Wednesday, November 18, 2009

We Are On the Home Stretch, I Swear!

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At least when you look at it from my point of view, which is - I've been trying to get my ballgown finished since February. Yup, it's taken me that long!

We did manage to squeak in a little work outside that needed to be done. I am ashamed to say that I regret buying this pool. I probably should not, but it did not turn out the way we thought it would at all. We hardly used it, due to the access and cleaning trouble with it.

And then we had to clean it and put it away for the winter.

If you have lots of time or lots of help, a string of nice sunny and dry days, and a clean and flat surface to work on, that would be one thing. But we had none of those.

We got it drained and drug up onto the front porch,





where we did our best to get the dirt and vegetation debris off of it, using a giant blow dryer, then we gave up, rolled it up and put it under a tarp on the pool deck.









And that was one thing done!

Here is the only photographic evidence of Tuesday's sewing day; a floured footprint left by a lovely, bread-baking girl. The rest of the time I was too busy sewing to take pics.





And at a dance practice, Josiah gave Ashlee a knitting lesson.





He's so sweet, and very good at knitting. As well as many other things.





While there, I nabbed the 'community' serger and finished the armholes on my chemise, as well as a dress shirt I had to take in for Michael.

Today we had another sewing day, here at home. Here is my finished chemise, complete with corset.





I have not got on my hoop skirt, but the pantaloons are there. The fabric is not bulky underneath the corset at all, I was surprised to find. However, it is bulky above the top of the corset. I don't know if I will be able to wear it under my ballgown or not. I'll have to try it out after all the hooks and eyes are in place.

I did find later that pulling the chemise down very low in the front helped a lot, and that may be the answer.

Here is the back.





I'm using three different cords to lace it up. It helps a lot to have the separate, as tightening the laces is sort of an art. The middle one is done first, and is the snuggest, then you can work up and down with the other two.

Here is a nice shot of a hoop skirt. This one is shortened due to her height being only 5-2, so you see two hoops rather closely set.





A moment of rest between measuring for hem length.









Even this guy was put to work. He does a nice job ironing and pinning the bottom up for hemming. He's only free because his umpteenth time of trying on his vest that I was altering was finally over. I think that's why he was smiling.





So what's left?

Not nearly so much as last week!

~Faith

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17 comments:

  1. Wow! These look amazing! Now that you are in the home stretch, it must be so rewarding to see it all coming together.

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  2. Cyn,

    Yup. Every girl should have a corset and hoop skirt. "I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty..."

    ~Faith

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  3. Can't wait to see them all finished! You all are doing a great job! And I love the fact that Josiah is teaching a GIRL to knit! That makes my day... :o)

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  4. Beth,

    I know, I love that too. I don't know that Ashlee got it, but it took me quite a few times as well. She'll be at the knitting parties also.

    ~Faith

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  5. How awesome! This is just a wonderful post all around! :)

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  6. Hi Jen! :o) I always love it when you stop by.

    ~Faith

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  7. That was fun! I wish I could come sew with you and have you help me make 'an outfit'.

    Maybe someday I'll get it together and do on for myself.

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

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  8. Hey Faith...quick question...what works good in regards to a "green" product to get any dried algae off of the walls of the pool?? Our's had some left on it after we winterized it..I see you guys have the same kind of pool we do...

    Let us know if you have any idea...

    Thanks..R Dean

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  9. Linda,

    Sewing, and everthing else, is always funner with friends. You're on! :0)

    ~Faith

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  10. Dean,

    Good to hear from you again.

    You could try a dusting of baking soda, maybe? Scrub it around with a good brush.

    ~Faith

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  11. OH MY GOODNESS! Your dress is freakin' amazin' (as my kids are prone to say)...And truly you look stunning in it...when's the ball?
    Oh yeah, and "drug" aint no werd Miss Tennessean :-) :-)

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  12. Kat,

    Your comment sent me on a search, and look what I dragged over...

    http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/dragged-versus-drug.aspx

    Now, I am from California, and using drug was common there. And I could have sworn that I learned that in school; drag, dragged, drug... But perhaps my memory is betraying me once again?

    The chemise is just part of the underpinnings, so all that work won't be seen. But I'll try to get a picture of my ballgown then, if I'm not too busy. We do have to help each other get dressed, which takes a considerable effort.

    The ball is December fourth!

    ~Faith

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  13. OH MY GOODNESS AGAIN!...U DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT DRAGGED AND I DON'T KNOW ABOUT DRESSES...lol....I bet I'm the only one on here who didn't realize that was an undergarment...ha ha ha...Sorry, but it still looked fabulous to me...pity no one will see it...
    Okay so I'm sorry, but an actual BALL?...how come? where? people still do that? huh & huh?

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  14. pssst...SEE how much attention you get when you put your own picture up?....lol

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  15. Kat,

    The ball is for a Civil War re-enactment group we are part of. But it is really wonderful in so many ways. I never thought being active in a group like this, which to me seems a little strange, would benefit us in so many ways.

    We put on a couple of them a year, Spring and Christmas, and there are many to go to that others put on. So far, however, we've only been to ours. It's been quite enough for us to begin with.

    ~Faith

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I always enjoy hearing from others. If you become a regular commenter, I'll assume you are being friendly and pretty much comment regularly right back. :o) God bless and have a terrific day!