Being sick just means more time to sew...right?
I am ill. Dramatically, nose-achingly ill. (I wrote that on Tuesday. I am publishing this entry on Friday, and I am quite happy to report that I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER.) I am also in a very "free" sort of period with school. Both of these mean I have ample sewing time, especially if I want to have a new dress wearable by Stormhold's 30th.
"New dress? But Emmeline," you ask. "What happened to the grey cote?"
The grey cote, dear reader, is in the naughty pile until I can figure out what the hell I'm doing with its sleeves and underarm gussets.
This cote is a deep navy blue, a pure or near-pure wool (so far as it was labelled), I got it on sale, and it is light as a feather. I would totally believe you if you said it was a cellulose fiber of some kind. (Too shiny-feeling to be cotton.) It's not the "wrong kind" of warm, the plastic-y sort of disgusting sticky-warm you get wearing a pure acrylic anything. It's the right kind of warm. It is also a beautiful fine worsted, and it frays. Oh, does it fray. Which means seam finishing is absolutely necessary.
I've already got 2/3 of one side done. I don't know how you like to piece your garb together, but I tend to do gores first, attach the body pieces together at the shoulders if necessary, get the sleeve pieces and gores in, and then I can think about actually fitting the sleeves. I prefer to finish as I go, so that my fabric doesn't completely unravel on me.
What I am struggling with is the neckline here, which is currently stewing in the back of my mind while I race to finish the rest of the cote. If there was an award for Worst At Necklines, I would probably win it. Or at least come runner-up. (I'd definitely win Worst at Sleeves, though. I can never seem to get them quite right.) I know all the theory but I cut too much fabric away and end up with this massive neck-hole and a dress that slips off my shoulders. Or I don't cut enough away and I get the front of my dress poking me in the neck when I sit down. I haven't gotten a single neckline to the point of satisfaction yet, and I am so frustrated by that. Argh!
The worst part is I understand the theoretics behind neck-hole placements. I know to do a circle and put it a little further down so more of it is on the front of the dress. But it never quite works out in practice, especially when I'm working with two separate pieces of fabric joined at the shoulders rather than one continuous piece.
I'll figure it out someday. But that day is...probably not today. Sigh.
"New dress? But Emmeline," you ask. "What happened to the grey cote?"
The grey cote, dear reader, is in the naughty pile until I can figure out what the hell I'm doing with its sleeves and underarm gussets.
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| Tsk, tsk. How dare it be difficult. |
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| Note the lovely 100% wool blanket in the background. Thank you, Etsy! I had to widen the frame so that the color would have a hope of being accurate. |
What I am struggling with is the neckline here, which is currently stewing in the back of my mind while I race to finish the rest of the cote. If there was an award for Worst At Necklines, I would probably win it. Or at least come runner-up. (I'd definitely win Worst at Sleeves, though. I can never seem to get them quite right.) I know all the theory but I cut too much fabric away and end up with this massive neck-hole and a dress that slips off my shoulders. Or I don't cut enough away and I get the front of my dress poking me in the neck when I sit down. I haven't gotten a single neckline to the point of satisfaction yet, and I am so frustrated by that. Argh!
The worst part is I understand the theoretics behind neck-hole placements. I know to do a circle and put it a little further down so more of it is on the front of the dress. But it never quite works out in practice, especially when I'm working with two separate pieces of fabric joined at the shoulders rather than one continuous piece.
I'll figure it out someday. But that day is...probably not today. Sigh.
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