A sewing challenge has been laid down...

I am a very lucky lady, because my family is making sure I get to go down to Texas to visit them, (and also my friends).  I get to be there in time for the local group's Yule event.

I, of course, have nothing new to wear.  Despite it having been almost a year since I've seen people, I haven't really made anything new to wear aside from light weight Roman clothes.  So I was playing with the idea of a fancy new dress, whilst talking to my lovely best friend.

We were both trying to decide if we should make something new to wear for Yule, but couldn't really think of anything we would want to make aside from each of us having one particular dress in mind.  It so happened that the different dresses we were thinking of were both to be worn with the cute red fringed wool hats I made months ago.  And since we were thinking of different styles to go with said hats, I decided it wouldn't be too matchy-matchy to make up these dresses.

So now we are challenged.  We have just under three weeks to make these dresses.  I know we can get it done, we just have to keep motivated.  So we're supposed to be checking in with each other, and seeing how the dresses are coming along.

I'm planning on doing a Housebook dress based on the ladies with coats of arms sketches.  The main difference between these two and the dress I really want is the sleeves.  I found a couple images of women with a tight, 3/4 sleeve that is open up the back and laced across, usually with three points, and allows the hemd to be seen.  

I'm having trouble finding the sleeves and the hat on the same person, but I think if I'm persistent, I'll find the image I want.

I'm working on fitting the bodice, but I never realized just how hard it is to fit oneself!  Hopefully I can get the bodice pattern done by the end of the weekend, and can find the time to dye my fabric next week.

I'll tag Lauren, and see if I can't get her to post and update about her half of the challenge.