Let nothing I say from here sound like a complaint. It isn't one. What I did today, what I've been working on for weeks, is voluntary. It's a gift of my time and energy and talents. But holy cow, am I wiped out all of a sudden! I spent another long day working on the wedding dress, and I made great progress. I needed to devote hours to the handwork of piecing together the lace bodice. After about four hours of non-stop hand-stitching, I have it about halfway done. The darts on the bust and the seams under the arms had to match the pattern of the lace to be invisible. I had to sew each side, and trim away carefully anything outside of the swirls. The arms will require similar care. I'm beginning to see why wedding dresses have so much beading on them. I think it's actually camouflage. This might be slightly less tedious or stressful if I knew I was hiding it behind a screen of seed beads and Swarovski crystals.
I didn't spend all of my efforts on those four tiny seams. I also did big work putting together the skirt, pleating the front (more handwork involved) and putting in the lace inset on one side. Suddenly it's starting to look like a dress. I am both feeling like I have made great progress, and have impossibly far to go (knowing how long it takes to piece lace). I have to believe it will be done with time to spare. I have to.
The hardest part from here won't be finding time to work, or being precise. The insurmountable task is really just keeping the cats off of the dress and its components. Athena believes all the way to her core that she belongs anywhere I am, including sitting behind a clacking sewing machine as it runs, or in the pile of crinkly paper pattern pieces pinned to soft, snaggable satin. Rabbit sits on the floor beside my chair, alternating between clawing at the chair and scratching at my elbow. Alfred likes to hop up on my chair arm, and do laps around me, from side to side. The only cat who leaves me alone, nominally, is Jackie, who will lie on the floor near me, showing me her ponderous belly, but stays out of reach and off of the dress. There's some consolation in that. I just have to make it another few weeks without any one of them ruining all my work... and the dress. That's all that matters.
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