A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

I sewed one seam on the trousers, realized I would have to actually get the directions out to do the next step, and toddled off to find something less difficult. I wasn't going to make another cap yet, but I did want to find my Kannik's Korner cap pattern, as I know I own it but it's not where it's supposed to be, and I thought it might be with an unfinished cap in the UFO bin.

Well, I found the unfinished cap but not the pattern, so who knows where that wandered off to...I did some halfhearted cleanup in case it was lurking in a top layer of detritus, but apparently not. I know it's somewhere, but just where eludes me at the moment. I did, however, dig up a long-sleeved 18thc shift while excavating the UFO bin (long-sleeved here meaning below the elbow, unlike all my current dual-duty late 18th-early-19th short-sleeved ones). It's been in pieces for years...mainly because I started putting it together with the hem-and-whip together method...which I don't use much anymore because while it makes for a nice, durable shift, it takes a lot longer to do than plain old felled seams! And I tend to wander off, which obviously happened to this one.

I've been using detachable sleeve ruffles to cheat having to make a long-sleeved shift up til now, but it did occur to me that ruffles will not be as appropriate for the upcoming peasant wear, so...while the shift was at hand, I pulled it out and worked on it most of this afternoon. Not bad progress: both sleeves are now on, and I've set in one gore. The damn thing is all bits and pieces, in different linens, since I think this was a scrap-bin shift. Brilliant idea. Unless I actually wanted a finished shift. Good job, Past Me. Ugh. Still, it looks a lot more shift-like than when I started today!

Decided to start on my new 1780s rump today - like all the cool kids, I want a split rump. My old one is fairly tragic, anyway. And I can't get moving on my dress for the tea til I have my skirt supports sorted! Logic, I has it.

I contemplated being sensible and making it out of white linen, in case I ever want to wear a sheer white petticoat over it...and then I figured, nah, I'd just make a white under-petticoat in that case. xD So I dug some light pink linen out of the stash and used that. I did some haphazard measuring, so we'll hold off on pictures of it til I see if they actually worked out, haha. I'm hand sewing it because I put away the sewing machine after I finished my 1890s stuff, and was too lazy to set it up for this! I'm a strange kind of lazy, I know...

(Apropos of nothing, TCM is currently showing What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? I haven't watched it in ages, and man, is this one creepy-ass movie! Those two old broads are great.)

Which hiraimi won easily, but sewloud and I are still pretending is a Thing. We had a stitch-n-bitch on Sunday, where 3/4 of us worked on new 18thc shifts, and only 1 actually finished said shift, LOL. Apparently Alice is less distracted by things like "costume movies" and "yapping extensively." I worked on mine a little bit yesterday and a little bit today, so tomorrow I just need to put the drawstring in and cross-stitch initials on. (We decided that since we're all using the exact same linen to make shifts it might be smart to actually mark them, haha.) Pretty sure that means I lose the shift-off most tragically...but I sewed it with some very nice small stitches?? xD

Yes, I realize I don't need pocket hoops with the dress I'm wearing to the FD...but I was cleaning up my sewing room the other day (because it's been so cold the past couple months in the sewing room that the water in the iron froze...so I've just been dashing in and out and throwing costume bits everywhere), and came across my pair of almost-finished pocket hoops. They've been sitting on top of a bin for approximately a year, oooooops. All they needed was boning, but I couldn't locate my wire cutters at the time. This time around I decided to use the reed leftover from my farthingale, so didn't need to worry about wire cutters!

They're just made of green midweight linen with white cotton tape for casings, and are the same pattern as my Very Ugly first pair of hoops (from Corsets & Crinolines)...but much sturdier than that pair! For hoops, thick reed > single wimpy cable ties. Goodbye, ugly pocket hoops!

And I don't remember if the pattern originally had that lower tie, but I find that they travel backwards without it, especially if I don't have anything heavy in them. (Like an entire lunch.)

Yes, I promise to get back to the striped 1780s now! Literally now! Before I go to bed!

Today I finished putting together a pocket hoop, minus the hoop part. Now I just have to do the other one...

But it's one thing to check off the Fort Fred list...almost, as it's not quite finished. My new shift, that is. My first linen shift, actually. (oooh how exciting. *deadpans*) I started it almost a year ago, I think, and finally found it last night, after digging through the ridiculous amount of unfinished projects I've got. (After Dress U, I think I really need to address that pile! Piles, really.)

I'd remembered it as half finished, which was kind of a generous estimation - all I'd done was sew the shoulder seams. Hmm. But it's all sewn now, after hours and hours of looking at white linen and many many albums. Except for hemming the neck, but that won't take long, so I'm quite sure I can finish it tomorrow.

Then I still need to trim my hats and make those mitts, since the forecast appears to be Not All That Warm. Maybe I will be giving the cranberry wool another wearing this season...