A serious case of want

I love stockings and have more than I need- I have a drawer full of stockings that’s still in their packages. But today I found Tattoo Socks and I’m completely sold. Don’t need, but definitely want!

By no means my favourites…

A proper sewing update

A while ago posted a picture and I fell in love. My waning inspiration got a kick-start after watching this:


I find both outfits very pretty, but it’s the one with a pink bodice and blue grey petticoat that made my heart flutter. My first impulse was to buy new fabric for the whole outfit, but then I managed to be wise and dive into my stash instead. And lo and behold, there were 2 metres of blue velvet that I’ve been hoarding since 1990.

As the hem of the bodice, or jacket, isn’t visible- nor is the front, I decided to make it a little jacket with a short basque at the back. I went to Janet Arnold for inspiration and the Regency riding habit there. The painting is dated to 1796, so I’m making it with the bodice as long as my 1797’s gown.

I’m making it in blue velvet and to continuing being thrifty; the lining is made of some leftover cotton. I’m currently sewing the lining to the jacket, but this is what it looked like- and what the jacket will look like as well, only in velvet.


I’ve been much undecided on how to do the closure. The lining will be laced and for now I will simply overlap the velvet and pin close. I think I want to button it, but I haven’t found any buttons I like yet.


I actually have blue grey taffeta in my stash, only a little bit darker than on the painting, so I will use that for the petticoat. And I’ve bought a bit rose-coloured taffeta for the sash, that is two-toned with green. I would very much want a pair of long gloves, but I will have to hope for Santa for those.

To my surprise I got quite a lot of velvet left after cutting the jacket, so I decided to make a reticule out of it. After some browsing I came across this little beauty:

It’s dated to 1790-1810 and measure approximately 19X25 centimetres, so it was easy to make a pattern for it. I wanted to try out ribbon embroidery and felt that this would be a very doable project. Here is a verybad pictures of my progress:

There will be a bigger rose in the middle and borders of silver spangles.

I’ve also been working on more mundane wool skirts, but they’re on hold. Not only because Spiff is on top of them…

“You weren’t planning of using this fabric, were you?”

A little meme

I AM sewing, but not prepared to show off, right now. So, instead:

• Leave me a comment saying "Analyze That"
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

These are the questions I got from spike

1. I know you're a cat person, but if you had to have a dog, what breed would you have?
I’m actually more 50/50. I’m a cat person by necessity- a dog wouldn’t fit into my life. But I grew up with dogs. So I would like to have a boxer, as we had one when I was wee.

2. If you could live in any century, which one would it be and why?
I wouldn’t really want to live in any other century- I think about medical care and baths and feel very strongly that I wouldn’t want to go without. But I would choose the 16th century, as I find that a very interesting time.

3. Pick a TV show to live inside of for all eternity, what is it and who do you play?
I wouldn’t mind being Willow in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

4. Iced Coffee or hot coffee?
Hot. Unless it is a very warm day.

5. Professionally, if talent or brains did not matter, what would be your dream job?
Designing costumes, movies or theatre.

Playing with my hair

I’ve been feeling rather mopy recently, partly due to it being November. And I’m having my usual reaction to “ought to”, which is “don’t want to”. Ought to here, is sewing on the national gown so it will be ready to the 12th nigh party. So I think I’m going to scrap that idea. I do not want to sew like mad in December. But I still want to have a new gown. I have an idea here, but I think I will keep quiet about it for now.

So I’m sewing on a some woollen skirts for the winter and a modern underbust corset instead, while I mope and think. And I’ve been playing with the book I mentioned recently.



I put up my hair in wet pincurls that I slept on and after cobing it out I pinned it in and up, and the nape of my neck. It gave a reather good impression of short hair, especially as my hair reach halfway fdwn my back. However, in my eyes it looked more Twenties rather than the Thirties updo that the book described.







It would have looked neater if I had used pomade and hairspray- this is the result of plain water, but I still liked it.

