Work in Progress Wednesday

Not quite finished with Hey, Teach. I have everything sewn up, ready to start knitting the trim.



Oooohh, look how the stockinette seems to have horizontal ridges in it. I wonder what's up with that? Probably uneven tension using the cotton yarn. Good thing I don't much care, or I'd be ripping the whole thing out right now. But, honestly, the odds that most people would ever notice are pretty low. And I'm simply trying to produce a wearable garment, not the be-all end-all display of my knitting ability.

You're not supposed to sew everything up before starting the trim, by the way-- you're only supposed to sew the shoulder seams, then do the trim, then sew in the sleeves and sew the side seams -- but I wanted to see how it was fitting.

Sunday I finished knitting the 2nd sleeve, and was suddenly seized by the desire to do tiny embroidery. So I pulled out the cape of the American Girl-size Irish Dance dress I've been working on:



The cape is the thing that hangs down the back.

I wish I'd used a brighter pink. What was I thinking? If I do this again (and the odds are high that will happen -- we have enough 18 inch dolls here to have our own 8-hand ceili team), I'm switching colors. Also, an embroidery machine is looking better and better.




All that leaves for embroidery is the side skirts, which have designs along the bottom.



The bodice is already done. Although I might take apart the side seams so I can use an invisible zipper. I don't know. I'd planned to use velcro or snaps, but AnnaBeth thought it should have a zipper.



We love the wee cuffs most of all.



Also, work continues on the Solo Dress bodice muslin. I drew out a dropped waist



cut out and marked all of the pieces.



The fabric I'm using is very light cotton. This means that it won't show design flaws as much as a heavier fabric would. Considering that the finished product will be in a heavier fabric, this presents a problem. I wonder if I should fuse some interfacing to the whole thing to give it more weight and take away some of the drape.

Since this is going to take so long (Thalia is hoping to have a dress by Oireachtas, which is over Thanksgiving), I'm thinking that after each task I'll take a break to sew something else. The question is, what is a "task"? Can I stop now? Or should I sew up and fit the bodice?

In other news, the new appliances should be here any minute. Not that they'll be installed any time soon, but it's exciting to know that soon I'll have a working stove on the premises.