My little native costume is coming along nicely, even with some unexpected bumps in the road. The dress and jacket are from two different chamois, and they both reacted differently to being wet and stained. The fringe on the bottom of the skirt did what I expected it to, but the fringe on the jacket not only stretched after I cut it, but each strip of fringe actually shrank widthwise when it was wet. The fringe on the sleeves is okay. It looks very authentic and old, but I found the fringe along the bodice edge a bit too skimpy. So I cut another strip of fringe from the last bit of dress chamois and wet and stained it. Much better! I will glue and stitch that new fringe behind the first row along the bottom of the bodice, to help it 'bulk out' and match better with the bottom of the skirt.....
The main dress was made using the Simple Sundress bodice pattern, and now that the beading is finished, I can sew the back of the skirt together, and stitch the straps into place. Those 'spaceship-shaped' pieces on the bottom right, along with their painted tongues, will become the moccasins. The small leather circles at the upper left are for beaded hair ornaments. Still lots to do!
RSS Feed
