I promised....

Today, I promised Beth a new post. Who am I to disappoint?

Contrary to what my blog may seem to tell the public, I have been diligently sewing. Mostly on the bodice. The bodice is two layers of denim into which boning channels are sewn. I used zipties for boning, and some poly from joann's for the long pieces that go over the shoulder straps. The front is faced with the orange "cut velvet", and the back is lined with a burgundy silky something or other purely cuz I'm vain, and its pretty.


I started putting the eyelets in for lacing. I was soooo tempted by the lacing ring suggestion, but one test run and it didnt' quite lay like I wanted. And since the di Toledo bodice has the eyelets, seems the thing to do. I am a cheater, though. I use metal eyelets and cover them in thread. The first one is covered, albeit poorly. Now just imagine this down the whole bodice. OH, and this is my first attempt at spiral lacing (thank you, Jen T!), so wish me luck, so far its a bit, well, curvy. But its on my side back, so hopefully it won't be too noticeable.

The eylets aren't done (not all put into the fabric yet), and so I couldn't try it on properly, but I thought my blog deserved some attention. Here is me holding it on just to get the effect, those wrinkles will hopefully disappear when properly laced:

The guard around the neckline is burgundy wool that I was forced to sew on by hand, which is why this has taken me so long to post. I'm the slowest hand sewer ever. ;-) ANd hubby stopped my insanity by banning me to sew pearls along the neckline. He said it would be too busy. Now that I bought my brooch (okay, its an earring), I'm inclined to agree. Thank you hubby for saving me from me!

Oh, and I jsut noticed the appearance of my SECOND pair of leopard print pj pants on this little blog. Chuckle. I'm a jungle princess. Roar.

Goodwill

I've recently been in contact with the very friendly and talented Lydia, and she has inspired me to look for findings/jewelry/buttons to accent my costumery. You'll notice in her gorgeous tudor that she found an absolutely perfect pendant/brooch, and this had me ebay searching for quite some time today. ;-)
Being the queen of instant gratification that I am, I tired of ebay and decided to give goodwill a shot before shelling out shipping. I picked up these 2 pair of earrings for $3 (the big gold ones are clip-ons, and the teardrops are post earrings). So yes, some instant love for me, but I'm still watching quite a few stunning things on ebay...



I think I will be able to alter these to my preferences. I especially like the look of the teardrop hooked to the bottom of one of the big gold ones. I'm thinking one of these would make a nice brooch for the center of the bodice like i've seen in some portraiture.

I was also quite happy to find several cups that interest me greatly for faire days. For hubby, a rustic pewter mug to match his scottish attyre, for me a pair of fancy silver goblets. The goblets had me ecstatic. They look hand etched, are from india, and are heavy and cleaned up very well with my anti-silver-tarnish cloth. A mere 3 dollars. YAY for goodwill!


cups

The Point of No Return

My fabric pattern repeats itself in the absolute most inconvenient way for skirtage. Oh, sure, the sides meet up nice, but the length of the repeat is such that I cannot achieve the proper skirt for my height--either i use 3 repeats down the skirt to yield a (hopefully only) slightly too short skirt, or if I try to do 4 repeats down the length, which means I have not enough fabric for sleeves. What's upsetting is that another 1/4 yard would have been all I needed. But I bought everything in the store, so its not like I can regret being cheap or something. I really want matching sleeves. Thus, short skirt it will be. I will add a guard of my maroon wool to the bottom, I guess. That is what I bought it for, though I was hoping not to have to resort to such measures. The wide bottom guard is something I haven't really seen in portraiture, but a few of the online costume community have done this, and it looks nice. Its an acceptable fix, and I don't think the guard will have to be too wide, actually. At least its workable.

Okay, I knew I'd be scared of cutting my orange fabric, but I really didn't think I'd be this nervous when the time came. AHHHH! ;-) It literally took me hours to pin everything so i could be sure I would get mirror images. Symmetrically anal, yes? This is me trying to figure out my layout to conserve as much fabric as possible and get some nice motifs. I was so tense hubby had to give me a well-deserved backrub...


patternlayout

I think it came out well--mostly symmetrical, and I'm happy with the positions of the motifs. And most of all, I'm glad that hurtle is over:


Now I just need to work up the nerves to sew it.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I took wednesday night off from costume sewing to attend a project class at the store where hubby bought my sewing machine. Its a very cute little quilting-focused store run by a husband-wife team up. Very nice people. And very good sales-people...I always leave poorer.

