The beginnnings of a new dress

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everybody!


I apologize for being a lil late.  For the past 2 days when I've gotten around to writing this post, I was so tired & exhausted that I would have only posted jibberish.  So I figure that I would wait until I could compose coherently. 

Moving on...

Shortly after I posted last week, I found online "countdowns" just to double check the amount of time that I have to complete my Renaissance ensembles completed by.  I think that subconsciously I knew that I miscalculated my deadline.  I did.  As of this weekend, I have 5 weeks to get everything completed.

Because of how far along my Maid Marion Aqua Mist Cloak is, I decided that it was past time to begin on my dress.  Using 1 of the tiaras that I purchased at last year's faire & an old Simplicity pattern that I came upon for starting points, I have been slowly gathering pieces for my dress.  Surprisingly even with those, not many pieces have been speaking to me, but I have been keeping an eye out.  Even more surprising for those who know me, I can't quite lock into a name for the dress yet.  Current name is "Water Lily" but that may change.


Due to a variety of factors, which include the care of the outer fabric selected, I am completing a muslin mock-up to test a couple of things out.  So this past week, I pulled out my pattern and began on the outer-skirt, where the main focus will be on the length & a curve to the opening.

To begin with I took the pattern to be used  and pressed it on the lowest heat setting sans steam.

This was to make the pattern lay flat, so that the constructed pieces will be true. 

Unfortunately, I did not trace the pattern right away & left the pattern flat where I thought that it would be alright... it wasn't. 

It was incorporated into a kitty-cat jungle gym.  I did manage to tape it up, so it is all good now. And for future reference, I know that when I iron a pattern to not leave it out overnight and simply go ahead trace it, then origami-map fold it back up & put it away.

Following the ripped pattern hiccup, I placed my pattern weights on 1 skirt piece at a time, then traced the pattern using my tracing wheel and went over the marks left in the fabric with a pencil. 

With it being a mock-up I used a #2 pencil since I don't want to waste my nicer marking utensils on a muslin mock-up.  Once the pattern piece was traced in pencil I folded the fabric over so that when I cut out the tracing, I would have a Left & Right side.  Then naturally I cut out the pieces, and pinned them together.

My goal for this upcoming week in concerns of "Water Lily" is to have the skirt sewn together and the top traced, cut & pinned.  As for "Aqua Mist," I would like to have the velvet cut & pinned.

Until next week...