My version of the sash pattern
I started with the underdress, which has long darts in the front and back to give it a fitted shape. It had been years since I’d made anything with darts (I’ve been loving princess seams for quite some time ;-). This was a bit of a challenge, and I mucked it up. Even transferring the dart lines with carbon to the fabric was a mess! If I’d had a refresher course on darts, if I’d bought an invisible zipper instead of a regular one, and if I’d used a less fussy fabric (satin kills me!), the underdress would have come out a whole lot better. But my saving grace is that only the sleeves below the elbow and a little wedge of the front skirt actually shows. At a later point, I’d love to make a new underdress, preferably in a washable silk. The pattern is a great fit and has such lovely, simple lines that I could use it for other costumes too.
Foolishly, I wasted a whole evening making the embroidery pattern for the sash. Started with a movie still, then fiddled around in PhotoShop to create a black and white drawing of the pattern (pictured left). Little did I know that a better graphic was right on the ACS page for this costume. Ah well, call it creative procrastination. I know PhotoShop better than embroidery 😉
Alas, more travel interfered with this costume! Convergence 9 was in April, and that took me out of sewability for more weekends (one before to prepare, one for the convention itself, another afterwards for recovery).
Then I started the overdress. The pattern fit is exquisite, just like the underdress. But there was a triangular yoke in the back that was very tricky to sew. Also, where the collar and shoulder seams meet was difficult for me to sew, and I’m afraid it didn’t come out as smoothly as I’d hoped.
But the collar itself turned out beautifully! It’s exactly the right shape, and with heavy interfacing, it stands up just right. The diagonal seams over the chest are gorgeous and very true to the movie costume. The pattern-maker did a fabulous job!!! Pity I can’t sew quite well enough to justify her work.