Join me in my adventures as I write romance novels and sew vintage and contemporary fashion.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Revisions: No End in Sight


The Writing
I should get my editor's notes soon and that will probably send me in a different direction than I'm going right now. It's amazing what another pair of eyes can do for the process. Meanwhile, I'm writing away, raising the stakes, increasing tension, generally torturing my characters and having a good time.

The Sewing
I'm still working on the 80s summer dress, which is fine, since the weather has taken a turn for the worse and I don't think I'll wear it until next week at the earliest. I was hoping the apricot blossoms would be on the tree for the photos, but they've been deeply offended by cold. Maybe there'll still be few this weekend.

I’m a silk organza underlining newbie, so I wasn’t certain what to do about the organza feeling all prickly and itchy at the unfinished edges of the sleeve and where I trimmed the darts. I decided to try to encase the seams in bias tape. I was concerned that it might add bulk to the sleeve area, but it didn’t. If anything it seemed to support the area.  I also enclosed the trimmed darts and, violĂ , no more itchy edges. I've probably broken some sewing rule, but it works.

I hung my dress for 48 hours so that the bias part of the skirt would stretch before hemming (rather than after). As you can see the bias stretched almost three inches.

I did, however, run into one small problem while hemming *sigh*. Do you see where the pink lace hem tape ends? And guess who didn't have another package?

Talk about a rookie error. For the record, even though 3 yards of hem tape sounds like enough to hem one summer dress, check measurements before starting to sew. 

This hemming cloud turned out to have a silver lining, however.  My local variety store didn't have this color of hem tape, so I ordered the tape online. To justify the cost of postage (which was more than the cost of the tape) I had to add additional items to my cart. I so love adding additional items to my cart. I bought covered button kits and a zipper and four yards of daffodil yellow Bemberg to line the 60’s coat and shift I plan to make next. 

Since the coat fabric is nectarine, one of the Pantone Spring 2013 colors, I now have to enter the Sewing Pattern Review Pantetone Color Contest, right?  I hadn't planned to enter because I had no lining. Problem solved thanks to not checking the length of my hem tape before starting to sew.

The contest deadline is April 30th, but I think I can get a coat and a shift done by that time.  Wish me luck. Another deadline. Yay!

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