A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Impressive, no? (Okay, fine, not really anymore, since it's past midnight. Shh.) Don't get used to it...spring break's over. *pout*

So I was both good and bad...good, because after I got around to posting about the silly little apron I finished yesterday, I decided I wanted to sew something, so I actually hauled out the bridesmaid dress stuff and draped a whole new dress (keeping the amount of fabric I have left in mind, after the first dress Fail). So, yay me.

I was bad because...well, I went on Fabric.com (when will I learn this is not a good idea?) to see if they had anything inspiring for a nice dress for graduation, because it should go without saying that nothing I have will do, and that I think it's a good idea to make a dress in the three days between the end of exam days and the start of Senior Week. (Hey, at least I'm going to wear a dress I already have for the senior gala the night before graduation! That counts for something.) Well, they had something inspiring. Of course. Actually they had a few inspiring things. Me and my love of retro dresses (I really like those Butterick Retro patterns; they're not too pricey and they go together well)...Really, though, both these plaids made me so happy I couldn't not get them. The red and gold plaid is super-obnoxious and I fully intend to make an eye-scorching dress out of it. Hey, our robes are black; I need a little excitement here! Plus there was another awfully cute cotton print that I couldn't resist...oooh, so bad.

Anyway, Bridesmaid Dress v.2.0. Inspired by a different 1960s dress from the Met (I've got a Thing going here, haven't I?) than the last one, though I said the hell with trying to follow the dress this time, because look where that got me. So I put the darts Wherever I Damn Well Pleased, and hey, it worked out. Imagine that. Was only up til 3 doing all this...which I realized later was actually 4 because of daylight savings time. Whoops.

Please to ignore stupid faces. It was late and I was sort of sleepy, but still determined. The left side 's the properly fitted one (aka the one that's not falling off), and the camera's lower down than usual so it's sort of a bottom-heavy angle, but WHATEVER, I have a fitted toile. Also have a Willow guarding my silk...he took his job of protecting the fabric very seriously and bit me when I treied to move him off it. Guarding fabric is Srs Bznez.



After that, I got the bodice lining cut out and sewed the straps together before I realized it was 3am (joke's on me with daylight savings!) and I should go to sleep at some point.

I don't even know how it happened...I was just looking at fabric.com to see what taffeta was left OUT OF CURIOUSITY (only the brown, if you want to know), and then next thing you know, I'm seeing the page that says my order should ship in 48 hours...My god...I don't even know. It's a problem, really. But I don't have any brown costumes, you know! I think that needs to be remedied!

Heh. Yeah, bad, bad me.

Bad, bad me. But she who dies with the most fabric wins, right? And fabric.com is having an awesome sale, and silk taffeta is one of those things I'm kind of unable to resist. Especially when I've come back to my room after a long day and have to deal with floor-mate asshattery. Seriously, I hate living with these people; they're driving me crazy. If I get one more note on my door about taking out the trash in the common area when 1)I'm the only one who's been taking the trash out for the past two weeks, so I got irritated and just didn't this week (thought someone might get the hint? no? okay), and 2) the GIANT FUCKING FED-EX BOX taking up the whole floor is NOT MINE...I'm going to be one unhappy passive-aggressive little person. Seriously, I don't mind taking out common area trash, really, I don't, but a box you got in the mail? I do not see why I need to take that out to the dumpster.

Ahem. Anyway, as compensation for my woes, silk taffeta. I would like to blame all the people on my f-list who have been posting about the sale, thanks very much. :)

Though...indulging myself in silk taffeta did make me choose - between spending more money on my Halloween (Black Diamonds) costume and on said taffeta. The silk taffeta won, I guess. In my cranky mood, I've just said, to hell with Halloween; I don't have the time to be anything cool and sparkly. I'll just bring up a corset or two when I come back from fall break and call it a day. Stupid Halloween. And stupid floormates.

Oh, also: I had my group presentation on The Mists of Avalon today, and I wore my medieval dress (shuttup, we had a "creative portion" in which we acted out scenes from the book, so it was Totally Valid); the only question anybody had at the end of our presentation was, "Did you make your dress?" Yes, I did, and yay, everyone was properly adoring of it, which gave me warm fuzzies!

So I was on fabric.com this evening, just to see if they had any fabric the right color for my stupid bridesmaid dress (yes, I know it was going to come from silkbaron, but long story short, I didn't end up getting it from them), and they did, so I bought that...but then I made the mistake of seeing what other silks they've got in. Shantung! Taffeta! Oh my! And, um, I was bad. Seriously, though, black silk taffeta for $7.49 a yard? HELLO. I've been wanting to get my paws on some black silk taffeta for the longest time - for what, I don't know yet, but the Sewing Fates told me to buy it, and I usually listen to them.

