My niece's outfit

While I'm still hot in the glory of the creation of my gold brocade, I'm diligently working on my 16 year-old niece's rennaisance outfit for next year. It is based on Simplicity Pattern 3809:

My niece, Storm, wants outfit B with the bunched skirt and short-sleeved blouse.

So far, I've completed the blouse out of natural cottton muslin, with spice and natural hem tape, and blue 1/4" double-fold bias tape to make the elastic bindings, rather than to cut and buttonhole the muslin (not a good fabric for this) to insert a drawstring.

 

Here's the completed blouse. You can see I used the spice hem tape on the neckline and the natural on the sleeves. Close-up of the sleeve:

Wow! Was all that gathering a pain in the butt -- especially trying to get the elastic all even. Word to the wise: when using muslin, leave a good seam allowance or roll and use french seams. It separates easily!

The bodice is reversible (it wasn't on the pattern, but I made it that way, so that she'd have some choices). Its bridal-weight, navy-blue satin (which I got for a STEAL on ebay -- $2/yard + minimal shipping) on one side and pink gingham on the other. I used bias tape to join the back and front (and, to hide the seams) so it has the appearance of being seamless:

You can see the bias tape along the unfinished bottom (where I turned it after joining the lining to the front).

And, here's the pink gingham lining. It has four pieces of covered metal boning (front and sides) to keep everything where it needs to be -- ha ha. And, its laced with pink ribbon.

Now, its on to the skirt and underskirt. I got a little way-laid with the strep throat that I'm currently battling, and some disruption in my hubby's family. But, I'm VERY excited to see it come to fruition. I should be able (providing my antibiotics work quickly) have the whole outfit ready for the first fitting by this weekend! YAY

If you're interested in sewing, check out: