mandie_rw: (jane book)
Hello hello! Long time no post! I do still read (to, ahem, avoid doing other things I ought to be doing, mainly), but my daily minutiae boil down to go to school, go to Rutgers, go to work, make time for Imaginary Boyfriend shenanigans. Repeat repeat repeat.

But! This week I am on Rutgers spring break so I have time to do other things (haha not really. but I'm going to anyway), and I taught my first lesson this morning, so I'm in a good mood. (While definitely not brilliant, it wasn't irredeemably terrible either, so I take it as a win.) So you get a boring update!

In terms of sewing-related things...
- Brown linen transitional stays: still working on those back pieces. I got to the point in the semester where my in-between class time was WELL I NEED TO SKIM THIS READING I DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO, so those have mostly fallen by the wayside! I do still have them out, and sew a line or two when I really just need to hand sew for twenty minutes...but I doubt they'll be done for the picnic-if-it-still-happens. Which is fine! They were never a deadline project.

- Have cut out and started a couple of vintage dresses and skirts (and then wandered away, whoops). Main problem with that is that we've had about five different seasons over the past month, so when it was really cold I cut out a plaid flannel skirt, then it shot up to 70 and I made half of a polka-dot cotton broadcloth dress, and then it got cold but not very cold and I decided I should make a lightweight wool suiting skirt instead...you get the idea. I am super sick of all my school-appropriate winter clothes though, so I'd really like at least a nod to spring again in the weather!

- Related: I have accumulated a TON of fabric for modern dresses that I'm starting to admit I will probably never use. I mean, eventually, maybe? But not much of it is irreplaceable! Not to mention I keep buying rayon challis-type fabrics, and I hardly ever want to make dresses for which rayon challis is appropriate. So at some point I'm going to do a fairly ruthless stash cull and post it here (and maybe facebook later but I hate facebook so it might just get etsy-d at "pays for shipping supplies" prices)! Some more "historical" fabrics, too, although don't get too excited about silks or wools! Some silks...but you can't have my wools. I'm not going out of the hobby, so you can't have my wools! *clutches* ;) Probably not til May when the semester's over, unless I find myself with a chunk of time and nothing to do. (Haaaaaaaa.)

Other than that? Well, I should start a paper before work tonight, but dammit I want a nap...

mandie_rw: me 1950s green dress (Default)
Thing 1: Always suspected, but now confirmed: overall, I really don't like 1940s style shoes as much as the other decades! 20s is probably my favorite, really....which is amusing because I dislike the dresses, but eh well. (Am currently browsing accessories for the Reading Air Show we're going to crash this summer, which is WW2.) I do like the original designs from Royal Vintage but maybe not quite $140+ worth, haha.

(No I could not possibly wear obviously 1920s shoes to a WW2 event! I cheerfully mix decades with hair, shoes, and clothes when I wear vintage on a day-to-day basis, but this is different.)

Thing 2: When I relist this painted petticoat (waiting til I'm done both of them, as that would just be my luck that another person decides they want one at this inopportune time!), I'm going to charge more for it! I forgot how damn long the second design takes to paint. Oyyyyy.

things

Jul. 25th, 2016 11:47 pm
mandie_rw: (pre-raph)
- Went to see the Philly Orchestra the other night; they showed The Two Towers and the orchestra played the soundtrack live. They've done movie-and-a-soundtrack before and I always think it's cool, but damn, LoTR has a majestic soundtrack! And it was amusing to see that movie in such an enormous group - not exaggerating when I say probably close to 10,000, as the place seats 14,000 at capacity and it was pretty full - as everybody laughed, booed, and cheered together like we hadn't all seen it multiple times! Samwise Gamgee practically got a standing ovation for his speech at the end! :D

- Weather, YOU STOP THIS RIGHT NOW. I was off today, so literally the only time I ventured outside was to get the mail. F that.


- Got a couple of cap patterns in the mail today to play with, one of which is an 1830s cap, so that should be fun! Obviously not for the dance! but I feel like messing with caps, so. (That'll probably end soon, haha.)

- I know you all always end up having a great time at CC, but damn, the week leading up to it has been stressing ME out, and I'm not even going! Sending happy thoughts to all of you having last-minute costume crises!

- Almost finished stitching the boning in my 1844 corset today - just a little over half of the last channel to sew, and I'm determined to get that done tonight!
mandie_rw: (pre-raph)
Mom and I went to Longwood Gardens this morning, so we could be back before I had work. The relatively hot weather we've had has pushed up peak tulip time, so if we waited another couple weeks we'd miss most of them. So, no time like the present! We're fans of tulips. :D

Although it was a little damp...note colorful umbrellas in the background! Eh that's ok, spring is damp.

