Well, it's a thing...

 I should be sewing right now but I am letting myself take a bit of a break; I spent most of the day at church sewing and I need to think about something else for a minute, lol.  I wasn't expecting anyone to show up to help sew today; one lady said she might come by later in the morning, so I didn't rush this morning and rolled in about 15 minutes late.  

To find that the 'maybe later' friend actually made it earlier and was waiting on me.

Ain't that always the way?

She brought a steamer and worked on making the costumes a bit fresher...noting needed repairs we'd missed and trimming threads and such as she went.  The detail work that often gets overlooked.  I was really glad she came.

Me, I worked on the Magistrate's robe.  Nearly 7 hours of work, it's not done yet...and this character has one speech that will last about 45 seconds, lol.  Again...ain't it always the way.

I had to modify the pattern for our standard Bible robe.  We wanted a squared-off neckline and a shorter sleeve.  The shorter sleeve wasn't a problem, but the neckline had me puzzled a bit.  Then suddenly I realized I could just draft the FACING and use that as a template to cut the actual neckline after I had rough cut it out with the pattern.

Winner winner chicken dinner!  That was a quick fix.

I actually sewed it mostly on my Old Faithful Kenmore.  Since we were using a compact car for transportation back when we were first married in 1980, instead of getting a bulky something for Christmas I got cash.  It covered most of the cost of  that sewing machine, which I used for 14 ish years before purchasing a new machine.  Not because I was unhappy with the Kenmore, but I wanted some specialty feet that I couldn't get for that high-shank machine.  I think maybe there might have been an adapter available for sale somewhere, but I never could locate anyone who sold it.

The Kenmore became the backup machine; it weighs a freakin' TON but got hauled around to  sewing days at church...made all the Scrooge costumes back in the day  (it's visible on the pictures that used to be linked to those early posts, but Google has started dropping the old pictures from the albums.  Guess that happens when you blog for more than 15 years...)  I have one of my other machines in, but the newfangled electronic Janome didn't have an adjustable pressure presser foot.  The Kenmore does.  Went right over bulky seam intersections without bogging down.  

After I got the back sewed up to opening, I realized that I probably did not need to include the opening at all...the neckline will be wide enough as it is.  Oh well, it gave me a good start/stop for the trim.   Tomorrow...hem and lower trim, and a blue drapey wrap to kind of make up for the fact that the fabric is a wee bit sheer. Strategic drapery should take care of that.

Normally I can crank out a basic bible costume in about 4 1/2-ish hours, but this one ain't basic.  I added pockets in the seams so there will be a place for the mic pack.

I like that Greek Key trim; but it's cheap Offray and pretty much says it's not washable, dryable, ironable...LOL.  I'm going to write on it w/ a sharpie  (on the facing behind the trim on the back) to 'hand wash drip dry'.  Maybe that will work...