Well, thanks to Polly/Oliver, I’m still running three days late for HSF challenges, but my Chinoiserie skirt is done (done, done, done DONE!), and I swear this is the last time I’m late and my White challenge will be in before the deadline! The Chinoiserie skirt has been a bit of a sewing rollercoaster.  It’s gone terribly well, and then well, terribly, and then terribly well, and then well, terribly.  Now that it’s done I think I’m pretty pleased with it. Kinda unsure though. So what went terribly well?  The double piping, as long as it was around moderate curves.  Just look at how tiny and neat it is here, even just pinned on: And then sewed on properly: It’s the perfect blend of my Chinese inspiration, and Western sewing in 1903 (though they might very well have done it exactly as it was done in China). Unfortunately, when it came to apply the piping around the extremely sharp corners and curves of some of the front detailing, things went well, terribly. The one on …

Over the last few days I have been hard at work on the 1903 Chinoiserie Promenade Dress (yes!  It has an official name, date, and designation), and have realised how much I’ve bitten off. Mostly I’ve been working on the skirt decoration.  My design inspiration looked like this: I played with other ideas: But they looked a little too…vulgar?  Crude?  (In most senses of the words.) So I stuck with my original design inspiration.  I sketched it out on to a piece of fabric laid out on the skirt, cut out my sketched shape, and pinned in on the skirt to get an idea of how it would look. It’s a little more spread out and subtle than in the design sketch, but I think it works better that way as a real-life translation. With the design sorted, I needed the fabric to make my applique shapes out of.  I rummaged through the entire stash, but nothing seemed right, so it was time for a trip to the Asia Gallery  (and a fervent prayer they …