tweaks & toiles

The second fitting of the ETD gown went pretty well. The bodice foundation just needed a couple of tweaks in the fitting here and there. After looking at my inspiration gowns and Arnold again (and referancing Nicole's & Katherine's versions of this bodice) I realized I probably cut the neckline a little low so I’ll need to fix that in the next toile.

The "sleeve" layer toileing, which will be out of crinkle chiffon, went pretty well too. I started with the under bodice from my now defunct Peacock Dress, which used the bodice from my Erte gown (which was in turn based on the Sense & Sensibility 1911 Kimono Dress pattern). Luckily for me I was smart and kept not only the master pattern I'd created for that project but the last toile as well so I was able to quickly sew that up and try it on yesterday. I noted the adjustments needed (the size - too small now - moo! and the sleeve length) and cut a new toile.

The updated toile looked pretty good, just tweaking really. So all that work on a dress that never was wasn’t wasted! The biggest change was to opt for gathers at the center front rather than the darts of the Peacock bodice. The gathered should be really pretty in the soft chiffon.

I quickly took off the toile, made some of the fitting adjustments (like bringing up the kimono sleeve under the arm to create a more fitted look), tried it on a again and marked further adjustments. The sleeves need to be shorter, the bodice bottom needs to be evened out. So new toiles were cut and sewn so I'm all ready for the next fitting...