Caspian Update

First of all, on I took my Caspian sleeves to a local sewing shop/children's boutique. The lady pleated the sleeves (7 rows of thread = 6 finished rows of smocking) where I had marked on the upper arm. It cost me all of $5! Once I had the pleats, I drew on a squiggly design to be "embroidery."

So then I went off to Mom and Dad's on Friday night and while we watched a movie (The Prestige which I hate!), I almost finished one sleeve. I used this website for instructions on how to smock (which I had never done before). The Wardrobe Door recommends using a Honeycomb Stitch but recent photos suggest that it is a Surface Honeycomb - which is what I used. My mom had smocked years and years ago, so she didn't have any real advice except to pull each stitch tight. It really makes a difference in the outcome. The middle rows are shorter by ten stitches (five on each side) and the bottom rows are still shorter by another ten. Anyway, here is one finished sleeve and detail of the stitches:

Then I worked on the Brigandine. I had an epiphany that it would be a million times faster to apply the fun foam strips with hot glue instead of craft glue. Brilliant! I also used the hot glue to fill in the cracks between the strips on the back. Note: the hot glue in the cracks isn't quite as pretty as regular glue. If you have time, use regular glue. If you are pressed for time, hot glue will work in a pinch. Here's a picture taken yesterday with my Caspian.

Can you see the excitement radiating from his face? ;) Anyway, now I have applied all the strips and I'm only missing the extra pieces are the neck and the sleeve caps. And I might make the brigandine a little shorter. We'll see once we have the whole ensemble. For the white shirt, I've got to re-adjust the sleeve because the shape of it is making the smocking sag instead of being straight across. And then of course, finish the other sleeve, add cuffs, add the collar, and draw more embroidery. I'm going to try to spray paint the whole brigandine today. I'm so excited. Oh! And there was a chance that my theater wasn't going to have a midnight premiere and they just added one yesterday! Hooray!