After making this dress, I found an article that said it is rightly called a 'PELLOTE'.
www.virtue.to/articles/extant.html
The italics wouldn't turn off, so I'm starting a new post about the surcoat with nap.
I have made the changes to the shoulder seam., to make it shorter, I cut it too long in the waist. The hip seam is changed to give it the most width, I cut that too small. The bottom facing is assembled and ready to be sewn to the bottom raw edge. I will work on it NEXT WEEK. I will pin the the whole thing near the sides and top edge with safety pins to keep each section aligned with its counterpart. But for actual sewing, I'm going to work with the 6" of fabric in front of me, slowly and carefully with no paper or pins.
I'm not clear on how to finish these seams. The allowance isnt big enough for a flat-felled seam and I DON"T have a serger. If fact, I don't really want to work on this dress. I want to have one, but not make one.
March 17th.
I don't know how it happened, but I've just picked up this sewing project after a break and it sewed like a dream. I just sewed the huge facing to the bottom hem and it went on like a dream.
I've just finished sewing the seam allowance to the facing, right next to the seam. It makes the facing lay nice. Now all that's needed is to handsew the top of the facing to the inside and it's DONE.
I have handsewed the top of the facing to the dress. You caN see the stitches, but I hope pressing will fix that. Anyway, I'm calling this dress Finished. Now to work on a hat.
Hat First Try:
I looked at the Burda pattern and a site I found,
http://www.virtue.to/articles/coffee.htmlbut found them hard to understand. I used a buckram like material from my stash as an interfacing between two pieces of linen for the fillet(ring around head). I used scraps of linen and muslin sewn right sides together, then flipped for the barbette(chin strap). I think it's too wobbly. Could be taller, to hide my head and stiffer.
