On a whim, I'm making a 1930s dress out of a polyester fashion chiffon that I picked up on my last trip to the Garment District - Oh crap, I haven't posted since May... Uh, yes! I was at Costume College! I barely dressed up at all! But I was there!
Anyway, I got a bunch of printed polyester fashion chiffons that I LOVE from the by-the-pound Michael Levine store. And work is having a sort of electro-swing themed summer garden party (a la Gatsby) so I decided fashion print + 1930s pattern = winning, right?
Well, none of my existing paper patterns (that I could find) actually were frilly enough for the purpose. I actually spent a few hours pawing through my research library and had an option picked out from one of them, when I realized that I'd actually picked up an amazing surplice-back 1930s dress at the local thrift store.
I took a pattern off that, then enlarged it to my size. Then I spent a bunch of time freaking out about how I was totally doing this by feel, and went back and put the new-drafted pattern against an existing one that I knew fit. I altered it a bunch. And then, still last night - this was all on Monday, you see! - I threw everything off my worktable and cut it out.
Today when I got home from work I dicked around on the internet for a few hours, and at 9 really sat down to sew. I ran gathering stitches in the underbust, set up my serger, and serged the skirt pieces together, switched it into a rolled-hem and hemmed a bunch of parts, then went to my sewing machine and basted the bodice parts together.
Yeah, all those alterations that I made based on that existing pattern that I knew fit me? I'm taking them out. :P Whoops. Should've trusted myself!
So, on the "left to do" list is serge the side seams, re-roll-hem the neckline (too high!), serge the shoulder seams, gather the shoulder seams, and then gather the underbust and finally set the skirt into the bodice. Then set the sleeves, and roll hem the hem of the skirt.
The one mystery remains - will this be a slip-on frock? Or am I going to have to cut bias and slit it and put in a side opening? The original has no visible fasteners except at the wrists (and the snaps in the bra-strap keepers at the shoulder seams). This is gonna be interesting!
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
Incompletes, Impulsiveness, and Meticulous Frugality
Well, great. So this post probably shows up in your feed twice, because apparently hitting tab and then typing posts the thing on Blogger. Whoops.
I owe so many posts at this point it's not even funny. The awesome thing I alluded to in the last post is an amazing 1894ish tea or graduation gown that I got at the Vintage Expo. But unless I hear clamoring for it, I'm probably not going to get around to posting about it much.
Instead, I've been doing a lot of what I can only call "impulse costuming". And it's been all from stash, which is AWESOME, zomg I cannot TELL you how awesome.
This post started as a Facebook status that just kept going, and now I'm going to unload a whole 'nother post's worth of impulse before I even get to what I set out to post about. Right.
Awhile back I decided I was attending the final yearly Actions of the Lowe Countries, and that dagnabbit, I wanted a German dress. So I pulled out some patterning supplies and my Tudor block, and went through three iterations of the front curve before I got it right. I then pulled out a 80"x90" old olive-drab woolen (military? boyscout?) blanket from the stash. It took some careful patterning, but I managed to get an entire dress with half sleeves out of it. The skirt isn't very wide, but hey, isn't that about right for a camp follower anyway? The guarding came from a roll of navy blue scrap woolen I bought from another GBACG costumer when I visited Casa de Fruita last - it was slated for just this sort of purpose. I've still got enough that I think I'll make an Elizabethan fitted jacked out of it. Anyway, the German dress: I finished the last bits of handsewing onsite before dark! And I fitted a panel of helper lacing into the lining so I could get the hooks and eyes closed. I also made a sort of crappy wulst and conned Cherylynn into pinning it to a wobbly, but reasonable Wulsthaube. When I find my wire, I'm going to remake the wulst and try that again.
It seems that none of the amazing photographers actually took my picture this year, so I have one shot I had a friend take, and a selfie that I took from just before I took down my (plastic) tent.
Okay! So!
