callistotoni

I finished my robe--halalujah! I even had time to do some niceities, like sew a strip of canvas (hemp, no less) to the back hem to help with wear and tear, and sew a strip of bias silk to the inside to cover the pleat stitching (which was ugly). One of the sleeve straps popped out, so I had to tack that down as well.

I decided that I would just use the simple partlet I used for the Arts Fete, so I tacked that into the white gown. Yes, I will make a real partlet someday for this outfit, but as of tommorrow it will be workworkwork, so I won't have time before 12th Night. I also decided that I could get away with wearing the underskirt of my old 12th Night dress as a petticote to hide the farthingale hoop lines. Again, making a real petticote is now on the to-do list, it's just not going to happen before 12th Night. There are some things I could do to the white gown, like put in a few hooks and eyes where the skirt comes together in the back. If I get to theses some evening this week, great, if not, it will be OK. I'm just kind fried on this outfit, and want to make some simple 12th C stuff for March Crown now.

Robe Lessons Learned (some of which is repeated from previous posts):
1) The collar doesn't stand up the way I would like it to because there is so much wieght in the back. Next time I'm going to do the heavy-duty men's tailoring/pad-stiching-fu to make *sure* the collar stands properly.

2) Decrease the number of back pleats, leaving more flat space on the yoke from the arm towards the center back. This thing is too full for my hieght. I swear I'm like a mobile Big Top--caliopes should be playing, and trained elephants should be parading out!

3) The sleeve foundations should be gathered around the upper arm more/the cuffs should be smaller. I fudged to make them a bit smaller by angle-ing the cuffs. This happened because I relyed too much on my dress dummy and didn't try the thing on over the white dress before finalizing the foundation. Now I know.

4) Veveteen, even really cheap, thin velveteen, is too heavy for this sort of thing. Next time it'll be silk.

5) Yes, I know that slubby silk is not period, but I had red-shot gold shantung in my fabric stash so I used it.

6) Really nice trim can make cheap fabric look *a lot* better.

7) I love my sewing machine. I did what I had to by hand (which was, unfortunately, a lot--all of the sleeve construction, for instance), but I put most of the trim on by machine. I would never have had the time to do it all by hand. I get crabby with the latest trend of "machine sewing is bad"--I have a sewing machine, and I'm not afraid to use it. If any of you wants to discuss this over a beer, I'd be glad to go into my thinking on this subject in more detail.

7) Fabrics_store.com good, fabrics.com not so good.

8) Tinfoil can be a great draping tool. (I shaped tinfoil on my dress dummy and draped my strap pattern over it initially.

9) One can never have too much silk organza. I use that stuff not only in visible applications, but as a sew-ing interlining, or as a way to cut down seam bulk by stitching canvas with no seam allowence to a piece of silk organza and then sewing that piece in.

Now, if only I could breath again (my sore throat has devolved into a bad head-cold. :-/

Be warned: I'll be looking for volunteers to help me get dressed on Saturday.