A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

I did sew the pearls around the neckline of the gown, and after much squinting at the portrait the gown's inspired by, I've decided to make the gold Thingies (technical term) out of gold pearl polyester cotton, which I have, and gold seed beads, which I do not have. But I'm not doing that now. I would just rather not drive myself crazy trying to do all that in three days, and then it would look like crap anyway. And I still didn't buy enough pearls for the entire necklace, but I'll Cheat and it'll be All Good.

It's funny how nothing is ever really complete the first time I wear it. But the hood's done, and the sash is done, and the kirtle's done, and DAMMIT I still have to put the hook and eye on the back to hold up the train. I think I'd better go do that now before I forget again, whether I really should be Brit-Lit paper-writing or not (and yes, I should).

See, I said I'd sew something, and I did! Okay, it's not all that much, but hand sewing's slower than whizzing it out on the machine! And whatever's left to be done on this outfit has to be hand-sewn, as I do not have my machine at school.

( In which sleeves were boring to sew and are boring to look at. )
I need to sew something that makes for exciting pictures -- hmm, how about the right sleeve to the gown? It's kind of funny, really; I cut out all the pieces to both gown sleeves, then decided to put one at a time together. Made one and got bored. Typical.

And something vaguely related to sewing, at that, so it's all public and stuff. *promptly falls over in surprise* Well, I didn't get anywhere near the amount of schoolwork done today that I should have, so why not compound the procrastination with a LJ post? It's too late to concentrate on history textbooks anyway, so I may as well give it up as a lost cause for tonight.

I've been a victim of nearly perpetual waffling on Black Diamonds... at this point it's less than a month to Halloween, and there's still a ton and a half of work to do on it. I swing back and forth between being determined to completely finish at least the corset (I highly doubt the tails will be beaded, by this point in time) because it's going to be AWESOME and SPARKLY even if it's not finished, and completely despairing of the whole thing, wondering what the point is, because it's not going to be totally finished and the rhinestone scallops are wonky anyway and I still need to find a hat but what's the point on pouring money down a rat hole if it's not going to be finished anyway...

Right now I'm on an upswing and have decided it's going to be finished. Not least because now people have actually seen me sewing on it, so  I want to be able to show it off!

As for the Tudor Ren Faire gown, I'm still blissfully optimistic about finishing it next weekend, as I have Monday and Tuesday off for fall break. Shh, don't tell me that's totally unachievable; I'm enjoying the delusion!

Also, I may or may not be making a dress for my mother. The choir she's singing in is having a madrigal dinner first weekend in December, and she told me they have some crap for them to wear (really, her word for the costumes they supply, haha), but was hoping maybe I could make her something...? And, because we all know I'm a sucker, I'm probably going to do it -- but only if I'm given a reasonable amount of money to play with. I refuse to use the nasty cheap satin that overpopulates the local Joann's this time of year, for example! That stuff makes me twitch. It won't be a Well-Researched and Period-Correct Garment, but I at least want a plausible style for whatever time period we end up going with...I do not do Simplicity-style "Medieval."

I'm kicking around a couple of ideas already (of course I am!), but I'll wait and see if I get a go-ahead for spending money on things like linen...and if I get the go-ahead for Stupid Hats. We all know I love Stupid Hats, and there were so many of them in the 14th and 15th centuries. In fact, if I don't get the go-ahead for inflicting Stupid Hats on my mother, I might have to add something to my own To-Sew list!

You know...like I need anything else on there. Like I need to buy more fabric for myself. Self-control? What is this self-control you speak of??

Also: ARGH I SMELL A SKUNK BLARGH. I never smelled skunk up here before this semester, now I've smelled it at least three times since we've been here. *choke* Can people stop pissing off the skunks, please?

I meant to be wonderfully productive today, but only got a tiny bit of sewing done on one sleeve of the Tudor gown. I blame VH1 - they were celebrating the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and I got totally distracted from sewing when I sat in front of the TV. (Yes, it would have been completely impossible to have sewed and watched television at the same time...)

If I write out another nice long picture-containing post and LJ eats it again, I'm just going to assume it doesn't want to hear about my adventures in French hood-sville and give up.

So. I made a French hood to wear with my Tudor gown. I find that it's always good to make accessories sooner rather than later...because I always run out of time to do something, and one really needs something on one's head with a Tudor gown, or people will be really confused. (My sister saw me with it on tonight while I was taking pictures, and told me I looked like a nun. Um, yay?)

It's not actually 100% done, as I realized I wouldn't have enough pearls to finish the billaments on the veil, and I want to make sure the ones I get aren't a different shade or something, because I'd be really annoyed if I had to take them off...have discovered that I am tremendously slow at sewing on pearls, and consequently, doing so is not my favorite thing to do. But besides that, it's done.

( Read more... )
Oh, and I got my umpteen yards of silk from fabric.com today, and I luuuurvs it. (See above, under cut for comment on slubby silk taffeta.) Well, everybody hates the yellow shantung. Poor yellow shantung...I like you! The green dupioni for my bridesmaid dress is really pretty, and I was actually entertaining the thought of starting it today, but I realized I need to buy matching thread. Poo. Add it to the list...

I felt motivated to sew tonight, so sew I did. No exceptional progress, but a decent bit.

First I dug out the (now very wrinkled) pieces of the 1870s petticoat and sewed them together to see if they would work. Happily, they do, surprisingly enough with no alterations, at least for the petticoat. I'll need to make the back pieces longer for the skirt of the gown if I want a completely impractical train, which of course I do. Left the waist on the petticoat alone for now, because I really need to finish the corset before making that. I did hem it, on the machine, bwahahaha. Yay for machine sewing! Also started ripping pieces for the flounces, but of course I didn't wash enough muslin for the million inches of flounce I'm going to need, so I had to stop on that.

Still felt like sewing at that point, so I actually dragged the Tudor dress out and finished pleating the skirt. (I had about twelve inches left to do; I don't know what my problem with it was last time I got annoyed with it!) I'm currently almost done basting the pleats together with a running stitch, mostly so when I sew the skirt to the bodice I don't get impaled with ten thousand pins. I think after I finish basting the pleats I'm going to bind the top edge of the skirt before I sew it on, because I'd really like to cut down on the migration of the small black fuzzies ou into the world at large.

Well, I did say I wanted to be more sewingly productive, didn't I? I think the fact my entire room is now covered in black fuzzies counts as productive (thanks so much, black velveteen). It was kind of funny, actually: for the first half of the day I sat in front of the television (not something I do often, actually, besides when it's background for handsewing), then I decided to go off and be productive. (And start something else, but whatever. I want to have this gown done for our annual Ren Faire outing in October...I'm pretty sure it'll be done by then, at this rate!)

I dug out all the stuff for my Tudor gown, which was actually a bit funny, because in the Bag of Tudor Goodness, I found a bodice muslin I draped God-knows-when. I actually have no memory of draping it, nor if it fits, and I decided I don't care, because I already draped one last night anyway, before I went digging in the Bag of Tudor Goodness.

Cut out the panels for the skirt, which was fun and neccessitated lots of triple-checking that the naps were all going in the same direction. I actually did manage to sew them all the right way round the first time; believe me, no one was more surprised than me at that happy occurrance. Also sewed the lining of the skirt together - it's yellow cotton (the same as the lining for my medieval gown actually), not because I thought it would look spiffy with the black velveteen (though I do kind of think that!), but because it was the only thing in the Stash that I had enough of to line the skirt with (besides 12 yards of silk taffeta, but clearly I'm not going to use that...)!

The bodice pieces are all cut out, corded, and put together, and now have the lining pinned to the shell and interlining. I decided to put a bit of cording in the gown bodice, even though the kirtle bodice is fully corded, really just for the hell of it and hopefully to minimize wrinkles. Oh, and to add that faint outline of the cords that always shows through the outer fabric. That always adds a lot to a gown. *eyeroll*

I'm making the gown front-lacing, with the lacing in front covered with a stomacher, mainly because I like to be able to put on my own dresses. (And I've seen so many different ways of making Tudor gowns, I can't remember who's done what, nor do I have books on 16thc fashion besides Norris, who is not exactly the most reliable. I'm ignoring him on this; he says Tudor gowns laced in the back. Personally, I think it makes a lot more sense for the clearly front-opening gowns of the second half of the 16thc to have evolved from gowns that were already front-opening, plus there's that one sketch of pregnant women shown in gowns that lace up the front - it's not much of a stretch to think that a piece of fabric could have covered the lacing on a non-pregnant woman.

But maybe that's just me. Anyway, /babble.)

And yes, the sewing done today has all been done on the machine. I was sewing the panels of the skirt lining together earlier, when I thought of all the seams I would have to do, and how long it would take me. And I realized that would not be fun for me. Then I felt guilty for not handsewing the entire damn thing. I had to sit myself down at that point and ask myself who I was sewing for; myself, or the theoretical people who would be more impressed if I hand sewed 250 inches of skirt panels (wait, with the lining, that's 500 inches). I've been hand sewing the pet en l'air because I wanted to, not because I think it's So Much Better To Handsew Everything. I need to not let myself get into the rut of sewing for other people for myself. Not a good thing.

Okay, then! I'll probably continue sewing on this tomorrow...but no guarantees. We all know how large I like to let the My Attention Has Wandered to More Interesting Things Pile get.

...my Ren faire dress this year has decided it has to be a Tudor. Okay, works for me! Then I don't need to make a real farthingale, which is good, because for some reason, those things terrify me. The thought of making one, I mean. Anyway, it's happy day for me, as I can use my corded petticoat. Gives the skirt a nice bit of fluff...wore it with my venetian.

Coherent writer does not equal me today, apparently.

Friday night and half of yesterday was spent sprucing up aforementioned corded petticoat. I put a real waistband on it (for some reason, when I originally made it, I thought it'd be a Good Idea to just have a drawstring waist, despite the fact that that has never worked out very well for me), and added another line of cord at the bottom, just because I could. Yesterday I also sewed together the panels for the skirt of the kirtle, pleated them together, and stuck them on Mabel. Decided I liked the way it looked, and had all Good Intentions to start on the bodice of the kirtle...then I got totally distracted by watching Peter Pan on ABC with my family. Apparently they're making a movie about Tinkerbell. *cringe* Disney, WHY must you do this? WHY must you f*** with CLASSICS? And you know what? I never even liked Tinkerbell; I always kinda thought she was a bitch. Stupid Disney. Ahem.

I wanted to see if I could finish the kirtle this weekend, but seeing as I've spent the day so far watching old movies, watching the hail that we got today bouncing off everything (we don't get hail aound here too often, so when we do, it's a novelty, and we watch it!), and messing about on the computer. Ah well.