I’m so lazy that even attempting to write this post seems exhausting! I spent one week of vacation working on this project, and in between all the sleep and distractions this is all I managed to accomplish. Granted, I have no huge deadline and I purposefully chose a project with fancy fiddly undies, but I’m still embarassed that I’ve spent all this time working on a PETTICOAT. I mean, really!
I’m using the Folkwear Edwardian Underthings pattern for the petticoat. It’s quite a nice pattern, as it includes provision (and lots of info) for making an heirloom-type petticoat with lots of tucks, lace, and insertion. The only problem is that it’s meant to be worn mid-calf-length for modern wear (who’s making an Edwardian petticoat for modern wear?!), so I had to lengthen everything.
The main petticoat has a small dust ruffle, which ends up underneath the longer flounce. The flounce has (all optional) lace insertion, tucks, embroidery, and lace edging — I’m doing all but the embroidery (I’m sorry, I’m so not embroidering something worn at heel-level which no one will see). I’ve got the tucking and edging done, now I’m just waiting on my lace insertion I bought on ebay to show up before I can add that and then attach the flounce.
I’m so lazy, I couldn’t even put my petticoat on my dress form for pictures. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Hey, just be thankful I actually managed to take some pictures. I had to lie down for a few hours after doing so. (I’m such a waste of space right now!)
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Next up will be the corset cover, which has embroidery (yay! I’m really excited about the embroidery. Me = geek), which leads me to my Really Dumb Question. Okay, so I’ve got the Reader’s Guide book to needlework, I’ve got a book on whitework, I’ve got all these books, but none will answer my Basic I Know Nothing About Embroidery question — you know when you buy embroidery floss, it’s made up of multiple strands twisted together? Is one supposed to embroider using all of those strands, or is one supposed to pull them apart and use (how many? 1? 2?) individual strands? How does one know such a thing — is it just based on how thick you want the embroidery to appear? Did I miss some embroidery-strand-gene in my genetic makeup?
The corset cover has lots of tucks so I’m not looking forward to a mockup, but I want it to fit well so I definitely will be doing so. Another question, though — do the embroidery on a big piece of fabric and then when it’s done, cut out the pattern shape? Or cut out the pattern shape and then do the embroidery?
I told ya, these were Really Dumb Questions.