13th fairy fitting!

Last night I had the model/owner to be of the 13th fairy into the studio for a fitting.  I wanted to see how it all fit and mark for the hem.  She has to wear this in a fashion show (which will involve a short set of stairs) and then for a weekend at the Anime North convention in May, so I wanted it to be long, but not so long she will step on her hem and trip/tear the dress. At the very least I wanted it to be near floor length and hid her feet so she could wear comfortable shoes (or even sneakers if need be) and keep them hidden.

She got the garment on with a little help, the last time she wore it, there was no zipper up the front so she could just slide it on like a coat, but now there is a zipper and the front is sewn up so it's more like a really long and heavy dress.

While she was wearing it, I noticed a weird problem with the shoulder.  It was ridging up on  the back of one side very obviously, and slightly on the other.

 After fiddling with it I realized that it was the seam binding I had put in there to hold the sleeve to the facing (a second layer of fabric to hid bra lines and such).  I had sewn the sleeves seam allowance to the facing and I really should have bound each separately.  So I'll be unpicking that and doing each in hopes that it will remove the bump.

The next challenge was finding this thing:
It's usually in our room, but was in the first year room, which was locked and the key in a box with a combination lock, who's combination none of us could remember. >_<  I wont say how myself and another student got in, ingenuity I guess, the hard part was getting the key back in the box. :)

The hemmer thingy, sadly I do not know its official name, I only know its the greatest thing ever and when I found one for myself at a second hand store department store for $5 I squealed loud enough that probably the whole store heard me.

What does it do you ask? well it's a ruler on a stand, with a little metal hinged piece that almost looks like a gator mouth.

The end is rippled so that when you stick a pin through it, its wiggled though the fabric and will stay until you take it out.

I had her stand on a little stepping stool to make sure the length was right. The ruler and the sliding metal piece allow you to move your hem line up or down to pin.  In the end, it means you will have an even hem all the way around your dress.  I did pin this from one edge of the train to the other as always floor length, but I may angle it down so the dress trails more in back.

And now a shot of my model Liz Eaton in the dress from behind,

And from the front!

Enjoy!