Catnap dress update

Another Catnap dress contest update! I know you really need to know how I have been cobbling this together. Jeez, I am so hamfisted. The cutting has all been fine, especially with my new huge cutter. The pockets were easy. The skirt was pretty easy. I even managed to correct a mistake I made last time which made the whole thing a lot easier.

I even had time to put in a little label on my pocket and make the hem detail neon yellow. I do love a bit of neon.

Behold! I managed to sew double lines on the waistband and gathered them gently without snapping the thread this time. Much neater and much easier to achieve. Last time was a bit of a battle. The skirt came together very quickly.

Here I am whizzing over the gathering with my see through foot, very useful foot it is too.

The bodice was the first cock up. I cut the arm holes a bit longer as I was having difficulties getting Penelope's arms in the last one. She wriggles. She moves. She fights me. I needed help. So I made them bigger. Then I suddenly decided to make sleeves and cut the sleeves without adding the extra length. Okay, I thought, I can cobble this together. So the arm holes had weird pleats. Then I blind/invisible stitched them on like I had never held a needle in my life. I have hand bound so many quilts, how can I mess this up? I just couldn't work it out. I unpicked, I did it again. It was marginally better. The second arm better still. In hindsight I should have practiced, but, well, life is so short. Then I stood back, wiped the sweat off my brow and thought the whole thing looked like a patchwork gypsy dress. I have nothing against that, but it wasn't the modern sophisticated Top Cat look I was going for. She's not Rag-dolly Anne or Aunt Sally, she's... she's... Lordy, something else.

So I thought about it.

Then I asked Rachel.

Then I unpicked the arms. Sigh. I just HATE going backwards.

Don't look at it for too long! I can't change my mind now. They are gone.

And now me and the ace wonderclips have a date. I had trimmed the seams so there is not a lot of fabric to play with so I am carefully clipping and pinching and folding and blind/invisible hemming them together very neatly and slowly. I need to get a wriggle on if I am to meet the deadline. This endless cold is not helping, nor is watching Scandanavian dramas with subtitles as I can not look away from the screen.

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