This is taking longer than expected…

Once again, I seem to have ended up with mesh overlay on a skirt that is being far more fussy than I originally anticipated.

And unfortunately, it means this project won’t be done in time for Halloween—which sucks because I tried so hard to get it there, but it became obvious a couple days ago that it wasn’t going to happen.

I’d hoped to still cobble together a video about the bodice/sleeves for patrons, but I have SO much footage (more than I have ever had for a project, I think) that even roughly cutting and narrating it is more work than I had time to accomplish.

So, I’m skipping this month, you won’t be charged, etc. etc.

BUT I did want to give an update, because I really did try, damn it, and I came kind of close.

I shared the plans for this in my last monthly update, a 1890s-1900s inspired robe/morning gown with some sort of fancy chemise beneath it. Something dramatic but not particularly structured by the standards of the era.

I ended up having a lot of trouble early on deciding on the chemise design, which I wanted to construct first. Eventually, I realized inspiration for that wasn’t coming and I moved on to the bodice of the jacket, which also gave me some trouble. I found it hard to visualize the shape it should be and wasn’t sure how flattering it would be.

I did get there eventually...it just took a few tries.

(by a few I mean ten.)

The collar, despite the early troubles, is something I absolutely adore. I think it’s SO pretty.

This is made using a material I’ve had in my stash for 3-4 years now and have attempted to use for Halloween projects the past two years only to come up short. It has an ivory mesh base and I originally envisioned it over black, which doesn’t work. At one point I was going to sharpie all of the mesh black because I didn’t want to compromise on my design.

I ended up abandoning the design before I could. Then last year I had it on my work table but was too depressed to even think of anything compelling enough to make, nor did I have the effort to make it if I did.

So seeing this fabric work so well for this element feels like a victory in a few ways, beyond it just being pretty.

The combination of eyelet lace, pearls, and sequins was not planned from the start, just added as I worked on it and the vision developed.

I really do like how it looks, though—I liked it so much I ended up doing this to the cuffs of the sleeves, too!

I’m really pleased with the sleeves in general, actually, which is not something I say often.

See things began to go wrong when I got to the skirt. I originally thought it should have a lot more volume, so after draping a pattern I liked, I added two inches of width to each piece. After a literal day of work/6+ hours I finalized a pattern, basted the pieces together, and hated it.

I realized the velvet would be pretty hefty even when loosely gathered, decided to trim all the pieces substantially, then reassembled the skirt…and then I did that again, because I wasn’t happy with that shape, either.

It was such a waste of time.

Eventually with the shape sorted it was time to add the overlay. Now the velvet mesh is too short to span the full length of the skirt, so I had to piece the portion near the hem.

And this is when things became really time consuming because I decided to mimic the detailing shown on the cuffs and collar on the entire hem. That meant hand-gathering all this lace to match the lines of the velvet appliques, embellishing the lace with sequins, and then attaching the appliques.

Each of these appliques are about the size of my hand, and there are probably two dozen individually stitched down and together to form a smooth overlay. They are all very oddly shaped which makes them take a lot longer to sew down (it has to be done by hand) and you also have to trim and layer them so there are no obvious gaps or points where they look thicker because they overlap.

This took so much longer than I expected, though now it is FINALLY done.

At this point I still have to add all the beads to the hem and line the skirt,  and I’d like to make a matching hat, too. Then it will be done.

I will say, unlike last months project, I really enjoyed working on this. It’s the sort of fiddly yet satisfying work I’ve missed a lot and it actually looks the way I want it to, so it isn’t frustrating to do.

...it just takes a long time to do.

I did finally settle on a chemise/underdress design…but I overcomplicated this a lot, too.

I knew I wanted it to be super ruffly (I bought like 20 yards of fabric for this reason) but not normal ruffles, no, these are made from pieces with rounded edges, basically circles with the centers cut out.

But for grain line reasons, they have to be cut out in several smaller pieces, sewn together, hemmed, gathered, etc. the normal sort of ruffle steps. But it is much more challenging to do when you’re working on the bias and hemming rounded edges. It takes way more focus (and time) than a straight one.

I hoped to have a vlog about making it up for patrons this month but as of today it still does not have a skirt. So…

That is the state of things around these parts. It’s disappointing because I really have tried hard to make this happen, but I also like how it’s looking enough that I don’t want to rush or half-ass it just to meet a deadline. So I didn’t. And that means I don’t have anything beyond these pictures to show you.

Hopefully, I’ll get it done in the coming days and get the videos about it up in November! If not, maybe I can edit the orange to look more red and claim it’s for Christmas lolol.

Thanks for reading~ I hope you are all having a wonderful Halloween!