1830 stays

[mandie_rw]

Reasonably productive today, all things considered! Alice and Adrienne and I decided to meet up anyway and sew (as a big f-you to the weather, which was indeed unpleasant for being outside. Fun to watch through the window though - great big splashy snowflakes!), and we all worked on 1830s-related stuff.

I got a very nice chunk of work done on my Romantic-era stays - I finished all the basting, and managed to set most of the gussets while the A-team was still here. I'm doing everything I can on the machine on these stays. Even the "flossing" at the gusset points is just a narrow zig-zag! (Fairly crappy up close, but eh.) Much as I would like to hand-sew them and make them pretty, I'd rather have mediocre stays and a nice hand-sewn dress! As such, I sewed the lining/interlining half together, and the top fabric/interlining together separately, and I'm sandwiching them together and top-stitching the cording in by machine as I go. This is definitely going to result in a modified cording pattern from my original inspiration, for obvious reasons, heh. That's alright, I can deal with that.

Stripey lining, in which I was even less careful about the zig-zag on the gusset points...


And I've started the embroidery and cording around the bust. No closeup of that embroidery today...it's just chainstitch and little x's, but the second squiggly line looks like it was done by drunken monkeys. Which was where I decided to stop for the night! (I'm pretty sure the dots on the original were french knots, but 1/ I hate those, and 1/ I wouldn't care for the lumps they leave on this particular garment!)


The blue cotton on top got all wrinkly and horrible once I sewed it together...I assume it decided it wanted to stretch itself out more than the drill underneath while the seams were being pressed. Good thing I didn't have very high standards for these anyway, LOL.

Also got my fabric *ahem*duvetcover*ahem* for my next couple projects. Very pleased with this one, it's got a high thread count and is nice and smooth. Approved!

Stripe for the 1790s open robe for my Regency picnic in May, and the print for the 1830 day dress I'll want for June.

I'm off tomorrow but I'm not sure if I'm stay'd out for the moment, haha. My picnic is first, so we'll see what I feel like working on.

Comments

[reine-de-coudre.livejournal.com]

i think the stays are looking great! i was definitely petting the duvet cover in IKEA last week... but i resisted!

[mandie-rw.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That was very good of you...I think I'd probably have bought this even if I didn't have immediate plans for it! I was feeling very naughty while fabric-hunting last week, hehe.

[starlightmasque.livejournal.com]

Oh, it looks wonderful! Great fabrics!

[mandie-rw.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I like them so much I'm tempted to buy more and just stash it! Like I can fit more fabric in my stash. *rolls eyes at self*