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[personal profile] elizabeth_mn
 On Sunday I went out to S.R. Harris with [profile] undycatto get some fabric for the new little thing I'm making for the ren fest this weekend.  I picked up about 5 yards of a nice darkish-orange linen.  I waffled for a long time about coordinating fabrics, and even stopped by Treadle and bought a yard of red silk dupioni that I later decided not to use.  Finally I decided to find something that was closer to the orange color to use for gaurds - I just picked up a piece of a bit darker orange cotton for that at Jo-Ann's.  I decided to use some red/black changeable silk taffeta I have in the stash to make an underskirt and sleeves.  I hope they don't look too fancy-shiny against the plain linen.  

I think the color combination I finally settled on will be the most versatile.  Without a strong red in the dress, I can pair it with other colors, like green, in the future.  And I'll be able to use the red underskirt/sleeves for other dresses, too.

I tried out the idea of a roped petticoat last week, but it came out so horrid that I don't even want to look at it now; it's hanging, half-finished, from the clothesline in the basement.  After I gave up on that, I sulked for half an hour, then tried on all my normal petticoats and some old skirts and decided that the skirts looked perfect that way.  I spent yesterday making a padded petticoat to wear with the new dress.  It's plain white cotton broadcloth done in cartridge pleats with a layer of cotton batting in the pleats.  I'm doing the front in unpadded knife pleats.  I think it's going to come out a bit shorter than I expected, because the padded cartridge pleats really drew up a lot of length.  I think it will have the desired effect, though, and this way I won't have to pad the pleats of the dress.

Yesterday I also drafted a bodice and sleeve pattern, loosely based on some in Patterns of Fashion.  The bodice is a bit wrong; my side back seam is more vertical than it ought to be, but oh well.  I cut mock-ups, fitted them, made tiny changes, and now I'm ready to go!

Today I hope to cut and sew the bodice, pleat the skirt, and finish the petticoat.

Here's a question for anyone:  When I attach the bodice and skirt, is it better to a.) sew the raw edges together, turn seam allowances to the inside, and cover them with a binding, or b.) finish both edges first, then whipstitch them together?
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