Impulse costuming strikes again! Last week I took a pattern that Laurie had fitted to me *literally* years ago (possibly four?) and took a piece of thrift-store linen, and cut out a cotehardie pattern. There were some shoulder issues. That's okay. I was able to put a dart in the first draft, then pivot it out and splice the paper patterns together, then move the pattern just far down enough on the original fitting toile/lining to recut the armscyes. (Thankfully it'd been long to start with - needlessly so since there'll be a skirting gore in the middle at some point.) So then I stalled.
The reason I started the cotehardie was actually a bit of - you may gasp - medieval fantasy costuming (Winter is coming, y'all). But I would hate to make a full set of underwear and gown out just for fantasy stuff. I have this great bolt of *insanely* slubby dupioni in a quite interesting silver, but it'd be too warm to wear over wool. But I have this great woolen dress-length I got at the thrift store for a song. So, that's two overgowns - one historical, one fantasy - but what to do for the actual cote?
Years ago, I bought a random length of blue linen, and a random length of pink linen. God knows what I thought I was going to do with them. At some point I made a pair of rather larger than anticipated pocket hoops out of some of the pink. But the blue sat, forgotten. Until I went spelunking into the Fabric Closet of DOOM (requires a headlamp, not even kidding), and dragged it out.
Well, this stuff is bizarre. It's at least partly linen. I think it's got... ramie? in it too. The selvedges are GOREGOUS. And I've got just under two yards of it, 70", post-washing. (It had clearly been washed.)
"70 inches?" I hear you muttering. "That's not nearly enough to make ANYTHING for an adult sized human."
Yeah, normally, that would be right. But this stuff is bizarre, did I mention? Because it is also 83" wide from selvedge to selvedge. Just like in the German dress, I grabbed the graph paper and plotted the gown pieces. I can make this work, but I'm going to have to cut the sleeves slim and flip the trimmings into gores to round out the underside of the biceps. And the skirting gores might not be all that wide. Oh, and I will have one strip 2"x10" long, left unused. It'll probably be facings for sleeve buttoning parts. I'm okay with this for a cote though, especially since I patterned in enough room for a lacing stand into the front. This will be the undergown!
And I've got two beautiful gowns planned that can go over it for various occasions. :)
With that, goodnight!
I owe so many posts at this point it's not even funny. The awesome thing I alluded to in the last post is an amazing 1894ish tea or graduation gown that I got at the Vintage Expo. But unless I hear clamoring for it, I'm probably not going to get around to posting about it much.
Instead, I've been doing a lot of what I can only call "impulse costuming". And it's been all from stash, which is AWESOME, zomg I cannot TELL you how awesome.
This post started as a Facebook status that just kept going, and now I'm going to unload a whole 'nother post's worth of impulse before I even get to what I set out to post about. Right.
Awhile back I decided I was attending the final yearly Actions of the Lowe Countries, and that dagnabbit, I wanted a German dress. So I pulled out some patterning supplies and my Tudor block, and went through three iterations of the front curve before I got it right. I then pulled out a 80"x90" old olive-drab woolen (military? boyscout?) blanket from the stash. It took some careful patterning, but I managed to get an entire dress with half sleeves out of it. The skirt isn't very wide, but hey, isn't that about right for a camp follower anyway? The guarding came from a roll of navy blue scrap woolen I bought from another GBACG costumer when I visited Casa de Fruita last - it was slated for just this sort of purpose. I've still got enough that I think I'll make an Elizabethan fitted jacked out of it. Anyway, the German dress: I finished the last bits of handsewing onsite before dark! And I fitted a panel of helper lacing into the lining so I could get the hooks and eyes closed. I also made a sort of crappy wulst and conned Cherylynn into pinning it to a wobbly, but reasonable Wulsthaube. When I find my wire, I'm going to remake the wulst and try that again.
It seems that none of the amazing photographers actually took my picture this year, so I have one shot I had a friend take, and a selfie that I took from just before I took down my (plastic) tent.
 |
| Drei Schwestern - courtesy Shelley Monson (me on the right) |
 |
| Plasticamp selfie - I threw the English partlet over it for sun protection. Next I need to make a gollar. |
Impulse costuming strikes again! Last week I took a pattern that Laurie had fitted to me *literally* years ago (possibly four?) and took a piece of thrift-store linen, and cut out a cotehardie pattern. There were some shoulder issues. That's okay. I was able to put a dart in the first draft, then pivot it out and splice the paper patterns together, then move the pattern just far down enough on the original fitting toile/lining to recut the armscyes. (Thankfully it'd been long to start with - needlessly so since there'll be a skirting gore in the middle at some point.) So then I stalled.
The reason I started the cotehardie was actually a bit of - you may gasp - medieval fantasy costuming (Winter is coming, y'all). But I would hate to make a full set of underwear and gown out just for fantasy stuff. I have this great bolt of *insanely* slubby dupioni in a quite interesting silver, but it'd be too warm to wear over wool. But I have this great woolen dress-length I got at the thrift store for a song. So, that's two overgowns - one historical, one fantasy - but what to do for the actual cote?
Years ago, I bought a random length of blue linen, and a random length of pink linen. God knows what I thought I was going to do with them. At some point I made a pair of rather larger than anticipated pocket hoops out of some of the pink. But the blue sat, forgotten. Until I went spelunking into the Fabric Closet of DOOM (requires a headlamp, not even kidding), and dragged it out.
Well, this stuff is bizarre. It's at least partly linen. I think it's got... ramie? in it too. The selvedges are GOREGOUS. And I've got just under two yards of it, 70", post-washing. (It had clearly been washed.)
"70 inches?" I hear you muttering. "That's not nearly enough to make ANYTHING for an adult sized human."
Yeah, normally, that would be right. But this stuff is bizarre, did I mention? Because it is also 83" wide from selvedge to selvedge. Just like in the German dress, I grabbed the graph paper and plotted the gown pieces. I can make this work, but I'm going to have to cut the sleeves slim and flip the trimmings into gores to round out the underside of the biceps. And the skirting gores might not be all that wide. Oh, and I will have one strip 2"x10" long, left unused. It'll probably be facings for sleeve buttoning parts. I'm okay with this for a cote though, especially since I patterned in enough room for a lacing stand into the front. This will be the undergown!
And I've got two beautiful gowns planned that can go over it for various occasions. :)
With that, goodnight!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Eight Months?!
No, I wasn't pregnant. Yeesh. But I just realized that the last time I posted here was... in August. It's now nearly April. I'm about to turn 31 (which is a pretty cool prime number), and while things have oscillated between exploding and progressing smoothly at home, I'm finally getting to the point where I feel good enough (and am pushing back enough on day-job work) to get some sewing done.
That said, I haven't exactly *finished* a lot just yet, but I've got a lot of stuff in the hopper. I'm planning to blog more here, so let me tell you a little about what's on deck - if there's anything you want to see more about, let me know so I can write up a post about it.
Aside from that I'm also pondering how to re-order my living and working space at home. I realized at some point that the fact that my worktable is also my sewing machine fixery bench and ironing board really contributes to the project-blockage that I experience all too frequently. (That said, I have something like five sewing machines waiting for small parts so I can send them on down the line to their next homes.
Hilariously, what I really logged on to post about in the first place will have to wait until I can get some better pictures. I went to the Vintage Clothing Expo yesterday in San Francisco and bought a really neat 1894ish study piece!
That said, I haven't exactly *finished* a lot just yet, but I've got a lot of stuff in the hopper. I'm planning to blog more here, so let me tell you a little about what's on deck - if there's anything you want to see more about, let me know so I can write up a post about it.
- military-blanket German camp follower gown (zomg I did some smocking!)
- awful Regency corset of DOOM project
- art deco pajamas
Aside from that I'm also pondering how to re-order my living and working space at home. I realized at some point that the fact that my worktable is also my sewing machine fixery bench and ironing board really contributes to the project-blockage that I experience all too frequently. (That said, I have something like five sewing machines waiting for small parts so I can send them on down the line to their next homes.
Hilariously, what I really logged on to post about in the first place will have to wait until I can get some better pictures. I went to the Vintage Clothing Expo yesterday in San Francisco and bought a really neat 1894ish study piece!
Monday, August 12, 2013
Costume College 2013
I debated which of the two blogs this should go on, since it's got both costuming and intensely personal things. But it's Costume College, so... on the Costuming blog it goes. :D
Costume College and I go back a long ways, though I don't always attend and I don't always write about it. I took a year off when it moved to the Warner Center Marriott, because first years are often really difficult. But I've taken off other years too, especially in those dark years between graduation and having some semblance of a steady career.
I'm always fascinated to see what changes, and what stays the same. New events are invented and discarded, new traditions, old traditions. And what my gripe was last year, was the same-y-ness of the classes offered. This is not a criticism of the CoCo board, but instead one of those realizations of adulthood: If I was grumpy at the lack of classes, I should find something I knew and teach it.
So what do I know? How procrastination screws over your ability to complete large projects? Right, no, not that one. Umm, fabrics and burn testing...? I'm still not great at burn testing. Recycling thrift store things into historic costume? Yes, sure, because nobody else knows how to spot useful bedsheets, curtains, duvet covers... So... Sewing machines it was.
Naturally, I procrastinated on actually writing the presentation until the last minute, and I was up until 2am the day we left getting it ready. In the end I had to distil it into Powerpoint at the last minute, fix up the animations, and make a few last changes before teaching. BUT! With all the machines I brought, a helpful dose of lolspeak, and a bare sprinkling of profanity... It went well.
I would hazard to say even that it went REALLY well. When I looked up from my nerves and presentation-clicking, I noticed people standing against the back wall. I took up the remaining 15 minutes between classes fielding questions and showing people my 112-4 video. Every-other time I got into the elevator the rest of the weekend, I got complimented on the class.
I also taught a short class on making lacing strips, which went well even if we ended up running over with the students bottlenecking at the grommet setter.
So let me back up now a bit and tell you what a FABULOUS time it was, hanging out with Michelle and Cherylynn and Marion and Claudia and Cathy and Tonda and all the rest. Holy crap, I think I've found My Peoples! We made a food run Thursday night, and did dinner after the meet and greet party. The rest sort of blurs into a wave of awesome: the huge group dinner at Maggiano's, dressing in our Super Secret Group Costume ("The Collected Works of Alphonse Mucha"), going to PF Chang's in said costume and getting alllllll sorts of people daring each other to come up and ask us who/what we were. And Sunday Undies with three of us in peignoir sets. And this is to say nothing of the late night drinking.
Between teaching and partying, I didn't have a lot of time for costumes, surprisingly. I didn't bother dressing up Thursday. I wore my favorite black-and-white polkadot dress-from-Ross to teach in on Friday. I put on the Blue Hawaii Jiffy dress for the Ice Cream Social Friday night, then changed into a doric chiton made out of a bedsheet, and a giant drapey pink dupatta as a palla for the pink princess toga party-or-whatever-that-was. Saturday I got dressed up in what I call "The Tackiest Pirate Ever" costume. Saturday night was the aforementioned Mucha-ing, Sunday Morning was again the aforesaid peignoir sets. Sunday day I put on the newly-finished red Butterfly Blouse (I LOVE THAT PATTERN SO MUCH) over a pair of jeans because I Simply Couldn't Be Bothered.
There are not many pictures of any of these ensembles, sadly.
The last class I took on Sunday was actually about how programming works. And between what I gleaned from that and Michelle's curiosity about Limited classes, we have Plans to help bring CoCo into the 21st century. Oooh, but we do!