So I didn't do much sewing today either! I did finish the obnoxious poppy-print skirt, and almost promise to wear it tomorrow and take a picture of it...
mandie_rw: (1860ssunset)
In which I have decided...not to go to the Francaise dinner this year.

It's not so much that I can't afford to go, although I'd feel better about it if it were just the ticket and not all the extra costs added on...it's that if I'm going to make this "business" work (hah, I don't even feel right calling it a proper business yet!) I pretty much have to sink every extra penny and minute I have into it at this point to actually get it off the ground.

Within reason. ;) I'm still going to make the fur-trimmed pelisse! Not sewing for myself at all would drive me bonkers, I know me. But I think I need to cut down pretty stringently on the overnight events, at least through the summer. We'll see what happens after that. (Yes, I'm still keeping Williamsburg on the cards!)

I've been waffling back and forth on this for the past week or so, so I've decided to post it here so I can't change my mind again, haha. (Because that has never happened here, right??) As recently as yesterday I'd decided that dammit, I was gonna go, as evidenced by the poking of the brocade sacque.

And yes, I am bummed that I won't get to see everyone, especially you non-East-Coast-ers! (Anybody staying longer than the weekend, want to come up to Philly and visit? We're old and have nice architecture and cheese steaks and you only possibly might get shot...)

I know that many of you are far better with sewing and time management and money and what-have-you, and could probably manage to make this work, and do business start-up and FD stuff too, but I'm learning to accept my limits (not very graciously, mind you!). I am not good at all that. So, cheers and I'll look forward to the pictures!
mandie_rw: (me longwood)
Had my day off yesterday; my mom and I had made plans to go to the NJ Botanical Gardens (which are practically in New York, natch), and despite the fifteen-degree predicted difference in temperature between home and the gardens, we went anyway. It never actually rained, but was misty and wet the entire time...which I think is just as lovely as a sunny day, in a different way. We didn't realize that a location two hours' drive north would be quite a month behind in growing season, though! Their website said lilac peak season is around Mothers Day...LIES. Which was mainly what we went to see. Oh well. Still an enjoyable day!

I took a million pictures of trees and mist, because it makes me gleeful. Pretty sure I took more pictures up there than I do at most costume events, oops. Here's just a couple, because they're pretty!
Read more... )

I got the skirt of the teens suit put together today. Still have to do the placket, top facing, and hem, but it looks like a skirt, and that is always encouraging!

Things

Mar. 9th, 2014 11:56 pm
mandie_rw: (germantown)
Hello, where have I been? Haven't rolled off the face of the earth or anything...I've been collecting my thoughts for a couple of (brace yourselves) Paid Things. One of them is a bonnet for [livejournal.com profile] blackcat452, the other is for an historic site not too far from me. I'm sure they won't mind if I blog about it, but I'm waiting for an ok before I do.

Other than that, my primary sewing-related activity for the week was to drop my iron on its head and kill it. Oopsie. Good thing A/ it was old, and B/ we've got another one.

Today I did have some sewing time for me, though, and I decided it might be a good idea to sort out a new dress for Fort Fred this year, if I want one (of course I do). I started a new outfit last year for Ft Fred, but didn't get too far before I realized I wasn't able to go. So, may as well keep going on that, right? After all, it's striped!

All I did tonight was pleat up the petticoat and sew it to the waistband, but that means I've now got a petticoat, so not too bad.

The bodice pieces are already cut out and the backs are sewn together, but I need to recut the fronts because the stripes don't match up with the stripes on the side piece. Derp. Uhh, maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Cutting doesn't sound like a brilliant idea at this time of night.

Things

Sep. 16th, 2010 04:59 pm
mandie_rw: me 1950s green dress (anitapallenberg)
Thing 1: Hunting for jobs is incredibly boring and annoying and ego-deflating. I am made to feel slightly better because none of my other graduated TCNJ friends that aren't in med school or grad school can't find jobs either. And they weren't all useless majors like history, either. Ugh, don't go to college unless you know you've got the money and motivation for more school after that! We're just stuck in a limbo where we're overqualified for half the jobs available, and under-qualified for the other half. *mutter mumble grumble*

Thing 2: Still going with the guitar! I'm up to eleven chords now, I think... I bought a poster on Amazon (that I'm still waiting for, people! Ship it already! I'm impatient) with what looks like most of the guitar chords, so that'll be helpful. The beginner book from 1993 that I've got now only has 15. I realize people have played guitar knowing less than that, but I'm annoying and want to know ALL the chords I can. (A, Am, A7, Am7...)

