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bye-bye, photobucket
12 Jul 2017 11:42 pmI was GOING to do a post on my finished overskirt for the dinner dress, but it appears my ten years' loyalty to Photobucket is officially done, so I'm setting up a flickr account and sending them a nastygram tonight instead. They're getting rid of their 3rd-party hosting feature on all accounts that don't pay $40/MONTH. I do pay to host my photos (not a lot, but 10 years of costuming makes for a lot of pictures, so I don't mind having a paid account) so the 3rd-party hosting will go through the end of the year for me. Buuuuut I'm certainly not going to pay FORTY DOLLARS A MONTH so I can link pictures on fricking DW, so I'm essentially going to lose 10 years of pictures in this journal. (ETA: Not to mention everything on Blogger. Arrgh.)
Unless I want to go through over a thousand journal entries and relink them to flickr, once I get everything uploaded there. I don't.
So...slightly pissed at the moment!
Unless I want to go through over a thousand journal entries and relink them to flickr, once I get everything uploaded there. I don't.
So...slightly pissed at the moment!
(no subject)
10 Jul 2017 11:32 pmI have been sewing! Some boring stuff (like "this dress has been unhemmed for almost a year, should probably get around to hemming it"), some less boring stuff like the overskirt/train on the dinner dress, and quite a bit of plotting, because who doesn't love costume plotting?
RE: dinner dress progress, specifically: the train is all done and the dust ruffle is basted in, and I finally forced myself to mock up the overskirt drapery. Somehow that was a hump to get over. Why? Dunno, I didn't really think it was going to be that hard... Either way, I did that this afternoon, so tomorrow hopefully I can get those pieces hemmed and maybe stitched on to the waistband. The train will go over those pieces in the back, and it'll all need one or two ties to hold it back where I want it. But I can't imagine that will all get done tomorrow.
RE: dinner dress progress, specifically: the train is all done and the dust ruffle is basted in, and I finally forced myself to mock up the overskirt drapery. Somehow that was a hump to get over. Why? Dunno, I didn't really think it was going to be that hard... Either way, I did that this afternoon, so tomorrow hopefully I can get those pieces hemmed and maybe stitched on to the waistband. The train will go over those pieces in the back, and it'll all need one or two ties to hold it back where I want it. But I can't imagine that will all get done tomorrow.
oh, right, dinner dress
7 Jul 2017 11:53 pmWas reminded that I'm supposed to be a good example by finishing my dinner dress well ahead of time. Haha. O, yes, that's a thing I should be sewing. So, I made the train today! Well, not that it required a lot of "making", per se. Just a lot of hemming, which I decided to do by hand because short of bag lining, I couldn't think of a way to machine it and not have it look horrid. (And...no, I was not bag lining a train. Especially one that's black but lined in two different colors of cotton.)
Exciting train is exciting! ;)
Black taffeta would have been my first choice, but I had 4+ yards of black shantung in the stash already, so I went with the second choice. (The same silk will be used for the side drapery-paninier-things, to hopefully not look to obviously like "I didn't have enough of this striped silk, can you tell?") I ended up cutting it about 60" long - a respectable but not excessive length for a dinner dress I think. I lined it with two different cotton remnants from the Remnants Bag (yeah, I stock up on them every so often at work!) that don't match, but I don't care...because it's a train lining. (I would have preferred black, but no black cotton rems in the bag. So ivory and white it is!) I got it all hemmed today, and will figure out the dust ruffle tomorrow. Have to go spelunking in the lace drawer...I think I have some fairly wide nylon-but-respectable-looking lace that will work.
Exciting train is exciting! ;)
Black taffeta would have been my first choice, but I had 4+ yards of black shantung in the stash already, so I went with the second choice. (The same silk will be used for the side drapery-paninier-things, to hopefully not look to obviously like "I didn't have enough of this striped silk, can you tell?") I ended up cutting it about 60" long - a respectable but not excessive length for a dinner dress I think. I lined it with two different cotton remnants from the Remnants Bag (yeah, I stock up on them every so often at work!) that don't match, but I don't care...because it's a train lining. (I would have preferred black, but no black cotton rems in the bag. So ivory and white it is!) I got it all hemmed today, and will figure out the dust ruffle tomorrow. Have to go spelunking in the lace drawer...I think I have some fairly wide nylon-but-respectable-looking lace that will work.
Back from NY - well, we got back yesterday afternoon, but I went to work in the evening and then I went to sleeeeeeeep.
Reading of the Declaration of Independence this morning at the Indian King Tavern, then there was the town parade and then the tavern had an open house, so I was in my 18thc duds for a good few hours today. Pretty hot. There was a breeze outside so not bad in the shade, but I'm in a room on the ground floor for tours and the windows don't open for Security Purposes, so...hot in there! Some dude in a bad Jack Sparrow costume showed up to the reading - not associated with us, and it was weird. (Like...what does Jack Sparrow have to do with Independence Day?? Come on now.)
And then it started raining on our usual local fireworks, so they set them off before it was quite dark, before the rain got any heavier! We were still driving to the park, so we just pulled into a bank parking lot and got a perfect view while staying dry. Win-win.
Reading of the Declaration of Independence this morning at the Indian King Tavern, then there was the town parade and then the tavern had an open house, so I was in my 18thc duds for a good few hours today. Pretty hot. There was a breeze outside so not bad in the shade, but I'm in a room on the ground floor for tours and the windows don't open for Security Purposes, so...hot in there! Some dude in a bad Jack Sparrow costume showed up to the reading - not associated with us, and it was weird. (Like...what does Jack Sparrow have to do with Independence Day?? Come on now.)
