Day 24

Oh I've been failing here, my original plan was to post frequently. I guess what happened was that I got addicted to catching up on a few seasons of Grey's Anatomy and big time slacked off on posting anything. I have been working though and I've got things to report.

I finished, finished, finished the dress. I completed the liner and went through the slow work of attaching the lining to the exterior. At one point I had arm holes on the inside of the dress not the outside, sad. It was a quick fix though, I had to remove the basting stitch and put the arm holes where they should be. Once the two pieces were together I tried the dress on and there was too much fabric up by the top of the zipper. Basically it did not lay flat on my back. I brought the dress to work to have my co-worker help me fix the problem. She suggested darts, which is what I had been thinking. She also said I might remove the bias from the arm holes and just try tacking the edge inside the dress. It was a bit bulky at the arms so I figured I should take that advice as well.

So that night I had to rip a few seams, never a good time, and I was a bit cranky. I added the darts to the exterior and the lining and that seemed to fit a lot better. Then I got to work on the arms holes. I removed the bias, added a zigzag stich, and tacked the edge inside the dress. It looked a little odd and that's when I realized I did not clip into the edge and it's circular which is why is looked "odd". I was exhausted and kind of pissed that I hadn't remembered that earlier. I tried to rationalize the situation by telling myself I was learning things here by having to put things together to take them apart and do it again. Regardless I was tired so I went to bed and decided I'd come back to it the next day.

The following day I undid the stitching and cut into the edge all the way around, I re-zig zag stitched around the arm hole and re-tacked the edge inside the dress. I repeated all of this on the other arm hole, exciting! So yesterday the only things left to do were the hem and the hook and eye at the top of the zipper. I sewed the hem of the lining and the exterior and I think the length is perfect. I could not find a hook and eye anywhere in my sewing notions so I attached a cute button instead. Then my dress was done. It always feels less climactic than I hoped but I think the process is really exciting and finishing it just means I'm on to the next project. But I am proud of what I've created and I've done quite a bit since Walker has been away.

Tomorrow I think I'll compile a list of all the things I have managed to accomplish.