Chug a chug a choo choo

Maybe just a little train?  I watched Jenny La Fleur's video of her pink Florentine gown in action and now I'm wondering if a train wouldn't be rather nifty.  I certainly have plenty of velvet for it.  As my friend Marguerite pointed out when I was obsessing about cutting the bodice, "you've got enough fabric to make a dress, burn it, and make another one."  It'd also make the dress a little more exciting, which is something I've been worried about since its just so darn plain.  A train would also be something unusual for me.  Russian dresses don't even go to the ground.  They are normally just a little short in order to stay out of the mud and had the added bonus of showing off beautifully embroidered boots.

 Going to have to think about it for a day or so.  I've got probably at least two until I have to cut the skirt.  I finished stitching the lining on the front section of the bodice last night.  Today's project is the back section.  Then I need to make the lacing eyelets.  I'm rather excited.  There's a really good chance I'll have a wearable dress by the end of the weekend.  No sleeves, but since I still need to make my husband something to wear to this wedding in two weeks I'm going to leave the sleeves for awhile and shift to working on his doublet.  Trying to get things done quickly but not rush anything on my dress.

Itty bitty details of no consequence

I spent all yesterday making the underskirt lacing string because I am silly. I also worked for quite awhile on the waist band. This was also a ridiculously silly thing to do.

My backstitch has gotten better recently. It is much more regular and even, not to mention straighter, than it used to be. I taught a class on trapunto quilting at an SCA Collegium a couple of weeks ago and sewing up the demonstration samples and practicing so I could teach it really improved my sewing. So, I figured I should use the skill and sew the seams for the waistband by hand. Yeah, probably not my smartest move for time management. No one is ever going to notice as they are all hidden seams. Ah well, I guess I know.

I also decided to braid the lacing string for the skirt. I already had my marudai set up to do one of my favorite kumihimo braids and the colors just so happened to be red and gold with black They're my heraldry colors so that's not really a surprise, but they do match the dress nicely. It's one of the braids in Jacqui Carey's Beginning Braiding (which has been retitled in the new edition.) So, that's what I did with my day, I braided and backstitched, and suddenly the day was gone.

The braid came out nice, but I wasn't thinking about the fact that I needed it to fit my aiglets when I rejoiced over the fact that the braid was already set up. The braid came out quite a bit too thin for the hardware. I sewed it in and the ends aren't going anywhere, but its not a smooth transition between the braid and the aiglets. They're more like little baubles dangling on the ends. I should have put twice as much thread onto the bobbins. I guess its a good thing no one will be noticing the tie on my underskirt, because I'm not replacing it after spending hours making it. I feel like a total loser for deciding to braid it and then doing it wrong, when I could have just grabbed a piece of cording and accomplished the same thing in under 5 minutes. PPPHHHHPHPHT. Let it go and move on I guess. I still have 5 of the 6 eyelets on the waistband to sew and a day or so of cartridge pleating to do once I finish the seams on the skirt, because now that I handsewed the waist band, I felt duty bound to hand fell the skirt seams. Not to mention the hem that has to be sewn. I'm considering cording the bottom of the skirt as well, in addition to stiffening the hem with braid since I'd like to be able to use it for double duty under my Elizabethan loose gown.