I’m not, by nature, a rule follower. Nevertheless, when I use LSDS patterns, I try my best to stay true to their history. They’re not meant to result in perfection. They were designed for little girls. For fun.
Well.
This little girl is not having fun. And I doubt the little girls of yore did either when faced with the puzzling combination of instructions, sketches, and pattern pieces served up by LSDS. I’ve pulled out more hair than I care to think about over the years, trying to figure out how parts A and B of LSDS patterns are meant to be joined. Sometimes I’m successfulish. And other times, I come to a point where I have to concede defeat.
I’m at this point now with Bernadette’s disguisement. My only wish? That I’d gotten there sooner.
Her blouse is finished. The fit is awful, and I don’t have time to start over and remake the pattern. I’ve moved on to the fichu now, thinking this would be “the easy part”. All I can say is, “Ha!”
It’s a good thing I read ahead before cutting out my little piece of netting. Otherwise I’d have found myself jumping from a diving board into an empty pool. After explaining exactly what kind of tulle is most appropriate for the fichu, the entirety of the fichu instructions read as follows:
Around the edge sew two rows of gathered lace so that the upper one covers the stitching of the lower one. The fichu is held in place at the point with a pin.
Yep. That’s it.
Take a look at the LSDS sketch of the Hollandaise disguisement below.
I see a fichu, with a second “collar” portion over the top, with a ruffle down the front. I see a single row of lace around the edges of the fichu and the collar.
I see no pin, or any hint that the fichu is split up the front. Does the lace continue up the opening, beneath the ruffle? What’s holding the neckline so tightly against her neck at the top? And if the second row of lace is supposed to cover the seam of the first, what’s supposed to cover the seam of the second one?
These are my initial thoughts.
My first decision was to move the opening to the back. I added a tiny piece of braid (1/16″ wide) to the neckline and turned the center back edges of the netting inside about 1/8″ and blanket stitched them in place. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
Speaking of nothing, we’re given no hint about how to deal with the unfinished net edges. Cut netting is ragged. Even if you sew lace over the top of it, you have an unstable and uneven edge on the reverse side.
I’ll be in therapy for several weeks to get over that untidy detail.
Now I’m having to make up a way to create a ruffle. The one in the drawing is clearly a cascade, or “spiral” ruffle, which would have a complicated pattern piece something like this:
The LSDS pattern doesn’t even offer a piece, or a measurent, for the ruffle. I’m not super excited about doing all of that math, and honestly, at this point – I’m over it. I’ll figure something else out. On my own.
Again.
Argh!
To read all the posts about Bernadette’s convention costume, click HERE.
And to see all of Bernadette’s wardrobe posts so far, click HERE.