Languishing Diaries

I am still alive, I swear. My dress making has been languishing, taking a back burner to my obsessive gyming and weight loss regimen. And reading. I've been a literary crazy for the past week and a half--finished 4 books.

Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know that I attempted to start my roped petticoat, but when I washed the rope it swelled and would no longer have fit in the channels the size of the ribbon I bought. I will either have to purchase new rope or new ribbon. Rope is probably cheaper.

In the meantime, I think that my dress making will pick up again quite soon, as I spend part of this weekend perusing venetian portraiture in the National Gallery of Art. Seeing some of my researched paintings close up was certainly inspirational. The detail you can see in the real paintings is phenomenal. I am very much looking forward to starting up again. ;-) It was also amusing to my hostess (and myself) that I could identify different methods of lacing and blackwork and partlets on the portraits, while she was obviously looking more at the artistic value of them. hehe