Anyway, I attended a class teaching how to make fabric boxes. We learned the basic box from this book. Mine turned out to be pink and green, since I've been on a green kick lately. I had a lot of fun doing this, and I can't wait to make some of the other designs from the book. Very cool.


Box with lid on.
Oh, and I put my box to use right away holding various little threads:

And just to remotely relate this post to my dress project: the really stiff interfacing we used to make the box rigid was called timtex, and its very thick and very sturdy. I think I will use this to make my fabric flag fan hold its shape. How's that for applying new knowledge? hehe.

Strip sleeves

Wow, pattern drafting with julie is a lenghty business. I wanted to recreate the eleanora de toledo sleeves in this portrait:


eleanora

I found a great dress diary wherein Jessamyn does a splendid job of recreating them (on an absolutely gorgeous dress, I must say). I love the way her pattern has the elbow curve accounted for, and something tells me this is more period than some of my other options. I found a great sketch for a similar style sleeve on Emmachia's free pattern page, and I used that to base my pattern off of. I figured if I could recreate a decent pattern from her sketch and then cut into fourths, I'd get close to what I wanted.

Many many drafts later, I ended up with what i hope is a suitable straight sleeve pattern, and I cut it into fourths and even remembered to add seam allowances!


I figured I should give it a test whirl before cutting the precious orange fabric:
In the real draft I will add more "pinch points", and most likely some sort of poof at the top. My concern is that they're too wide/roomy. I don't know if I should try to make them more fitted to my arm or not. Thoughts?

There's No Place Like Home

Or like homosexual Africa*. This picture is a patterned-fabric-atrocity. I included it to entertain Beth. But this one is better than when you pinned me, cuz i'm wearing PINK LEOPARD PANTS!!! Ready to follow the yellow brick road towards jungle fever...

The point of this picture is...the point. Notice the more gradual buttpoint than on the green dress. And that the lacings have been moved significantly out to the side. This is my new bodice pattern for orange.


please ignore the icky fat bulges. Sigh...must work on that.

Anyway, the most interesting bit of sewing I've done was to sew the linings together and make boning channels. Which is none too interesting, actually, so I'm not bothering with a pic. Looks a lot like the pic that I took of that whole little process last time. I'm doing an interlining to hold the boning made from two layers of cotton denim, and the inner most layer I *may* line with some silky stuff, but as its been a bitch to sew thus far, I might jsut forgo that bit. Hell, 2 layers of denim and a layer of orange upholstery fabric is more than enough to keep me sweaty...

Tonight's plan is to work up the strip sleeve pattern so I can have all the pieces I need to VERY CAREFULLY layout my pattern and cut my dress from the limited yardage of orange fabric. To that end, I decided I should go get some tape for cutting and rehashing old patterns. Julie went shopping. Julie stopped at joanns. Julie forgot tape all together....

But I came back with dowel rods and cappers and trims, and a reasonably pretty mix for a flag fan:

I plan on doing some embroidery around the leaves with the gold floss, then edging the fan in the burgundy velvet with a lace edge. This will be my only homage to the venetian laces, as I have no plans on incorporating them into my dresses. And I guess I'll paint the dowel rod. Or i could stain it. But I have paint in my possession, and I'd have to BUY stain. That was an easy decision.

*not that there is anything wrong with homosexuals, Africa, or any combination thereof.

Bead-dazzling. And FINISHED!!

I went to the bead store in the city yesterday. Yes, the one that our trio didn't make it to last time round. And just to redeem myself, my concerns were correct--all parallel parking. None too fun on a hill and in a stick shift with no power steering. Still, I braved it and ventured forth. It was an entertaining store, and they had quite the selection, but it was pricey and my heart wasn't in to it at that particular time. I left with 2 strands of pewter colored glass pearls and some matte czech glass beads in the darkest red I could find. Then I went to the famed "trim" store and got some cheap plastic pearls in ivory along with the gold cording that's currently functioning as the drawstring on my purse.

