Alterations Day

Monday was a logistical nightmare.

But before we get to that, some other things happened that were ok...

I am officially behind schedule as I had to spend two days last week writing the rest of my dissertation in time for hand in, then another day recovering. If we recap, by the end of last week, I was supposed to have the finalised pattern ready for cutting out, and the embroidery ready to go. But I should be able to catch up hopefully.

Remember this? Yeah, me neither.

I did manage to make a sample of the embroidery on the silk taffeta over the weekend, where I discovered that embroidering on this taffeta is not the nicest experience. It looks pretty good though! The perle cotton is so lovely to use and to look at! Shiny wondrous stuff.

I don't like the bottom right crocus though. Gross.

First off the bat, I altered my master pattern with the changes from the fitting.

Hips

I straightened out panels 1 and 3 to reduce the excess at the belly. On panel 5, I added 6.25cm, with the most towards the back. I also added 1cm to panel 7.

Underbust

I took 0.5cm off panel 1, and 1.3cm off panel 3, with the majority towards the back.

Bust

At the bust, I took 1.5cm out of the back side of panel 3.

Waist

I'm taking 2" overall off the waist, distributed evenly across panels 1, 3, 5, and 7. This means 1/4" from each one.

Design lines

The design line is raised at the top, and the bottom design line is also raised up and shaped more.



Then I traced it out, and started marking up and cutting the coutil. Because it's black, I couldn't use my trusty erasible pens, and had to return to tailors chalk. I hate it. It's so hard to be accurate with, no matter how hard you try or how much you sharpen it. I would rather stab myself in the eye than use it again. But I managed to get it done, and all cut out.

Then things get complicated. I need to embroider the top layer before I cut it or put it together, or it won't fit in the hoop, and my satin stitch will be gross and distorted.

So remember when I designed my embroidery on flat, gridded paper? Well somehow, I managed to completely forget that the seams it will go over will be curved. And not just a little bit curved, super curved. Which means I need to do some serious redesigning, avoiding leaves or flowers from crossing between panels.

This means making up the bust area in calico/spare fabric, padding it out on a mannequin, and drawing the design onto the mock up. After this, I will need to scan in the drawn on pattern pieces, neaten up the design, then print it out. Finally I will be able to trace it onto the taffeta, and actually start embroidering. Phew!

Wish me luck...