The Skirt Comes Together

On this particular piece I decided against a colorful lining or interior. I may later add a little bit of embroidery to the inside, but Mariah's pieces will mainly be less colorful and work-intensive than the other characters--excepting the coat which I've just begun work on, which I imagine to be a later addition to the wardrobe. Anyway, the lining is pieced from some linen and cotton bits and pieces I had about.

Nice lovely flat felled seams.

Lining installed! I'm really trying to push the level of finishing on every piece, no matter how ordinary/plain, I think it will help further along the aspect of confusion on the nature of the piece(s)--whether they are costumes, or garments meant to be worn, or pieces of fine art craftwork. I think I previously had too many 'filler pieces' that weren't particularly well done to serve to show off the more intricate pieces.

The skirt as a whole. It's pretty much complete, except that I haven't decided how to handle the closure--I'm researching passemterie techniques for buttons at the moment.

And the cut edge, which I'm very pleased with! This poor blog post has been so off-white--at least my next project will have more color.

As a rather non-serious aside I've also started up a collection of obnoxious floral embroidered tea-towels, which I'm envisioning being appliqued to....something eventually.

At the same thrift store I also found a big (about 6" high) spool of exactly the sort of buttonhole thread I like, which seems to have gotten increasingly difficult to find. It's a bit discolored, but once I use up the first layer it should be clean. This will last me a while!

Sick Days

I've spent the last week in various stages of sickness, recovery, and then sickness again, so not a whole lot has gone on. But I did manage to make some progress!

The skirt has been sewn together and all the cutwork cut. And I didn't cut through any of my stitching--I thought for sure it would happen. The seams also pressed flat really nicely, which I was concerned about.

Now onto outlining and cutting the bottom hem. I think that really helps pull the whole thing together. Then I'm going to half-line it (the wool it's made of is pretty scratchy) and figure out the buttons/waistband.

More grey wool! I never thought I'd say this, but I think I may have gotten too much! But at least I know I'll have enough for the coat, and patchwork always takes up way more fabric than you think.

That bag of silks also got dyed. I forgot how well silk picks up color, these are a bit darker than I had imagined. I might do a bit more silk-searching to get some lighter, brighter colors as well.

I'm starting to cut them up into little trapezoid shapes, the box is starting to fill up. This is definitely going to be an 'over time' project.