Stringing my pearls yielded this girdle. I didnt' put much design thought into it actually, and I didn't have the peach pearls I was so keen on (they were too $$ in the store, but now I kinda wish i'd just splurged). Still, I think its nice enough, and I will try to make a fancier one for my orange dress. Its strung on copper beading wire, and I'm not really sure what happend with that front claspy bit, but its functional. Kinda religious looking, too, I guess. I attached the girdle to the dress at some key locations so that it would conform to the points (beth's idea). The pic has them pinned down, rather than sewn. I got impatient.


girdle

Oh, and since I was fiddling with the waist of my dress, I attached the utility loops to carry my accessories. Here's a pic of them in action with my purse and cup. I'll likely add a flag fan to that group, and I'll still have one extra loop in case I think of anything else. Oh, and in this pic you can see the way the hem turned out, and the beginning of how the sleeves look with pearls on the intersection.

I'm calling this done. Sure, there are pearls left for sleeves, but that is a carride chore for when hubby drives, which is fairly often. I have NOT one single fiddly bit left. This dress is FINITO!!
Tomorrow I start working up the orange. Huzzah!

Liberal Interpretations

Since I was trying to pull and all-nighter last night, I thought I'd keep myself awake by sewing. I decided to tackle the aforementioned fiddly bits and also start on the bag/purse for me to carry my goodies around the fest like a lady.

Now, I don't really know, well, anything, about venetian purses. I vaguely remember the topic coming up at some odd time or another, and there is evidence of purses, but I have no idea regarding styles thereof. This is where I get to be liberal and artistic. In period, seamstresses would no doubt have tiny little remnants of the lush venetian fabrics, yes? Well, I had some scraps and large swatches of various fabrics I am fond of, and rather than just keeping them to look at, I decided to incorporate them into a sort of strip-quilted bag. The bag is simple: strips sewn together to make a big rectangle, circle with interface stiffening for the bottom of the bag, light pink tafetta lining (light so i can see whats in there when i take a peek). So basically a glorified pouch with drawstring action. The bonus is that I can use it with both dresses.

bag
The only fiddly bit I've got left on the green dress is to add some utility loops in the folds of the skirt around the waist so I can carry goodies (like bag, cup, fan) sans hands. Oh, and I might add pearls to the sleeves, but that is most definitely NOT a requirement.

I decided to just do one 2 inch strip of red guard a bit up from the bottom hem of the dress instead of my previously planned wide bottom guard.. Why? Becuase when I hemmed it I was too lazy to cut out excess fabric (and also afraid of cutting in case i screwed up the hem. I ended up with a wide pillowcase hem, which i conveniently covered with the guard. Brilliant. It also adds a nice weight to the skirt bottom.


pillowhem incognito

Fiddly Bits

Ah, how I hate the "fiddly bits." I've got a running list of little, but not-as-inconsequential-as-I'd-like things to do before the green is officially done. Foremost on that list is the hem and bottom guard. Then I've got some loose guard on the bodice to sew down, need to serge the inside of the skirt where I sliced off the lining, so it doesn't fray. Need to cut a bunch of loose threads--particularly the leftover threads of cartridge pleating. Need to sew a couple more hook n eyes on the skirt front slit to keep it from opening. Need to make some sort of pouchy/purse. Need to make pearly girdle to accessorize, and a flag fan. I did, at least, finally finish that dreaded roped petticoat. Man, am I tired of pink. After all my little list is done, I can go onto greener, or oranger, rather, pastures....

Last night, after complaining to Niter that I hadn't sewn all day and being bummed about it, I decided to get off my tushy and fix that problem. So at 12am I started sewing. I finished my sleeves. They are now hemmed on the bottom and trimmed with the thin black grossgrain ribbon around the wrist, and hopefully the right length that the ruffle from my camica sleeve sticks out just so. I might fiddle with putting pearls on the intersections of the ribbon. but i counted, and I don't currently have enough pearls. So that'll wait til i've got a long car trip and someone else is driving. ;-)

Oh, and a shout out to Em! My wonderous sister came over yesterday morning, helped me lace into the whole getup, and pinned up my sleeves and skirt--a very long process. So, that is ready to hem. And on my to-do list for this evening.

No pics, boring post. Poor readers. Sorry.

Horrors of Pre-Washing

So Friggin scary. This weekend I did precious little sewing. But I thought it would be extra smart of me to prewash my orange dress fabric and linings so that I could get a jumpstart on them as soon as mistress green is hemmed. Now, I'm aware that my fabric is some sort of synthetic. And I'm also aware that the manufacturer's instructions would most likely read "dry clean only." But I am a brave soul apparently, and threw my 5.75 yds into the washer on cold-cold permanent press cycle (I guess that actually qualifies as sorta brave, and sorta wimpy). Imagine my horror when nervous me peeked into the washer to find the water and frothy suds PINK.


pinksuds. ACK!

