janestarz | The Point of No Return

Why is it that every time I'm working on a project and I think "Wow, if this goes wrong, I'm so horribly screwed and I can never fix this" it's right after I did the thing that is potentially the source of all my troubles?

Case in point: "Lena's dress". It's going to be mostly historical (re: 13th c?) with some minor machine topstitching, and after cutting out a second pair of sleeves (first set wasn't long enough - I forgot that my arms are very long and if I do a shaped shoulder I should make longer sleeves!) I run out of fabric completely. Of course my initial sketch included tight sleeves, the kind that have to be buttoned all the way up to the elbow.

I let NoKey pin the sleeves tight to my arm (without wearing a shift), let him place a pin on the outside of my wrist, take off the entire thing, draw a straight line some 25 cm up the outside wrist where the pin is, and proceed to cut.
And only then do I realise that if this is in the wrong spot, Boy Am I Ever Screwed. No more fabric for a new set of sleeves, only have fabric for a pieced sleeve, and yes I am doing period but not that much of a period because I can afford to throw out my scraps.

*sigh*
In any case: blue linen side-opening kirtle is coming along. As mentioned: shaped the sleeves and cut the slit of the sleeves yesterday. Then I faced the slit, and started on cloth-covered buttons. Mine will be flat. I'm making 12 and I finished 8 yesterday. I'm working off a wooden base button, so I just add two small circles of linnen on top and cover them with a small square of linen.

Still need to overcast the facing, sew the buttonholes on the sleeves but that will probably be a last-minute thing. Side-gores need to be attached to the whole, then a closure will have to be made on the side, and the side-seam needs to be stitched where it doesn't lace up (that includes the underarm seams). Then all of those seams need to be overcast, pressed etc. and then it's time for hemming.