Susan's Green Archery Dress
5.24.06

So I do have the fabric, and it is going to be dyed. Hopefully this (Memorial Day Weekend) it will be dyed. I have a pic of the fabric right now, and it's up. It doesnt look as light/blue-ish as it does in the pic ... it looks a bit more green in life.

oh, in a lot of pics that can be found on narniaweb (i'm not going to put them up here - it would be repettitve) you can really see that her whole under dress looks blue, not light green. And since my sister and I are both cheap, I'm fairly sure that we'll just use the same light blue fabric as Lucy's underdress for Susan's (since i have like 30 yards of it).

***Unfortunately, as of 6/15, Aunt's wedding has been cancelled, so this eliminates any deadlines that were set for this project (and Lucy's Dress). This also means that I'll probably be adding flared pieces of blue under dress fabric to the bottom of the skirt lining, which comes only to sister's waist. Wans't going to do this cuase it was going to be in July.***

oh, and cloak! definitely - well at least i'd like one ... but this is my sister's call ... so she'll have to decide. Maybe she'll want a matching one  - eso for colder weather. So, hopefully that will be a yes ;)

well i think that is it, hopefully I will have progress to post shortly ;)




5.30.06

well the green checked fabric has successfully been dyed! it's not quite as dark as i would like it, but it will do. this dress will be recognizable (at leats i hope - considering that nothing goes terribly wrong) and compared to Lucy's fabric (second pic), its still darker so it wont look funny.

Some details: i dyed about 8 yds (60" wide) of medium weight cotton with 6 packages of Dark Green Rit Dye. I dyed it in a huge plastic toy container outside - got the water hot enough by boiling water on the stove and then bringing it out & dumping it in the tub, and then added the dye powder and salt. I soaked the fabric before anything else. Then, got 2 wooden dowels from my room so I could keep the fabric moving around. after about 40 minutes, I started the long proccess of rinsing .... i think it will be another month or so before all the dye comes out.

I think if I bought another 3 or 4 packages and dye the whole thing again it would be the shade that I'm trying to get, but like I said - i dont think i will dye it. maybe when it's mostly sewn together i'll dye it again. (i know this is bad & your not supposed to dye things like this cause the dye goes right to the seams - but i can't dye this much fabric outside again - it will be easier when it is in dress form ... i hope.)

Dyeing this was an experience though. It was a good experience & I'll def be doing it again. At least now i'm not afraid. Although, dyeing large amounts of uncut fabric is pretty daunting and it is hard to control it easily. So smaller pieces next time (anything under 5 yards).

Overall, i'm pretty happy with the results. Oh, the checks are still visible on the "right" side of the fabric. Lucky for me, the checks are printed on and so the "wrong" side was blank - so it's the "right" side now.




5.31.06

more progress  :) ... but no pics this time.

the pieces are cut out! almost all of them. I have to cut out the lining pieces, and the gusset pieces - not going to forget about that this time ;)

i'm using a combination of pieces - the same combo that I used for my Dol Amroth / Narnian Dress - the top of McCall 4491 and the bottom of McCall 4490 (i love full skirts). The sleeves - well havent started on them yet, but I am going to use the sleeve that comes with 4491 as a base, lengthen it and shape it eventually. I have a general idea of what i am going to start out with, but it is going to need much modification & I'll post progress once i have some ;)

as long as my machine doesn't die on me this time, i might have most of it sewn together tonight - which means it will soon be time for the first (of many) fittings!

*later*
well ... it looks more like a dress. ;) All the pieces are sewn together minus the ones that I didnt cut out. obviously. the lining (which is some leftover green fabric - the lining is going to reach a little below her waist) is cut and sewn, and the actual dress itself. I'm waitng until tomorrow to do anything more, cause i need to fit it to my sister. hmm ... i am going to make the list of things that need to be completed on the dress until it is done. wow. i feel like i've only started this and its almost done. ha, well i'm sure that will change once i start the embroidery. ;)

dress
fit lining to sister
fit dress to sister
baste both together at neck -
     embroider all around neck. FUN.
sew together at neck - put in V-notch
finish off back edges (put in laces)
baste the arm holes (dress & lining) together
hem

sleeve
get pattern & modify
make sure sister likes it & is comfortable
go & fix mistakes & make new one
cut new sleeve
     make & finish 5 slits in top
     embroider around the bottom of sleeve
     embroider the second sleeve
line sleeve
attach to dress

then i'm done. ok ... so maybe i have quite a bit more to do ;)



