| January 1, 1998 Quick note-I've found abetter pattern, and I'm working on the alterations. I think we have a winnerthis time! January 17 I've been bad and I've sortof put this project on a (rather frustrated) back burner for the last weekor so. First news: pattern #3 worked!It's McCalls 8746, technically a blouse pattern, with the princess linesand fitted look I wanted. The muslin has been made, and all systems arego. Big news: the Fabric HasLanded. I went to the City today and stumbled into a huge sale @ the JessicaMcClintock outlet. A relatively small amount of money later, I have fabric!
 Naturally,the goddess of sewing works in mysterious ways, so what I bought is notexactly what I had in mind when I started this project! The top will nowbe made in a completely gorgeous garnet velvet (left), which isprinted with an allover small gold flower pattern...actually, it looksembroidered rather than printed. I'll bead some of the flower motifs afterI assemble the basic top. The top layer of the skirtis going to be a sheer gold chiffon, with a black taffeta underlayer. Itdoesn't scan very well, so I can't put up a swatch! I shall probably adda bottom border of garnet satin ribbon, possibly with a layer of gold trimas well. We'll see what I come up with! In maskmaking news, I havemade progress on the stick to which I shall mount the mask. I started witha basic dowel (yawn) and covered it in gold and copper leaf (I love theway they look mixed - it gives it more depth!). Then, I wound 20 gaugecopper wire around the stick, stringing various glass beads at random onit as I went up. I finished the bottom end with a cone-shaped gold filigreejewelry finding. I then copper leafed a few brass charms and suspendedthem from the bottom of the cone. It's not as weird as it sounds! The overalleffect is really interesting. Now that I have the fabric for the dress,I can start worrying about the mask itself. Guess I'm back in the game... January 19 I started cutting out thetop tonight. Merlin was more than happy to help out, mostly by stretchinghis furry little body over whatever part of the velvet I was focused on(little jealousy, kitty?). I'm cutting out everythingsingle layer (how virtuous). Tonight, I cut out the front & side front,hand basted them (am I getting a medal for this?) and stitched them, usingmy lovely new walking foot. All is well so far. Also, I stopped by my localFabricHell this evening (thename arose 10 years ago, when I worked in a JoAnn Fabrics the summer beforemy Senior year in high school), and discovered that they had a big notionssale going on; I bought something called a Velvaboard, which is supposedto be like a needleboard but better. We'll see... Tomorrow night, I will cutout the back, and hopefully get it sewn together. I need to schedule somehandwork for Wednesday, since that is B5& South Parknight, and I will be sitting on the couch anyway! A few other notes; I'm doingall of this sewing on a low-end Bernette715, with a little help from a 10 year old Singer serger. I actuallylove my Bernette; it's very sturdy and it does what it is supposed to.My machine before this one was a temper mental Singer, one of the computerizedmodels from the mid-80's. It finally went to the big sewing scrapyard inthe sky, so I decided I wanted something more reliable - and more willingto put up with a bit of abuse from being moved from place to place. I heartilyrecommend this machine! January 22 Tonight, I went to a maskmakingclass in Berkeley. It was arranged by Junior League in anticipation ofour Spring Gala, and was taught by a wonderful artist named Annie, whosemask company is called Mask Arrayed. She provided us with papier-machemasks, paints, feathers, and a generous amount of information on the historyof Carnivale and of maskmaking in general. My mask turned out to bea half mask with a peacock theme. I painted it green, with a peacock featherdesign in the center of the forehead. I have to find a wonderful blue jewelto put in the feather next time I'm out bead shopping. I decorated therest of the mask with blue and turquoise glitter, and I will add some realpeacock feathers later. This mask wasn't designedto go with my dress; I may be able to convince my date to wear it. It justsort of developed on its own. I can't wait to work on my own mask! January 24 I'm giving myself a littleTime Out right now. I just realized that I have two left back pieces,and no right back piece. I think I have discovered one of the majordrawbacks of cutting the pieces out on a single layer! Yes, it keeps everythingon grain, but you have to be a bit more present mentally! I'm laying everything outon the kitchen table, next to the sliding door, and it is so nice to havesunshine again, after about a week of rain, rain, rain. Merlin is moreinterested in watching the squirrels run about in the back yard than heis in helping me, which does make things easier. Quick note - I LOVE my Velvaboard.I discovered last night that I can drape it around my tailor's ham anddo a much better job of pressing my curved seams without crushing the fabric.Of course, by 'pressing', I actually mean 'steaming'. Quick show of handshere - how many of you already guessed that the gold paint on the velvetwould melt on contact with heat? Congratulations-you're smarterthan I am! It's not a particularly big deal, of course, since I shouldn'tbe touching my iron to the velvet anyway, and I determined this Fun Facton a scrap piece before I started working on the Real Thing. Now, back to my scissors. 
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