Minstrations, Part 4

Mar 18 11:50-12:30 Divide and conquer! Matched up bottom tier to top tier of skirt without too much headache; turns out I calculated the difference in fullness between the two pretty well-there will be just enough gathering at the top edge of the bottom tier to make things interesting.


Mar 19 12-1 Begin gathering and tacking skirt top and bottom together. Not sure if it made it easier or more difficult, but because of the way I pinned the tiers together, was able to run gathering threads and make a tack stitch about every 3 inches at the same time. Made it about 1/3 the way around

Mar 21 12:30-1:30 Another 1/3 the way around

Mar 22 11:30-12:30 Finished the last 1/3. Will take the dress home this weekend to try with my corset and attempt some in-progress photography. Also need to order brown silk thread for the buttonholes. Had thought to use cotton floss, but decided that it may abrade too easily.

Ministrations, 3rd Continuation

Mar 7 11:30-12:30 Finish neck edge, attach armscye piping and waistband, begin attaching waistband piping.


Mar 12 sometime around lunch: complete waistband piping, finish sleeve cuffs

Mar 14 12:10-12:50: pin in sleeves, attach one. Need to take the skirt home and re-iron so the hem and hem facing so they will be somewhat even.

7:30-9 pm Okay, cheated a bit. Took the skirt home to iron hem and hem facing. Went ahead and attached the top of the hem facing before I repacked the dress into my work bag. I think I will go ahead and add a wrapped hem braid since this will be a workhorse of a dress.

Mar 15 11:30-12 set second sleeve

Ministrations, 2nd Continuation

January 30: 11:45-12:30 Finished gathering threads in bodice fronts and back, tacked back lining and fabric together and drew up gathers.


January 31: 11:30-12 pinned in front plackets, basted neckline, started right placket

February 4: 12:05-12:40 Finished right placket, stitched both darts right side

Sometime between 2/5-8: pulled up gathers of left side, basted in place; finished right placket and one dart

February 11: 12:25-12:45 finished second dart and pulled up gathers; Began basting fabric to lining.

February 28: 12-12:30 Bodice attach right front to back, pin left front in place.

March 4: 11:30-12:30 Finish attaching fronts to backs, test fit (without corset, see note): the fit is a shade too tight for wear with buttons and functioning button holes once I put my corset on. Let sides out about 3/8 inch each side to take strain off fasteners. Begin neck-piping

Note: My corset actually increases the size of my ribcage by about ½ inch before decreasing my waist size about 1.5 inches.

Mar 5: 11:30-12:00 Finish armscye and waist piping, attach neck piping

Ministrations, Continued.

January 15, 2013: Payday. Ran errands during lunch hour


January 16: Paula and Brenda both retired today. Retirement activities messed up the day’s schedule sufficiently that there was no lunch hour

January 17: 11:45-12:45 Attached hem facing to bottom skirt

January 18: 11:45-12:45 Upper skirt: inserted pocket and closed last seam; seamed one sleeve.  Jim stopped by the conference room to chat about clothes he’d made for Rendezvous. I’m impressed. His first major sewing project was a pair of knee high leather moccasins.

January 21: 12-12:45 Seamed second sleeve; gathering threads bodice front.

January 22: In class all morning; wacked out the schedule.

January 23: Not getting it together today, shorted my lunch in the confusion. Will leave early and work on other projects at home.

The Ministrations of the Brown Day Dress: An Hour by Hour Accounting.

With an influx of new clothing orders, sewing time for personal items has become even more limited. What's another option? Lunch hour: I already take projects to work on a regular basis, why not attempt a full completion?

Advantages:

- Force myself away from the desk for an hour everyday.
-The conference room is very quiet with good lighting and room to work

Challenge:

- 90% of the work must be completed by hand 
-Not draw undo attention to myself (folks are always ready to ask about my projects or why I am hiding in the conference room)

The Rules:  

-Cannot go over allotted 60 minutes for lunch
-Cannot starve myself; boss is flexible about eating while I do regular work, then taking the full hour for errands or a longer walk.
-Must keep accurate record of progress

The Cheats:

-The dress is already cut out and the skirt panels sewn together by machine

Description of dress:
-Originally of printed wool, recreate from a reproduction cotton print
-Gathered bodice with waistband
-Coat sleeves
-Oddly flounced skirt gauged onto the bodice waistband.

• Image of original here: http://www.thegracefullady.com/civilwargowns/images/originalgarments/cottonwool_daydresses/cwcalico.jpg

Will make a few changes/additions:

-Skirt: Hem Tape; there is no evidence of hem tape in the images. The black line visible at the hem is a shadow.
-Sleeves: Will keep the shape of the coat sleeves but instead gather the cuff into a self fabric band to create a pseudo-bishop sleeve.  
This eliminates the need to line the sleeves.
-Finish with collar cuffs and a robins egg blue ribbon necktie

Progress:

January 2, 2013: Brought the lower portion of the skirt to work. After 12 days of sewing over Christmas break I refused to touch it and read A Storm of Swords instead.

January 11, 2013: Took the skirt home thinking I'd work on it there.

January 14, 2013: No time to work on it over the weekend; brought it back with me to work this morning. Took it to the conference room at 11:35 and worked until 12:30. Completed hemming the top edge and in the quiet, determined to complete this project as described above.