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| So far so good - and sleeves that FIT! |
This project might have been quick if I hadn't spend whole chunks of days not doing a darn thing. At least when I do get my lazy arse moving, the Indienne gown seems to be going together rather nicely.
Yesterday I thought to finish it. I fitted the sleeves over my mannequin's shoulders (a good indication that they will fit my shoulders), and applied the shoulder straps by hand. I turned up the edge of the bodice, in preparation for the skirt, but the skirt has turned out to be harder than I thought.
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| Fitting the sleeve over the shoulder and basting in place |
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| Applying the shoulder strap on-the-form. |
I know, it's a skirt, it's not supposed to be hard. I'm trying a new-to-me technique shown in
Patterns of Fashion 1: 1660-1860
and
Period Costume for Stage & Screen
wherein the skirt is leveled at the hem by adjusting it at the top, using elastic tied around the waist. It didn't work so great for me, but I did manage to scribble out something of a curve at the top edge, and compared it to one of the skirts on the Vandyked gown in POF, which is also shaped at the top:
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| From Patterns of Fashion, the shape of the skirt on the Vandyked dress (pg 42). |
The shaped top of the skirt panels seems to be working, but working the pleats at the back, which has a squared-off tail instead of a point, was troublesome, and I ended up just ripping out the whole thing, and will re-pleat it tonight, using the method of pleating straight across the waist at back, then turning down the extra inside - it's shown on the inspiration dress schematic in
Costume in Detail
here:
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| Reference image in Costume in Detail, pg 69. The bottom left sketch shows the inside of the bodice, with the extra fullness of the skirt turned down. |
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| The back of my bodice, awaiting the skirt. |
So maybe it will be done *tonight* !