6.02.06

more update! and i'm crossing many things off that list!! :)

So .... today i fit the dress and lining to sister, and it turns out that i had to take a lot in -so much that i didn't even need those stupid gussets. :( and they looked sooooo good too. oh well - this is what i get for cutting out the fabric quickly - and in the process making it wayyy to big. at least it will be more like Susan's dress - which doesnt have gussets.) I also cut out the sleeve lining (last night?) and today i was able to fix the sleeve so it also fits her. I cut out a sleeve from the good fabric today, so soon I will have the slits done and the embroidery.

So the dress actually fits sister now, which is awesome. I also started on the neck embroidery, which isn't going to be the duanting task that I had imagined it to be. Took me 1 1/2 hours to do one side - so an est. 3 hours for the whole neck emb. - not bad at all.

well, if i dont have to work tomorrow (would be AWESOME cause it supposed to be 65 and raining) then i will have a lot more progress (maybe .... i'll almost be done!)

pics are on the right ... starting with the 2nd fitting of dress on sister ... she really does smile much more (and usually more in pics) but she has to take the SATs tomorrow .... so that's why she looks rather grumpy ..... the niext pics are of the neck emb. as it looks right now. revised list is below ;)

dress
     embroider all around neck. 1/2 there!
sew together at neck - put in V-notch
finish off back edges (put in laces)
baste the arm holes (dress & lining) together
hem

sleeve
     make & finish 5 slits in top
     embroider around the bottom of sleeve
     embroider the second sleeve
line sleeve
attach to dress








6.04.06

well quick update before i head off to night church.

Work was cancelled yesterday (Saturday) and it was pretty pointless to be there today cause it's pretty freezing for June. Anyway - I completed the entire dress yesterday. The dress is done, but i still have to finish the sleeves - which isnt a lot - i only have to do the emb. on each, line it, put it together and stick it on the dress. :) i think this is a new record for me - as far as quickest & best costume. hopefully this will change - i'll be able to make things quicker without lessening the quality of the, - although i don't think i can sew any faster.

so ... the dress. :) all done, including the hem from ... bad ... places. Oh, I accidentally made the slit a touch too low - but its all good, cause you won't be able to tell/see anything when laura is wearing the under dress (or with the fake under dress). Oh, i lied. the dress isn't totally done - one thing left - I have to make the eyelet holes so i can put the brown cord across. And put the fake under dress in. So i'm 92% done.

sleeves .... i'm really getting there! such a good feeling to be done with the slits - meduim amount of work, but they look soooo good. At least i think so. I did the slits the same way that CelticRiver (from narniaweb) did on her archery dress - i won't go into detail on how i did it, since she has it written up there. I do have pics on the right though. The only thing that i did differently was that I sewed all the facings for the slits together on the inside cause I didnt want them to come undone and fraying edges are just annoying. I also had a piece of sew in interfacing on all the slits - you can see it in a couple pics, but it's most visible in pics when its just been ironed.

revised list:
dress:
     make eyelets, attach cord & sew in
     attach fake under dress
     iron hem

sleeve:
     put emb pattern on
     emb each sleeve
     put in lining
     assemble rest of sleeve
     put sleeve in dress

then i'm really done!!! :)

... but for now, i'm going to take a break from this ... need to figure out an easy way to get the emb pattern onto the sleeve ... stupid chalk pencil keeps on breaking ......

.... so i'm going to attempt to make some sort of progress on this pirate shift thing ......





















