I did more muslin tests of the dress and came up with a decent fit (the front view came out too blurry, so this is just the side view...which I rather liked because I could see triceps definition!)

After I finished the pattern I decided to go back to the store to get some more fabric, as I just wanted a few more choices for the appliques, as well as some metallic thread to do the stitching.

I was expecting a visit from my dad, so I ran a bunch of errands and gave up a day for that. He wasn't able to make the visit, so I get back the time I had planned to spend with him. That meant I was able to cut out the dress and lining and sew up the bodice. I decided to underline the bodice with silk organza to give it a bit of body. It was too drapey and hanging too loosely. Now it's a bit stiff, but the weight of the skirt will help to smooth it all out.

Here's a shot of the bodice on the dressform. I need to rework the padding on the dressform because I realized after fitting it on there, and then I put it on, the width of my back is more than the dressform, as is the shape and curve of my bust. The pads help, but not enough to exactly duplicate my shape. But that's a project for later this year. I know I'll never be that skinny again, unless I totally stop lifting weights and try to drop about 20lbs of muscle and fat.

I decided yesterday that the skirt was going to be too boring with just a bunch of appliques and that I should break up the background of the skirt somehow. I chose the ribbon motif that is on some of my fabrics, wrapping up the gifts. Here you can see the painting on the skirt. It took all day to do. I hope it works as well as I imagine it. Some projects don't and that's always a bummer.

Today I am working on the appliques. I was going to do just all circles, with some having stripes of coordinating fabrics on them, but they were too flat. I will do some that way, but it still needed more depth. I tried stuffing them with batting, but that didn't work out, so now I'm going with yo-yos made of the same fabric. Like a tone-on-tone effect. It looks cute so far, but right now it's all just out on the table and not on the skirt.

It will take me the rest of today and probably tomorrow to get the appliques done and temporarily placed on the skirt. I'll have some photos of that tomorrow. So far, so good. I have 6 days left and I'm feeling confident about being able to get this done in time.