"Its okay," I tell myself as I have visions of my $13/yd fabric coming out mottled and ruined, or at the very least not the color I originally intended. "We wash because we EXPECT some dye leaching, and need to get rid of it so it doesn't ruin our pretty underthings..." Right. Um, but a very stressful time, nonetheless. Still, I figured the primary damage was already done, and that I should just wash it until the water ran clear so as to keep my camica (which i quite love, actually) from turning pink should i sweat at our 90+ degree MD renfests. Not that I sweat. An old highschool friend once told me that women don't sweat. They GLOW...

TWELVE!!!! washes later (some with and some without soap, some with massive amounts of salt cuz I read that helps set the dye), and the water was ALMOST clear. I figured I should stop tapping our nation's limited water resources for something as "trivial" as preserving my camica and corset in their white and beige-ness, respectively. Here is my not-so-fun science experiment. The last cup is still tinged, but hell, its good enough.


water samples--I took one at the rinse cycle of most of my washes, except for the ones where i missed it or left if unattended (hey, a girl's got to get out on the weekends). SIGH, the stress (and dress) was oozing. Poor hubby.

However, I'm glad to report that my fabric came out looking close to normal--a tad faded, and a tad less fuzzy int he velvet parts, and the lint all over it to explain why. Its 5 3/4 yardage is currently spread over my ironing board, clothes drying rack and a chair hang drying. I was DEFINITELY not risking dryer-related stress. I'm so tempted to dub this a dry-clean only dress once finished. It will need some major lint removal when its dry. Luckily I am well-prepared for lint removal as a result of the fru-fru-fluffy girly-man doggie.

And, for a non-stressful story: the only sewing I did this weekend, despite best intentions. Rings on my straps for to tie on my sleeves. Huzzah.


sleeve rings

I actually was motivated enough to mark all over my petticoat for additionaly cording, but i was a dolt and used the "disappearing" side of my fabric pen. So by the next morning when my sewing time came round, my work had abandoned me. Doh!

WristyCuffs

Finished the camica today. Finally. I've been letting it languish, cuz i had a secret fear that the neckline band i embroidered for hours and hours was too small. However, I think it turned out to be a decent size. I coulda made it a little bit wider, but its more than functional as is. I love the way my curly edging turned out, even though manipulating it around the sewing machine was an asspain. But it looks just like that portrait from waaaaay back in my blog. Finally.



And how did I end up working the wristycuffs? They had to be expandable so i could get my chubby little hands through. And i wasn't in the mood for eyelets. I ended up with ribbon loops on one side and loose ribbons on the other. Works for me, and I think its kinda cute.

I was planning on doing a straight stitch in the rust color around the edge of the cuffs to make a border and cover the machine stitiching. But I'm also kinda liking it sans border. Thoughts, anyone?


Also, I managed to attach the ribbons to my sleeves for attachment. They won't be this long, and they won't remain loops, but I need to make the points of attachment on the dress, and i'll do all necessary trimming then. Each ribbon will also get a cutesty little pearl at the bottom.

Here are both sleeves completed (except for bottom hem) on the dress. Notice how i gracefully lift one arm to show off the camica poof ( great idea, beth). Also note the curly edge of my camica sleeve peeking out from the bottom of the green sleeve. I'm gonna hem the sleeves to the ideal length for this. I think its cute, like a ruff, and I didnt' even have to make a real ruff. Mwaaaah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa.


And what happens when i wear my dress sans sleeves with the new super fabricy camica? Well, the extra sleeve fabric is so much that it covers my hands. I fix that by pulling said sleeves through the straps and looking a little Dangerous-Beauty-esque. Functional. And I really did see this in a portrait on Realm of Venus on the camica page. Notice my loyal hound:


All that's left are the sleeve attachments and hem. Before I hem I need to complete the roped petticoat. So, petticoat is my plan for tomorrow. I've also got accessories to do: fan, veil?, partlet, girdle, purse, but i can do those a bit more slowly, and they're not ABSOLUTELY necessary to wear the dress. ;-) SOOO close to done. sorta.

