Ruffles and Dots

I was busy yesterday. I spent most of the afternoon getting to the point in the photo above. If you are just joining in, I am working on Simplicity 2053, which is basically a shirtwaist dress with options for ruffles, sleeves and two bodice choices. It is a Project Runway design, and I have only worked with one other pattern from that line before. Besides trying to figure out which exact pieces of the pattern to cut out (there are many "designer's additions"), I do like the way their instructions are written and I think their designs are exciting and easy to execute. At least so far.

I am working with a black swiss dot cotton lawn fabric from Fabric.com. It is the only fabric that I brought from my stash with me to Rome. It is quite sheer so I did purchase some lightweight cotton to line the dress in. I am still unsure whether to do the whole dress in the fabric or not. As of now, I have only the bodice cut out and will finish that and go from there. Here is a shot of the front bodice (sorry photos aren't better, black is hard to photo):

Most of the afternoon was spent taking these strips:

And turning them into these:

Each strip (4 total) needed a narrow hem and it was an extremely tedious process. Not difficult, just time consuming! But I think it looks pretty good. I only got to put one side of ruffles on the bodice before I had to go dinner, so I still need to attach the other side this morning. But things are going well so far. 

Hopefully I will have the bodice somewhat finished today, although I think buttonholes are in my future, so maybe not completely done with the bodice ;) I don't know what it is about buttonholes that makes me want to do other things that I usually abhor, like cleaning the bathroom or doing dishes. When it comes to buttonholes, all of the sudden there are so many other things I would rather do. 

I will conquer the buttonhole though! 

Or the whole apartment will be cleaned :)