1880s Book Dress - fitting fitting fitting...love/hate project.

I now am officially in the love/hate phase of this project.  The top has become a nightmare.  If I was making clothing this would be an epic fail.  Thankfully this is just a costume and the great amount of fudging will get me by. 

I am having a really hard time getting a good fit.  Usually when I use my manikin, which is foam and set up to fit me,  I get a good fit.  This time this was not the case.  Trying the top on mid way after what I thought was an excellent fit resulted in a lot of time-sucking seam ripping and refitting.  It the above photos the yellow pins show you where I had to redo seams.  Of course redoing seams on this kind of fabrics is unforgiving...marks will remain...and I continue chanting "it's just a costume...it's just a costume."

The sleeves are going to be a really big problem.  I deduced from this project that I need to take a tailoring class.  All the adjusting to fit the the pattern to my bust has moved the armholes, in my zeal to adjust them to be able to try the top on I butchered the openings.  No more fabric, no redo....sigh. 

And of course, the curse that is my poor time management will mean that although I started this project with plenty of time to spare I will most likely be sewing up to the last minute.  Have to work on this too...sew faster...sew faster...