Second Bridesmaid

 Mrs Mole was right about a five point bustle. Three isn't really doing it.

Five points of attachment snugs this up and our Bridesmaid/Work Pal will be comfortable.

Trust me: it looks like a million bucks on her.

It really has proven to be easier to stitch the hem mark on the dress, by stitching that distance from the existing hem. This stuff is chalk proof.

Stitch. Trim and turn again.

Use the cut off part to make more tubes

I sewed the ends before I cut them.

The tools to insert more tube loops

To get the tubes to be the same exposed length, I pinned them shut vertically and then marked the seam line horizontally with a pin. When I stuck the loop into the open seam, I used the pin as a stop, to line it up with the seam as it would be sewn. I basted them in and machine stitched the entire seam when I had them all basted in. Brain Satisfaction!

Threaded them.

the lacing goes into the center loop from both directions, and can be tied in a bow around the loop.

Confession: it's actually 1/2" shorter on one side. SHHHHHHHHH.

Stealing from Mrs Mole: bias sash for waistband

As ever, if you aren't reading Mrs Mole, at Fit for A Queen, you really aren't reading sewing blogs. She is inspirational to me. Many upsidethehead ideas have been sprung from reading her posts.

Like this one.

https://fitforaqueen.wordpress.com/2019/05/21/simple-sample/

photo Mrs Mole "Fit for a Queen" 

Isn't that a pretty thing? 

She added it to the dress; its the lining fabric with shiny bits.

(the epic story starts here: https://fitforaqueen.wordpress.com/2019/04/24/adding-and-adding/)

but I don't do bridal, you says.

Well...... 

Let's say you had a bodice where the print was matched across it, and a skirt where that print was never ever ever going to match up to the bodice, and that this was kinda hard to look at where the two parts meet up.

So let's add a bias sash "belt" to break that up / unite those parts.

You can even piece this sucker together out of the leftover bits from the build 

And you can put that motif object over the join.

A nicer transition, and I didn't have to find a belt that goes with it.

You could use a lot of techniques to gather that fabric - because you won't see the pattern, just the colors.

Or you had two fabrics that were complimentary but maybe not that complimentary to each other, and they met at the waist.

You could make a similar sash with pieces of both fabrics.

And we may see that sooner than we'd hoped....

(tbc as This is why I hate color blocking)