Shimmer and Laces

There has been wild stitchery occurring here. Maxine has been put to use, and I am nearly finished with what will be my 3rd and most versatile medieval dress. (Well, 4th, if you count the skirt/dress combo, and 5th if you count the blue & gold re-make...so yeah. 5th. Yikes, I need to branch out a bit...)

Anyway...

I don't really take pictures of the process, since I get in the zone, and if I stop it will never get finished (I'm sanguine - I get discouraged/bored easily *shrug*)  so no step-by-steps for you.  Sorry. (not)

But, I will show you how it turned out! And tell you a little bit about how this project came about, etc.

In the beginning, there was a Wal Mart. Seemed like a pretty normal Wal Mart, but you shouldn't judge by appearances. Meandering down the aisles was a young girl, about 16 or 17 years old (yes, this story began over a year ago, if I remember correctly), not really looking for anything in particular, when all of a sudden she spied the fabric section!!! It's practically illegal to walk by the fabric section without at least looking, so, being a law-abiding citizen, she promptly looked at the fabric, heading straight for the bin marked "SALE" - because you never know what you will find for only a few dollars.

What lurked there on this interesting day, you may ask? Well, wonder no longer my friend, for I am here to tell you that a fine specimen, 6 yards of a shimmery, silvery purple knit-like fabric were just aching for someone to take it home and appreciate it's shimmeriness. (of course that's a word...maybe...)

So take it home the girl did, and it was locked up in the fabric collection closet, waiting for the perfect project that would use it's shimmeriness to the best advantage. The girl, who isn't the most decisive person on the planet, just couldn't think what to make out of it, until one day, a few months ago, she was drawing some medieval dress designs in her sketchbook, and fell in love with one in particular and though "There. That dress should be made out of that fabric."

But the girl was very busy, and the fabric kept waiting in the closet, feeling forgotten and forlorn.

Then, in a moment of inspiration, the girl (I hope you've picked up on the fact that 'the girl' is me by now...) spread the fabric across the floor with a pattern and sliced it up with a scissors. Yay!

Then the pieces were folded up and put away for another month or so.

Monday, June 18th, 2012 dawned with a feeling of promise in the air. Sure, it was cloudy, somewhat stormy, and everyone had a headache, but hey. This girl had a project in mind, and when she does decide a thing, she likes to stick to it. So, the shimmery pieces were taken out, unfolded, and the stitching process began with vim and determination. There were plenty of roadblocks and fallen trees, but in the end, perseverance won out (that and the shunning of family members who simply wanted to be helpful...I have to work on the social aspect of sewing projects) and the project of the shimmery purple dress was nearly done.

Thursday, June 21st, 2012, dawned with birds singing, a light breeze floating through the window, and a bright sunshine peeking over the horizon. The girl stretched, sat up, and thought "I'm going to finish that shimmery dress today", which didn't take much. It was almost done. (Okay, I still haven't hemmed it, or finished of the seams, but who's to know? Trifles!)

Now for pictures! I had a lot of fun trying it on - I've never used this pattern before, and it was my first time making a dress that had a lace-up back - I need help getting it on, but it is really comfortable and my mom doesn't mind being my lady-in-waiting.  ;)

Here's how the front looks - the lighting is really bad, so you can't really see how it shimmers. Sad for you.

The back - I sort of designed the sleeves by combining a couple of patterns and altering them to be that way.

Close-up of the lacing. Isn't it fun?!?!

Then I had to add the pirate coat and feathery hat, just cuz I'm me :)

So now you see what I've been doing this week, in between play practices for "Twelfth Night", in which I have been honored with the part of 'Viola', which I am VERY EXCITED about!!!

Of course, I'm not quite done with the dress, but I'm not too worried about that - I'm close enough that I'm certain that I will indeed complete it soon. :)

Meanwhile, it rests on Maxine, looking shimmery with it's laces, until I can return to it and finish it up with finesse.