Massive progress! Friday after Thanksgiving, I made the skirt and painstakingly pleated it into the bodice. I usually have trouble attaching pleats to a V-shaped waistline (I’ve done it successfully once and since forgotten how I achieved that). But I figured out a way again. Let’s see if writing it down helps me remember… After
Finally got something started here! I thought I’d just use the same bodice pattern I made for the black and grey 1570s kirtle — just needed to cut the back of the neckline squared. But when I did that, something changed in the fit of the shoulders, so I actually had to futz with the
I think I’d like to make this gown for the SCA 12th Night this year. I can use the same side-laced bodice pattern as the black and grey 1570s gown. If I don’t get it trimmed, I can still wear it plain. So it’s not as super-mega labor-intensive as my initial plan of making the
I’ve decided not to try to make the MQoS pink gown for 12th Night this year. Just don’t want to push it. The thing is alllllll trim and pearls, meaning allllllll hand-sewing, and we should know how I feel about that by now. Why kill myself to do it in 2 months? Even with Mom’s
It is begun! I cut the pink taffeta, spray-basted it to some white twill for body, and sewed all the side seams of the bodice. Then I started hand-sewing on the trim. Have to start with trim over the seam lines, you see, then work out in 1.5″ spacing. I’m not actually doing the exact
Ran out of thread! Sewed all but three eyelets on this bodice (while sitting around at Grandmom’s house in the days after my paternal grandfather’s funeral in Pensacola, Florida). Mom showed me how to do a proper buttonhole stitch instead of the basic overcast binding thing I learned from the RenTailor site. But my hand-sewn
When I found this red and gold damask, I didn’t immediately know what to make with it. I’d lusted after this fabric for at least a year. It’s from the Christopher Lowell home dec collection at Jo-Ann’s, it’s 100% polyester, and it’s usually $19.99/yard. Now, I am not a fiber snob — I’ll use anything
Had a strange itch to sew today, so I tinkered with the Slipcover Kirtle pattern to make it work for this project. That previous kirtle ended up a smidge too loose the one time I wore it at an event, which irritated me. Took out the pattern and fussed with the straps and the armscye
I first wore the outfit at the SCA West Kingdom October Crown. I wore the doublet with a cartridge-pleated skirt made of purple tone-on-tone stripe drapery type fabric that I’d made a few months earlier (for an outfit that never panned out). And the weekend before this event, I made a tall-crowned hat inspired by
Not the I’m bragging, but I don’t see what the fuss is about sleeves. They’re pretty easy. My sleeves probably don’t look that good to anyone else, but I like them. They go together fine, no big stress, not like the strum und drang I hear from so many other costumers when it comes time
So much accomplished and it just doesn’t look like it. *sigh* Spent all weekend sewing, and, go figure, it would be the last, icky-hot weekend of summer too. But the result looks like actual clothing and is in a wearable state. First, there was a lot of fussing with the lining. And that darn neckline.
At the Art Deco Society of California’s Gatsby Summer Afternoon 2009… See the rest of my Gatsby pix on Flickr.
This doublet that’s been giving me such problems isn’t what it seems to be. I’ve had images in my head, but I’ve been using a pattern (well, an idea of a pattern from PoF3, the 1580s doublet) that’s based in the wrong time period. Doh! The neckline and sleeves I’ve been fantasizing about are all
After all those muslins, it was time to cut some real fabric. I had a nice mid-weight black wool for the outside (it’ll be interlined with something sturdy and lined with something soft later; I may add boning at the center front to keep the closure tidy and straight too). I sewed up the sides
After buying the pictured jewelry on eBay and a pink paper parasol that I may paint black stripes on, I mostly ignored this project for a week. Well, at some point I did finish the sash and make rosettes on pinbacks as closures/trim. And then, finally, last night, I hemmed the dress. With pink silk.