Sewing, Sewing, Sewing, Keep Those Stitches Rolling....
Since my last update:
Sunday: Got home from brunch at around 4:00 pm and spent the rest of the day in the basement. Finished assembly of the jacket, including the hand sewing needed to finish the sleeves. (Be amazed. I hate to hand sew and usually put it of as long as possible.) I even added buttons and a chain as a closure at the neck.
For reference, here's a link to the pattern I used. I took the body from the jacket on the upper right, but the sleeves from the one on the lower right. The jacket looks great, but the poofy upper sleeves are about 2" too short. So it binds when I try to raise my arms. Rats. I do have extra fabric left over, and will probably re-do the upper sleeves. Later. After the photoshoot.
Sewed in the waistband on the skirt, then finished pinning the pleats and sewed them all in. All 128 of them. I know how many there were, because after sewing them in, finishing the seam, and hemming the bottom, I pinned them all in place so I could press them in. And then I pressed them all in. Between pinning and pressing, it took at least an hour and a half. Maybe closer to two.
But damn. The skirt looks great. Or at least it does for values of "great" defined as "while I'm standing up." When I sit down, all manner of unflattering things happen. I'm hoping that will improve as I continue to lose weight. Because I'm NOT taking that sucker apart to add in more gores. Not.
Anyway, I think that's all I did on Sunday. It's all starting to blur together, I'm afraid.
Monday: While at work, I mentally redesigned the totally unplanned overbustle to give it two more rows of rutching and a point at the center back. I also (after looking at pictures of extant Victorian camisoles) mentally designed the camisole I wanted to build. Then I went home and went to work.
Spent way more time than I should have adjusting the overbustle to achieve the look I wanted. It still isn't exactly what was in my mind's eye, but I like it and I think it works. It's turned into more of an overskirt with attitude than a bustle, but I think it's okay.
Then I went to work on the camisole. Drafted out a paper pattern, then cut it out of pattern fabric and tried it on. It was horrible. But after I made a few simple adjustments (cut off the shoulder straps at the front and angled them slightly, and shortened them a little as well) I had something I thought would work. But (being wise), I decided to make a complete model out of muslin first, before I tried it with the lawn I'd planned to use.
Except that in the process of altering the pattern, I'd moved the shoulder seams a little, so the pattern didn't include seam allowance at the tops of the shoulders anymore. And in cutting, I forgot to add it back in on one side.
At that point, (well after midnight), I put the scissors down, said "screw it," and decided to just wear one of my existing tops. And went to bed.
But between that and the discovery that I can't sit down in my skirt, I was feeling a little...incompetent.
Tuesday (last night): Didn't get home until after 8:00, for one reason or another. Took myself down to the basement and told myself I was going to work on Skirt #2. And sat and stared at the camisole instead. Finally, I took some scraps and cut pieces to replace the missing seam allowance (and also added seam allowances back onto my pattern), and sat down and put the thing together.
Then I tried it on.
OMG! It's cute beyond words, and fits perfectly! So I rummaged around in my trim scraps and came up with a strip of trim and some lace bits, and sewed those on.
It looks lovely, and you really can't even see where I pieced it together again. I'm definitely going to make more of these. It's cute enough that I could even wear it to work. And might, one of these hot days.
Then I laid out fabric and cut out Skirt #2, including the pockets and the waistband, but not the under-ruffle I think it needs. In thinking about it, I've decided to shorten it by about 2", so more of the under-ruffle will show. And I've found the perfect piece of muslin for the under-ruffle, a piece that's not quite big enough to make a shirt (though there might be enough left over for a second camisole). That will get cut out tonight.
And in the process of looking for that, I found a pair of already-cut-out bloomers that just need to get sewn together. I know from experience that I can put a pair of those together in about half an hour, if they're already cut out. I might even sew on some lace for decoration (since I found some cool scraps while looking for trim for the camisole).
I should be able to finish the skirt and the bloomers tonight, which will leave me time tomorrow to work on the holster for the itty-bitty ray gun. And then I can spend the day Friday packing things up and gathering accessories and jewelry and props and such.
