More Draping

No photos in this post I'm afraid, but I thought I'd just do a quick update on my draping progress. I decided I really like the back, but it didn't go with the wrap style of the front. I spent a lot of time thinking about what the front should look like, and taking quick looks at my draping so far to refresh my memory, and then thinking some more.

I finally came up with something I'm very pleased with. So far, anyway. It's a very plain front, with a V-neck and a plain seam at CF up to the V. I pinned the seam, making sure that the knit hung evenly and on grain. I then tried it on as far as it was done, and asked Pearle for an opinion. He thought it looked very nice, especially when I told him it wasn't going to have a bare upper back. So far, so good, except I realized something when I tried it on and looked in the mirror that I hadn't noticed at all when it was on the form. One side (the original overlap side) was on the lengthwise grain, and the other side was on the crosswise grain. It actually worked very well since this is a crinkled, 2-layer knit, and it could be a cute design detail if there was an obvious difference between the two grains, but this just looked like a mistake once you noticed it.

I re-draped the crosswise grain side, and re-pinned the CF and CB seams. Tonight I stitched those seams by hand, and they appear to be fine. BeeBee had the worst time machine sewing this same fabric, and I had quite a time doing some hand basting at first. I wasn't using a large needle by any means, but getting it through several layers of this was really tough. Thank goodness for a very good thimble. So I changed to a very fine needle, a size 10, and had no trouble going through 2 layers for permanent stitching. I think I may have saved myself a lot of trouble by doing this, and at the moment it's easier for me to hand stitch than to get to my machine and do much of anything.

Tomorrow I hope to put the dress back on the form and start working on the back. I'm thinking it would be very nice to have the sleeves incorporated with the back, and I can see how it would be fairly easy to do so.

We watched the Kentucky Derby today, and it was a very exciting race won by Big Brown, but what a sad occurrence just afterward. If you didn't see it, Eight Belles came in second, and after passing the finish line, she suddenly had 2 broken front ankles. Seems this kind of thing happens more and more, although perhaps it really doesn't, it's just so awful when it does that one remembers it vividly. We go to the races locally quite often, and 2 years ago there seemed to be more than their fair share of horse injuries during races. Our local season starts again in a few weeks I believe. I always get a lot of knitting done at the races, so I hope we'll be going often. We're usually able to run out for a few races at least, a few times a week, and it's quite a nice break.