Fiddly Bits

This evening gown not only has the challenge of being made in the evil and slippery silk charmeuse but it also has a lot of fiddly bits. 

Like the sleeves.  It took me hours when muslining this bodice it took me hours upon hours to figure out how to sew the sleeves.  They are cut into the back bodice piece and hellishly artfully wrapped around to the front bodice to create the sleeve.  Sounds easy.  It isn’t.  The cut on piece is oddly shaped and I just could not wrap my head around it.  Of course, the instructions made the process as clear as mud!

Due to the lapse in time between msulining the bodice and working on the real deal, I had completely forgotten how the sleeve from hell was constructed.   A few hours later, the light bulb went off and I came up with this:

Isn’t the sleeve rather sweet?  Hats off to the designer who thought it up

Other fiddly bits include the shirring mentioned yesterday and interesting “facings.”  The  facing only covers the shirring and you have to cut into the fabric to fold it down.  If you don’t cut far enough it does not work; if you cut too far you have a hole.  Ask me how I know!  Luckily the collar covers my patch.  Oh yeah, attaching the collar, another piece of fiddly hand sewing.