My son, the zombie

My son decided to go as a zombie at an early Halloween-party today. For some od reason he is stubborn, knows exactly what he wants and can verbalize it too. Can’t imagine whom he got that from… So even if I was, graciously, allowed to do the make-up, it was after his strict directives. White, green and blood. And if anyone wonders, he became a zombie after a bicycle accident. Or so I was told, anyway. He did became a rather adorable zombie, though:

Tired

I feel silly, but changing to wintertime has seriously jet-lagged me. I don’t have energy for anything, at the moment. It feels like I haven’t sewn anything either, but that isn’t exactly correct. I’m in the process of hemming the brown-red wool skirt and I’ve cut out a green wool skirt too, that’s going to have four pleats. And I’m stitching away on the embroidered polonaise. It just feels like everything goes so slowly!

I bought a book: Vintage Hairstyling. I love it. Very instructive- now I need an opportunity to actually do one. Well, time rather, but I do feel a need to dress up and does something fun. As it is now is, I have nothing fun planned until the 12th Night Ball, and that’s not until next year!

Speaking of hair, I think I have to accept that my hair won’t grow any longer than BSL. Cutting off 2 centimetres leaves me with the same length I had after cutting it two centimetres off in June. *pouts*

Corset mock-up

I got into a bit of a slump after the lecture. Even positive energy can be draining, but I've been sewing a little. I've long wanted to make an overbust corset, but so far I haven't pulled it off. I bought a pattern, which I should have known was a bad idea. One of the reasons I learned pattern construction was because commercial patterns always have to be altered. So even the largest size was too small for my chest, but too big every else. But I've lacked good instructions on how to draw up a pattern for an overbust, even if I had some ideas, so I just let it float around in the back of my brain. In September I started to subscribe to Your Wardrobe Unlock'd and tried their instructions on how to draw up an 1870's corset. And this is what I have managed, so far.

Of course, the most important thing before even starting a project, is to have a cat lay on it. Here Spiff eagerly helps me to try out the paper. He also helped with important tasks like chewing on the measure tape, chase the eraser and bat at my pencil. In other words, I couldn't have done it without him.


I found it very easy to draw up the pattern, but then I know pattern construction- I guess it's harder if you don't. It's really not as hard as it first seems. If you take it slowly and just concentrate on the step at hand, then it's not so difficult.

So, here's my mock-up. It's just in one layer, the fabric is a piece of upholstery velvet that was laying around. The boning channels are made out of the seam allowances, with two extra channels in blue gross-grain ribbon at the front.


The pic is a bit angled, but I think you can see that the corset isn't straight. I don't know why, so perhaps you have an idea? My body is rather symmetrical, so I don't think that's the problem. My thought is that I somehow screwed up the pattern pieces when I cut it. Other ideas?

Problems that I can see, but know how to fix are that I need extra boning channels in the back. Also, I need spiral bones at the side-seams. I have that at home, but I need to cut it, and I didn't want to for the mock-up, as I was unsure if I wanted this length. So now it's just plastic boning, which doesn't work. I also need a longer busk and two extra boning channels at the sides of the busk. The cups are a little too low-cut, just to my nipples, but that's easy to correct as well.

I'm surprised, and pleased, on how well it fits! My breast don't flow over, even if it's cut low. (I've tried it without a top too, but that wasn't decent enough to show.) It was a but difficult to lace myself in, so the bottom is much looser than the top. That is why the side-seam looks tilted.


However, I felt that I could easily have laced the corset tight without discomfort, and I'm fairly certain that when laced in evenly, that tilt will be no more. I got down 10 centimetres around the waist- I wonder how much that will be when I'm properly laced.

Next step is to sew a proper, but not fancy, corset. I want to be sure I have a working garment before embellishing it. I've done that before, making a pair of stays by hand and then finding that the pretty thing didn't fit me at all! Also, Your Wardrobe Unlock'd's sister site, Foundations Revealed has a free tutorial on how to adapt old corset patterns to your own measurement. Very exiting!