Weekend retreat progress report and homework part 2

Sunday June 24, 2018
The ladies came in still in shock they had completed all the work on Saturday!  I told them I had all the confidence they would complete the task with flying colours!  Then they saw the board with Sunday's tasks:

Learning objective is to finish the dress. 

• Once the body is fit properly make any necessary adjustments if any
• Press the adjustments
• Sew the basted seams in place
• Press
• Prepare sleeves for installation, press seam
• Hand baste sleeves to dress
• Try on again
• Machine stitch sleeves to dress from the body side of the garment
• Prepare facings for neckline
• Install facings
• Finish hem

They looked at me like I had two heads LOL!!!  I said they would get through it without a problem!  Still they had doubts but once they got working it went by very fast, by lunchtime they had the sleeves installed or basted ready to go right after lunch.  Of course they don't make life easy for themselves by creating dresses that are a little more advanced but in the end they both had a beautiful garment each that fit perfectly as you will see in the pictures below. They went even above and beyond my expectations by serging the inside of the dresses! As a reward I let them use my blind hemmer to finish the hem.  Karen ended up opting to do it at home with her own blind hemmer.... 

Peggy decided to put pockets on her dress and make the skirt part gathered which she did on her own at home so by the time she got to class she was very familiar with the design.  The fabric was a fine linen which had to be underlined with a cotton sheeting to breathe and not be transparent, worked like a charm!  She can choose to wear a belt with the dress at the Empire cut or not for a more casual look, and Peggy LOOOOOVES the pockets!!!
Karen opted for something different, also advanced with pleats at the neckline and to be consistent, pleats at the sleeve cap as well.  The fabric for Karen's dress was a denim look rayon with a gorgeous drape to it so the pleats sat perfectly.  She can also choose to wear a thin belt at the Empire cut to finish the dress beautifully.  Both can match the belt and new shoes to them, great reason to get new shoes!!!