The magic of a good hard press

I woke up early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up and gave the dress fabric two more hard presses, spritzing the fabric until damp and then ironing until (almost) dry.  What a difference!

Here’s a photo that shows the difference clearly:

The difference is clear, even  in the smaller photo (click to see the larger one): the top half, which has been pressed twice, is considerably more lustrous and smooth than the bottom half.  (It drapes better, too.)

And, just for the eye candy, here is a photo of the finished fabric – click in to see the larger version, the small version doesn’t do it justice:

It’s beautiful!  Just as I’d hoped it would be.

It does have quite a few flaws (I was having trouble with one floating shaft), but I’ve marked them with safety pins and should be able to cut around them.  I wove 16 yards and will likely only need about 12, so I do have extra yardage to work with!

Despite being less energetic than usual yesterday (still recovering from the stomach flu), I also managed to weave about half a yard of coat fabric and go see my sewing mentor.  We worked some more on the dress fit, and think we have it close enough that she is going to start sewing the foundation for the dress.

Off to work!  I’m working from home today, so as not to spread the stomach-flu joy, but I have a LOT to catch up on!