Monday, I somehow managed to be the Tour Leader for an independent trip to the Garment District. We got there early-ish, or at least before the bus, and hit up Em-Bee. He's got some reallllly nice fine linen right now, so I snagged two yards to make headcoverings out of. We then remembered ourselves and dashed to Home Fabrics before the bus got there. I found lots of interesting stuff for other people, but nothing sadly, for myself. Much Shopping ensued. Some of us who will go unnamed nearly bought out Fabrics and Fabrics. ;) When we took a break to head over to Maple Grill for lunch we found that they'd closed down! Sadness. So I asked the shopgirl at the Epic Trim Place for a recommendation, which she gave. We walked the three long blocks to find possibly THE best koobideh kabob and falafel ever. And on the way there (and consequently on the way BACK!) we passed the Fashion Bookstore. They're in a nice building with nice bathrooms, so double-bonus.
At that point we started wrapping up and trickling off, since it was a long way home.
The drive home was, well, the long drive that it always is, except this time lengthened a bit by someone overheating in the "bypass" lane on the grapevine. I think we lost about an hour there, sadly. But stopping early for dinner at Tejon Ranch meant we saved ourselves the extra stop at Kettleman City, so it worked out in the end. I got home and frantically unpacked so that Chris (who'd been in Las Vegas at a hacker event all weekend) could come home and crash out with the con-crud.
A+++ event, would do again. :D
Costume College and I go back a long ways, though I don't always attend and I don't always write about it. I took a year off when it moved to the Warner Center Marriott, because first years are often really difficult. But I've taken off other years too, especially in those dark years between graduation and having some semblance of a steady career.
I'm always fascinated to see what changes, and what stays the same. New events are invented and discarded, new traditions, old traditions. And what my gripe was last year, was the same-y-ness of the classes offered. This is not a criticism of the CoCo board, but instead one of those realizations of adulthood: If I was grumpy at the lack of classes, I should find something I knew and teach it.
So what do I know? How procrastination screws over your ability to complete large projects? Right, no, not that one. Umm, fabrics and burn testing...? I'm still not great at burn testing. Recycling thrift store things into historic costume? Yes, sure, because nobody else knows how to spot useful bedsheets, curtains, duvet covers... So... Sewing machines it was.
Naturally, I procrastinated on actually writing the presentation until the last minute, and I was up until 2am the day we left getting it ready. In the end I had to distil it into Powerpoint at the last minute, fix up the animations, and make a few last changes before teaching. BUT! With all the machines I brought, a helpful dose of lolspeak, and a bare sprinkling of profanity... It went well.
I would hazard to say even that it went REALLY well. When I looked up from my nerves and presentation-clicking, I noticed people standing against the back wall. I took up the remaining 15 minutes between classes fielding questions and showing people my 112-4 video. Every-other time I got into the elevator the rest of the weekend, I got complimented on the class.
I also taught a short class on making lacing strips, which went well even if we ended up running over with the students bottlenecking at the grommet setter.
So let me back up now a bit and tell you what a FABULOUS time it was, hanging out with Michelle and Cherylynn and Marion and Claudia and Cathy and Tonda and all the rest. Holy crap, I think I've found My Peoples! We made a food run Thursday night, and did dinner after the meet and greet party. The rest sort of blurs into a wave of awesome: the huge group dinner at Maggiano's, dressing in our Super Secret Group Costume ("The Collected Works of Alphonse Mucha"), going to PF Chang's in said costume and getting alllllll sorts of people daring each other to come up and ask us who/what we were. And Sunday Undies with three of us in peignoir sets. And this is to say nothing of the late night drinking.
Between teaching and partying, I didn't have a lot of time for costumes, surprisingly. I didn't bother dressing up Thursday. I wore my favorite black-and-white polkadot dress-from-Ross to teach in on Friday. I put on the Blue Hawaii Jiffy dress for the Ice Cream Social Friday night, then changed into a doric chiton made out of a bedsheet, and a giant drapey pink dupatta as a palla for the pink princess toga party-or-whatever-that-was. Saturday I got dressed up in what I call "The Tackiest Pirate Ever" costume. Saturday night was the aforementioned Mucha-ing, Sunday Morning was again the aforesaid peignoir sets. Sunday day I put on the newly-finished red Butterfly Blouse (I LOVE THAT PATTERN SO MUCH) over a pair of jeans because I Simply Couldn't Be Bothered.
