I'm still here!

and I'm not slacking off, I PROMISE! I've redrafted the pattern using Tru-Grid which doubled as my "muslin". I don't like making an actual muslin because it feels like a waste of fabric and time. I know, I know. Anyhow, I managed to make a reasonable facsimile of the dress pattern and once I got it on my dress form, I realized that it was too BIG in certain areas. Now that? Something that NEVER happens. Which mean that I needed to monkey around with it a bit to get a decent fit including shortening the bodice by 2".

The bodice

Side Insert



Waist Adjustment 2"!



Sleeves



Once I had that done, I moved on to the skirt. I used my Tru-Grid to drap a skirt yoke for my border printed fabric.



Draping the yoke

After getting my yoke sorted, I turned to my better half to get the radius of a 44" circle so that I could make the hole in the middle of the fabric for my double circle skirt. Just so you know, the radius of a 44" hip measurement is 7". Which was TOO MUCH because I measured for a full circle and not a *double* circle. Silly me. But what the hey. Lemons, meet lemonade. I'm making a crinoline to go under this, so having some soft gathers at the hipline will work better than just having it fall straight down.

Using the crack in the floor!

Love that border print!

The dress form has the fashion fabric version pinned on and I'm still monkeying with the fit. It wasn't "just right" to quote Goldilocks and so I'm leaving it on the form to allow the fabric to get used to being worn. Overall, I'm very pleased with the way the pattern has come together. The side inserts are a royal beyotch though. I think there's a better way to do them, but since the fabric has been cut, I've got to follow Tim Gunn's advice and "make it work". I always do. Except when I don't and the remains of the dress end up in the rubbermaid tub for "later".