I started with around 5 yards of uncut corduroy. Not enough for the pattern, but I decided to do a contrast collar and cuffs to cut down on it, and shorten the skirt if I had to. Which I frequently do with my 1950s dresses because they were LONG to allow for the petticoats. So I start cutting out the bodice. And as I go to cut out the second part, I realize that I'd cut without paying attention to the nap.
*face palm*
Okay, so how do I handle this? Knowing I'm already short on fabric, I decide just to keep the mistake going. Maybe no one will notice, right? So I finish cutting everything out, including lining for the bodice and interfacing and pack up everything to take home to my parents' house for Thanksgiving.
I start sewing. I try on the bodice and look down. You can totally see the nap. I ask my parents if they can tell, mom can't at first, but dad can. We decide that I might as well keep going, so I work on the skirt. After sewing together several panels and putting in the pockets I realize that I only cut two sides instead of four.
*face palm*
At this point, I hate the dress and my mom pretty much just looked at me and said we're going to the fabric store.
Christmas dress take two: I bought the right amount of fabric (black crepe) and lining (a pretty black and white houndstooth) as well as a yard of white satin to do the collar and cuffs.
By the way, at this point, I have two weeks to get the dress done to wear to The Nutcracker which is why I started making a new dress for Christmas to begin with. After I got home on Sunday, I cut out the collar and cuffs, to get it out of the way. So my goal on day one (the Monday after the fabric store) was to get everything cut out. I got the black cut out, and part of the lining. The second day, I finished the lining, washed the interfacing (I just used muslin) and started sewing. Day three: finish the bodice, except the collar and cuffs.
Day four: fixed a fitting issue and got the collar on.
Day five: collar and cuffs on and with fancy stitching on the edges. Started pinning all the skirt panels together.
By the evening of day six, I was working on pinning the lining in place. At that point, all that was left was the zipper, stitching the lining down and then hemming the lining and the dress itself.
On day seven, I hung up the dress to let the skirt settle before hemming.
Day eight, I was really tired and didn't work on my dress. As of day nine, the dress just needed the lining finished and the both the lining and dress hemmed. The overskirt was underway, but the petticoat hadn't been touched yet.
Day eleven: I finished hemming the overskirt, with a satin stitch. And stopped for the night because if I knew that if I didn't every single seam was going to end up with a satin stitch. So all that was left was the gathering and the waistband. And the petticoat.
By the Friday before the event (day twelve), all that was left was the petticoat so I spent my Saturday cutting and gathering yards and yards and yards of netting.
But it all got DONE on time!!!
And of course, I ended up deciding not to wear the overskirt. I just liked it better without it. Maybe I'll just use it as a Christmas tree skirt.