Well on my Way to Spider(WO)man

Finished the second sleeve tonight. It went much faster than the first. I only buggered up one part of the ribbon, right in the center, and was unwilling to rip in from all the edges to fix it. Clear nail polish did the trick. and you can't tell. Its in the pic. You'll never find where! Anyway, I attempted to mirror image the sleeves as precisely as I could (niter should love this), and I'm sorta proud of the (near) symmetry. hehe. And doesn't this look like part of a green spiderman costume?



I finally started sewing the neckline blackwork band onto my camica. Finishing my sleeves inspired me, as I need the REAL camica to do the poofing through the pearly slits. Huzzah!

One Down. Mostly.

Tonight I worked on the lattice for my left sleeve. Honestly, once I got into it, the process wasn't that hard, and it only took a couple of hours. One nights work/sleeve is bearable, i think. And I'm very pleased with the result:


I will have to attach ribbons and whatnot to tie the sleeves on (right now its merely pinned). And i need to hem the wrist part, but that also will wait until i've got it tied on so i know the length better.
Note below, that my grids do not line up perfectly along the inside of my arm seam. I am far to lazy to do THAT much math. Just be happy the lines are straight, niter!
I also stole the sleeve opening idea from Beth, and tacked the sleeves together along this seam with pearls down the length. This is for my camica to poof through. This is my old camica, so there's not nearly as much fabric to pull through. I expect this look to get better when I finally finish gathering and butting cuffs/neckline on my camica.



And for buttpucker giggles. A better quality pic of what my buttpucker is doing now. Still there, still annoying, but no longer poking my arse, and I'm at a loss to fix it. I honestly believe its a design flaw. My point is so sudden in the back that I think it makes too much stress. On my next dress, i will make the point slope much more gradual (a la Beth's dress), and I really do think that will fix the problem. This was supposed to be a learning experience, afterall....

buttpucker

Lose Pounds In Seconds!

Sounds like an infomercial. However, its exactly what I did to my dear green "practice" dress today. I've been concerned with the excessive weight of the dress for spring/summer use. It was formerly checking in as a heavyweight at 7.2 pounds. Today I cut out the flirty, red skirt lining, and the dress was magically slimmed by 2.4 pounds. Thats a full 1/3 decrease for those of you up to doing the fractions....

The dress is wonderfully light in my hands now, and much easier to maneuver around the sewing machine. It also means i've got oodles of red fabric just in case I need it for any other projects--sleeves, pouch/purse, flagfan? The only catch is that now I have to be careful about lifting my skirts when I wear the dress, unless I want to expose my picnic like checkers on the inside of the green fabric. Still, I think that trade is worth the heat regulation. Now the dress is a slim 4.8 lbs. Not counting extensive undergarments, of course.... For a 10 second scissor-induced-diet, that's not bad at all!

In other news, I've been working on ironing out some of my fit issues. Primary on the list is that annoying butt-pucker. Today I removed that part of the cartridge pleated skirt (goodbye hard-won handstitching, I shall be doing more soon, i suppose), and have removed about an inch of the boning to relieve some of the pressures and strain in that area (not to mention keeping said boning from poking me immediately above my, um, crevice). I also found what I think is the source of my problem--the lining and outer fabric were not the same width, so it was making "weirdness." I was hoping all that would fix it. Unfortunately, mr. pucker didn't go away completely, though it is undeniably better than it was. Sorry for the horrid picture quality, but hubby wasn't home tonight, and I'm not so good at the yoga mistress thing (as I think we've already covered). I especially like how it looks like there's a toothbrush stuck to my bum.

buttpucker. ooh, it sounds so dirty..... I really am at a loss as to how to fix this now. But its no longer uncomfy, so I may just suck it up and deal. Unless my accomplices can help me the next time i see them. chuckle. Up for night-before-event-sewing, anyone?
The next issue is getting the front "slit" to come together nicely at the point of the V, and to hide that skirt slit in the front. Hook N Eye closures are wonderfee for both issues.

hooks and eyes help hold the skirt closed, even when the dress isn't laced. I'd say that's effective, wouldn't you?

I also worked on pinning the ribbon lattice to my sleeves. I decided to go with a larger grid than in my original pictures. For sanity as well as for ribbon-conservation. I've only got one sleeve so far, and its only pinned, not sewn, but I'm liking this look a lot. Hopefully will be able to sew this soon. Unfortunately, tomorrow night is out of commission for me, as I have to attend my little sister's concert. Note that this little lattice scares me. I just know its gonna move all around and be an asspain to sew. Simple. Hah.

sleeve

Sleeve Experiment

My green fabric has a black checkered pattern on one side. I've decided to see what happens if i take advantage of this on my sleeves. Note that I'm planning on just doing straight sleeves that tie on, and will pull the camica out between sleeve and dress. I will most likely try a dressier style sleeve on my orange dress, but this is my "dress down" venetian, so I'm going simpler.

