Monday, May 23, 2011

Quilted Petticoat Update

It feels like it's been forever since I updated about my quilted petticoat. Progress has been slow & spotty with fits & starts, but I almost feel like the end is near. Perhaps only 1 or 2 more years (hehe).

I've been considering the wisdom of going insane & using trapunto to make the flowers pop up (literally), but then I'd be obligated to use stippling in the background & I'd be 40, fat(er) and too busy with family to bother going to reenactments. So I think that's not an option until the quilting is done.

The 2 central motifs are done, the 2 side motifs are drawn in & one is almost finished.





The next thing to do (after those flowers & vines are done) is to figure out where my pocket slit is going, stitch that in, cut the excess batting off at the top & then mark the petticoat for the latticework at the top. Once the latticework is nearly complete, I will stitch the side seam together & cord the bottom to hem it & put the waistband on.
OR I'll sew it together & deal with the loop-issue to get the latticework straight.

A note on long-term projects: If you know it's going to be a "forever" kind of thing, take the time to do it right from the beginning. That machine stitched hem at the side is going to drive me absolutely nuts. I'm sure I'm the only one who will ever know (except for y'all), but that's beside the point. In my fever-flu state I clearly was not thinking clearly. Come to that, this is my "sick" project, so I'm sure I've made some very poor decisions along the way.



- If you do something like this, put a muslin lining between the batting & the silk, it will help a lot (the batting won't pull through as much).
- Use real silk thread - totally worth the cost in a long-term project like this.
- Buy more than enough thread & reserve it (because JoAnn's doesn't carry this color anymore!)




So, on that note, I'm done with my break & must get back to packing for this event.
"On the Road Again..."