I finished fusing the interfacing yesterday morning, and re-did the markings on the right front, right side panel, and right back today. So I am back to where I was before the fiasco!
Teresa suggested that I not use fusible interfacing on such a precious fabric. Unfortunately I didn’t see the comment until I had already fused the interfacing to the fabric, or I might have changed my mind. We did consider organza as an underlining, but felt it was too crisp for the flow we wanted, so decided to use fusible interfacing with organza on the facings to add a bit of crispness to the garment edges. However, I didn’t think of trying another sew-in interfacing. Too late now, but next time I will ask Sharon about alternatives. I do generally prefer sew-in interfacings to fusibles.
However, this fusible interfacing is a very nice one, an inserted-weft one with good body and a buttery drape. So I don’t think it’s going to be disastrous, just maybe not quite as nice as a sew-in. Next time I’ll try a mid-weight sew-in interfacing and see which I like better. I still have maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the Infinite Warp left, so I might try another garment with a different underlining on it, as an experiment.
Anyway, I have now completed marking the three right body panels, and now it’s on to the three left body panels and the facings. After that I will sew the darts, baste the body panels together, and then match/mark/cut the sleeves – which were tricky to match on the muslin. And then, I’ll start assembling the garment!
I’m hoping to get a lot done this weekend – it’s a three-day weekend for me (Stanford observes Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday). I’ll probably have to work for part of it, as my team is launching one website next week and one very tricky one the week after that, but otherwise I should be able to focus on the construction.
And, Mike and I are going to see our first four houses on Saturday! We’ve never gone househunting before (at least, not to buy a house), so we’re really excited. Some of them have garages that have already been converted into living spaces, which would give me a head start on putting a studio there. And the prices for bottom-end single-family houses are unbelievably low right now (for the Bay Area, anyway), so it seems likely we’ll find something well within our budget.
Heady times, indeed!
I would have to second the objection to fusible interfacing. It is worth the extra time to use real, tailor’s interfacing, so, perhaps your next project will include that, instead of fusible. The fusible does tend to peel away after awhile. Have you considered taking a tailoring course? I took a semester of that when I was at FIT and learned some fabulous techniques, all time-tested. (I majored in woven textiles, but took the garment classes for my electives, and for my own purposes. Getting my arm twisted until I signed up for basic construction was the best thing…altho I didn’t think so at the time. Like all the new students I claimed that “I already know how to sew” but, once we got into the course, we all realized that there was more to it!) Anyway, tailoring techniques are a great tool to have in your bag of tricks.