Uh, the previous post sure did give me a false sense of security as far as the amount of work I had left to make my own pattern pieces. Following the drafting instructions provided on Foundations Revealed, I calculated all the measurements for myself then realized I goofed up by not converting all the measurments into either centimeters OR inches...so frustrated, I ended up doing it all over again last night. I also realized I made some other mistakes and as frustrating as it was, I got it done and will probably never ever make the same mistakes again.
Let's hope not. Today is Black Friday and I'm at work...see how early it is? I'm working a 10 hour shift today to cover for coworkers and save some PTO. I agreed to this a month or so ago when I was trying to save as much vacation time as possible in hopes we'd be on our way to Italy next year for our honeymoon. But, I hate to say that the practicle part of my brain knows we shouldn't be taking frivolous trips around the world when the value of the dollar is down, so perhaps 2011 will be the year for Italy...looks like 2010 is going to be full of other kinds of travel. But I'm off topic now. I have brought several projects to work on at work...I've been here 20 minutes now and have not received a call yet. I knew it would be somewhat slow today, especially this early in the morning. First on my list is to cut the corset mock-up. I have a scrappish piece of duck to use for this, but because it's irregular, I think I may have to cut most pieces one at a time, I also brought in the pair of gloves I bought at the craft show last weekend to copy the pattern. I'm thinking I may make some for Christmas gifts (and I don't even need to learn how to knit!). Finally, I brought a reticule that's been cut for about 3 years now that I've never put together. How silly when all it really needs is to be stitched and if I did it by machine could be done in a minute. And I accidentally brought a camera to work, so there may be picage later.
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this may be misleading, but I'll clarify... Last night, I printed the original pattern pieces...sure this doesn't sound like much, but I had to increase the size of the pieces provided in my image editor to the point where the 1 inch = 1 inch when printed. This meant cutting some pieces in half, and some in quarters (digitally), printing them, then taping them back together. I'm sure this will be one of the easiest parts of the process, but it sure did take more time than I thought it would. However, It is nice to know that I can get working straight away after my other obligations of the night! I'd love to get the pattern drawn tonight and the mock-up pieces cut, and would be super happy if I could get them sewn together...but I'm not sure I can manage all of that tonight. I'm trying to zoom-zoom and have this corset done by the end of November (other than possible holiday decorating & a little test taking, I have no plans this weekend!), so this is possible...but how likely is it? I imagine I can have the corset mostly done, though maybe not nicely finished, by then. So...so far, so good! :D The "undergarments ahead" post from earlier made be think of boating speak for whatever reason :D
Thanks to undycat's post, I found a roll of boning and have placed an order for it and some additional supplies to restock my corset making stash! Yay! But costuming sure is an expensive hobby! I think I'll be asking for money from Santa this year to restock my cash stash :/ That and I'll try harder to use things up in my stash. So, I have a package of goodies winging there way to me as I type. Last night I started working on making the corset pattern and failed. Brad helped me with measuring, and I did some of the math, but by the time I got upping the proportions I realized I didn't print the right size and that because it was so complicated to convert the slightly smaller than the orginal pattern measurements to the actual garment measurements, then to convert those to my measurements I feared chances were that I'd make some wrong calculations and it would just make a mess. So instead of going forward, I fiddled with the image sizes and then went to bed. Hopefully I'll be in the mood to fiddle with ths stuff again tonight, so I can get the pattern made and the pieces sewn together...I'm going to try to borrow Jenny La Fleur's genius idea of boning held in place with masking tape for the mock up stage (I know this will probably only work on straight seams, but I might try taping spiral steel to see how it works out anyway). If it works, it will save a lot of time! crossposted from livejournal
I just joined Foundations Revealed because I'm planning to move ahead on the new Victorian corset. I think I'm going to make "1898 Charles Bayer" corset featured this month. I was looking for a corset with bust & hip gores, and I like the shape of this one, plus Jema explains how to put it together, so I think it's a good plan. I won't be making a single layer, however, as I wanted something pretty AND I have coutil, so I'm just using the pattern pieces for this corset, also not doing any of the fancy interlocking seams. I need boning so I need to put my mock-up together and figure out what sizes I need. I was trying to find a roll of spring steel online, but am having a hard time. Farthigales CA seems have some, but the shipping is so expensive along with the other supplies I need/want I can't justify buying the 10 meter roll they have. Do you have any suggestions of other places I can buy a roll of spring steel in the US? (Edited to add: Thanks to Undycat's suggestion, I have found that Corsetmaking.com does sell