(whap) "Tenzing, get OFF the fabric!"
MEOW! (indignant)
(sound of cat being tossed across the room)
(sound of cat jumping onto fabric)
"Edmund!"
(sound of cat being tossed across the room)
(sound of cat jumping onto fabric)
"TENZING!"
(sound of cat being tossed across the room)
(sound of spouse laughing) "Got help, hmm?"

...and so it goes, and so it goes.

An afternoon's worth of work yields a mostly-completed bodice, and an assembled (but unfinished) overskirt. Both are burgundy. The black portions (the sleeves and the underskirt) are to be left as birthday exercises for tomorrow.

The $2 ugly brown muslin served its purpose; I cut out a test version of the bodice and verified that, despite my best seamstressing attempts, it was likely that the bodice would actually fit me.

So I got out my new scissors and began carefully cutting away at the $60 worth of fabric I bought this past week.

It was enough - by about six inches. I wasn't absolutely sure until I'd cut out the last piece, and even then, I had to look again to truly appreciate it. The burgundy fabric, being wider, had to be used for the overskirt; the inner skirt, which will be of black velveteen, will require some extra seaming to achieve the correct width necessary for the two largest pieces.

They'll be hidden by the overskirt. I'd say that no one would be the wiser, except that I'm telling you about it here, and that means at least half of my friends at Bill's party on Nov. 1 will come up to me, trying to see if they can spot where the extra seams are.

(Message to those of you, and you know who you are: I love you. Bite me. Quit staring up my dress.)

After several hours of careful pinning, scissoring, cat-tossing, and sewing, I had something that flapped around a good bit in the breeze, but might be a bodice if you turned your head a bit and squinted. The fabric is freshly washed, and therefore only contains a 1% RDA of cat fur, but if I leave the assembled pieces out overnight, that percentage will increase to nearly 100% by morning.

The fabric is dark. The cats have white belly fur. If you ask Fang, this is synergy, pure and sublime.

Now if I can just get Tenzing to stay out of my lap while I try to sew, I might manage to get some more done tomorrow.