I need a kick in the Ditchley...

[LadyFae]

You're doing great!  Keep up the good work!  You'll get it done!  You have this, you own this, this project is your B****!

[mollymishap]

Thanks for the encouragement, LadyFae!

I wish I could say today lived up to my hopes, but unfortunately, it didn't.  I *thought* I'd have about 8 hours to work on the gown and one thing after another (including a 3 hour unplanned stint at the office) prevented me from getting more than 2 hours of work in on this project.

SO...since I had so little time, I thought I'd work on something "quick", like the stomacher.  I figured all I had to do was re-do a few seams & I could scratch it off the list.

WELL, it started with my bobbin thread pulling up a really nasty blob of oil-soaked lint which stained the stomacher fabric (which then required a detour to the sink and an un-planned but absolutely critical de-linting/cleaning of the sewing machine), then I realized I'm going to have to make some modifications to the bodice because it's not going to work the way I've rigged it; I'm going to have to unstitch some of the lining so that I can sandwich the stomacher in better.  THEN I noticed that my stomacher is somewhat narrower than the corresponding piece on the underskirt (which means it shows & it's not supposed to) so I'm probably going to have to re-do it after I spent today...re-doing it.

Oy.

BUT, in the meantime, here is the close-up of the fabric I promised:



And a question for you-all: do you think this style of shoulder treatment will work?  It's not going to show much except if I wear the gown without the over-sleeves, but I need a way to hide the lacing strip for said over-sleeves.  It's just a piece of canvas right now, but will be made in the red fabric with the cording as trim:



The picture also shows where I was at (and still am at) as of last night/tonight. 

6 days to go.

[CecilsTanequin]

Molly that is looking fantastic!!! I have no doubt you'll get this done and steal the show!

[Kate XXXXXX]

Those pleats are looking good.

[mollymishap]

Thanks for the compliments, Cecils (Hi!!!) & Kate.

I'm beyond crispy at this point so I think I'm going to take tonight off even though that means more work for tomorrow.  I'm hoping that if I give myself a break I'll be able to start fresh-er  tomorrow & really crank 'er out because I've *got* to have the gown in some semblance of wearableness by the end of Monday or I'm going to have to concede defeat and wear one of my "old" gowns.

SO, that means the plan for this weekend is:

1. Finish the bodice, which includes adding a lacing strip for the over-sleeves, making & attaching the shoulder treatment, tidying up the raw edges of the armseye by hand and fixing the issue with the lining I mentioned yesterday.  I have no idea how long that will take.  Maybe 6 hours?

2. Once the bodice is done, make any final adjustments to the stomacher so that it can attach securely to the bodice and hopefully be wide enough to cover the underskirt's waistband.  Last time I thought it would only take a few hours, so I'll be optimistic and say the same thing: couple of hours should do it.

3. Add a 4-6" strip to the bottom of the underskirt because after pinning the pleats I realized that it needs to be longer.  I'll figure out the length after I finish pinning and tacking the pleats in place.  I'm guesstimating some 3 hours for this part.

4.  Once the length of the underskirt is decided upon, I can start working on the overskirt.  I *think* I've cut it out already, but I might not have.  I can't actually remember--but anyway, I *know* I haven't cut out the lining, so that will be next, then attach the lining to the fashion fabric, hem the thing, then cartridge pleat it and attach it to the bodice.  That should only take all day.

5. THEN, once the overskirt is finished, I can decide on a length for the oversleeves.  Again, I *think* I've cut them out already, but I *know* I haven't sewn anything together, so once the fashion fabric & lining are attached (with the cording in between), I can cartridge pleat them and stitch on the laces.  I'm probably going to have to add some stiffening to the front edge--maybe a cable tie or some of my plastic box strapping so that they will pouf out over the undersleeves without squishing them.  Making the oversleeves should only take about half a day.

6. Add bling and more bling with whatever time I have left.

SO...I'm looking at about 25 hours of work.  I have: all of Saturday, half of Sunday, 3/4 of Monday, nothing to speak of for Tues and Weds, all of Thurs and I'm taking Friday off just in case.  We open on Friday. 

OMG!!! That reminds me!  I realized this today: we open on Friday, not Thursday as I had originally thought, which means I have one more day than I counted on!!! 

I get to say it again but with less dread than yesterday: 6 days to go!

[mollymishap]

End-of-weekend update:

I'm sick...as in "ACHOO!" sick. 

I've been telling myself I am NOT sick because we open on Friday.  I've been loading up on every kind of zinc, Vitamin C, Echinacea, salt water gargle & honey tea I can get my hands on.  I think I'm winning at this point: my throat is much less sore than yesterday, but I can still feel "it" in my bones.  I may have been coming down with this for a few days which explains why I've been so tired.

After this weekend here is where I'm at:

Underskirt: complete.  If I have time I'll add some poufs to it.
Undersleeves: complete except for adding a few more poufs here & there.
Bodice: still needs handsewing & fiddling with.
Stomacher: ditto.
Overskirt: didn't get to it.

