mandie_rw | Entries tagged with redthreaded short stays

(I feel like I managed to have sewing time today by dint of forgetting something I needed to do for school, but as I have no idea what it is right now, I shall blissfully continue to ignore school stuff for another 24 hours.)

Realized this afternoon that I could probably knock out the binding on the Regency short stays if I just sat down and sewn the damn things for a couple of hours - and yes, in fact, I could! So, they're tentatively done, barring another couple possible lines of horizontal cording under the bust gussets, and boob pillows if needed. I'll wear them for a trial run before deciding on those things, though.

Took some really underwhelming carpet pictures of them as I Finished A Thing proof, so here you go:

I'll take pictures on me and write up a blog post once I see how they fit...which is not gonna happen tonight cause it's cold and I refuse to disrobe to put on stays! Nope.

And now I feel like I can move on to the turn-of-the-century winter outfit, since I've got one less UFO hanging around! I took the roll of plum wool out of the sewing room this week, and put it in my line of sight when I'm at my teach-from-home spot, to inspire me and collect a terrifying amount of cat hair. Consider both of those missions accomplished...

Current Mood: chipper

I did not do much, reader.

This is entirely fine, as I Needed A Break! I'm...sort of...looking forward to going back to school, although I think it's probably because I can count down the three weeks to Christmas break pretty easily. ;)

But! I did sew a couple of things! Apparently I remained in a Regency sort of mood, as I did find those Redthreaded short stays pretty easily, and worked on them a bit. Not to completion or anything. I did sew all the main seams except the bust gussets - and in my defense, doing them by hand through a ton of layers of drill and sometimes cording is not particularly easy on the hands! I could do finish two seams a day (that's the initial seam, the stitching-the-seam-flat seam, and the covering-the-seam-allowances-with-twill-tape seams) without putting my hands and wrists totally out of commission, so that's what I did. Took pictures, am too lazy to upload and post them. Sad trombone.

(Sometime.)

Also made most of a Regency cap, because I still felt like hand sewing when I wasn't stay-making (just not like hand sewing through six layers of tightly woven fabric!), as I realized I don't actually have a Regency cap to go with this squiggle print dress, and it very much feels like a cap kind of dress. I used one of my Country Wives patterns (British Regency caps), one of the plainer versions. Fear not, it's still got a ruffle! Just have to finish the seams on that.

Also! Buying stuff! Because it's un-American not to shop on Black Friday, right? Online, I hasten to add. Not going out. American Duchess - couple of pairs of 1930s/40s shoes; Orchard Corset - two styles of waist trainers to wear for everyday/work (my posture is rapidly going downhill and it's harder to overeat in a corset!); Yankee Candle - because I like nicely smelly things and it actually knocks out all my second-tier Gifts I Need For People That I Have To Buy For But I Don't Know Intimately Enough To Get a Really Thoughtful Gift.

And (not really Black Friday-related; the date was incidental) I also finally broke down and bought the Persian lamb coat I've been eyeballing on ebay, to use for Furry Warm Things for our winter Edwardian stroll in January. It's a cutter with really awful pictures so I can't tell exactly how damaged it is, but provided it's not actively disintegrating I don't care! Hoping to get a little shoulder capelet and muff out of it, so it's getting hacked up anyway. At absolute worst I'll change up my dress design plans and use it for trim...

Current Mood: mellow

Anticipated our local stitch'n'bitch today a bit - I didn't have Joann's because today was our original date for Emma so all I really did was sew - I finished stitching the channels on the last piece, and then got the whole thing corded and put in the ickle busk. Ooof. Mah fingers. I used hemp for cording, since I had it on hand, and the only needle I had with an eye big enough to thread the hemp through was a blunt yarn needle, which was extra super fun to wriggle through all the layers of drill on the ends of the closed channels.

It's really not very heavily corded but that took most of the afternoon and all evening!

I also hand-basted the pieces together for a try-on so I can get the bust gussets in the right place and make sure the fit isn't wildly off before I sew them together for reals. I was going to keep going on that tomorrow but honestly I think the hands might need a break, so I'll see if I can dredge up something that's a little more light duty...

Current Mood: sleepy

Two weekends away in a row has really ensured that 1/ I have no idea what day it is anymore, and 2/ actually working five days this past week suuuucked. I got spoiled!

