Both coat and dress are done now.  Woven, cut, sewn, hemmed, lined – DONE, DONE, DONE!!!  Sharon and I broke out a bottle of champagne to celebrate last night, and then (for the last time) I took the garments home.  They are carefully folded, stowed safely in garment bags, awaiting their appraisal this weekend and their Big Moment in June.

Some words  of thanks seem in order:

• First, to Sharon.  Her help has been invaluable, both in fitting and in  sewing the dress.  The perfect fit, the flow, and more complicated sewing are her work, and she provided the guidance to me as I did the bulk of the work.  Without it, I could never have completed either coat or dress a tenth as well.
• Second, to the handweaving community for helping me through many technical issues as I sampled, studied, and eventually learned how to weave the fabric for the dress.  Without you, the fabric would have been much poorer, and the path at least twice as difficult.
• Third, to my mother, for teaching me fiber arts as a child.  If not for you, I might never have gotten into fiber arts, and none of this would have been possible.
• And, finally, to YOU, my blog readers, for cheering me on through the difficult parts, and celebrating my successes with me.  Your support meant a lot to me, especially in the days when I wondered whether I’d EVER finish this thing, or if it would be a tenth as beautiful as the dress of my dreams.  It is, and I’m grateful for your support along the way.

I realized today that you’d never seen Sharon, despite all her invaluable work, and so I leave you with a photo of my co-conspirator and sewing mentor, and the two finished garments:

Now, on to the next adventure!

Having (gasp!) nothing left to do on the dress until I visit Sharon this afternoon, I thought I’d start putting together my samples for the Complex Weavers’ garment and fine threads study group.  Then I realized that, before cutting up samples for Complex Weavers, I’d better make sure I have enough fabric for that and my wedding favors.  (Which, as you may recall, were going to be bookmarks, made from the dress and coat fabrics.)

So I did a little cutting and sewing and came up with this:

The one on the right has both ends zigzagged, cut off, and treated with Seams Great.  The one on the left has the top end stitched and turned inside out, and the bottom end zigzagged, cut off, and treated with Seams Great.  I think I actually prefer the version with both ends zigzagged and cut off; the look is more consistent, and the version with one end stitched and inverted has a tendency to curl.

You can’t see it in the photo, but the one on the left is backed  with the charmeuse lining fabric, and the one on the right is backed with the dress fabric.  While I like the idea of having a double-sided bookmark with dress  on one side and coat on the other, the charmeuse-backed bookmark is considerably thinner and drapier, which makes it a better bookmark, I think.  But the other one is acceptable as well, so I’ll have to take it off and think about it.

I am not 100% happy with the workmanship on the bookmarks, but I expect I can do better given a few “practice” ones.  With about 85 to make (75 guests plus some extras, just in case), I’ll have plenty of opportunity to practice!

Yesterday I spent nearly all day working on my dress form.  I apparently didn’t put enough mold release on it, so a large fraction of the plaster bandages bonded tightly to the form and had to be coaxed, scraped, and finally chiseled off (very gently so as not to destroy the foam underneath).  But it’s just about ready to be mounted and covered – probably another day or two will finish the job.  Then, of course, I have to make a second one.  I hope the folks at CNCH appreciate all the trouble I’m going to for the display!

Pix of the dress form later, of course, once I get it mounted and covered  in fabric.