14. Fitting #3

Sunday, November 11th, was our third fitting. I asked Dorothy, a friend of mine with much more sewing experience than I have, to join us and give an honest critique and any helpful advice that she could.

After my mistake last time, I was feeling a bit anxious about this fitting. I really wanted to show Susan that her faith in me is justified.

You may remember that, for our very first fitting, I didn't follow the actual dress assembly instructions, but rather completely assembled the lining to a size that I thought would fit, but left the outer dress pieces separate. I had Susan try on the lining - it was too big - and then I quickly assembled the outer dress pieces to a smaller size and had her try those on.

To prepare for this fitting, I took all of the pieces apart, re-marked them all to the smaller size, and then assembled the dress according to the instructions (minus the boning). So, Susan tried on the "full" version of the dress - lining and all. It was a major success!

I'm still going to take in the sides and under the bust just a little bit more, but we are very, very close to having the fit just right. There are a few wrinkles across the bodice back (running parallel to the floor), but I think that those may go away when the boning is added.

I also still have a bit of work to do on the inner corset. But it is really coming together! It was so nice to have Dorothy there - both for the suggestions she made for improvements, and for the reassurance that we were on the right track!

Here is a picture of the 3 of us: