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in which I remember how to sew
Feb. 7th, 2021 09:20 amSort of! Nothing extravagant, but solid.
First off, I was bound and determined to finish that damn turn-of-the-century hat. I wasn't real thrilled with it in its fancy-cowboy-hat iteration, but once I started plonking crap on, it improved. A couple of bows and more than a couple of rooster-tail feathers do a boring hat a world of good! It's a very perch-y type, with hair mostly not in the right place to pin through, so here's hoping it's not too windy when we go for our stroll LOL.
I finished That Hat up on Friday night, and was incredibly industrious on Saturday, and took the time to do a trial run of the hair to go with said hat. I wasn't sure where exactly I wanted the main bulk of the bun, and it's so much better to be wrestling with that when it's not the morning-of! (I feel like I have learned very few things in my 17 years of costuming, but I have learned how far trial runs go in feeling put together the day of events...) So I did some very bad hair, managed to get the thing somewhat-securely pinned-on, and even located my black gaze veil to see if that might be a helpful addition (yes, if it's cold, but it does cover up the brim, so I'll only wear it if I think my ears and cheeks need it! Not as good as earmuffs, but a fine silk veil is surprisingly insulating...).
Saturday was also determined The Day To See What Still Fits for the events coming up over the next couple weeks. Regency, for next weekend (because if Robin begs off I'll make puppy-dog eyes at Tom, as I think he'll be in NJ then), and of course turn-of-the-century for the weekend after that.
Regency was a resounding success; my cream wool dress and black spencer still fit over the new Redthreaded short stays, which is rad. The assets are rather...redistributed? in them, though, so I added a piece to the CF closure of the dress, because I had about 1mm of overlap left to pin it closed, which isn't ideal, although would have been still doable if only tried on the morning-of. Spencer was about 85% ok as-is; it had more of an overlap to spare than the dress did. I very briefly considered moving the hooks and bars over, but as it would require new thread bars...nah. I hate making those. It's still fine with a bit of a tug. If I see horrible stress wrinkles in pictures when I wear it I'll reconsider! I also fiiiiinally put hooks and bars on my winter-weight Regency petticoat. I believe my original thought was to pin it in place so it would be easily adjustable to slightly different waist lengths...but, just put more bars in slightly different spots if you need to, doofus. Pinning a wool-cotton petticoat with straps is really not worth the struggle! I only made it in 2014, so, glad I finally came to that conclusion? Sheesh.
Turn-of-the-century was less of an unmitigated success, but I certainly won't be nekkid for the Longwood stroll. I decided my time would be better spent making old things wearable than in a probably-futile attempt to finish new things. So I dug out ye olde navy blue flannel skating skirt that I made a few birthday events ago, squinted at it, tried it on, unpicked the back quarter of the skirt waistband, and added a 2" piece to it in an almost-but-not-quite-matching navy blue wool! (I thought it was the same fabric when I dug it out of the Stash. Cut a piece, realized it wasn't, and said, eh, fukkit, I wanted a belt with this outfit anyway...) Still need to put all the fastenings back on, make the belt, and find out if the shirtwaist that goes with the skirt will actually button or not, but that's much more doable than making new.
Other random thought re:Regency fit: I'm fairly sure I didn't chuck the old nasty corded bodiced petticoat yet that I wore for my Regency outfits, and doing a fit comparison might make for an interesting little blog post, whenever I have the time for that (ha ha haaaa).
First off, I was bound and determined to finish that damn turn-of-the-century hat. I wasn't real thrilled with it in its fancy-cowboy-hat iteration, but once I started plonking crap on, it improved. A couple of bows and more than a couple of rooster-tail feathers do a boring hat a world of good! It's a very perch-y type, with hair mostly not in the right place to pin through, so here's hoping it's not too windy when we go for our stroll LOL.
I finished That Hat up on Friday night, and was incredibly industrious on Saturday, and took the time to do a trial run of the hair to go with said hat. I wasn't sure where exactly I wanted the main bulk of the bun, and it's so much better to be wrestling with that when it's not the morning-of! (I feel like I have learned very few things in my 17 years of costuming, but I have learned how far trial runs go in feeling put together the day of events...) So I did some very bad hair, managed to get the thing somewhat-securely pinned-on, and even located my black gaze veil to see if that might be a helpful addition (yes, if it's cold, but it does cover up the brim, so I'll only wear it if I think my ears and cheeks need it! Not as good as earmuffs, but a fine silk veil is surprisingly insulating...).
Saturday was also determined The Day To See What Still Fits for the events coming up over the next couple weeks. Regency, for next weekend (because if Robin begs off I'll make puppy-dog eyes at Tom, as I think he'll be in NJ then), and of course turn-of-the-century for the weekend after that.
Regency was a resounding success; my cream wool dress and black spencer still fit over the new Redthreaded short stays, which is rad. The assets are rather...redistributed? in them, though, so I added a piece to the CF closure of the dress, because I had about 1mm of overlap left to pin it closed, which isn't ideal, although would have been still doable if only tried on the morning-of. Spencer was about 85% ok as-is; it had more of an overlap to spare than the dress did. I very briefly considered moving the hooks and bars over, but as it would require new thread bars...nah. I hate making those. It's still fine with a bit of a tug. If I see horrible stress wrinkles in pictures when I wear it I'll reconsider! I also fiiiiinally put hooks and bars on my winter-weight Regency petticoat. I believe my original thought was to pin it in place so it would be easily adjustable to slightly different waist lengths...but, just put more bars in slightly different spots if you need to, doofus. Pinning a wool-cotton petticoat with straps is really not worth the struggle! I only made it in 2014, so, glad I finally came to that conclusion? Sheesh.
Turn-of-the-century was less of an unmitigated success, but I certainly won't be nekkid for the Longwood stroll. I decided my time would be better spent making old things wearable than in a probably-futile attempt to finish new things. So I dug out ye olde navy blue flannel skating skirt that I made a few birthday events ago, squinted at it, tried it on, unpicked the back quarter of the skirt waistband, and added a 2" piece to it in an almost-but-not-quite-matching navy blue wool! (I thought it was the same fabric when I dug it out of the Stash. Cut a piece, realized it wasn't, and said, eh, fukkit, I wanted a belt with this outfit anyway...) Still need to put all the fastenings back on, make the belt, and find out if the shirtwaist that goes with the skirt will actually button or not, but that's much more doable than making new.
Other random thought re:Regency fit: I'm fairly sure I didn't chuck the old nasty corded bodiced petticoat yet that I wore for my Regency outfits, and doing a fit comparison might make for an interesting little blog post, whenever I have the time for that (ha ha haaaa).
