Last night time escaped me. The drive home was quick, Brad came home, we made dinner and cleaned up in preparation for our upcoming vacation, and by the time we were done eating it was 8pm!
It continued to quickly slip away through the course of the evening and before I knew it, it was 2am and I had 4 hours to sleep! Ugh! Thankfully I think I got plenty of sleep over the Christmas weekend because I feel pretty good today. After dinner and cleaning up I sewed half of the bias binding around one half of the corset (I hit bones during this process and broke 3 needles!). I'll try to do the same with the other half of the corset tonight. I've also got to make some tweaks to the corset. The CB boning is turning in it's channel as well as buckling when the corset is on, so I'm gonna try adding another bone and if that doesn't fix the turning problem I'll stitch the channel smaller. If the extra bone doesn't fix the buckling, I think I'll add a couple of extra grommets to help distribute the tension. I sewed the mock-up pieces together and for the most part it looked really good. The shoulders on the pattern are wide and the center front was about 1 inch too small on each side so I'll let out darts and side seams tonight. I'm thinking I'll mock-up the sleeves as well because though I usually skip the sleeve mock up. However, I'm pretty sure the sleeve are going to affect the fit and I want this dress to go together easily, so I'd like to face any issues before I cut the fashion fabric. I've been brainstorming for trim ideas on this dress, I thought I had it all worked out, really, all I had worked out were the colors. I suppose it doesn't matter much since I've got to have something to trim first... Tomorrow we leave for Austin, Texas, where I'm imagining blue skies and warm weather. Hopefully we'll find some time to relax as well. I'd like some of that!
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It seems I've had sewing projects since August. Probably because I have but as you probably have gathered, I'm a slow worker. Most of my costumes are always works in progress, which I'm beginning to loathe.
Usually the ongoing projects are due to time constraints and Costume ADD, plus I have two active venues of costume which run into each other, Renaissance Festival which normally runs until I need to start getting my Masquerade Ball costume finished up. But I do have other interests. Actually, I wanted this blog to be about all my interests: cooking, home decor, general crafting, fashion, thrifting, and costume but I haven't been able to branch out much since the wedding, even though I've wanted to. Lately, I've been drawn to thinking of our house. We moved in our house in April 2008 and have mostly moved in, but some things still need tweaking and some rooms still need painting. I'd like to get our guest bathroom & kitchen painted this winter. Our kitchen is really just two walls, and the bathroom is small, so this isn't an unreasonable goal. In addition to that I am hoping to get started on the remodelling of our "mud room" which is the size of a largish bedroom and currently is a living area for my turtle, Talula, kitty HQ (food and litter) and is a "catch all" space for junk! My IKEA craft table has found its way here and under it my craft storage solution (which is a big white box with huge plastic drawers inside) from a previous apartment, my cubbies which house books, crafting supplies, even our shoes. Finally there is a BIG and unattractive cabinet in the corner of the room that is mostly a waste of space. I have taken out most of the shelving and put my fabric containers and project bins here--there is also laundry area off the mudroom that can be hidden behind a bi-fold door in which the sink is in a hard to reach = hard to use area. It's a nice room but these space could be made so much more functional. So all these home improvements have been invading my head and with another semester of school fast approaching and sewing projects piling up I need to find a way to make a happy medium. In an effort to feel more positive about my crafting space (which is currently just craft storage space since it's uninviting and I don't want to spend more time in ther than I have to) I have started stealing away to organize it. My hubby, which I've known for a little over 2+ years knows I like to talk about organization but that I have poor follow-thru (which is only because I don't usually ave the time). I'd like to focus more on being organized in 2010, which was my resolution last year---but we planned a wedding in 6 months, so that never happened (though I was pretty organized during that whole thang!). Christmas Eve 2009 was stressful. Due to the snow we weren't sure if I'd have to come into work (for 4 hours) or not. Turns out I did. There wasn't much traffic, at least, but the roads were poorly plowed and scary. By the time Brad was done working from home, we both had migraines, so we went to bed early, and I got nothing productive on my costume done.
