Hoarding comes good, for probably the first time ever.

For the last four years, I have been the not-proud owner of a lilac, pinstripe, 3/4-length sleeve shirt from River Island. I bought it in the sales, and as it was a shirt, and a size 10, and very cheap, I didn’t bother trying it on. What could possibly go wrong? Umm… a lot. It was massive, with sleeves exactly the wrong length, ugly buttons, and did I mention how massive it was?

Now, after hacking the sleeves off, and taking about four or five inches of waste material from the seams, I have ended up with this:

Three years ago, I started to think about slimming it down, but even the three or four inches I tentatively planned on taking in left it massive. And I couldn’t be bothered to sew it by hand. So thank you, lovely shiny sewing machine. I love you, even if I did try to break you a little bit today. Sorry about that.

I still don’t like the buttons, mind. I think I’m going to replace them with a sort of smoky grey colour, to match the stitching and pinstripes. I has none, so for now the ‘orrible pinky ones have to stay.

It’s not perfect, but I’m actually likely to wear it now – so my hoarding was not done in vain.

Project Diary: Ball Dress, 22nd June

Plan for 22nd June: Finish, apart from hemming. 

I had a small encounter with FAIL when trying it on after fitting the zip. It looked a bit like I was sitting in an embroidered bucket, the back sagged out so badly. I had to take in about three inches at the sides. It’s a bit of a bodge job but it looks perfectly fine from the outside, and just about ok from the inside.

Now I have to let it hang for a day or so, so the bias in the skirt can drop out. The lining is already hanging waaayyyyy below the actual skirt, so I’ll be taking a good few inches off it (like I was supposed to in the first place. Umm. Yes.

In other news, the second incarnation of the Adelle stockings is coming along nicely and actually, they are at a point where I could cast off with a clear conscience. However, there is more yarn remaining, so I’m going to continue in case I can make it to knee-length. And the Tree Jacket Trellis Jumper is also tripping gaily off the needles, so I have hope that I will be able to start a new project at some point in the next week or two. Yay! 

Project Diary: Ball Dress, 19th June.

Plan for 19th June: Get skirt into one piece. 

An easy task for a lazy evening. Not that lazy, actually, I did turn a heel, make some gnocchi and clear out my emails. But in sewing terms, sheesh, I could have done this in my sleep. Probably lose a couple of fingers, but meh.

Project Diary: Ball Dress, 13th June.

Plan for 13th June: make up body lining, and get it mostly attached to the outer fabric.

So the lining is all attached around the top, although I’ve not done much undersewing. My hand stitching is terrible, and it’s a bit bulky to try to do it by machine, so around the arms and neck I’ve just pressed it into place. That’s not very good, and I’ll know it’s wrong, but it’ll have to do. I’m just not dextrous enough to do it right, and I don’t want to risk it on this.

Still, it’s attached – all I need to do now is sew the bodice and midriff seams together, and it’ll be time to get onto the skirt. So soon, so soon. But yay. Longer to consider accessories. There is a possibility of a crocheted mask… watch this space.

Project Diary: Ball Dress, 12th June.

Plan for 12th June: do outer bodice.

Oooh, shiny.

Started late but still managed to do all I planned for this evening. We have bodice attached to midriff with bust gathering (risked it on the sewing machine – a good decision, I feel) and some straps tacked on up the top there.

As a side note, I have much more control over the machine now. I grew up using my mother’s beautiful hand-powered Singer, so using my beautiful electricity-powered Singer is weird, to say the least. I’m still basting everything by hand though – partly because I don’t want to risk running out of thread, and can’t be bothered to change the thread over every time I want to baste anything, but mostly because it just feels better to really handle the fabric when sewing it into place.

Next step is the bodice lining – reckon I can at least get that stitched together, if not sewn to the main fabric, in the next evening’s work.

Project Diary: Ball Dress, 11th June.

Plan for 11th June: Cut out all pieces, and fuse interfacing to midriff front and back. 

Ba-baaa! Haven’t I done well. Took less time than I thought, but I have some fairly impressive carpet burns on my knees. Will need to find a longer skirt for work tomorrow, or there may be some questions asked.

So. I decided to cut the fabric as though I were making the longer skirt on the basis that if I change my mind about the length, it’ll be far easier to shorten it. Cunning, no? I’ve held the front skirt piece up in front of me and my considered opinion is that it does drape, and shouldn’t end up sticking out like a tutu. I don’t know what effect the lining will have, but I can wait to find out. I have patience.

I was going to forge on ahead with the next step, but having taken a break for a duck egg and bacon omelette, and rewarded my supreme couturier skillz with a nice glass of wine, I think I will stop for the evening so I don’t burn out. Maybe some knitting… I really fancy some crochet but since I am still waiting for my pretty hooks to turn up from Angel Yarns *grumble grumble out of stock being ordered from suppliers but no estimated delivery time given so I’m sitting here feeling like an idiot cos I could just cancel my order and order some from somewhere else but I want the pretty red one grumble grumble* I shall happily continue with my tree jacket.