There are not many pictures of any of these ensembles, sadly.
The last class I took on Sunday was actually about how programming works. And between what I gleaned from that and Michelle's curiosity about Limited classes, we have Plans to help bring CoCo into the 21st century. Oooh, but we do!
Monday, I somehow managed to be the Tour Leader for an independent trip to the Garment District. We got there early-ish, or at least before the bus, and hit up Em-Bee. He's got some reallllly nice fine linen right now, so I snagged two yards to make headcoverings out of. We then remembered ourselves and dashed to Home Fabrics before the bus got there. I found lots of interesting stuff for other people, but nothing sadly, for myself. Much Shopping ensued. Some of us who will go unnamed nearly bought out Fabrics and Fabrics. ;) When we took a break to head over to Maple Grill for lunch we found that they'd closed down! Sadness. So I asked the shopgirl at the Epic Trim Place for a recommendation, which she gave. We walked the three long blocks to find possibly THE best koobideh kabob and falafel ever. And on the way there (and consequently on the way BACK!) we passed the Fashion Bookstore. They're in a nice building with nice bathrooms, so double-bonus.
At that point we started wrapping up and trickling off, since it was a long way home.
The drive home was, well, the long drive that it always is, except this time lengthened a bit by someone overheating in the "bypass" lane on the grapevine. I think we lost about an hour there, sadly. But stopping early for dinner at Tejon Ranch meant we saved ourselves the extra stop at Kettleman City, so it worked out in the end. I got home and frantically unpacked so that Chris (who'd been in Las Vegas at a hacker event all weekend) could come home and crash out with the con-crud.
A+++ event, would do again. :D
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
I know, I know
Things have... not been going.
I got home from CoCo last night, and it was a GREAT event, but there was a moment when I was packing when I was so desperately unhappy about the amount of sewing I have not done that I was in tears. I managed to put together a bunch of good costumes despite this, but I still feel awful - I made one outfit for our awesome group costume (and I'll post more about that later) but I honest-to-God haven't had time to really SEW anything.
I've finished a bunch of unfinished things (and boy-howdy do I have a lot of unfinished things), but nothing new. (Butterfly blouse, two aprons, the old 1950's kit, the Kentwell English Fitted Gown.) I've even got a pile of things that will never be completely done (pre-making aiglets, making stuffed-fabric buttons, lucet cord) and it's just... unsatisfying.
I'm posting this because I feel like I need to get this out, that I'm about to start unfollowing some people because I find myself actively resenting the amount of time and motivation you find to sew. (I probably won't, but it's just a sort of cry-for-help, I-need-you-to-understand-where-I'm-coming-from statement. When your reaction to some of your friends is "oh geeze, another gorgeous gown, and I still can't even figure out if I'm the same size as when I started this one, oh crap..." it's maybe time to step back and reconsider.
It's the social aspect. It really is. I suck at holing up in my cramped, dark apartment by myself to sew. I can force myself to do it, but what I really want to do is hang out with other people... which means I hang out on the internet. Which means I get no sewing done. I get no exercise. I feel like crap.
And then I feel guilty about it and go months between posts. :(
I got home from CoCo last night, and it was a GREAT event, but there was a moment when I was packing when I was so desperately unhappy about the amount of sewing I have not done that I was in tears. I managed to put together a bunch of good costumes despite this, but I still feel awful - I made one outfit for our awesome group costume (and I'll post more about that later) but I honest-to-God haven't had time to really SEW anything.
I've finished a bunch of unfinished things (and boy-howdy do I have a lot of unfinished things), but nothing new. (Butterfly blouse, two aprons, the old 1950's kit, the Kentwell English Fitted Gown.) I've even got a pile of things that will never be completely done (pre-making aiglets, making stuffed-fabric buttons, lucet cord) and it's just... unsatisfying.