Thing 3: E is still the best chord ever.

Thing 4: Apparently my ear's getting better, as I noodled out the guitar riff to John Entwistle's "My Size" in the right key without actually putting the song on to check if I was right until later. This is what M tells me it means, anyway. I kind of thought it was just dumb luck.

Thing 5: I really want to sew something, but I don't know what. Sort of want a 1780s dress, sort of want to start that 1800 outfit, sort of want to make an 1860s dress...So last night, in the spirit of attempting to be sensible, I told myself I cannot just be starting all these costumes willy-nilly any more. I don't really have room for anything else, and definitely have no need for anything else at the moment. I doubt I'll be going to the PA Ren Faire this year, because nobody has any money (including me), and even if I do end up going, I have three things I could wear. And, weirdly, the Ren Faire is the last thing I'd have to dress up for this year.

Okay, except for Halloween, but I refuse to spend any money on Halloween as a general rule, and even more so this year. Funny that the costumer never has anything to wear for Halloween.

Plus, it's possible that after M gets out of TCNJ in spring, we may try to get a place together, along with a couple other people, so I am desperately trying to cut down on the amount of Crap I have. Making bulky costumes I don't need is not exactly in with that resolution.

Still, I want to sew (no, not any of the stuff that's on the List...of course. The yen for vintage has passed for the moment), so last night I had an Idea -- naturally at 2.30am, which is when all my best ideas occur. (err, not really.) Remember how much fun I had making the quilt for A's wedding gift? Yeah, me either. But I've still got the leftover stuff for it, and making a patchwork quilt is sewing...plus that's actually something I might be able to sell if I ever finish the damn thing, so it wouldn't be sitting in a bin taking up space.

Let's see how long before I get bored with this novel idea.

Things

Aug. 14th, 2010 12:59 am
mandie_rw: (oldcity)
- Firefox needs to STOP CRASHING. Srsly. Imma keel it.

- I bought moar clothes and shoes yesterday at Ross, most of which I don't really need, but one of which is the cutest dress that I can wear to a nice club or party (in the event I ever go to one of those again)...IT'S SO FLUFFY! And there were sparkly shoes that matched it perfectly, so clearly it was Meant To Be.

- Also bought a little paperback book full of Beatles photos. This is notable because my mother was flipping through it tonight ("I didn't think you actually bought this!"), and made the important admission that they were "good-looking." (Except for Ringo. Aww, poor Ringo.) Also, she is now in love with George Harrison's cheekbones. I fully approve of this.

- Burned myself with the iron today, after going a long time without doing that. Knew it was about time.

- Started a Vintage Vogue dress pattern today, and it's very nice and going well so far, except that I did something a little stupid ("a little" here having the meaning of "extremely") and cut half the dress with the pattern going the wrong way. *headdesk* See, the line of little diamonds goes pink, tan, brown one way, and on the other half of the dress it now goes brown, tan, pink. Well, I'm certainly not wasting all that fabric, so together it goes! It can be the official "Oops Dress." When I finish it, I'll let you all decide how obvious it is...

- Note to self: Buy zippers so you can actually finish things! Otherwise they'll sit around your room on Mabel, on backs of chairs, and in piles, taking up space and being generally useless.

Things

Feb. 26th, 2009 02:57 pm
mandie_rw: me 1950s green dress (drunkcat)
Thing the First: Met with my orthodontist yesterday, and my braces are going to be put on over spring break, on March 11. I am so thrilled.

Thing the Second: No more painkillers for the wisdom teeth, finally. (It's only been a week and a day, it's about time they stopped hurting...) Well, they were okay yesterday until after my ortho appointment, when I was damn hungry, and got a gyro in Reading Terminal Market in Philly. Then they hurt again. But that gyro was worth it...om nom nommmm.

Thing the Third: My 10.00 class was canceled this morning, which made me very happy, as I got to go back to sleep. Sleep is a lovely and wonderful thing, which I can never get enough of.

Thing the Fourth: Can it please be spring break (braces notwithstanding), because I really want to have time to sew something! (I will probably then proceed to sew absolutely nothing over break, but right now I wanna!)

Thing the Fifth: Vaguely related, [profile] attack_laurel 's recent post on art and creativity is made of fabulous awesomeness, and is just so true. I think when various people I know in real life ask me just why I sew, because it's not useful (and I have gotten that), I ought to direct them to this. I sew useless things because it makes me happy, damnit!

December 2024

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
1516 1718192021
22232425 26 2728
293031    

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 21st, 2025 09:10 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios