Having to be productive on a Bank Holiday Monday while the rest of the country takes a day off generally makes for a relaxed attitude toward whatever it is one is meant to be doing. Combine that with having only gotten six hours of sleep, and the approach becomes positively lethargic. I did feel a bit perkier after my twenty-minute lunchtime nap, but even so, I could have accomplished a lot more today.

Today we started on the bodice, and it was slow going. Period bodices involve lots of curved seams that just don’t want to ease in nicely, no matter how much you coax them. And, along with all the usual faff, we had the added bonus of zig-zagging, in scalloped shapes as necessary, each and every seam allowance. I don’t like zig-zagging to start with; somehow I can never quite get right on the edge of the fabric like you’re supposed to. But zig-zagging in a scalloped shape? That is a whole new kettle of fish. Let’s just say I ended up with some “special” scallops…

Oh, and then there was the forty-five minutes I spent on about two inches of a seam to create one of my pleats at the center back. It’s one of those awkward things where you have to stitch two bits together right up to a specific point, and then carry on from that exact point with one of the original bits and then a new bit. It’s a similar thing to what got me that day with the jacket – pleats and corners are just not my strong suit.

Here’s another photo of the inside, just for kicks:

So then at the end of the day I put it on the form, and you know what? Somehow it doesn’t look as good as I thought it would. I have no idea what I was expecting, especially as this is what I had planned for all along.

I currently have three fabric options for the pin-tucked/bloused out panel that’s going into the center front (which I went over budget to get), and do you know what? I think I am going to scrap all of them and use the striped taffeta instead, to better combine the two halves. I’m also going to cut some bias strips of the stripe and pipe around the hem, and what the heck, I’ll add a stripey detail at the cuffs too. I think.

So that’s that. We’re staying late tomorrow night and Thursday night, so that should help make up for today’s lethargy. The game plan for tomorrow is to finish finishing the seams (i.e. zig-zagging and scalloping three more bits), cut out some facing, make some piping, hide the mess and hem it all up nice, and make up the sleeves. I actually don’t know if I am capable of all of that in one day – it all sounds simple enough, but then it’s always the simple things that take ages for apparently no reason. We can but try.

Here’s hoping for sleeves by tomorrow night!