Bubbling…

…with plans and ideas.  Five more days of marking, five more days at work [overlapping slightly], then I can erupt back into sewing mode.  My parcels of happiness have been arriving steadily, as I console myself with retail therapy.  The latest to arrive is a length of Alexander Henry blue motorcycle fabric, intended for another shirt for the missus of course.

It’s super fine weave, and has a lovely weight.  She’s very excited about this one!

I’ve been whiling away some unproductive time by adding to my Pinterest board for the 6Napoleon dress.  Here’s a reminder of my chosen fabrics

And of course, it will have a Victorian-meets-Westwood vibe.  I hope.

The bodice will be close-fitting, boned, and worn over a corset.  The hemline will be asymmetrical, as in the original dress inspiration

But I will be lowering the neckline, and making it as an asymmetrically fastening ‘jacket’, with the neckline mirroring the hemline.  I’ll be adapting the Truly Victorian #460 cuirasse bodice pattern which I used for the ballgown.  

The fit isn’t bad, and it’s easy to sew.  It may end up sleeveless, or I may contrive something with a bit of the check silk for the skirt, just to cover my granny arms a bit.  I wondered about how to place the asymmetrical fastening, given my bazooms it could all go a bit..er..off-piste, but let’s see.  I’ll have to do a perfunctory toile, just to judge the angles over the shelf, but it should be OK.

If you are dubious about how this will work in a wet look, rubbery finished stretch fabric…so am I!  I’ll use the toile as underlining to cancel out the stretch, and I’ve already been advised to use tissue paper when sewing to avoid the squeak factor.  I could do something amazing with buttons, who knows?

For those of you who still doubt the mix of Victorian with stretchy shiny squeaky stuff, take at look at some of these saucy madams from my Pinterest board…

And for examples of the 1880s love of asymmetry:

I’m hopeful.  Now back to this ruddy marking!