rolls of boning!! There's just no picture, so I skipped over it :)) It's not a big deal, I just figured I'll make the mock-up and order pre-cut/dipped bones (along with a few extra) after I know what lengths I need. It will probably be less expensive that way, the biggest bummer is having to wait for it to get here. But after I get the corset mock-up made, I have other things I can work on while waiting for my steel to come in. For example...petticoats! The Northstar VSA was invited to Christmas at the Courthouse in Stillwater again this year, and we went yesterday. Brad and I have made it to this event ever since we've been together. Last year we did a bit of Christmas shopping there and thought it would be fun if we could make it out again, so we did. Mostly, we bought stuff for ourselves...it was just that kind of year at the craftshow, I guess. There were mittens made of repurposed sweaters, and since I heard last year that mittens are the best way to keep your hands warm in the winter (go figure, I hear this for the first time after I've been here for 8 years) and since I don't have any mittens AND because they were only $15/pair, I bought myself a striped blue pair. Very cute! I also bought a silver & mother of pearl necklace pendant made from a vintage jewelry mold. I've seen the seller before, but either didn't have the money to buy anything or couldn't justify it...but I regretted not buying last time, so I bought a couple things this time...the pendant, and a gift for a friend. There was also a new vendor, artisan pasta...by the time we got there there wasn't much selection left, but we picked up Asian noodles, ChiliChili noodles, and regular angel hair. The noodles are seasoned and smell fantastic! Can't wait to try them. Another new vendor had handmade items like cookie presses, cookie cutters, wooden spoons, and some iron items that were very lovely. They reminded me of Amish made items, though I don't think they were. We bought the Mother-in-Law & ourselves a hand-carved wooden cookie press. MIL seems to like old, handmade items (she collects Red Wing pottery, etc) so I hope she likes the press. It was a pretty penny. But back to petticoats...Sarah, the NSVSA President showed up in a lovely black/silver stripe Victorian with brown & burgundy accents and some patterns I'd asked to borrow. In talking with her about her new dress and my own, she asked if I had the petticoat pattern and/or had made my petticoats yet. &%$#@! NO! I haven't! She said she thought early 70's would be better with petticoats, and since it doesn't seem they'll take very long to make, she is probably right. She told me she usually makes a double petticoat on one waistband, and I thought that was a pretty clever thing so I'll probably do the same. This is also a good thing because I have a very limited amount of dress fabric and I'll have a better idea of how much fabric my skirt will use if I use the same skirt pattern for the petticoats...then I'll be able to adjust my ideas for trims for my new outfit. Brad and I ran some errands today, one being finding cotton for my pettis...I found a nicely woven Kona muslin at Joann's and had a coupon, I got 9ish yards of 90 inch white muslin and around $22 off! I think I'll end up with alot of leftovers fabric after the pettis, but I've been meaning to make a pair of drawers for a while and some other things. So, there are undergarments in my future...and I need to get started since I've sorta given myself a deadline. Actually, I'll probably forget the deadline because I'm too excited about this project to give myself ultimatums, but that means I should be sewing instead of typing... Gotta Run! I had to cut the steel and some of the plastic ends to get the bones to stay in their casings, but it's mostly done now...little fiddly bits to finish up.
Here are a couple of pix I was able to *almost* finish the bustle...like really, really finish. It needs a closure, and I'm not sure yet, but I probably will add that hem ruffle since with the boning in the whole thing poofs out, making it shorter!
I decided against taking the entire thing apart to fix a ruffle thanks to advice from a few friends. It is afterall underwear, and I won't be showing them off often, if at all. Because I ordered the plastic tips for my boning, the bones are too long. The tips have about a 3/4 inch tab on them so you can sew them into your garment (I'm guessing), so I'm going to try cutting off the plastic in some places and may need to shorten the bones too if they're still too long. That will be the end of this project, hopefully pictures tomorrow! Estimated work time: 5 hours In other news...corset! I made my first corset in 2006 before Costume College and the corset making class I took there. I don't think my first shot at corsetry was very bad at all...so I'm thinking it may be acceptable for me to use this corset instead of making a new one...BUT at the same time, I'd like to make a new one. I'm going to try the old one on tonight and check the fit though. I don't know what kind of supplies I'll need for a new corset so I'll have to evaluate the stash and decide. In thinking "too bad this corset is pretty nice, but I want something prettier"...I came up with a plan for my first corset (which is made of a tan & taupe stripe fabric). I could change the binding on it and possibly use it for Steampunk stuff! I'm pretty excited that it may still be usable! So, I suppose that means I have some corset making in my future. I'm thinking of buying bone casings so I don't have to deal with sewing channels. I wonder if I need more boning as well. Hmm... Ugh...and I'm afraid there will be at least a 5th edition as well!
