Sleeves- Part I

First a bit about the cording: I had planned on using some antique gold cord I saw at HL but, when I went with a fabric swatch in hand to buy it, decided the color just didn't go with the fabric after all. Then the clouds parted, the sun streamed down, and I spotted THE PERFECT TRIM :D on what appeared to be a full spool! It was a very tiny (1/8"?) black they called faux suede but it looked like velvet to me. It cost twice as much as the stuff I had planned to buy but I didn't care. I took it to the cutting table and told the girl I wanted all of it. She started unrolling it and saw that there was a short piece wrapped around the outside of the main piece so she set it aside and measured out over 17 yards then went to measure the short piece and noticed that they weren't the same. The 17 yd piece was about three times thicker than the 3 yd piece I had fallen in love with! :( I took the thinner stuff and a yard of the thicker stuff home with me to mull it over. I decided that I really didn't want the thicker stuff so I called the Hobby Lobby in Jenison and explained my dilema. The young lady who took my call told me that they had a nearly full spool of the stuff I was looking for and set it aside for me. I went out there yesterday afternoon to discover that it was actually the thicker stuff they had. The veteran employee on duty told me that the thinner stuff had been discontinued and looked through their clearance trims and called another store in the area but didn't come up with any of the trim I wanted. After I pouted for a few minutes while she suggested alternatives, she finally asked why I didn't just go with the original twisted cord piping but in black instead of gold. Why didn't I?!? So I chose to stop pouting, work with what was availble, move on, and be happy! LOL

Last night I sewed and turned each of the six sleeve sections. I then realized my error in cutting. I had been concerned with making the pattern match perfectly at the seams of my skirt (where no one but I am likely to notice) but I cut the sleeve sections at random. I ended up with one sleeve that kinda-sorta matches and the other not at all. Another lesson learned. I have decided not to worry about it.


This morning I cut and stitched the binding for the tops of the sleeves and turned it to the inside ready to be hand sewn.



While mulling over where I might find enough matching buttons on short notice for the 48 joins in the sleeves or if I wanted to go shopping for beads I remembered and old strand of cream colored Maljorca (sp?) pearls that needed restringing to re-attach the clasp that has 50 pearls and goes beautifully with the fabric! :D
I have the hand finishing and beading left to do and plan to take the project with me to a family birthday party on Sunday the work on while I chat.