Multitasking at its best!

Well, I've been multitasking.  Big time.  But, honestly, I prefer it that way.  In the last several weeks I've accomplished a whole bunch of projects, or at least got them to a good stopping point.

Project #1-  The skirt for the Diamond Ball gown, which is now sewn.  I haven't finished the hem yet since I don't know what shoes I will be wearing and so I am not sure of the length quite yet.  I used Truly Victorian pattern 225- 1878 Fantail Skirt, which I've used a number of times now and it is quite lovely.  I need to make a new petticoat so that the skirts don't fall in on themselves like you see in the photo.  And speaking of petticoats, I came up with a (I think) brilliant idea for the train on this gown.  For anyone who hasn't danced in a Victorian gown before, trains are dangerous. They are a train wreck waiting to happen.  Modern people are not used to looking out for trains on the dance floor, and they have a tendency to get stepped on, causing the dancer to go down, potentially taking out other dancers with her.  So they are pseudo-banned from the dance floor for the most part.  Truly Victorian patter 121- 1879 Petticoat with Detachable Train has, surprise surprise, a detachable train!  So, when I make the petticoat up, I will do a duplicate of the detachable train in my ball gown fabric and voila!!!!  Beautiful train on the gown for dinner, no train on the gown for dancing.  PERFECT!!!  Also, I ordered some trims and pearls and such for the trimming on this gown, but this will be a long process of procuring the right stuff, so this gown is essentially on hold except for the train and the petticoat.

 Project #2- For the masquerade ball, Matt will be dressing as a raven/crow, his favorite animal.  So, I found this fantastic black and gold feather brocade on Ebay of all places, and I made up a vest for him using the Laughing Moon Men's Single and Double Breasted Frock Coats with 2 Vests (1850-1915) pattern.  The photo isn't fantastic and it looks a bit awkward on my mannequin since it has a bust and the vest (and my husband!) do not.  But truly, it came out beautifully, and the pockets on the vest are so clever!!!  I'll have to get a better photo at some point.  At any rate, it's complete except for button holes and  buttons, and I have some on order.

Project #3- I put some thought into the blue satin and velvet gown, and I decided to go with the Truly Victorian #423 Two-tone Bodice pattern.  I made a muslin mockup, and it fits beautifully over my corset as is pretty much.  The pattern is designed to button up the front, but it was easy enough to change that to a back closure.  I also adjusted the neckline so that it was square sided with a sweetheart twist, and I dropped the back neckline.  I backed the velvet and satin with corset coutil to give it a nice base, and have made the bodice except for the lining.  The satin is just beautiful, and the photo doesn't do the depth of the midnight royal satin justice, but you get the basic idea of where it's at.  I think that, truthfully, it has the potential to be my best gown yet, though it has a lot of competition in the Starry Night gown!!!  The next step on this is to line the bodice and get that settled, then attach the drapery.  The underskirt will be made from Truly Victorian #297 1898 Flared Skirt in the floral satin with velvet trimmings.  I'm definitely looking forward to the completion of this one!!!
Project #4- Months ago I started working on the Plain Bodice pattern that is the basis of nearly ALL of the patterns in Frances Grimble's pattern books.  I FINALLY GOT IT FITTING WELL!!!  It took 5 iterations and a mountain of tweaks (and 2 complete re-starts), but it's pretty much perfect.  I ended up taking some bodices that I have already made that I know fit perfectly and finding a happy balance between the basic Plain Bodice and those.  The photo of the completed product looks simpler than the drawing in the book mostly because it has none of the 'weigh points' on it, but they are one in the same.  It's super nice to have this completed finally since this opens the door to nearly all of the bodices in the book, so I can branch out into new territory!!!!  HOW FUN!!!!