I have finally have sleeves....pinned..

This week I finally recieved my red silk thread that I stupidly (and very annoyingly) left at home in America when I was there in August. As a result I have not been able to work on my gown almost at all since I've been back in Europe. So last night, I pinned Fredrik into a corner and forced him to work his sleeve fitting magic on my gown (he's so amazingly good at it....I just don't know how to explain it!) We managed to get both sleeves on last night, but there were some problems. The underside of the sleeves are pinned 'over' the bodice fabric while the top of the sleeves are 'under' well there was a problem with getting the sleeves to reach where they needed to go...we're a bit short on fabric. However it just means that my sleeves are a bit shorter than what I would have liked, but I need the sleeves to be attached to my body more than their length.

So right now they're pinned to the gown and today I'm going to stitch them down very carefully. The sleeves are really tight so I don't want to run the risk of busting a stitch or seam. (I can't move my arms to reach my face kind of thing...it's a bit humorous.) My stitiching will be a nice top stitch on the top part of the sleeve and then backstitching on the inside lower parts of the sleeve. I will do at least 2 rows of backstitching on the bottom for extra security and support.

Oh and another annoyance...I hemmed petticoat too much and now it's a bit shorter than what I wanted. I don't have time and it's not a priority to fix at the moment, Fredrik's stuff is taking up my life...so if I have time before the ball then I'll fix it...if not...I wont be that bothered.

OH and a question for the Swedish ladies...does anyone know of a venetian mask seller in Sweden. I can find them in Amsterdamn, Prague, UK and Itay...but not in Sweden (don't quite get why they're selling them in Prague..maybe I'm missing a connection....hmmm...)

Ok now for some sneak preview pictures! (I've done some crappy photoshopping to hide a distracting flat and to crop out my face etc and have a little fun...like..accidently discovering how tI create an 'antique' looking image..like...a mid 20th century photograph...oh the little things in life.. hehe) You can also see a little of how we did the sleeves on the top with the fabric peeking out...Fredrik's very good at getting a smooth shoulder like. I was originally going to top stitch the pleats on the sleeve down (there is a gown in the Liverpool National Museums' Collection that has this lovely little design feature. I think it is 1. really interesting, but also a nice way to have a smooth shoulder line without putting up a huge fight with the sleeves. And it is historically accurate..someone in the 18thC did it..so can you! :] )

 This is the back of my gown (with some shaky photoshopping).

 

A view of my sleeve and part of my bodice with some brushed fringe trim.