They also told me to get some of the yellow and the blue shantung, and I was very obedient. *giggle* I had a coupon code, though, so I'm going to be getting 23 1/2 yards of fabric for a little under $150...

*starts cracking up to self like a maniac* And I think I'm going to put all this fabric WHERE? The box of the Stash is already overflowing. Ohhh, Sewing Fates, you so crazy.

My excuse is that I'm helping the economy. Yeah, that's it.

Oh yes, yes I can. *does happy dance* The little package slip was in my mailbox when I came back from class (as was my absentee ballot). And I am awfully pleased with it. It's a dark hunter green (green, again? God, I need to stop making all my costumes green. And I didn't even do it on purpose this time...it was just the nicest color of the cheapest wool I could find). Funny, because the picture online was a lot greyer than the fabric actually is. Not that I care- this is a nicer color anyhow. Just a reminder to keep in mind that one never knows exactly what one is getting when ordering online!

(Kind of like when I ordered the green linen I'm using over a year ago- for what I originally intended it I honestly have no idea. Online it looked like a fairly muted "green tea" color. When it came, I opened the box and went, Holy crap, is that green! Yeah, it is pretty green. Muted is not the first word that comes to mind when I look at this linen; it's not obnoxious, per se, but definitely not muted. Anyway.)

So my pretty wool is currently sitting on my lap while I type, so I can pet it. Hm, yes, fabric really does make me that happy.

( School )

Okay, okay, off to either study Russian things for a very long time, or sew gores, then study Russian things for a shorter amount of time...

When I went home on Friday (just for the weekend; it's not break time yet- poo), I found a package for me sitting on the doorstep. Sure enough, it was my lovely block-printed fabric. Yaay! I like prompt delivery!

It's a little bit lighter weight than I thought it would be, but that's no biggie; I'll line it if I need to (oh good, more money to spend). And it had the weirdest smell when I took it out of the package, I can't even begin to describe it. But it went away when I washed it, so whatever. Besides the weight and the smell, I absolutely love this fabric. So pretty! I just want the semester to be OVER so I can go home and SEW!!!

Also, now that it's December, I need to start thinking about Christmas presents...oy. Well, okay, there aren't too many people I need to worry about, as up at college, we're doing a Secret Santa at somebody's house after the 25th, so I don't have to worry about that yet. However, I have practically zero cash as of now, so I have to be creative. I've already decided to only do gifts for my two closest friends at home, and my family. For one of my friends, the one I've so lately corrupted to The Dark Side (aka 18thc costuming), I'm thinking about making a set of 18thc undergarments. I know she'd appreciate it, as she's not really into hand sewing (hi! stays! hand sewing!), and she works two jobs and goes to school, so she hasn't got much time anyway. I've got plenty of muslin for a shift and petticoat (yes, I like muslin. it's cheap and dyes well), and I have a scrap bin THIS BIG so I don't foresee any difficulties in getting fabric for the stays (actually I already picked it out).

Only problem might be TIME, as Christmas is, um, a week after I get back from TCNJ...but I've made all this kind of stuff before, I'm planning on machining a reasonable amount of this (no, not the stays, except for the side seams, but I made my effigy corset this past summer in three days, so I'm not too worried), and I'm not too hung up on having this done for exactly the DAY OF Christmas. 

Must be off to class now!

So, as it's Friday, and, as usual, I don't want to actually do any work (I do actually do homework a lot, just not when I'm on LJ!), so I thought I'd ask for opinions on something.
As per usual, I'm planning a new costume before the current one's completely done, but that's neither here nor there...and I'm only in the fabric-choosing stage, so bear with me. For next year's ren costume, I want to make a 1570s (ish) noble, and somewhere along the line, I decided my life would not be worth living if the gown isn't pink. Why pink? Dunno; usually I don't even like pink that much; regardless, this must be pink. (When the costume gods speak, it's best to listen.)
After much searching on the internet and disliking my local fabric stores (aka. horrible Joann's, which had really really slubby pink silk for $25/yd and lots of dreadful poly satins for $10+/yd) intensely, I went on renaissancefabrics.net and found this silk:

It's silk, obviously (yay! me like silk!), 44" wide, $8/yd. I got a swatch in the mail today, and it's a little bit lightweight, but I'd line it. My question is whether if the fabric stands out as wildly period-inapropriate to anybody. I haven't found any specific documentation, but as long as it doesn't stand out to anybody as perfect fabric for their grandma's sofa or something, I don't mind.