To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!
With my sister’s graduation coming up, I realized that I need something dressy–yet–casual, and nothing in my closet fit the bill. So, since I loathe clothes shopping and love fabric shopping, I decided to make Simplicity 2245, view A—a Lisette dress.
I found myself in need of a pair of small storage bags this evening. With a few charms of Etchings (that I don’t actually remember buying… hmmm.) and a couple of inches of Velcro, I managed to fulfill that need very quickly (in under 20 minutes, I think). Here’s how…
I think head-in-the-clouds Rae has won out (was there ever a question, really?). I’m making a Steampunk costume over the course of the next nine months. I even ordered some fabric, so now I have to make it.
My muse hasn’t stopped singing about the costume in the past week. It came up with a whole backstory and character for this costume, and who am I to deny it? Now that it’s in my head, I can’t get past the character (who is about 18 years old) so this won’t be a costume for me. Luckily, I have two younger sisters with similar body types (to each other, not me. Brats got all the tall genes)—hereafter referred to as C&K—to exploit, and they’ve agreed to let me dress them up at Christmas for a photo shoot.
So, paired with their measurements, a dress form I don’t yet own, and only a single chance to fit a mockup or two in person in less than a month (unless they come visit me, which is doubtful, since they’re on college-student budgets and I’m on a recently-bought-a-house-and-am-making-a-big-costume budget), I will be creating a costume that fits them (in theory). Luckily, they have more pattern-ready bodies, so fitting should be simpler than if I were to make it for myself, I think.
I can’t really sketch, but here’s a bit of my idea on paper…
In the month’s span where I haven’t put my Regency outfit on for photos, it’s spent time stuffed in a bag on the couch, thrown on my sewing room floor, and then finally hanging on the wall mocking me about staying at the office so late recently. (I found the wool is rather forgiving with wrinkles, but the cotton petticoat and ramie chemise are a mess.)
While I still claim that I will get photos, just as soon as Carl and I can coordinate time at home together during non-raining daylight, I realized that I should figure out a storage solution for keeping the gown and accoutrements together.
The Museum of the City of New York has an absolutely wonderful exhibit online at the moment: Worth & Mainbocher, featuring photos and information on many garments by these two master couture houses.
It’s a dangerous time-sink, with the ability to do some very super zooming on many of the garments—you can really see the details. Some even include shots of the interior. I love it. The interface is a bit clunky and slow otherwise, but don’t let that deter you.
I have no doubt that if you’ve seen a Worth gown (I’m not as familiar with Mainbocher), you’ve wanted to see how it was constructed—this gives you the opportunity to get up close. They even have the famous “Electric Light” fancy dress gown worn by Mrs. Vanderbilt II (complete with photos of the inner bodice).
First, we’ve started Cathedral Windows (on machine) at Sew You Want to Quilt, and we made one using one possible technique in class yesterday. Since I haven’t decided what I want to do for my project, I just grabbed some coordinating scraps that were large enough, and ended up with this pincushion/pattern weight/thing-that-takes-up-space:
So, this post is a bit late, but I’ve been trying to organize things—including thoughts—so it’s timely, in a sort of untimely way. I made most of these resolutions at the beginning of the year, although some are newer. I’m trying to get out of my manic crafting cycle of going nuts creating, then doing nothing for a month, and so on. I’ll try to keep updating this as the year progresses.
1. Make 10 quilts in 2012
Ten seemed like a good number, although I need to get to work if I plan on succeeding.
At the beginning of the year, I swore not to start any samplers or bees or whatever, until I finished all the stuff for the 1812 show. Then, not two weeks later, I found myself signing up for my LQS’s (Tiger Lily Quilt Co.) monthly sampler group. I justified it by saying it gets me out of the house and meeting other local quilters, right? (Or would, if I weren’t a wallflower.)
When I purchased the fabric for my Tula kaleidoscope quilt, I went a little overboard—mostly due to trying to match blenders and solids while online shopping. Then, I went a bit crazy making kaleidoscopes, because they were so much fun. Ultimately, there was enough leftover fabric and blocks for a full 60×60″ quilt of 7.5″ finishing squares, plus binding and backing (with a bit of stash throw in for the back).