The nightmare is almost over.
Nov. 10th, 2015 22:16![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mapsedge"Ah'm so busy Ah don't know if Ah lost my horse or found a rope."
Driscoll and I started talking about the dress design back in July or August. Because of other Seamlyne commitments, I didn't start on the prototype until the first of October. By the time the prototype was done and the embroidered pieces were to us, it was just before Halloween. The dresses are due on November 14. Let's do the math: that's fourteen days to make twenty one dresses (and three vests, but they go together quick.) Twenty one Irish dance dresses.
The measurements I'm working from were taken in late July. Between then and now, all of the smallest dancers have grown, meaning all fo the bodices we've made have been too short. Even the older dancers (early teens, I mean) changed enough to make the the sizing problematic. Somehow, I'm not sure how, Brigid (the teacher and owner of the studio) and her mother managed to juggle dresses between dancers until all but one fit somebody. (That one will be a rebuild from scratch, but that doesn't bother me too much.) Her mother also build all the skirts and pinned them to the bodices so all we have to do is stitch.
Tonight, I picked up all of the dresses for their final runs through the shop: permanently attaching the skirts; binding the necks; setting zippers; rhinestoning the necklines; hemming sleeves. We probably won't be done in time for the dealine, but we won't be long past it. There's capes to make after that, but those go together quick, and we can't make those until the dresses are done. Each cape (really just a banner-thingie hanging down the back from the left shoulder) is made for the dress that will use it. The key points - left shoulder, left kidney, right hip - vary by dancer/dress.
The worst part - the making and pinning of the skirts - was done by someone else and is over. I can see an end to the nightmare.
In other news, I finally broke down and ordered a cutting machine. My hands really came away sore from cutting all the velvet, and with that little arthritic reminder I did some shopping and made the call. I had one back in the day, basically an upright reciprocating saw with a rolling base that would cut through 6" of fabric without stuttering, but sold it when we got out of the business back in '06. The new cutter uses a round blade, and will only do up to 2" thick, but that's more than enough for what's going on now. I've got an order for four identical pair of tights that will be a good test for it. Smushed, that's only about 1/2" thick, but that's far more than any pair of scissors I own will cut.
Driscoll and I started talking about the dress design back in July or August. Because of other Seamlyne commitments, I didn't start on the prototype until the first of October. By the time the prototype was done and the embroidered pieces were to us, it was just before Halloween. The dresses are due on November 14. Let's do the math: that's fourteen days to make twenty one dresses (and three vests, but they go together quick.) Twenty one Irish dance dresses.The measurements I'm working from were taken in late July. Between then and now, all of the smallest dancers have grown, meaning all fo the bodices we've made have been too short. Even the older dancers (early teens, I mean) changed enough to make the the sizing problematic. Somehow, I'm not sure how, Brigid (the teacher and owner of the studio) and her mother managed to juggle dresses between dancers until all but one fit somebody. (That one will be a rebuild from scratch, but that doesn't bother me too much.) Her mother also build all the skirts and pinned them to the bodices so all we have to do is stitch.
Tonight, I picked up all of the dresses for their final runs through the shop: permanently attaching the skirts; binding the necks; setting zippers; rhinestoning the necklines; hemming sleeves. We probably won't be done in time for the dealine, but we won't be long past it. There's capes to make after that, but those go together quick, and we can't make those until the dresses are done. Each cape (really just a banner-thingie hanging down the back from the left shoulder) is made for the dress that will use it. The key points - left shoulder, left kidney, right hip - vary by dancer/dress.
The worst part - the making and pinning of the skirts - was done by someone else and is over. I can see an end to the nightmare.
In other news, I finally broke down and ordered a cutting machine. My hands really came away sore from cutting all the velvet, and with that little arthritic reminder I did some shopping and made the call. I had one back in the day, basically an upright reciprocating saw with a rolling base that would cut through 6" of fabric without stuttering, but sold it when we got out of the business back in '06. The new cutter uses a round blade, and will only do up to 2" thick, but that's more than enough for what's going on now. I've got an order for four identical pair of tights that will be a good test for it. Smushed, that's only about 1/2" thick, but that's far more than any pair of scissors I own will cut.