It’s been a while since the initial muslin fitting with Cinderella, but I thought I’d share the progress of it.

We initially thought it would be nice to have a brocade bodice, a very lightweight skirt made of lining with an organza overlay with the peplum and sleeves of the same organza.

It’s a white crystal organza with sprays of miniature metallic spangles and studs (?) to catch the light and make it all sparkly.  It’s really pretty.  But it looked like a bad fabric choice with the brocade bodice… like a really trampy costume with texture overkill.

What to do?  Most of Cinderella’s visiting is done during the summer here, and it gets really hot in a crinoline and a big dress, so she wanted something cool.  What about making the bodice a solid taffeta or something similar?  Well, that would work, but the waistline creases after sitting down and playing with all her little guests, and that just doesn’t look nice, if you know what I mean.

I do know what she means.  I also know that keeping a bodice point inflexible enough to not wrinkle while sitting and bending requires about 3 extra layers of fabric to accommodate all the underlining and stays, and that would be like wearing a fur coat in the middle of summer.  Don’t think so.

A brocade bodice would not show creasing through the waistline so much.  The brocade, which is lightweight, shot with silver and a poly-rayon mix, isn’t a typical brocade.  It’s got a lot of flexibility and soft drape and is not heavy, so after some thought she agreed to do the entire dress of the brocade with the accents in the sparkle organza.

It’s going to be so pretty!