As with many other projects, this dress started with a sudden urge to make something new and a stupidly short deadline to make it. I have always wanted a brown velvet gown like the one in the reference image (below) of Mary washing the feet of Jesus, and I happened to have 5 yards of brown velvet tucked away in my stash.

The construction was simple - fitted bodice lined with linen, and the rest of the yardage pleated into the waist. That went well.

What didn’t go well:

1. I didn’t have a coherent plan for…anything. I jumped in, and quickly got lost in the weeds.

2. My timeline was way too short. I started the dress two weeks before our kingdom A&S festival, which happened to be smack in the middle of one of our busiest research seasons, and also while I was writing applications for a new job.

3. I lost 15 pounds between when my apprentice made the bodice block and when I made the dress. In that time, I had given notice at my job, and the sudden drop in stress melted off weight. So the dress doesn’t fit.

4. I didn’t manage my time well. I had to be sewn into the dress the morning of the event, and that is stupid.

5. I didn’t pay attention to the predicted weather. It was in the high 70s in NC that day, and I nearly died in all that cotton velvet.