Our Emma movie/tea that was supposed to be on the 22nd ended up getting pushed back because the movie's not going wide release til the weekend of the 7th March. Annoying as I was looking forward to it, but since the hand sewn short stays are still only about half finished...that's not necessarily a bad thing! (I didn't throw out the bodiced petticoat with cording yet, because I am Smrt and will not do that til I know the short stays are finished and wearable! but that thing is old and grody and I really would rather not wear it again...) It's been so long since we did Regency that I'm moderately tempted to try and make something new since I've now got two more weeks...but it would be smart to take stock of accessories instead since I rather think the chemisettes tend towards the old and nasty as well. We shall see how smart I feel like being...

Had an open house at the Indian King Tavern on Saturday (we had a presenter doing a first-person impression of Oney Judge, and she was fantastic), and the mercury didn't get above freezing, so I got to break out my winter gear, very happily. I volunteered to sit outside with the clicker to count people, and was treated to a new variation on the "aren't you hot in that?" theme... Nope, I am not cold, thank you for asking, Person #37 to ask that question!

I started listing my layers and showing them off after the first few people...shift, stays, wool/cotton twill petticoat, silk stockings, wool stockings, quilted velvet petticoat lined in wool, wool petticoat, wool gown, two linen neckerchiefs, and wool knitted mitts over silk mitts. And a cap. Seriously guys...not cold! Ask the poor teenage volunteer sitting with me, in her ripped-knees jeans if she's cold! (She was. We had a nice chat though; she's new and thinks history is cool. Is also exactly half my age.)

Also got called Mary Poppins by a family passing by, made up of mostly under-5's in strollers. I'm adding them to my list of people who have called me Mary Poppins (which includes a bunch of kids I subbed for at HTHS, my 8th graders from Cinnaminson MS, and apparently my manager at Joanns. I still am pretty sure it's meant as a backhanded compliment but...I'm starting to think maybe I should embrace it and make a Mary Poppins costume someday LOL).

Current Mood: sleepy

I would think, anyway. I doubt I'll have anything to report while in DC/Arlington!

I poked the plaid skirt a little bit - felled a seam, tacked down the ends of the zipper, and then decided cutting a waistband sounded too much like thinking. So I toddled off to figure out what I was going to prep to keep myself occupied on my bus ride, and decided that I could cord the short stays by hand, rather than machine like I'd planned. Sure, why not. So I drew out all those lines on the pieces, and we'll see if that keeps me occupied for long enough! Ought to...

Also found a pair of long stays that I think I need in my life! The photos are good enough that I could actually manage to make an embroidery pattern from them, too. They're later in date than I'd find most useful, but a little bit of tweaking in the fit of the bust would solve that. And who knows, maybe by the time I get around to them I'll need 1820s stays for some reason... Regardless, they're getting a tag. ;)

And after I got that all squared away, I did the first pass at binding the tabs on the second half of the green stays. I may actually finish these someday! (Ooooo.) Not this year, though. Ha ha haaaa.

Current Mood: chipper

PSA: If you've ever thought about maybe wanting to upgrading your Flickr account to unlimited (I know a lot of costumers used it in the past), they're having a 25% off sale for the next few days here. Essentially, they're saying the site is still losing money at an alarming rate, and they're trying to keep it alive. I hate to be flouncy and dramatic, but I may just have to give up costume blogging if Flickr dies; I've already gone through the Photobucket debacle and this would be even worse - at least those photos are still there, even if I can't get to them, but Flickr vanishing would gut my blog (not to mention DW), and it's realistically not something that could be fixed.

I know nobody gives a shit because instagram is a thing and that's all anybody looks at anyway and why would you want to look at pictures from five years ago...but oh well, I tried.

In other news, I've started daily subbing again (because nobody will hire me for anything else and I give up; I'll just work part time jobs with no benefits for the next fifty years and hopefully drop dead on the sales floor someday so I don't have to worry about "retirement"), so I needed hand sewing for this week!

Maybe these stays will actually get finished someday, harr harr harr. I got the front of this half of the tabs all done, and I'm going to see if I can finish the back before work today, and then I'll have to take a break again - stay binding is just not something my hands can handle (heh heh) marathoning!

I also bought and cut out the pieces for the Redthreaded Regency short stays (partially motivated by the fact that I've needed to replace my old corded bodiced petticoat for years, partially because I suddenly needed hand sewing for subbing days again, and partially because I applied for an actual docent job at an historic site that would require a c1815 outfit, and was feeling misguidedly optimistic about getting any kind of response to my application, silly me) - I'm going to mostly machine sew them, but brought the pieces to school so I could baste them. And put the eyelets in, because I seriously misjudged how long basting would take and was terrified at the idea of running out of stuff to do while babysitting teenagers!