It took me a couple of days, but I finished prick-stitching the front edge to the piping, giving a neat, flat edge that runs precisely up to the piping.  I also graded and pressed the seams.  And what a difference!  Check it out:

See how flat the section to the left of the pin is, and how puffy the untreated section is?  Huge difference.  I will have to remember this for my next piece.

So now I am embarking on the last few pieces: adjusting sleeve length, putting in piping around the sleeve edges, and applying the sleeve lining.  But first I need to get the snaps sewn on correctly, which is giving me conniptions: I can’t seem to get the snaps sewn on so the stripes hang straight and there are no unsightly bulges.  I spent several frustrating hours fiddling with it last night, and will tackle it again this morning.  I got it working on a dress form…but then as soon as I put it on, found out that it didn’t work on a moving figure.  More testing, I guess!  Fortunately I am only basting on the snaps so removal is quick and easy.

And I have started exploring ideas for the next project.  I’ve spent several hours poring over the haute couture collections from the last few years (Style.com is a great resource there), and have been snipping all the interesting-looking photos into Evernote, my favorite (electronic) note-taking system.  Over the next week or two, I’m going to look through them, identify the design components that appeal to me, and try to come up with something that will look good on me, as opposed to an impossibly tall, skinny model.  I will probably only wear it a few times (for photography, and maybe for one or two fashion shows) but I want it to look good when I do.

I do have to scale down my visions somewhat, though.  I am missing a lot of basic skills needed to create the piece – for example, my pattern drafting skills need significant work before I can draft the pattern myself.  So I will have to ramp up on those before I’m prepared to tackle this project.  It also takes a long time to sew a couture garment (shades of the wedding-dress!), so if I want to finish the project in the next year, I’d better not design something too complicated.  There will be time for that once my skills improve.

And, finally, I am starting my shibori workshop this week!  Our first assignment is clamped-resist shibori.  I plan to tackle that on Sunday, after I finish modifying the jacket.

I was getting bored with understitching the facing (about halfway done now), so I took a couple hours out and made the hat!  Here it is:

I had to modify the pattern substantially to arrive at this hat, but I like it a lot.  It squishes down for a beret, or can be pulled up for a rainbow crown.  And I like the piping; it defines the boundaries and keeps it from disintegrating into a shapeless mass of color.

It’s not quite done yet – still needs the size adjusted and the lining put in – but the outer shell is done and it’s looking pretty good.  I’m happy with it.

Tomorrow I’m driving up to AVL to retrieve the loom (let’s hope it’s ready!), which will be great – I’d really like to get some weaving done!  My hands are itching to hold a shuttle.

The jacket is coming along nicely:

It’s amazing, how nicely the black piping around the edges defines the shape and rescues it from giant-blob-of-color-land.  I’m still considering whether I want piping around the shoulder seam, where the sleeve meets the body.  There will definitely be piping on the hem of the sleeve.

We are now down to the fussy hand-work.  I have finished putting the Hong Kong finish on the edge of the bottom facing, and am now understitching the facing.  By hand.

Why by hand, you ask?  Well, Sharon did tell me it would be OK to understitch by machine, but I thought it looked just awful:

The section to the left of the pin is done by machine.  See the ugly black line near the piping, and the way it rolls the bottom edge into an unsightly bulge?

The section to the right of the pin is understitched by hand.   No ugly line and no bulges.

After I finish understitching, I will grade the seams, press the garment, catchstitch the bottom facing into place, hem the lining, and put in the shoulder pads.  By the time I get to Sharon’s on Sunday, there should only be a few finishing touches left – the sleeve lining, deciding whether to put piping around the sleeve seam, and figuring out the fasteners.  So I think the jacket will be finished (cross fingers!) in about a week.

No progress on the hat (yet).  I’m planning to tackle it as soon as I finish the hand-work on the jacket.  Probably Friday, or Sunday morning.