Me: Honey, how does this look?
Him: Hm. It looks fine.
Me: *narrowed eyes* Fine?
Him: No, no, what I mean is, it's nice. Really nice. Except, well....never mind. It's lovely.
Me: *deep sigh* So what does it need?
Him: Well, if you did this and that and the other thing altogether, it would be so much better, don't you see?
And then I go do another afternoon's worth of handsewing. Rinse and repeat. The trouble is, he's always right. He's got a better eye for things like balance in design.
This is possibly not the olive green wool kirtle I perhaps mentioned in the last post as THE PLAN. And I always stick to the plan. As evidenced as all the other times that I stuck to the plan.
Oh, and new rule. In addition to the "no machine stitching showing" rule, I now have "the insides have to be finished too." So we've got french seams and flat-felled seams and hand-stitched linings. And you know what? That rule's actually making me pretty happy.
5 comments:
Hmmmmmmm... must remind dress engineer that "fine" has multiple meanings. Of course, he does have a great eye for balance. I like the color, glad you mentioned that it is not olive green, thought my monitor color was wrong.
Seriously, very nice work daughter.
Mom
Wow, that cutout/embroidery detail is the bomb! Now if only I could tell where it is on the costume. ;)
Also, I must bow to you in your handsewn lining-ness. Wow. Just wow.
Oooh, I love the cutout and embroidery! Are those just raw edges on the cutouts? Do you plan to finish them somehow, or will they stay as they are?
Really cute. I think that I'll use that cutout/embroidery idea on a doublet, if you don't mind...
And where do you get your hooks and eyes?
Thanks ladies! I really appreciate your kind comments. I'm sorry I haven't posted pictures of the completed outfit yet. I did actually wear it this past weekend, but I ran short on time.
Julie - the cutout/embroidery detail is angled across the bosom (symmetrically of course - crazy elizabethans!) on a doublet. There's similar stuff across the back.
Abigael - The edges actually are raw on the cutouts, but it's a coat-weight wool and so I thought that they would be slow to fray. They held up for the weekend just fine. For anything that was more fray-prone (which would be pretty much anything), I think I'd have probably faced the cutouts, which is what I think Julie did with the slashes on her husband's doublet?
Oh, and these are actually just the larger-size regular old hooks and eyes (marked as size 2). Possibly from Joann's, possibly from Wal-mart. Sometimes for big stuff I get the coat hook-n-eyes that come about 4 to a package. I know I've seen reproduction hooks somewhere online, I'll look for those.
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