Waisted Kirtle

Once twice.. three times…

I’m making good progress on my waisted cotehardie. I badly wanted to wear it this last weekend (very hot Mist/Cyn war).. but sadly it’s still far from being done.

I finished sewing down the binding strip between the skirt and bodice and -then- I tried the dress on. Overall I like how the dress is fitting but after nitpicking for a while I decided the bodice was too long across the lower back. So I marked where it needed to be shorter, removed the skirt and binding strip, cut it down and then finally reattached the skirt.

This time I tried it on BEFORE finishing the binding strip. Now I -really- like how the dress is fitting. So over the next few days I’ll finish the binding strip and start working on the sleeves.

Flidais gave me a copy of her short-sleeve pattern for her cotehardie. I made a mockup with her pattern and tried it on. The fit is mostly right at the armseye but a bit small in the bicep. I fiddled with the pattern and came up with an update. The update was pretty close but still needed a bit of fiddling. So I fiddled it a bit more and last night attached it to the bodice. Unfortunately I sewed it on backwards. *sigh* (it was late at night and I was watching TV and not paying attention) So tonight I’ll remove the sleeve, re-attach it and then try the dress on. If it works well then I’ll be all set to make the sleeves out of the “real” fabric and get that part of the dress done.

Originally I thought I’d use a binding strip to add the sleeves but I changed my mind. Since the sleeves are two layers of linen I think I’ll sew them in on one side and then hand-finish the other side. This will end up with a less bulky seam than if I’d used a binding strip and should be strong enough to hold up since those seams aren’t -really- under stress.

Assuming I get the mockup sleeve removed and reattached correctly. And assuming that once I try it on I don’t need to fiddle with the sleeve pattern any more, I should be able to make the final short sleeves for this tonight.

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