I am in the process of making the girls Christmas dresses. I am using a gorgeous two-toned shantung silk. I figured the dresses would take a bit longer, as the silk takes a little more care to work with. Plus, I am very careful and going a little slowly because the fabric is so blasted expensive! I can't get anymore if I make a mistake. The store no longer has it. But, even considering my considerations that it would take a bit longer... the dresses are taking a little longer than even I expected.
Today I was hoping to finish the bodice of Isabel's and put the sleeves in Sophia's and do a mock- up of the skirt. Oh, yeah- I am changing the pattern a bit, too. It needed to be improved to really show the nuance of the fabric.
So, today I worked four or five hours on the dress. I did get the mock-up pieces for Sophia's skirt cut out and ready to gather. But, the bulk of my time was taken on the sleeves of the bodice of her dress. Yes, 4 hours on sleeves. Two sleeves...
Two hours to go from these sleeve parts:
To this sleeve:
From the two pics, you can see the two tones of the silk, depending upon the light. It is olive green and dark fuchsia. I had to make the teeny ruffle that goes around the sleeve- and the front neckline for that matter.
So- It is still a work in progress (WIP), but- it is coming! It is stinkin' cute (beautiful, really)- IF I do say so myself!