Easter Good Fortune

 

Don’t you just love a good sewing day?  Every now and again, everything seems to go just right.  This was such a day.  I should have bought a lottery ticket.

Of course, I am hard at work on Laurel’s Easter frock, Judith Dobson’s Heirloom Tea Dress (see three previous posts). The flip flop lace above the puffing was a new experience for me.  Sometimes, new methods can go bad when you are facing a deadline and working on an important project.  But flip flopping was quick and easy. It made me feel a little political.

I have always hesitated to flip flop.  The name is a little wacky and it reminds  me of election campaigns.  Additionally,  I don’t like to see the back side of lace on the front side of my garment.   But the lace I selected has a very intricate pattern, making it hard to tell the right side from wrong.   It seemed like a good choice for this technique.  

So I marched on and was happy  that I didn’t cut the lace when trimming away the base fabric from underneath.   All the pinstitch pivots turned nicely and the puffing band joined to the skirt without incident. 

 Not only that— my bobbins didn’t give out before the seam or pass ended. Life is good.  And it wasn’t even dinner time  yet. 

After rinsing out the blue marker lines and waiting for the skirt to dry, I even got started on the petticoat.  I hadn’t really thought much about the blue slip until I was ready to cut it out. 

 Then it occurred to me that the bodice had to have the same lines as the dress.  Using the same pattern piece, I simply marked the skirt seam line 1/2″ lower than the lace insertion.  This allows the blue batiste to lie flat under the lace and for  the gathers to fall just below the lace.

The other modifications were few and simple.  The neckline was cut 3/8″ lower and 1/2″ was trimmed away from the shoulder and down the armscye.  When the skirt was dry, I put the slip bodice aside.  But I  feel like I have a head start on it.   

To top off  my afternoon of good sewing luck, Bob brought in Chinese food for dinner so I didn’t have to cook.  He had egg foo yung, I had lemon chicken and we each had a fortune cookie.  I couldn’t believe it when I read mine.  It said, “You will prosper in the field of wacky inventions.”