More Edwardian

I've been busy and out of town, hence the long break in posting. One project involved a last minute (2-day) dress being sewn, because I didn't think anything in my closet was suitable. It's off topic, since I designed it before my current Victorian and Edwardian obsession, and it needs revisions. Going from a pattern made from a woven mockup to a stretch fabric is challenging. Far better than my last attempt, but I think what I want to do with the bust part of the dress may not be entirely feasible. I'm still running revision options through my head.

I've also learned that stitching a design on the back takes me about 10 hours; this is the second back design I've completed. At some point an embroidery machine will be an excellent investment (I think), but in the meantime I'm getting decent at maneuvering a hooped piece of fabric around curves (with the feed dogs on).

Now, back to the regular content. Indiamos has added some updates to A Daily Hint From Paris flickr set.

I'm rather taken with the trailing flower vine going up the underskirt on the left dress, and the flowery vest of the second outfit.

The problem with stitching a design on the back of my clothing is that I can't enjoy looking at it, and neither can anyone talking to or facing me. It's only visible if I walk by and someone happens to be looking at my back. My next shirt is already supposed to have design elements on the front rather than the back; it's just so tempting to fill in the large blank space of the back.

I think the amount of detail on the vest could drive me nuts if I took my usual approach, but it might be an excellent application of the Spoonflower custom fabric printing. I think I can get around a flat quarter of full design in an uncompressed tiff file, but I haven't tried uploading a compressed file. My test project when I'm ready to splurge the money is to see how large of a design I can get in a single file. I'm thinking there are some really cool possibilities with seam matching and such if entire pattern pieces can be printed out (kind of like ClothKits, but with customized clothing and designs).

Of the other newer images, the triangles on the bottom of the skirt in this Mauve Satin dress I find amusing. I also find this Velvet and Ermine Mantle entertaining, but in this case I like the interesting design.