The idea for this latest creation came to me a couple of weeks ago, when I was in my local fabric store looking at trims, specifically one that consisted of tiny rag pieces of black, white & grey tulle. I designed the whole look around this trim and was really excited about it. Of course when I went back to the store, it was gone. So, to quote Mr. Gunn, I had to "make it work".
The closest thing I could find was some ostrich feather trims - a black one, a white one and a white with black stripes. I made a small, yoked petticoat with tulle, then attached the feather trim to the yoke. The feathers were too long to be left as was, so I went through and curled them all (the same way one curls ribbon), as you can see in the pics above. I'm not sure quite yet if I want to take them shorter or leave them as is, but that can be decided upon later.
I've decided that the collar is too big - quoting Mr. Gunn again it's a "lot of look" - so that will be redone into something thinner. One of the main obtacles with the jacket was figuring out how it could be removable yet be worn by a "hand-on-hip" Silkstone...I really wanted that particular body pose as it exudes to much 'tude, but the thumb sticks out so much, regular sleeves won't fit over, unless they opening is left very large, which wouldn't have worked at all. So I came up with the solution of not hemming the sides below the elbow, instead lining and sewing the side seams of the lining & fabric together - they will be secured by loops and buttons - I have some tiny black freshwater pearls to use for that. The pouffiness of the upper sleeve also worked for the thumb issue - I'm really pleased how that turned out...my first time doing that. If you're not sure how it's done, all you do is take your regular sleeve pattern piece, cut it in to strips of equal size, lay them down on whatever you use to make patterns, space the pieces apart equally, then draft the new pattern from that outline. Easy :)
I'm painting later tonight, so no more sewing for today, so the collar will be fixed tomorrow, hopefully have her all finished by the end of the week, if the Swarovski crystals I ordered arrive in time...
