Truly. Deeply. Madly

rebel_poet_1030, a new addition to my flist, just posted this little piece of satirical perfection.

First line in, and I knew I had to share. Turn up the volume, and get out your broadnibs, all you Grammarians! Here comes your battlecry.

However I'm actually having metric arseloads of FUN ripping apart my old 1860 ball gown! I'd had to slam the thing together in a blazing rush -- I think this might have been another of Catt's Amazing 4 Day Outfits, but I don't clearly recall, -- and in the underskirt in particular, many of the hidden hems are just tragic from a workmanship perspective. It looks okay when worn as intended; over a hoop and under a topskirt, but a second look, and all the errors leap right out. The bodice and topskirt both look considerably better, but the underskirt is an absolute train wreck.

And moreover, since I now no longer do costumed caroling at Christmas, I DON'T NEED AN 1860 BALLGOWN! BWAAAHAHAHAHAYAMOTHAFUCKAHS!!!

So I decided, literally, "Fuckit!" And have taken the scissors to it. No, not the thread snips or seam rippers, I mean the shears, baby! No mercy! The ten yards of box pleated ruffle is off now, and I've found a good shape for kilting up the blue velvet centerpiece so it can be incorporated into an 1890 gown. The bodice design is a trifle old, but workable, since evening gown bodices generally cycled back between the 60's and the 90's, and with the addition of my bustle, some gloves, and a lot of judicious pinning, I should be able to make this badness fly. The tricky part is this: I still don't have a dress form.

The one dodging_fate and I put together is close enough for some work, although it is still bigger than I am somehow -- I know because a shirt that fits perfectly on me doesn't button on it, -- the trouble is, I haven't yet got the innards for it -- the spine for vertical stability, and the ability to affix a stand, and the bottom and shoulder rounds to keep the batting inside from just squashing at random and oozing out the bottom. It's no good for skirt drape fitting, and I can't bloody well drape my own skirts properly while I'm wearing them. So I just might make one of my guests tonight be my draping stand. Either that, or it'll have to be aquila_dominus, because we wear the same trouser size, and his legs are exactly the same length as mine.

Heh. He'll be mortified, I bet.

Cheers!
C