Giant Parti-Colored Kirtle Of Doom!

O.K., so I didn't get the kirtle finished in time for the first weekend. It's looking like it's going to be ready for the second! (Of course, since I didn't have it ready for the first, I ended up borrowing my boyfriend Mark's one extra set of garb for this past Monday, and went to faire as a boy.) *grin*

Here it is, all laid out, pinned, and ready to be sewn (except the sleeves, which I fitted onto myself).


I got no sleep last night whatsoever, opting instead to watch many, many episodes of "Dharma & Greg" and sew buttonholes. These are my very first hand-stitched buttonholes, so I think I did ok for a first try. I had Mark pin me into the dress to figure out where the buttons should go, since my measurements must have been quite off somewhere, and thus the really crooked row of buttons. I made the buttonholes as straight and as evenly spaced as possible, hoping to make up for the randomness of the buttons.



Here's the (almost) finished kirtle! The bottom edge isn't hemmed yet (if you look closely, you can see pins), and I think I'm going to make a very, very small hem on the sleeves (to hide the machine zig zag edge). Since it buttons instead of laces (like my natural-colored kirtle does), it's not *quite* as tight as I'd like, so I'm thinking about sewing some minimal supportive padding in the bust area, just to help prevent sagging.



By the way, I'm using 3.5 oz. handkerchief-weight linen from Fabrics-store.com. I used a mid-weight linen for my cream-colored kirtle, and I like the way it drapes much better, though the part-colored kirtle is a bit better when it's a bajillion degrees outside. *grin*