And then it started raining on our usual local fireworks, so they set them off before it was quite dark, before the rain got any heavier! We were still driving to the park, so we just pulled into a bank parking lot and got a perfect view while staying dry. Win-win.
sewing, and not
1 Jul 2017 10:41 pmI worked a bit on the blue-and-white anchor dress today, up to the point of putting the zipper in. (Invisible zipper. Gross. But it was the right color, and happened to be 50 cents on clearance, so gross invisible zipper it was.) Which is not getting worked on any more tonight as I've just painted my nails. Red for Canada Day because Canada is 150 today and is kind of beating my country at everything this year Independence Day weekend! If I finish the anchor dress in a timely fashion I'll wear that on the 4th with red accessories to be all patriotic and shit. (Sense the enthusiasm!)
Going to visit the Albany branch of the family tomorrow, and staying over, so I won't have any sewing to report over the next two days...although I am going to bring my hand-sewn-linen-stays pieces in the car. They're a good travel project!
Going to visit the Albany branch of the family tomorrow, and staying over, so I won't have any sewing to report over the next two days...although I am going to bring my hand-sewn-linen-stays pieces in the car. They're a good travel project!
modern sewing
30 Jun 2017 11:48 pmToday I was feeling more modern sewing than Victorian, and who am I to question inspiration? (This is why I have an enormous bin full of UFOs, by the way.) I fiiiiinally finished the pin-dot dress for the Reading air show...I have decided to view it as being done well in advance for next year, rather than a month late for this year's show. Ahem.
I also cut out and assembled the bodice for a new dress, out of dark royal blue poplin embroidered with white anchors. It's been tempting me at work for over a year, but I steadfastly refused...til a couple of days ago when I unrolled two sizeable bolt ends when I was cutting it for a customer. Well, fine then. So I bought another yard, and came home with almost 3 yards for $11. Plenty 'nuff for the dress I have in mind! Gathered skirt and plain bodice with cap sleeves, easy enough. Except that I'm a masochist, so I flat-felled all the bodice seams by hand as I assembled it tonight, which made it take a little longer. (Hey, flat felling by hand looks so much nicer! Skirt seams will be felled by machine, because I care but not that much.) Well, you know I like all that fussy little hand-sewing stuff... ;)
And it's getting the 1950s tag, because, close enough.
I also cut out and assembled the bodice for a new dress, out of dark royal blue poplin embroidered with white anchors. It's been tempting me at work for over a year, but I steadfastly refused...til a couple of days ago when I unrolled two sizeable bolt ends when I was cutting it for a customer. Well, fine then. So I bought another yard, and came home with almost 3 yards for $11. Plenty 'nuff for the dress I have in mind! Gathered skirt and plain bodice with cap sleeves, easy enough. Except that I'm a masochist, so I flat-felled all the bodice seams by hand as I assembled it tonight, which made it take a little longer. (Hey, flat felling by hand looks so much nicer! Skirt seams will be felled by machine, because I care but not that much.) Well, you know I like all that fussy little hand-sewing stuff... ;)
And it's getting the 1950s tag, because, close enough.
pin-dot 1940 again
29 Jun 2017 11:17 pmOnly did a little bit of poking at the 1940 sundress today: just put in the buttonholes and buttons, and took a tuck on each side of the bodice top in hopefully the least obtrusive spot. Small boobs strike again. But then again, this is not a dress for the big-boobed, so. (Too low-cut in the back for a normal bra. Heigh-ho, no problem here.)
(no subject)
28 Jun 2017 11:18 pmLittle bit of sewing today, in an attempt to finish off various things that have been hanging off backs of chairs, etc. for too long: sewed a zipper into my Beauty and the Beast print skirt, and tried on the pin-dot 1940 sundress to mark where I need to make adjustments. I might like to wear the sundress when I go up to visit extended family in the Albany area this weekend, which gives me a bit of a push to actually finish the damn dress!
skirt finished
27 Jun 2017 10:52 pmMy petticoat provided enough fluff at the hem that I'm able to squeak by without doing any hem facing, happily. I finished fussing with all the ties and elastic this afternoon; also decided it needed just a little bit of bum-padding to look good. The swags are a wee bit uneven, not helped by the skirt-wrangling I was doing immediately prior to taking pics of it. Definitely don't care enough to re-swag, though.
(Haphazard? What do you mean, haphazard??)
Well, alright, the front drape in particular is a bit wack...I'll think about redoing it.
And the innards, in case you were curious. I've discovered I like using a mix of grosgrain and elastic for the ties, especially the ones at knee-level. Makes it easier to walk! Never seen that on an original, but then I haven't really done a close inspection of skirt tiebacks (and I honestly don't care that much), haha.
On to the drapery and train! Maybe! (I know asymmetry was very popular by this point, but dang, I'm really a symmetrical kinda girl! So I need to see if I can wrangle anything asymmetrical that I don't hate. Not perfectly confident in my abilities there, but...)
(Haphazard? What do you mean, haphazard??)
Well, alright, the front drape in particular is a bit wack...I'll think about redoing it.
And the innards, in case you were curious. I've discovered I like using a mix of grosgrain and elastic for the ties, especially the ones at knee-level. Makes it easier to walk! Never seen that on an original, but then I haven't really done a close inspection of skirt tiebacks (and I honestly don't care that much), haha.
On to the drapery and train! Maybe! (I know asymmetry was very popular by this point, but dang, I'm really a symmetrical kinda girl! So I need to see if I can wrangle anything asymmetrical that I don't hate. Not perfectly confident in my abilities there, but...)
