The Wednesday and Thursday Critiques

Wednesday was Sewing, and the day of our critique with Muriel, where we would be graded on the sewing of our evening gown. I spent the morning finishing putting my zipper in, and then presumed that I would move onto the hem. Well, Muriel spotted the technique that I had used on my neckline and armholes, and taught me how to better do them. I redid one neckline twice, before getting it to her satisfaction. In the afternoon, I spent some time using a couture technique to do my hem, before I was told that I was doing it too big. I just can't get it right sometimes, can I?
Something funny happened, too. I had to try on my dress so that Muriel could help me assess where to place pins to mark where the hem would eventually go. So I took my dress into the closet to change into it. Muriel shut the door behind me, and guess what she did? She locked me in the closet! (I wasn't mad at all, I just thought it was really funny!) When I finished changing into the dress, I tried opening the door just to make sure, and yes, it was locked. So I knocked and she let me out. Then I stood there while Muriel pinned the dress around my ankles. When she was finished, I went back into the closet to change into my regular clothes. And yes, she locked me in the closet once more (.and it was still funny). Again, I knocked to get out, and she let me out.
Later, I tried on Tenzin's dress and it turned out to be too big in the bust (shocker). (This was also the problem with my dress, so I jokingly remedied it by stuffing my socks in. Then Tenzin brought me some bra cups, so I put those in instead, but there was still room to spare.) Muriel told her that she needed a model with a larger poitrine (as in, much bigger boobs), which is what she had told me for my dress, as well.
At the end of the afternoon class, it was time for the critique, where we had to show our dresses on mannequins. I got my mannequin and tried to put my dress on it. The operative word here being "tried", since it must've shrunk between the initial drapage and the finalized product. (More likely is that I have crappy craftsmanship and sewed too into the body, and/or draped it too tightly to begin with.) When I pulled the dress down over the mannequin's hips, one of the side seams started splitting. (Right after this, Sharon asked me if I was going to iron it-which I actually had earlier in the class. I groaned and was like, "I just got it on the mannequin, don't make me take it off!")
Since I was then the only one ready, Muriel came over to look at mine. She said that she was giving 2 marks, 1 for the idea and concept and 1 for the execution. She said that while my idea was "tres jolie", my execution was "tres mal". I said that since I knew that it was pretty bad, I didn't mind getting marked down for it. She ended up giving me a 16 (out of 20) on creation of the idea, and an 11 (the lowest passing score) for execution. She then averaged them together, and that gave me a 14.5.
After class, I did a few errands on Saint-Michel and went into Gibert Joseph (where I got my Moliere book and the macaroon cookbook) to browse around. I was in the theater section, and saw an interesting book. It was called "Theatre des Femmes a l'Ancien Regime", specifically the 17th century. I read the back, and it talked about the fact that in that time period, many women wrote plays that were published and performed in reputable, even fashionable venues. I didn't know about this, since all I'd heard about theater around this time centered around Moliere, Voltaire, Racine and Corneuille. I paged through it, and there were 9 women represented, each having a play. I'm thinking about going back and getting it. (At this rate, Mom and Dad shouldn't be surprised if I come back with an extra suitcase of books.)
Thursday was Flat Pattern with Anne, and the day of another critique. That morning, we were allowed to work on whatever we needed to finish, and I worked on my visite, the costume sample made up in muslin. I pressed it, and then added a flounce for the collar (since we had to use something that was included in our sample notebook). After I was finished assembling and attaching that piece, I sewed up the hem, put it on a mannequin and turned it in, along with my sample notebook. Since that took up the morning, I worked on my bag for Jen's class that afternoon. Since I had sewn the details on the front and back panels the previous afternoon, I began attaching the panels for the outside together. After that was done, I began work on the lining. I pinned, traced and cut out the pieces and sewed the front, back and side panels together. (I had remembered that Jen had told me to leave a hole in the bottom to "pull it through" later), so I decided not to attach the bottom. I couldn't figure out the best way to attach the lining to the facing, so I called it a day and left.
(At one point, she asked me what a good grade was considered to be in the U.S., so I explained the 100-point scale to her. I just said that if you multiplied any numerical grade on the European 20-point scale by 5, that would be the equivalent of an American grade.)
I needed to go get some bristol paper and thread, so I took the metro to BHV. Since it wasn't too hot (actually, it's been downright cool these past few days), I decided to walk back. I did go to Gibert Joseph and get that book on 17th-century female playwrights, so I'm excited to read it (and build my vocabulary). I got back here, ate dinner and bummed around, and began drawing up new illustrations for Susan for Tuesday.
Last critique tomorrow!!!