Done for the moment, lol

 

So, this is the finished 2nd skirt...the one that I took wedges out of to reduce the fabric at the waistline by 40".  It was still a pain to gather, but at least it was somewhat do-able.  I ended up making mongo darts in the back, too, so that it was even all around.

The third skirt was made out of another piece of fabric; when I ordered it, I thought it was just two slightly different weave patterns on the same type of fabric, but the 2nd piece was MUCH lighter and I was able to gather the whole 180" to the waistband.  It helped that  the 3rd skirt was for a larger lady, and the waistband was about 5" longer. but the fabric was so much more cooperative.

So that was 3 adult skirts.  I packed up and headed to church as soon as I finished the girl's skirt around 12:30 this afternoon, and I didn't take time to get pictures.  It went together much easier; I was gathering christmas-print quilting cotton; the only problem was my own bone-headed boo-boo.  I put the skirt on and did a quick look at the gathers; they all looked straight and even so I cut all the gathering threads off and sat down to put the elastic in the casing.

And promptly realized that I'd put the wasitband on inside-out, with the opening for the elastic/drawstring on the OUTSIDE instead of the INSIDE.  And I had cut off the extra gathering thread.

I put the seam allowance down and zigzaged all the gathers down, then very carefully removed the seam and gingerly flipped the waistband around and pinned it back down.  

It worked. Whew.

1st dress rehearsal...the basic costume check...is tomorrow.  I already know I'm going to have to make another skirt but we didn't have measurements for the young lady so I'll grab those tomorrow. She's very short so, as not to overwhelm her, I'm only going to use 2 panels on the skirt instead of 3, so it will be easier to gather.  

Hopefully I can get it well started tomorrow night after rehearsal.  This is tech week...not going to have much sewing time.

In other news, the dye job on the subtle Christmas sweater came out well; that's a color I can wear without folks asking me if I'm ok, lol.  BUT there is a bit of seaming on the sweater, particularly on the neckband and...it was sewn with cream polyester thread.   So it didn't take any dye and it shows a bit in a couple of spots.  

Ah, well, it's in the back, lol.

SO...On to Tech Week!  Opening night is Friday...

Blew that one...

Welp, I found myself with more skirts to sew after our last-few-folks fitting on Saturday, so last night I was pushing hard to finish the skirt I already had started.  

I had zig-zagged dental floss to the top for gathering, and even gathered a fair amount up.  So I took a deep breath and forged ahead, pushing five yards of rather wiry fabric into gathers around the 45" waistband.  Took my time sewing it and decided it looked good enough, so I cut off the long tails of dental floss that were hanging about.

Then I found that I had put the opening in the waistband, through which the final touch of the drawstring will go, on the center back seam instead of at the front of the center panel.  Too bad, so sad, not redoing it.

Then I set about threading the elastic through it.  And discovered that I should have given myself a wee bit of wiggle room; I had cut the waistband exactly 2x elastic + seam allowances.  With the really bulky gathers, I lost some space and the channel in the waistband was a little too skinny in places.

Minor problems; I forged on.

And found that the doggone elastic would rather fold in half than deal with a too-skinny casing.

I wrestled with it, trying to get it to lay somewhat flat, and even started topstitching the drawstring channel, brute forcing it to stitch close to the seamline.

Then I realized that the elastic had dodged the stitching and instead of being caught and sewn flat, was folded in half. Again.

At that point I realized it just was NOT going to work, so I removed the waistband altogether, wrestled the elastic out and sliced a very slim bit off at the join, pulled out what was left of the gathering dental floss at that point, cut another waistband a half inch wider and went to bed.

Went to work today, and DS the Elder (AKA the Artist) came by after work to help put Christmas lights on the porch eaves, since My Sweet Babboo is still in shoulder-surgery-recovery mode.  And he also brought us our Christmas present...some wifi speakers so we can listen to the same music throughout the first floor of the house at Christmas, which he also set up for us ("I love doing stuff like this" he commented as he opened up the boxes).  It sounds fantastic when we have stuff streaming through it; I just have to load Spotify on one of my old phones or tablets, create some playlists and we will be set.

Then I heated up the rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers...that I haven't already put in the freezer...and we polished them off.  So I am actually going to have to cook something tomorrow, lol.

I should have headed upstairs and faced the mess again but...Cyber Monday... I had to go hunting for  a couple of things.  DS the Younger (AKA The Actor) did some streaming so I watched him as I perused the electronic aisles, and I decided to tackle a project that has been waiting for nearly a year.  

I got a cotton sweater on sale from Lands' End last year... a subtle Christmas sweater.  It was tan with knitted in evergreen trees...nearly missed getting a pic before it sold out but this is it...

It was backorded when I  submitted my order in late October of last year, supposed to be delivered in early December if I remember right. Delivery kept getting pushed back...I think I got in in February of this year.   It fit well, it was super comfy (like all the Drifter sweaters) and I loved the barest hint of 'Christmas Sweater' in the knitted-in tree shapes BUT the color is a lot more ...yellow/beigey... in person and it looked ghastly on me.  What to do, what to do...

Rit dye to the rescue.

So, as kind of a palate cleanse after the disaster yesterday...I am dyeing the sweater tonight. It's been through the dye bath and is now in the post-dye wash cycle; I was shooting for a deep blue-green color and I *think* that's what I have.  Won't know for sure until it's dry, but it will be a much better color for me than the beigey-tan it was to start with.

I have to work 4 hours tomorrow and take My Sweet Babboo to therapy, but I think I'll be ready to face that waistband...

I'll post a pic of the sweater after it's dry.