Madame Bellerose's & The Bakery - Week Twelve

Another combined post this week due to a minimum of progress on either project. This is due to three main reasons. 1) After months of cool, wet weather Tasmania has suddenly gotten HOT. Okay, hot by Tassie standards, around 30 degees C. This is a problem because no one is aclimatised to the heat yet, so it seems hotter than it actually is and it is staying hot at night so no one is getting any sleep and the combination is making everyone with sense lethargic. And when you try to do anything with glue or paint, it is dry almost as soon as it comes out the container. 2) Christmas is coming. Only another 45 days to go and lots of things that need to be done beforehand. Over the weekend I spent several hours assembling flat-packed furniture for my mother and various other things that she wants done before Christmas. In fact I usually give up even trying to work on any craft projects in December as there is just too many other things to see to. 3) The task I set myself for the week was to dress the people who will populate both projects. For the bakery and the staff of MB's, this is fairly easy and straight-forward. Simple dresses, aprons, leggings and tunics. The guests at the seance are another matter however. The people here are supposed to be dressed 'formal'. For the men this means jackets (which I HATE making). For the time being I am adding one male guest in the clothes he was bought in and if I decide I need more men, I'll worry about that later on. The women I want to dress in the bustle dress style of the 1870-80s. These are much more complicated dresses than any I have tried before (at least without a pattern.) I decided to start with the guest who has fainted at the seance and is lying on the couch/sofa to recover. I only need to worry about the front of her gown and thus I can cheat by not adding a bustle or any complicated details on her rear. I have finished this lady (with the possible exception of a little trim here and there) and I think I now know how best to work on the others - I just have to get brave enough to try! Anyway, here are the photos of what I did get done: