Oh yes, this was a Pipe Dream

 Good morning Happy Campers. Remember those summer camp days? I remember my first away camp. I was 11 years old and full of excitement. When my parents dropped me off, about 90 minutes from home, I wondered if they would remember to come back for me the next week. A stunningly beautiful site for a camp, high in the mountains, I was soon with friends and having a great time. By the way, they did come back for me.

This is sort of what has happened this week, with the Rose-Red linen dress. I did the fabric prep work early Monday morning, then got so busy with gardens etc. It was sort of like I dropped it off at camp, hoping when I returned to it a week later, it would be done. Well, we all know how that worked out!
 
Wikipedia defines A pipe dream is a fantastic hope or plan that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible to achieve, originating in the 19th century as an allusion to the dreams experienced by smokers of opium pipes.

I define it as the Rose Red Linen Dress that will not get made for this week-end. The fabric is absolutely gorgeous, too good to use without a muslin test for the pattern. I did not have time for a muslin, so no dress for Sunday. Unless I have some energy revelation in the next 24 hours! *** that's about as likely as me finding oil in the back yard. Anyway......

the fabric, color is much more red than pink-6 yards

trim bruised & frayed edge

  This fabric is linen/silk blend. It is soft and drape-able. It frays easily. After sitting around for a few years the edges were frayed and I needed to line up the grain lines. Therefore, the trim via rotary cutter. I pulled up a cross-wise thread and cut along the line to even the grain.














 

prepare for test sample

 I like to test fabrics like this because I long ago misplaced a little tag that defined exact fabric content and care. I prefer not to dry clean so I needed to test wash to check for color bleed and/or shrinkage. So I cut a 6 inch square, I plan to use a poly/cotton muslin underlining. I tried the fabric with an underlining of red batiste and with the off white muslin. The muslin won, hands down. The underlining sort of muted the fabric a bit. The red batiste screamed RED.

with off-white underlining

6 inch sample stitched to underlining

very red

I soaked this piece in warm water with a little mild soap, swished it around a little,  then let it soak for about 20 minutes. I wrapped it in terry cloth to absorb the excess water. Then I set it out to dry. This photo is of the dried sample. Notice, it dried almost wrinkle free (wonderful) no bleeding of color, no puckering of the seam lines that would indicate shrinkage cross-wise or length-wise. We do have some fray, expected, but that is manageable. So my conclusion is I really like this fabric and don't want to mess it up. Therefore, a muslin is required. Hence, the delay. It is OK, because I would rather do it right than fast.  

Gratuity Moment: Old friends who call to just talk about all the projects that haven't finished, and commiserate.