on the whole “not dead yet” thing.  When I had dental work done, the dentist prescribed Clindamycin, an antibioic, and I am having a bad reaction to it (don’t worry, I won’t go into details.)  I canceled my lessons today, which I hate to do (I don’t get sick days) but I have to remind myself to not run myself into the ground – better to take a day off and feel better, than to work through it and end up out for weeks!

I have been working on my sundress.  I made a muslin of the bodice, and I have to say that the sizing is a little strange.  I took a size 6 in the bust – smaller than usual for me – but I had to cut almost 2 sizes bigger in the waist!  Hopefully it will fit – I am still nervous about the waist size.  Of course, I can always sew that part with a smaller seam allowance if I have to.  It took me quite awhile to get started because I was considering my options on 2 points – the underlining and the buttonholes.  I’ve decided to do regular buttonholes rather than bound.  The underlining, I am happy to say, is much easier now that I’ve used a tip I found  here.

I’m using silk organza, which gives a lovely body to my rather thin fabric (I suspect it was meant to be sheets.)  But silk organza is very hard to cut and sew evenly, as it shifts around like crazy.  This method solves that.  Basically, you cut a block of the organza, big enough for your pattern piece.  Lay the cut fabric piece face up on the organza, and then pin everywhere (a crazy amount of pins, as it says in the link.)

Finally, pin around the edges and hand baste.  Hand basting is important for underlining, because it will wrinkle and shift if you try to machine baste, even with a walking foot.  I use a new piece of thread for every edge, and I use colored embroidery floss because it’s easier to remove later.  Finally, cut around the piece with a rotary cutter and remove the pins.

I also baste through the center of darts, so that the layers don’t shift when sewing them.  And no, I won’t be winning any awards for my even basting skills, but it works well enough!

Cutting the organza after it’s sewn does save time, and it certainly saves me frustration!  I did not attempt to match the pattern on the dress, except for making sure that the center back matches.  It has a very large repeat, and I would have driven myself crazy!  I’ve also shortened the dress by 7 inches, making it hopefully right at my knees.  I still have quite a bit of underlining to do before I even get to the actual dress sewing, but I’m hoping it will all be worth it!