It was questionable whether or not we'd be getting together with Brad's family for the holidays due the the Holiday Storm from Hades! We didn't make a decision until Christmas morning, then because for days before we thought we wouldn't be there we didn't have gifts wrapped. So, we wrapped gifts before leaving, then had to pack, etc. The roads weren't as bad as I'd expected, and I kept the camera close in hand for any cool photo ops. Most of the pictures I got were pretty winter scenes. I'd like to print a couple of them and find a place to hang them in our house. Christmas dinner was delish and all our gifts were fantastic, mostly dinnerware...but our big one was "a freezer" in the form of giftcards (much more portable that way). Hopefully we'll find some good deals to get the most for our gifted money! The only bit of sewing progress I made was yesterday, and there wasn't much sewing involved. I made bias binding the for the new corset and had to shorten some bones to sew the casings closed. I'd like to machine stich one side of the binding before we leave on Wednesday so I can handstitch the rest either on the plane or on the drive from Dallas to Austin. I also traced the pattern and got the mock-up pieces of the Sekrit Victorian's bodice cut, tonight I plan on sewing the pieces together and attempt to fit it myself. My measurements were all one size on the Truly Victorian pattern I'm using, so hopefully that means it will go together rather easily, a girl can dream can't she? I can't afford to be struck down with another migraine before leaving on Wednesday. I need to get as much work done on the bodice as possible because I'm hopeful about bringing it along as well. To have it ready to go, here is what should happen between now and Wednesday morning. I had the chance to work on my recently neglected, new Victorian corset on Monday and Tuesday nights. Progress has been very slow since the beginning of December.
Contributing to my lack of time: 1. we bought a new Christmas tree and even put it up & decorated it! I am happy we did *sigh*. 2. most birthday celebrations have been completed and enjoyed! 3. final is finished and I passed my class with an A! 4.most Christmas gifts have been bought I placed grommets yesterday afternoon and after a break (my fingers were sore after putting grommets in) I cut & tipped bones, then tried the corset on. The gap is wide, meaning the corset is too small, but I like the fit better than previous attempt at the Silverado! I thought I might be in the clear for running so behind, and that Twelfth Night might be cancelled, but I got some news about the Gala that makes me excited to go. I have secured a back up dress (though it may need some adjusting) in the event I can't get things done in a speedy manner (the current headache in the background makes me less hopeful that I can). But...just in case I'm gonna plan a schedule for the next couple of weeks. So, it's been a while since I've posted. Last week I tried making a couple mock-ups and though I think with a little more work it might happen, I am giving up on that corset for now.
I am just sorry I wasted so much time on it, but it was easy to let it go and make a corset from an existing, already drafted up to my size, pattern. I started out making the Silverado from Laughing Moon, but found a link to some pattern instructions on the Truly Victorian website. The instructions were helpful, noting that larger busted figures may prefer to make the Dore, as the fit of the Silverado pushes the bust toward the neck which is not proper when recreating a Victorian figure. So, though I had cut mock-up pieces for the Silverado, I cut more mock-up pieces for the Dore...then cut the pieces out of coutil and silk. I got the boning placement marked, and half of the busk inserted before we left for Iowa. Since I wasn't bringing my machine along, this project wasn't done enough to finish up by hand so I brought The Work Dress and thought I'd work on rebininding the underbodice and/or sewing the velvet guard on... I didn't do very much worth mentioning, got probably half of the guard sewn on the top on the carride home, then it got dark around 4:30 :/ love winter. But I'll switch back to corset mode this week...I know putting it together won't be difficult, but it will take time to cut bones, insert the rest of the busk and pound grommets...I'm guessing by the end of the week it should be done, and I've *really* got to kick the bodice making into high gear. after the corset is done. I signed up for the last of two classes I plan on taking next term and I'm not really looking forward to it, but one positive note would be that I will be that much closer to a degree (after next term 8 classes left). |
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