes down to it, I will put the skirt buttons on the opposite side from where they should meet the bodice buttons. I tried it on, and while I don't like it as much, and it's not to the plate, I don't hate it. 

In the meantime, I didn't work as much on the Fairy Godmother as I wanted this last week, but I at least got some done. I now have both the evening and day bodices assembled. The day bodice has sleeves that I'm about 85-90% happy with (which is as good as it's going to get with my level of patience), and both bodices have the front edges finished, though without closures. I need to pick up bias tape for the neckline and hems, since I don't have enough fabric to do self-bias. And I have a sleeve mockup for the evening bodice that I need to try out. Then it will be on to trimming and closures. 

We had more snow on Friday into Saturday, and on Sunday into Monday, which both helped and thwarted my sewing. On one hand, being house-bound meant that I had a lot of sewing time, but it also meant that I couldn't go pick up supplies! I ran to Joanns in the lull on Sunday and got the eyelet trim I needed for the sleeves and neckline, but then found out Sunday night that I was out of bars for the closure. I probably could have made it to Joanns yesterday, but didn't realize that until it was getting dark. So I'm going today instead. 

But because I did have so much sewing time, the plaid bustle dress is entirely finished other than the missing bars and the buttons, which should arrive Friday. I realized that although Joanns no longer carries the buttons I wanted, the manufacturer still had them in stock! So now I have 18 buttons coming my way!

I can't remember the order of how I did everything over the weekend, but it involved fitting sleeve mockups (not too much trouble there, thankfully, though in retrospect they're a little on the tight side), piecing together enough fabric for a non-ruffled tier at the bottom of the skirt (I had just enough for a flat tier; there was no way I could get a ruffle out of it!), hand sewing that tier to the skirt, hand-hemming that tier, making and attaching the sleeves to the bodice, and finishing the bottom edge of the bodice. Then the run to Joanns came in, and figuring out which eyelet to use - naturally, it was the one that required me to pleat the whole thing. But it was worth it! I pleated the collar section, attached it to the neckline, and finished the edge with bias. Then I put all the closures (that I had) on the bodice - I think it's something like 21 hooks and eyes total, because it closes down the center and down the asymmetrical piece. Then back to pleating for the sleeves, and attaching the trim and hemming the sleeve ends. Then hooks and eyes on the waistband and attaching the four buttons I already had on hand. 



Once I get the bars today, I will try to get them on before tonight. And then I might try the whole thing on, since I haven't done that since I was doing the sleeve mockup. I sure hope it works!

I don't think I'll have much time for sewing the rest of this week, since everything that has been put off in the last week is now getting rescheduled. But next on my list is the Fairy Godmother day bodice. 

In the meantime, here's some snow pictures: