I felt bad for him today, all bundled up with a hat and scarf under his chef's coat. This also means I can move onto other things though (and gives me one less excuse to procrastinate on other work as well). I still have that set of short stays to finish, but I have all three layers cut out at least. I plan on starting the assembly process tomorrow. That's my goal at least. I'm getting ready to make out a to-do list for the rest of my long weekend, and that is one of the first things going on it. I always work much better with lists, and haven't made myself one yet this semester (although granted school has only been in session for a week). Once I get that out of the way, though, and before school gets too, too busy (which I fear will happen more quickly than I'd like) I have one more project in the lineup for the cold weather.
I just received a pattern in the mail that I won as part of a giveaway hosted by Marie over at A Sewing Odyssey. I somehow missed the fact that I won the giveaway back in September, but she graciously held onto the prize for me, for which I am very grateful. The pattern is a 1935 McCall's dress pattern sans instruction sheet. The instructions for patterns of this age are generally minimal anyway, so I am taking it on without apprehension. What I really love about this pattern, however, is that it is not only printed, but it is trilingual! I haven't come across many (if any) printed patterns of this date, but much less one printed in English, Spanish, and French. I was very excited. I was looking at the pattern and suddenly had a stroke of genius. I have about three yards of a rayon faille that I hadn't actually assigned a pattern to, and that I thought would be lovely in the long-sleeved version of the dress. Then I thought about the seaming on the shoulders. Afraid that it would get lost in the print, I suddenly realized that problem could be solves, and rather smartly I might add, by the addition of piping. I'm thinking something to match the deep gold in the flowers. We'll see what I can find.
I've got a black belt that I wear with everything that should do the trick for this dress as well, but if not, I can make one that coordinates with the colors in the print. I'll have to see what I think whenever I get it all put together. Piping to match the bow at the neck, with big, shiny black buttons on the bodice and skirt are what I have in mind for the rest of the trim. I don't really have any winter dresses, and I've really been wanting to remedy that issue. I think I've finally found my first really good candidate.
You can see the colors in the print a bit better in this photo. This is one of the few pieces of fabric I have allowed myself to buy in the last year or so that I didn't have a very specific purpose for. I new I wanted a 1930s or 1940s dress, but I hadn't selected a pattern. I think this is what it was waiting for. I can't wait to get to work on it. I'll need a relaxing sewing break soon I'm sure, but for now it's back to reading for my Pedagogical Linguistics class.
