4 Days Before the Ball -- Down the Home Stretch

It's now 4 days before the Ball and I'm making good progress. I still had lingering side effects of food poisoning, so I opted to work from home just to be a bit more comfortable. I spent a few hours in various meeting and working on specific work projects. And instead of knitting during work meetings, I did a bit of hand-sewing instead --- and promptly at 5pm, I really got down to some serious sewing.

Consequently, I got quite a bit done despite the residual effects of food poisoning. 

The main part of the bodice is complete. Here is inside of the bodice with some boning. The lining can be attached after I do one last final pressing of all the seams and clipping & grading of all curves and allowances.

Grading means that I have to reduce the amount of fabric at the seams so that it lies flat without any bulk when turned right-side out, especially when the final product has three layers of fabric --- fashion fabric, thick interlining, and lining fabric. 

Adding the bag lining was simple but there was quite a bit of finishing work that needed to be done, including more clipping, more grading, and PRESSING the living daylights out of it the bodice.

As a result, you get a fairly sizable pile of clippings. These are the ones on the table. I had to do a bit of sweeping of the floor for the rest. 

(Where are my mice and birds to help me clean up around here? Cinderella had it easy!)

There is also a bit of hand stitching for the final few bits of the lining -- at the top of the shoulders and down one side. All of this finishing work took quite a bit of time to accomplish.

When it was all finally done, I went through my bin of trims and pulled out some potential candidates. Nothing looked right, even when stacking on multiple layers or trim. The bodice really needs trim as it looks plain, otherwise.

The bodice calls out for BIG TRIM!

Unhappy with my choices, I decided that I need to go to the fabric store and pick out more appropriate trim, as well as some appropriately sized hooks and eyes.  However, due to my work & practice schedule, I can't do that until Thursday. :-/ .

So, I switched gears and started to work on the skirt waistband. The fabric and interfacing is cut and just needs to be sewn to the skirt. I can work on that on Day 3 as I don't have many sewing hours on Day 3.

Things done and still left to do:

1. Finalize the front bodice pieces.
2. Sew the front bodice to the rest
3. Add grosgrain ribbon around the neck
4. Sew lining & fabric together
5. Add trim, trim, and more trim.
6. Add closures.
7. Sew a new waistband onto the skirt.

Who needs a fairy godmother? (Admittedly, a magic wand would help things go faster but it's unreliable about its whereabouts. )