Kirtle Progress and Silk Facings

So first things first. For some ridiculous reason I have decided to hand sew my dress. This is partially because I am lining it with canvas and I think my sewing machine would probably have objected to sewing through two layers each of wool, canvas, and cotton lining. Secondly, I find hand sewing quite relaxing and I like being able to do it in front of the TV. And lastly,  if I am going to the effort of sewing it all by hand I am hoping that my chances of stuffing things up along the way are going to be reduced. The down side is that this is making the process a WHOLE lot slower.

I managed to get the wool dried on Friday, but then I had a busy weekend involving a friend's wedding on the Saturday (Congrats Cec!), and a last minute trip to Lithgow for Ironfest on Sunday, which also ended up in an extra drive to Orange to say hi to my husband's parents. As a result we got home about 2 am and I've been trying to catch up on the lost sleep all week. So it wasn't until about Tuesday that I got the bodice pieces cut out. Now because I only have 3m of the red wool, I sat down for about an hour working out how I was going to lay it out so I could have at least a 3:1 pleated skirt. Now I was using a mix of cm and inches so forgive me if it's a bit confusing.