6.08.06

i always get more accomplished on this than any of the other things that i've been working on ... or at least this stuff always goes together with much much more ease. odd. so anyway .... one sleeve is completely done. The embroidery for one sleeve took about 3 hours - give or take some. There was much streching of my hands while i was working.. the other, well i just have to finish embroidering 5 leaves/flowers (shouldn't take me too long) so hopefully sleeve 2 will be done tomorrow, which means i'll stick them on the dress, and when sister comes home from school ... i'll be able to get pics with her in it. whooooo. sooooooo excited.

what else can i say about the sleeves? well .. they are bag lined .... there is interfacing at the slits and around the embroidery. Towards the top of each piece of lining i pleated the fabric, i added several inches to the lining cause in the pics, you can see that Su's whole underdress sleeve has a lot more fabric at the top - underneath the sleeve slits. dont know if that actually made sense, its quite late at night. there is a pic at the right (on the bottom) of how i pleated the fabric at the top. the very last pic is my sister's arm .... trying one complete sleeve on.

overall, sleeves (esp like this) weren't very hard at all ... and i'm quite proud of them. :)  guess that this is good news .... hopefully i won't run into any major problems on Lucy's Camp Dress. although ... it would be fun to do slits in some other medieval dress ......






























6.9.06
yay yay yay yay yay yay yay!!!! it's done!!!! well ... not quite. only one more thing left to do. but it's a dress! with sleeves! and a fake under dress! and it's wearable!!!!! unfortunately, no pics of sister in it .... yet. i procrastinated, and the dress wasn't done by 2:45 when she came home from school. but it's done now .....

i didnt have much to do today ... just kept on getting distracted with many things. i finished the embroidery, and then had to take a break cause it hurt my hands, and then it wasn't until after dinner that i attached the sleeves onto the dress ... then i had to cut out a couple pieces so i could fake the under dress around the neckline ..... and then i just finished sewing (by hand again!) the fake under dress all around the neckline.

i would have pics of laura in this, but we were out playing catch, and so she didnt want to try it on for the same reason that anyone wouldn't want to try something on after running around. but, after we come home from work tomorrow and she takes her 2nd shower (to get the grease from work off), then i'll get some pics :) :) :) :)

oh, the last thing that i had to do .... well i only have to put in the lacing across the slit in the front. which means i have to hand sew 4 eyelets, and i frankly just dont feel like doing that now. I'll probably just do it before bed ... or sometime before she wears it tomorrow. (i'll do it while she's in the shower.) and that is the only thing left. sooo happy. but its odd .. this whole thing has just gone together so smoothly .... not used to that happening (esp after my last dress.....silly blue gown)

... then i think i shall go and get some sleep before i work tomorrow ... at the *best* place on earth .......






























6.10.06

well it's all done, minus a few finishing touches, which aren't a huge deal. I think i am going to add some panels of the light blue fabric to the bottom of the lining on the inside of the dress (the lining only comes a little past the waist). But again, not a huge deal. I also think I am going to take in some of the side seams, just to make it fit snugger. i think. again, not a huge thing to worry about. The only thing that it really needs is the lacing across the opening, and i'll get around to it. Sometime in the coming week. eventually.

but yes .... it's done. :) so happy. it feels like one of my own children - if i ever had any. i'm quite proud of how it turned out .... even though i didnt end up using that stupid gusset at all.

umm ... for now, the rest of this page is all going to be pictures (took them today, after we got back from work - didnt get around to putting the eyelets in cause it was pointless to be at work today (there was like no one there) so we didnt have to shower to get the grease all off. And as soon as we got back, our aunt was there, and since at that time we were planning on wearing this to her wedding ... laura put it on and showed it to her. I'll eventually add a separate gallery page. but until now, this is where i stand on this project .... very soon, this will be officially done, and i'll be able to start on my camp dress!!!!! enjoy the pics!!!




6.15.06

well i've updated this page a bit ... cut down on a lot of pics ... re-wrote some things ... and i'm opening a separate pages for the pics that we took outside .... they are at the gallery now.

still haven't fixed anything .. but ... yeah. eventually :)

i think i also might make the under dress neckline a bith tighter ... thanks to the suggestion of people over at narniaweb. it will help it not to stick out as much as it does right now. so once i toally finish it - i'll post again, with some pics.











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**all pics will link to their bigger size, once I have time to go through and link them all.