I still haven't checked into what's wrong with my sewing machine. I hoped that I could figure out whether or not it needed repairs so that I could drop it off before leaving for Colorado, but here we are and I haven't even really thought about it.
We've been kinda busy thus why I haven't looked at the machine or done any sewing....getting ready for our trip, problems with our aquarium that needed to be addressed before we left, before that-Brad's birthday, two Vikings games (one at the Metrodome, and one on TV), Avatar 3-D, and trying to work out regularly--on top of work and school, too! Whew! Things won't be winding down for a few weeks either, but I am hoping to get some sewing done when we get back from Colorado. I'm hoping to bring some small handsewing along, maybe I'll start working on the trim for the Victorian. I have received confirmation that my registration for Costume College made it in, but I'm not sure if I'll be attending yet. I'd love to go again but need to feel things out a little first. Eitherway, there is plenty to do on my WANT list, but before I can start moving forward, I gotta make that blue Victorian wearable so I can put in the closet and mark it off my list! First I think the simplest part to finish will be the skirt ruffle, the ruffle is mostly made, but since my machine is Kaput! I think I'll finish it by hand, though attaching it by hand doesn't sound like a good idea. To be done with the skirt I need to add the waistband, which I can do when I get my machine working. Until then, I can sew in sleeves and attach trim. Since I've been working out, I'm waffling on whether or not to finish the closure. By the time I get to that point, I suppose I should try it on again and see if any there has been any change in the fit, then decide. The 2nd Victorian on my list for this year is in the works...I thought I had a pretty clear idea of what i wanted but haven't decided on a bodice pattern/style yet. And, I need to located the copy of the Diderot stays I have and start mocking that up, too! Sounds like a busy start to February, but I've put the Victorian aside for long enough and I'm itching to work on it again!
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Organization: put away Christmas decor in totes Organize Halloween & left over wedding decor in totes put totes in attic Organize craft space -organize large drawers -organize pattern collection -organize scrapbooking supplies -organize cubbies Organize costume storage Organize sock drawer Organize bathroom cabinet Make donations to ARC or Goodwill Paint: Paint blue samples in kitchen decide on sample colors for bathroom, paint Sewing: (to be done by March) tinker with machine, take in for repairs if needed finish sewing master bedroom draperies, hem Victorian: Attach ruffle to 1873 skirt Finish Victorian bodice Finish binding Victorian corset cut fabric for: the following: double petticoat for Grand Bustle white underskirt for 1873 Day dress ruffle sheer fabric for overskirt trace skirt pattern, return to Sarah Handsewing: (to do if machines needs repairs) Add closure to Grand Bustle Add closure to 1873 petticoat & skirts make trim for 1873 Victorian finish trimming Work Dress skirt trim Venetian sleeves Costume Want To Do 2010 list: Victorian Evening Gown (nearly completed) Victorian Day Dress 18th C. Stays for Pirate Garb ( start mocking up ASAP) Pirate coat for me :D (for August 2010) Brad's new Renaissance Clothing (for 2010 MNRF) I'm sorry I don't have pictures of my dress in progress yet, I'll try to get those on here tomorrow. I do have some pictures of ideas for trim, however...which are quite inspirational. I found most of these images from Daniel Deronda on www.costumersguide.com and they are really just what I had wanted for this dress, though I was having trouble envisioning them. Firstly, this lovely tangerine polonaise is similiar to mine, so it caught my eye. I especially like the cut of the sleeve, and the ruffled self-trim there. I'm not sure I could cut my sleeve to mimic this, but if not I'll keep this in mind for future outfits. We can't seem the detail of the trim around the neckline in this picture, but thankfully I found another image of this dress used in another movie on www.recycledmoviecostumes.com I also found detail shots of Gwendolyn's Wedding gown from Daniel Deronda, and am leaning towards a trim similiar to this around my neckline. My neckline is a little more revealing that I like, so I'm hoping this trim will add character and modesty...dual duty!
Brad and I planned our June 20th wedding in 6 months...besides that I finished a class I was taking in the winter term. The only sewing I did was my beaded bolero for my wedding dress. I did not bead the lace, but found it on eBay. I only bought 1 yard of the very expensive lace, so it was nerve wracking...but I got it done and liked the way it turned out. After the wedding, I worked on tweaking a dress for me to wear to the 2009 Minnesota Renaissance Festival. I decided the Pink Venetian needed the least amount of work, so added some trim to it. Then I got busy on making a wearable mock-up doublet & breeches for Brad . After Renaissance Festival was over we prepared for the Northstar VSA's Masquerade Ball. I made a half-circle cloak for Brad to wear with his Renaissance oufit. I needed to tweak some aspects of my Work Dress which I made in 2008 to wear to this ball. I made an underbodice for it, repleated and reattached the skirt. Then, right at the end of the year I worked on some new Victorian underwear. I made a bustle and a new corset. The question: Can I make a Victorian ensemble in 4 evenings if I try really, really hard?
The answer: NO! On a side note, the Sekrit Victorian ended up taking a different route design & color combination wise, so it's not longer sekrit, I just have no pictures to share just yet. And it's painful to admit that I didn't get to debut it because of all the work that went into getting the dress but because of the stress and the exhaustion caused by trying to get this done with the small amount of time I had to complete it, it wasn't hard to let it go and instead of attending the ball get a few hours of sleep. Brad and I actually did go but just to help with clean up. Boo! My machine started giving me problems 3 hours before the event started, so I may have been able to get mostly completed but I doubt there would have been time to finish the CF closure. Oh well. The good news? I have a mostly completed dress for our next Victorian event. What I have left: Bodice: set in sleeves Center Front Closure trims Skirt: Add ruffle to skirt hem add waistband trims Also, I'd like to get a hat made for this dress. I'm not sure when our next Northstar VSA outing is but I believe there is a Spring Dance in the works for April or May, so this dress will be ready for that though I'm not sure it would be appropriate. I had two Victorian dresses in mind for this year, so it's possible I could get the 2nd one made for this event. I cut out some fabric I didn't end up using for the above 1870's skirt that I can use for the underlayer of the skirt on the 2nd dress, and have a sheer fabric in mind that would be the overlayer and possibly the bodice. Sadly, my machine is kaput...I'm going to tinker with it and see if I can figure out what the problem is before I bring it in. I called the sewing machine repair shop and they said it would be approximately 2 weeks! Thank goodness I've got lots of handsewing that needs to get done! I could also break out my old Brother and use that for a while. 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! 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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