18thC Stuffs

I was stuck at home all week because of inclement weather - school and the museum both closed, so i had lots of time to ignore homework work on sewing! I decided that the candy pink petticoat needed a polonaised anglaise to go over it, so I started work on that. I ran out of fabric before I could work on the front of the gown, but I did get the entire back done and the front of the skirt cut out, so I'll only need enough for the bodice front, sleeves, and trimmings when I go pick up more fabric. Behold! Tiny stitches!

 I figured that since the petticoat was all hand-sewn that the rest of the gown should be, too. The bodice is lined in plain old muslin, which is also hand-stitched. I finally made some measurable progress on the aqua francaise, too. I did run out of trim before I was able to finish the petticoat, so I had to shift my focus and start on the rest of the gown. I managed to cut out and stitch the lining, including all the eyelets, and get the back of the gown cut out and draped. I even managed to stitch down the drapery pleats, though I don't have a pic of the stitches, even though they are equally tiny. XP

I started draping the front, but I'm not happy with it, and I've hit The Wall for tonight, so I'm letting it stew for the rest of the week while I catch up on homework and other sewing projects that need to be done.

Here are some petticoat pics. I'm still planning to add more fluff above the big ruffle, but I need more trim first. The ruffles are taking forever because of all the hand-sewing. It started out because I just wanted to hand-sew the gown, but it's become a necessity because the ribbon I'm using likes to shred if you look at it the wrong way, so the machine would just destroy it. It took me forever to find a trim that matched what was in my head, so I'm not keen on trying to find something else. I'm only trimming the middle third of the petticoat front because the rest will be covered by the gown, so there's no use trimming what won't be seen. Besides, that's total a period cheat. XD

 

Unfortunately, the camera doesn't pic up the colour of the gown very well. The aqua is really much brighter in person! Adding the trim along the scalloped edge of the large ruffle took forever. I had to stitch down one side of the ribbon and then very gently gather the other edge with as tiny of stitches as I could manage so it would lay flat against the curve of the fabric. That project alone took an entire day, and my back was killing me by the end of it from stooping over trying to wrangle fraying silver ribbon and stitch it down. Ugh. I'm glad that's the only place on this gown that I plan to do that sort of scalloped edge, because I'd never be finished in time for the Francaise Dinner if it was anywhere else.

This week I'm diving back into Regency stuff, getting my sweetheart's wardrobe ready for the Beethoven event. I found some stunning dark blue sari remnants in The Stash that are just enough for a waistcoat, and he really fell in love with the fabric when I showed him, so I'm excited to start on that. I also need to draft his tailcoat and find some good wool for his trousers, so it's a busy, busy week. Thank goodness Spring Break starts next Monday and I'm actually not scheduled at work except on the weekends, as I'm planning a marathon of intense sewing to finish everything up.