I'm posting this because I feel like I need to get this out, that I'm about to start unfollowing some people because I find myself actively resenting the amount of time and motivation you find to sew. (I probably won't, but it's just a sort of cry-for-help, I-need-you-to-understand-where-I'm-coming-from statement. When your reaction to some of your friends is "oh geeze, another gorgeous gown, and I still can't even figure out if I'm the same size as when I started this one, oh crap..." it's maybe time to step back and reconsider.
It's the social aspect. It really is. I suck at holing up in my cramped, dark apartment by myself to sew. I can force myself to do it, but what I really want to do is hang out with other people... which means I hang out on the internet. Which means I get no sewing done. I get no exercise. I feel like crap.
And then I feel guilty about it and go months between posts. :(
Saturday, June 8, 2013
It goes around again
I've been having a slow period for costuming, and I apologize. The grey silk 18th c corset has stalled out in favor of other, fancy interesting projects. But I had to share this.
Last year for CoCo I made an "antidote dress", which is to say a quick, easy, fast-to-make, zero fancy undergarment dose of "ha-HA, it is DONE". It's a therapy dress. It's an emotional uplift dress. Anyway, it's a one-piece wrap dress (three if you count the two ties I added) from a 1960s pattern, made from a piece of fabric I found at a thrift store.
This morning as I woke late, I realized that I had to get a load of laundry in the washer *today* or face dire consequences. The laundry room in our building was quiet, so I had approximately fifteen minutes to get this together. Normally I would reach for the bare minimum to make myself decent outstide - yoga pants and a pajama top - but they were all in the wash. (I did say *dire* right?)
And then I saw the Jiffy dress, hanging on the peg where I'd left it to try to let the last wrinkles hang out. I threw it on. I ran outside and put the first load in. (Whew!) My neighbor stopped me and asked me what brand the dress was.
And when I looked down, I realized that the color and pattern combination of my 1960's mod-take-on-barkcloth print rayon dress... is back in. Maybe a modern version would have a brighter set of blues, but super bright crazy patterns with a black element are *in*.
Whoops!
Last year for CoCo I made an "antidote dress", which is to say a quick, easy, fast-to-make, zero fancy undergarment dose of "ha-HA, it is DONE". It's a therapy dress. It's an emotional uplift dress. Anyway, it's a one-piece wrap dress (three if you count the two ties I added) from a 1960s pattern, made from a piece of fabric I found at a thrift store.
And then I saw the Jiffy dress, hanging on the peg where I'd left it to try to let the last wrinkles hang out. I threw it on. I ran outside and put the first load in. (Whew!) My neighbor stopped me and asked me what brand the dress was.
And when I looked down, I realized that the color and pattern combination of my 1960's mod-take-on-barkcloth print rayon dress... is back in. Maybe a modern version would have a brighter set of blues, but super bright crazy patterns with a black element are *in*.
Whoops!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Little Things
I haven't touched the next iteration of the corset yet. Maybe I'll do that in the remaining hour I should be awake. Instead, I made straps for a bridesmaid dress. Yup!
So, yeah, straps. Which is to say, a tube of black polyester chiffon, gathered, and stitched to the back of the dress where the optional ($70) straps used to go. I haven't yet sewn down the fronts, because who knows how I'll feel day of? But at least that's one less naggy thing on my mind.
Travel tomorrow. I wish I had a better handsewing project to work on. I did make some pattens today though, but this isn't a *woodworking* blog now is it.
So, yeah, straps. Which is to say, a tube of black polyester chiffon, gathered, and stitched to the back of the dress where the optional ($70) straps used to go. I haven't yet sewn down the fronts, because who knows how I'll feel day of? But at least that's one less naggy thing on my mind.
Travel tomorrow. I wish I had a better handsewing project to work on. I did make some pattens today though, but this isn't a *woodworking* blog now is it.
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