Remember me? Last seen throwing up hands in despair and turning to work on the lining?
Well, I’m still in a state of moderate despair, but at least I’ve figured out some of the things that were bugging me:
- Applique fabric too “busy”. I was using the same fabric as the body of the garment, for convenience, but it really needs to be a bit plainer, or at least different from the body fabric. It just looks funny.
- Applique fabric too heavy. Leaves are light and airy.
- Too many leaves – they compete with the curve and add heaviness to the design.
I’m still playing around and percolating – this weekend I plan to dye bits of many different fabrics (chiffon, organza, china silk, charmeuse) and layer, paint, silkscreen, etc. the bits until I arrive at a format I like. I may also play around a bit with polymer clay, though that is a bit less likely.
I have also been hard at work on the lining. I have thread-traced nearly all the pattern pieces, and am preparing to baste and sew. My goal is to get the lining mostly in before going up to see Sharon on Saturday afternoon. That is a tall order, but as I’m taking this afternoon off work, that should give me time to get a good stab at it.
The house offer fell through; the bank had eight offers and invited us to give our “highest and best” offer (i.e. more money). We weren’t willing to increase our offer and felt it was likely that someone else would bid higher, plus we weren’t comfortable with some of the contingencies, so we’re dropping out. A lot of stress and hurry for nothing! but, there will be other houses, and we’ll find something eventually.
Finally, because every blog post should have a pretty picture, here is one of the ideas I’ve been percolating: a cluster of three leaves at the shoulder, with one leaf drifting down. The colored swirls indicate where I’m thinking of using some embroidery to suggest movement.
I’m not wedded to this design either, but I like it better than the others so far.
Of course, in the end, I may just throw up my hands completely and send in the garment without any further embellishment. I don’t think that would be a tragedy, either.