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.