It's a plan. And it even seems to be coming together. Yikes.
Sunday: Got home from brunch at around 4:00 pm and spent the rest of the day in the basement. Finished assembly of the jacket, including the hand sewing needed to finish the sleeves. (Be amazed. I hate to hand sew and usually put it of as long as possible.) I even added buttons and a chain as a closure at the neck.
For reference, here's a link to the pattern I used. I took the body from the jacket on the upper right, but the sleeves from the one on the lower right. The jacket looks great, but the poofy upper sleeves are about 2" too short. So it binds when I try to raise my arms. Rats. I do have extra fabric left over, and will probably re-do the upper sleeves. Later. After the photoshoot.
Sewed in the waistband on the skirt, then finished pinning the pleats and sewed them all in. All 128 of them. I know how many there were, because after sewing them in, finishing the seam, and hemming the bottom, I pinned them all in place so I could press them in. And then I pressed them all in. Between pinning and pressing, it took at least an hour and a half. Maybe closer to two.
But damn. The skirt looks great. Or at least it does for values of "great" defined as "while I'm standing up." When I sit down, all manner of unflattering things happen. I'm hoping that will improve as I continue to lose weight. Because I'm NOT taking that sucker apart to add in more gores. Not.
Anyway, I think that's all I did on Sunday. It's all starting to blur together, I'm afraid.
Monday: While at work, I mentally redesigned the totally unplanned overbustle to give it two more rows of rutching and a point at the center back. I also (after looking at pictures of extant Victorian camisoles) mentally designed the camisole I wanted to build. Then I went home and went to work.
Spent way more time than I should have adjusting the overbustle to achieve the look I wanted. It still isn't exactly what was in my mind's eye, but I like it and I think it works. It's turned into more of an overskirt with attitude than a bustle, but I think it's okay.
Then I went to work on the camisole. Drafted out a paper pattern, then cut it out of pattern fabric and tried it on. It was horrible. But after I made a few simple adjustments (cut off the shoulder straps at the front and angled them slightly, and shortened them a little as well) I had something I thought would work. But (being wise), I decided to make a complete model out of muslin first, before I tried it with the lawn I'd planned to use.
Except that in the process of altering the pattern, I'd moved the shoulder seams a little, so the pattern didn't include seam allowance at the tops of the shoulders anymore. And in cutting, I forgot to add it back in on one side.
At that point, (well after midnight), I put the scissors down, said "screw it," and decided to just wear one of my existing tops. And went to bed.
But between that and the discovery that I can't sit down in my skirt, I was feeling a little...incompetent.
Tuesday (last night): Didn't get home until after 8:00, for one reason or another. Took myself down to the basement and told myself I was going to work on Skirt #2. And sat and stared at the camisole instead. Finally, I took some scraps and cut pieces to replace the missing seam allowance (and also added seam allowances back onto my pattern), and sat down and put the thing together.
Then I tried it on.
OMG! It's cute beyond words, and fits perfectly! So I rummaged around in my trim scraps and came up with a strip of trim and some lace bits, and sewed those on.
It looks lovely, and you really can't even see where I pieced it together again. I'm definitely going to make more of these. It's cute enough that I could even wear it to work. And might, one of these hot days.
Then I laid out fabric and cut out Skirt #2, including the pockets and the waistband, but not the under-ruffle I think it needs. In thinking about it, I've decided to shorten it by about 2", so more of the under-ruffle will show. And I've found the perfect piece of muslin for the under-ruffle, a piece that's not quite big enough to make a shirt (though there might be enough left over for a second camisole). That will get cut out tonight.
And in the process of looking for that, I found a pair of already-cut-out bloomers that just need to get sewn together. I know from experience that I can put a pair of those together in about half an hour, if they're already cut out. I might even sew on some lace for decoration (since I found some cool scraps while looking for trim for the camisole).
I should be able to finish the skirt and the bloomers tonight, which will leave me time tomorrow to work on the holster for the itty-bitty ray gun. And then I can spend the day Friday packing things up and gathering accessories and jewelry and props and such.
It's a plan. And it even seems to be coming together. Yikes.