"Spring is the Time of Plans and Projects..."

This last week was spring break for the school district in which I work. Breaks are always a mixed blessing for me. While I love the extra time to sew and clean, I always end up falling into schedule with my husband (who works nights) which makes adjusting when I go back to work difficult.

It also seems I'm ten times busier on break than I am during a normal work week, and this break was no different. Monday, I took a trip with my friend R into Chicago for some massive fabric shopping. I ended up coming home with 49 yards of silk taffeta (29 ivory, 20 striped), 1.5 yds black wool knit, and 7 yds dark blue cotton voile.

Left: Ivory Taffeta
 Right: Seafoamish green with coraly/cream stripes

I have plans for just about everything (the ivory taffeta I've only plans for five yards of the roll. *BUT* I figured-you never know when some ivory taffeta will come in handy, right?)

I've also been helping my friend S to get together a better documented kit for her F&I unit. I'm so excited for her and she's doing such a great job! She's been coming to my house once a month or so for what have been affectionately coined "sweatshop Saturdays."  

We've made a ton of progress, so far, so I wanted to share some of what we've done. S has done most of the actual sewing, I've just done the drafting/draping and sewn some when we've needed to be ready for the next step.

S in her new stays - almost done! I took her measure
using what I learned from my  B&T 18th c. stay making
workshop with M. Hutter and we used the stay pattern
from Costume Close Up p.63. 

We boned her stays with a combination of mostly ash splint, metal at CB and a spot or two elsewhere, and some artificial baleen. S wore her stays not only while I was draping her gown, but also while she cooked supper. She said they were very comfortable and was very happy that they gave the girls a bit of a lift. =)

Draping S's gown. Gown draping was my first B&T class
ever (almost three years ago!) I've grown so much from
their classes and I still reference my notes from Brooke's class
to help me make better historical clothing. =)

We got quite a bit done on her gown yesterday, including getting the bodice fronts ready for fitting and setting the pleats in the back. All we have left is to stitch down the back pleats, fit fronts to back, drape/set sleeves, and attach skirts. All said, not bad for a day's work.