After much hemming and hawing (no pun intended), I made the overgown. Well, it’s not quite done yet. Need to finish hand-sewing the trim around the incredibly wide neckline. Also need to add sash ties in the back because in my attempt to make the overgown big enough to go over the first gown, I made it a bit too loose. I used the exact same pattern for the overgown as for the under and added a half inch at the center front and center back. That would have been fine, if not for the fact that stretch velvet requires an overlock “faux serger” stitch on my machine, which works best with a 3/8″ seam — as opposed to the 5/8″ standard on this pattern. Doh! I don’t want the overgown to look baggy, so simply adding ties at the side back seams to bring it in a smidge will look nice (you see this same trick on a lot of “one-size only” dresses). Naturally, I have to complicate this by making the sash ties out of the same sari trim as on the undergown, which means I need to back the sashes with something, black satin or cotton from The Stash.
But those are the only things left. Unless I decide to add more trim around the edges. I have a black and silver twisted cord that would give more depth and texture to the trims. Hah. Like I want to do more hand-sewing! Ugh. The black velvet ribbon with rhinestones trim on the overgown had to be hand-sewn, once on the top edge and again on the bottom (still to do). Twice! Bleh. Double of my least favourite type of work. Ah well, it’s almost over. And let’s face it — the whole thing looks incredibly pretty. I will be quite the Gothic Arwen 🙂