Explanation: I decided I wanted to wear this gown to the SCA’s Crosston Ball, but the dress no longer fit. So I came up with a way to extend the size … a week before the ball! At 6am, riddled by insomnia, I just bit the bullet, got up, and did some seam-ripping. I removed
There’s a smell of fear in the air — I looked at the calendar. I realized I have way too many costumes to produce in a shockingly short amount of time… Motivation won’t come to me, I just have to force myself to get shit done. NOW. Thus, tonight I cleared away some sewing room
My fingertips and my back are keeeeeeeeling me. Hand-sewing all day (you may all laugh now, or check for snowballs in Hades since that means TWO full days of hand-sewing for moi). However, it looks like a dress now… Front picture shows where I always screw up the very front edges on a curved or
Good sewing progress, thanks to the fabulous influence (and cheezburgers) of Kendra and Sarah. I got the skirt of the Valois gown hemmed and cartridge-pleated, both by hand, as one does. Now I’m ready to attach it to the bodice, though I still need to prep the bodice edge. And I think I’d like to
Doesn’t look like much, but I’ve been at it all day, off and on, between errands and chores around the house and, of course, screwing around on the computer. Cut the skirt panels, shaped the waistband and hem (the front comes to a point and there’s a small train in the back), finished the top
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