Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Curtain Gown Woes

Le sigh.

So, I joined in the curtain-along, planning to make my all-time favourite caraco, but I sort of ended up sabotaging myself, and now I have a mental block against the project. :-/

I started off well, or so I thought. I was going to make the gown to go over a pair of pocket hoops or a small pannier, and, of course, I instantly forgot about that when I started drafting my caraco. ~facepalm~


See my problem? Yeah, the example I was looking at went over a bumroll and not side hoops, so that's what I cut out. Buh! I pinned everything together and put it on my dress form, and was immediately deflated. I went ahead and made the petticoat while I let the caraco itself stew for a while, but when I went back to work on it again, I just couldn't get past the idea that I had just utterly ruined all that lovely fabric.

At least Fabric Cat likes the fabric. A lot.



So right now I have three options. First, I could buy another curtain panel, which I don't really want to do since it'll put this project over my own self-imposed budget, and I could recut the front of the caraco. Or, I could cut the skirt so that it's shorter, but even, all the way around, but that will drastically change the look of the ensemble, and from preliminary pinning to see how it would look, I'm not fond of the look. Or, I could just put this gown over a bumroll so the skirt of the caraco would be even all the way around. Problem with that is that the petticoat actually fits perfectly over the panniers. UGH!

Right now, the petticoat is finished but for the waistband, and the back of the caraco has been en fourreau-ed to fit.



I just don't know what to do about this caraco, and I feel very deflated about it. Suggestions?

5 comments:

  1. Oh noes! Don't give up! Do you have any scraps of the fabric left at all? Would it be possibly to piece in what is needed on the skirtings of the caraco at the sides, kindof like a pet en l'air?

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  2. Can you piece the sides of the jacket to change the shape? I don't know what the shape needs to be to make it fit over panniers (I'm a bumroll gal myself), but I do know that piecing is SOOOOOO period. And they never bothered to match the patterns either, so it's not like you have to worry about it being perfect. The more random the piecing it, the more period it will look.

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  3. I'm still waking up and groggy, but can't you piece sections in to what's there and get the shape and drape you want? I'm not sure what I would do, otherwise... I think this is partially why I keep moving at a snail's pace lately. I just have this feeling I will make mistakes left and right if I'm not careful. Nothing like feeling that way before it even happens. Ugh!

    Good luck!

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  4. Oh gosh, that's such a bummer! I've been known to overlook small but important details like that too. Being forced into make-it-work mode isn't fun at all!

    So my initial thought was modify the petticoat to work with a bumroll. But will that make the hemline too short at the back, what with the extra length it'll need to drape over the bumroll?

    Otherwise, I'd say you're stuck with evening out the curaco skirt to work with the hoops, even though it's not your favorite look. Do you have any extra fabric left? You could try piecing before you do that. The pattern is dense enough that good matching would probably make it nearly invisible.

    If all else fails, you may just have to buy another curtain panel. Sometimes you have those projects where nothing else will do but to recreate your idea exactly. You'll have to decide where the balance between not going over budget and being completely happy with your curaco is.

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  5. I would go with a new curtain and recut it the way you want it. Look online to see if there is a discount coupon for your purchase to help offset the expense. If you try to piece it or make due, there is the possibility you will not love it, then all your effort will have been for naught. Good luck & Keep us posted!

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