I went to the fabric store and bought ribbon. My original plan was to buy red/pinky ribbon to match the guards on my dress, but pitiful fabric store did not have that color. So I went safe and bought black. I decided to sew a lattice of the ribbon onto the green fabric following the existing checked lines. This is what the lattice is looking like so far:


I dunno. The effect is cool, but its kinda busy, as the existing grid is kinda small. I will think on it some more. I suppose i could do the same thing in a larger grid (more green space) on the nonpatterned side of the fabric.

Of course, I don't even know how period the crisscross pattern is. The only evidence I can find is this, from 1540's:

Huzzah!

Okay, so that's some premature celebration, since I still have to finish the camica, petticoat, sleeves, partlet, girdle, hemming....But at least I have a pretty dress that all can look at. Okay, I suppose the pretty part is a tad subjective, but if you disagree, you're wrong. ;-)

Anyway, I've been thinking about how to wear my split front dress, as the layering options can be difficult if one wishes to wear a corset and a camica. I know that typically the camica is worn immediately under the dress so the fabric shows on the front split. But I've also seen evidence that there were sometimes more intricate things under the ladder lacing. Like this one:


Sort of like a stomacher?

Since my corset is of a decorative fabric, I'm thinking it could work in the above fashion, and it might solve some of my layering issues. What do you think?:


Front view. I folded up the bottom hem for shits and giggles so I could get a better idea of what it'll look like after hemming. So really, this is pretty much what it'll look like finished (plus sleeves). I might add a second guard to the bottom a bit above the wide bottom one. Depends on fabric availability and motivation. I think I've decided not to add the second guard to the bodice for now. This is based mostly on laziness, but technically there were more votes to not add it anyway! ;-)

Here's the back. I thought about adding guards down the side back seams but then thought better of it. Note that my collar guards aren't as symmetrical i like, but i'm dealing for now. I figure I can't see it, and if it really bothers me later I'll fix it. ;-)



And now for the super nitpicky stuff. This bottom bothers me right now. The skirt slit does not come together right. I'll play with the slit (chuckle) and try to loosen the gathering strings so it comes together more attractively. If not, hook and eye will be the answer...



Here is the butt. It is giving me issues. The strange pucker on the point gets to me. I think its an artifact of the weight of the skirt and the way one must attach the cartridge pleating. even the strong boning down the middle of my back can't keep this from puckering in. The outcome is that its poking me right above my buttcrack. Yes, I know that is graphic. Sorry. But I welcome advice on how I might go about fixing this?

stupid butt

And my other nitpicking. Because I attached the lacing strips behind the egdge of boning on the bodice, I'm finding that the very edge has a tendency to bend out, so if you look form the side you can see in. I don't like this. I may have to sew on some ribbon to lace through secondarily just to hold down this edge. Something that can wait and isn't a huge issue, but I will get around to it eventually.

nitpick

Mismatched Guards Are Period. I Hope.

Well, as promised, I worked on attaching the skirt to the bodice. That is now finished, though I'm unhappy with some aspects of it. I'll have to talk about that on a later post where i have a pic of me in it....

For now, here is the mighty....interesting...handsewing of the skirt to the bodice bottom, and also a good shot of how i cheated for the lacing inside. Ribbon strip that was pre-eyeleted. I had intended this only for practice lacings, but I'm feeling lazy, and no one can see this when I wear the dress. Its inside, afterall....


lacing/cartridge

I was too lazy to lace it on this evening, but below's a pic of my progress thus far. The bodice, as you can see, is attached. And I cut guards from my red floral fabric. They were 2.5 inches wide before hemming, so I figure they're around 2 now. In retrospect, I figure i could've matched the floral patterns, but its probably more period not to, since they would've been scraps anyway.

I sewed as much on with the machine as was possible (around the boning) and then made sorry attempts at handsewing the rest. The handsewn bits amuse me. Especially when seen next to the machine stitches. hehe.



And here is my conundrum open to popular vote. I now have one guard. Shall i leave it as is, or add a second thinner guard a la this photo? I'm waiting to tally answers!

hmmm?