I had time to take the extra eyelet I needed off the fabric it was attached to on Saturday, and last night I was able to work on the bustle more. I cut the hoopsteel in the lengths I needed, so they are ready and waiting. I also attached the top 4 ruffles and though its out of order for instructions, I'm starting to add the waistband so that I can adjust the hem if needed. I'd adjust from the top instead of the bottom (especially in the front) because of the border around the skirt. I have the waistband pinned on right now, but am thinking I may move some gathers around because as it is they are all on the side front, and I probably need some extra room in the front front. So, I need to attach the waistband, add the last two bone casings/hem, the closure, I think I have one more ruffle to cover the bustle part (but I think I'll skip the hem ruffle for now, I can always add it later), then just add the bones and try it out! Yip! I wanna write about my upcoming project...I mean there's not much to say, but I have that motivation that kills you while you're making underwear for a project you want to start and just forget about the underwear!
The big question with this project is the one I've been dealing with...do I want to make a new corset first? Over the last couple of weeks I have been tossing this question around and I think I've come up with an answer. Yes, ideally I would like a new corset. I have two Victorians and at least one Steampunk outfit in my To Do queue, maybe in the next year so a new corset would be a good thing. Here is the little compromise I made myself, but it may be kinda silly. If I can have my undergarments (bustle and new corset) done by the stroke of Midnight on November 30, I will not turn into a pumpkin...err...I mean, I should go forward with a new Victorian. You see, this gives me a realistic time frame to get the underwear done, and still have time for a back-up plan. That's the part that's a little iffy....because if I'm almost done with the corset, I may decide to go forward with the Sekrit Vic anyway. But (scenerio 2) if I'm nowhere near done with it, then realistically, I won't be able to finish it and an entire ensemble for Twelfth Night. So--if scenerio 2 rears it's ugly head...what can I do? I think the plan would be to switch gears and revert to plan A from two months ago...go Edwardian. I already have an Edwardian corset made, so I'm pretty sure I could get at least a basic gown done in time for Twelfth Night. In my little brain, this is a perfect motivational tool to work it! And this weekend, though we are planning to be somewhat social with dinner & friends on Saturday and a Viking's game on Sunday, I should have time here and there, then most of Sunday night to get things done---hopefully that means the bustle will be done this weekend. The boning did not make it home yesterday, but hopefully it should be there today if no signature is required...I could still get it today if I make it down to UPS central before they close, but that place is a circus and I hate going there. Yes, the creativity in Subject Line entries is just oozing. Brad and I ran out for dinner last night and because we planned on stopping by the sewing store, we ate close by. I was surprised that we were out for less than an hour because usually when we go out it takes us alot longer 3 times longer than that! We went to A-1Sew Craft in Champlin, a little town about 3 miles from where we live. I was surpised to find the little store when we were house shopping and made a note stop in there. Last night I got my chance. I wanted a ruffler foot and though Hancock had them, I figured if I'd like to keep the little sewing store around I should give them a some of my business. I'm glad I did because the gentleman in the store was very helpful, showed me how to attach the foot to the machine, gave me some pointers and even showed me how to use it. I like Hancock, but I don't think they would have took the time, or had the knowledge to do the same. The foot is SO COOL! Wow! I'm was surprised to learn there was such a thing, and even better that it works...I'm not sure if this is the foot my friend Debbie used to make the pleats on her pretty Victorian, but so far, with little frustration in getting started, it workes well at making pretty ruffles! So, I played with the ruffler for a little bit, then started working. I figured I had so many lengths of fabric to cut for ruffles I should do that early in the evening, so I did. I cut 8 in total, sewed them together and zigged one side. The other side is going to have a bit of eyelet lace, so I left that edge raw until later. Later, because I am using an eyelet lace I bought a few years ago in a thrift shop. The lace was attached to long lengths of gingham, one was navy blue & the other poopie brown. At some point I either wanted to use this trim on another project OR I had the foresight to start picking it off and did so when I had nothing else to do (I don't remember that period in my life :)) because I had a 6 yard length already cut away from the navy blue gingham. I'm going to need all of this stuff, so I'm going to have to make time to get the rest of this stuff off the fabric.
I'm giving myself points for this because I'm reusing something that could have been thrown away. It ended up saving me money because I'm sure this eyelet would have sold for at least $1.50/yard and I bet I paid $3.00 for the whole 13ish yard lot, though there is a little brainless work involved with seperating it from it's former life. I'm also giving myself points for the fact that everything in this bustle was in my stash! Yay for using the stash for what it was intended for! Yay for making space in my stash containers! Yah for working on projects! Back to the recap, I cut the back brace piece, marked stars on the bustle back and back brace, turned under the top and bottom raw edges of back brace and that's about it. estimated work time: 3 hours |
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