SO my *amended* plan is as follows:

Ditch the oversleeves.

Finish the overskirt/bodice/stomacher TODAY because those are critical.

Rest & heal so that I can be well for the performance.  That is, after all, what is primary. 

Be happy with that.

(4 days left counting today...)

[CecilsTanequin]

Good plan, Molly. Rest up and be well! I know how hard it is to have to pull back from what you originally aimed for but pushing yourself too hard and spreading yourself too thin over too many things in too few days makes for a miserable you. And we know cutting corners is not an option (unless you know, you're clipping a corner before you turn it. but that's not what I meant) so do what you can and do it right and both you and your gown will shine for the performance!!

[mollymishap]

Thanks for the encouragement, CT.  I did just that today: took it easy.

As such, I didn't even get to everything on my amended list, but here's where I'm at:

I cut the lining for the overskirt, added cording and attached both layers together, hemmed them, and basted the top edges together to make it easier to manage pleating them to the bodice.  That took most of the day.

At rehearsals tonight, I was able to finish attaching poufs to the undersleeves and I also safety-pinned the farthingale sleeves into the undersleeves.  I wore them tonight to get a feel for them & make sure they wouldn't be in the way for some tricky blocking involving the Earl of Essex (use your imagination ) & they seemed to do just fine (except that I feel like a female Michellin Man).

Tomorrow in the AM before work I'm planning on attaching the overskirt to the bodice.  Final dress is on Weds, so I'll need to have a functional gown by then, so sometime between now & then I need to finish the issues with the stomacher.

But now to bed.

3 days left after tonight.

[mollymishap]

Night-before-final-dress-rehearsal update:

I worked on the bodice today, prepping the bottom hem to take the cartridge-pleated overskirt.  I decided to create a "base" of sorts by encasing the seam allowance in a bit of bias tape instead of turning it inwards.  I'll attach the overskirt to this "base".  A picture is work 1,000 words, right, so this is what I mean:



Since I took the above pic, I handstitched where you see pins so that's all nice & tidy.  I'm going to work on the armscye tonight and get that done.

Tomorrow night is final dress and my dress won't be finalized, but my hope is to be able to at least have a bodice to wear over my under sleeves & underskirt.  They're saying we'll have Thurs off from rehearsal so I'm hoping to get the overskirt attached to the bodice then.

Damnable cold.  I'm still fighting it off.

Two days to go after tonight.

[mollymishap]

Just got back from "Final Dress" rehearsal. 

I was able to wear everything except the overskirt and the oversleeves (which I decided to omit for this gig anyway).

New insights: farthingale sleeves are scratchy and I really do have to attach the back of my great farthingale to my corset or the weight of just the underskirt was enough to make it droop painfully into the small of my back.  Not fun.

SO, tomorrow we have "off" and we open on Friday. 

For my last available day to work on this gown (tomorrow),  I *must* attach the overskirt to the bodice, rig a way to attach the great farthingale to my corset, address the scratchy sleeves, hem the top of the stomacher, and pouf, pouf, pouf! 

Oh, and take pictures to show you-all.

Except for no oversleeves, the basic shape & "vibe" is faithful to the portrait.  I had to go with the "plan B" underthings, but I am still planning on making the "plan A" underskirt & things (Plan A is the one with the trellis and all those poufs like you see in the Ditchley portrait), I'll just be able to make those at my leisure.

But now to bed.  My cold & I are still battling it out, but taking it "easy" seems to have at least helped me stay just ahead enough to not have succumbed completely.  I just wish this sore throat would go away.

1 more day to go.

[mollymishap]

I'm DONE.  Well--mostly.  Can we call it "done" if I only have some handsewing to do, as in stitch down some hooks & eyes and tack some trim down? 

I took pics but am waaaay tooooo tired to post them.  It's 1:15 my time & I need to get to bed.  My sore throat is mostly gone, but still lurking enough to remind me to rest.

I don't have much time pre-show tomorrow but if I can, I'll upload the pics so you can see what I ended up with.  I'm not calling it a reproduction of the Ditchley dress at this time but it's close to it in spirit.

G'nite all.

[DonaCatalina]

can't wait to see photos. 

[mollymishap]

Le sigh!  So it's Sunday nite & we're DONE with the show.  I still have just a trace of a sore throat but that might just be dry winter air & some vocal strain.  Otherwise, my health held up, thank Goodness!

We have a professional photographer on cast who took some great pics, so when I have those available I'll post them, but in the meantime, here is a pic of what I ended up with (except that I decided not to add the strip of gold lace down the center & the stomacher only has poufs across the top).



And here's a hearty THANKS! to all who encouraged me & nudged me throughout this process...but now to BED!!!

[DonaCatalina]

It's beautiful.

[LadyShadow]

Your dress looks very beautiful.