mandie_rw | Entries tagged with z:18thc:various stays

Store-bought-from-evil-Joann's-bias tape is tightly woven enough to make my fingers complain today when I sewed through it, for some reason. Guess 'cause I haven't sewed in over a week, so my fingertips softened back up. Usually I just stab myself, curse horrifically, and go on with life.

But anyway. This is an update to say that M's stays are Unofficially Done. (Unofficially, because I don't have anything to lace them with, still, so they can't be tried on yet.)

And I haz pictures. Really!
( See? )

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Pink Floyd, "Money"

This afternoon, in between doing laundry and various other boring things (like attempting to read for class), I finished sewing the eyelets on M's stays. Yay; now there will be no more sewing of eyelets for a long while! (Or, you know, until I make something else that needs them, at which point I will roll my eyes, grit my teeth, and proceed to sew forty-four more eyelets. Or however many next time will require.) Now I just have to finish sewing the lining, and then I'll ~~hopefully remember to~~ take pictures of them!

Also, the weather's lovely today. Too bad I was inside all day!

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: The Who, "I Can See For Miles"

Watched The Duchess and sewed six eyelets. Go me!

(Costumes from that film...waaaaant. And because I'm ~~a huge dork~~ awesome, when I was watching some of the special features, I saw a dress on one of the extras and immediately recognized it from Marie Antoinette. And I only saw it from the waist up. Dork level= high alert!)

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: George Harrison, "What Is Life"

Eleven eyelets left to sew on the stays, and the lining will need to be sewn on after that, but that's all. (I mean, I'm not trying to say they'll be done soon...but the end is in sight. If I could manage to pry myself away from LJ, that might help.)

Thing 4 from yesterday, in which I said I may have decided which fabric to use for Bastille Day? This was a lie. I am back to indecisiveness. I did make some small progress; I'm not going to make anything I have to buy fabric for. (Dress-wise. I will spend fairly freely on head-wear if need be.) ( Blah blah blah )

And as for school, I just have one question. WHY do all the giggly, vapid girls have to take classes together, be in my classes, and sit either to my immediate right or directly behind me (depending on which class it is; the ones today were on the right)? Today before class started, they were giggling (because, inexplicably, every topic is invariably hilarious) about how bad all the history professers were. (Um? I think most of them are pretty damn great.) Then one started going on and on about how confused she was by the prompt for our two page paper due in a week. Look, it's a compare and contrast paper, dungbrains; he spells it out right there on the syllabus.

Okay, I have another question. Why can't people read? It's like the idiot who asked if the page numbers after the book titles meant the page numbers for the readings. (Funnily enough, I never saw him again...)

But look, this makes it all better:

more animals

I totally saw John Lennon first. But I'm a weird kid. :)

Current Mood: tgif

Now, really. I love snow, and I think it's terrifically pretty. It's been snowing all day, and the trees are all covered and Narnia-ish. But, I ask you, what is the good of snow if it does not get me out of class? That's just silly.

In other news, I could be reading for some class, but decided I want to sew eyelets on the never-ending stays. And I have no class tomorrow anyhow, so it's not like I ever do much homework on Tuesdays.

So, off to sew eyelets and drink tea, 'cause that's what I do. (I get mad in the summer when it's too hot to drink hot tea for any practical purpose if one does not want to roast oneself. Lovely, lovely winter.)

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: middle of a snowstorm
Current Music: Led Zeppelin

It's amazing; when I actually sew, things get finished. It's amazing how that works, isn't it?

A couple of hours of sewing has accomplished the completion of one-half of M.'s stays. Let me just reiterate that I do not like tabs on stays; they are a PITA.

That is all.

As per usual, I have no classes Wednesday, so hopefully I can get a nice lot done on the stays.

That's really all.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: The Beatles; "She Loves You"

I blatantly stole these off our Order of the Golden Lion web site, so you can see the back of my head. They say they're going to put up more pictures soon; I have my doubts. But, again, other people's pictures is all you get until I and my costume are both at home with a camera and time on our hands to actually take pictures.

I'm in the top left and bottom right ones. Be very impressed by the sight of the back of my head. Well, okay, in the top one you can kind of see my gown. A little. It's green. Very green. Must stop this fixation with green. Ack- I'm wearing a green shirt today! Noooooo...

And apropos of absolutely nothing (well, okay, pictures...), here are a couple of pictures of my effigy-ish corset and 18thc stays. Why? Well, I don't take pics of my underwear very often (heh), so I thought I'd share. And everybody loves a picture. 'Specially when I, you know, never take them. They're for a paper I'm writing, actually. On corsets. Gotta love when you get to choose your own topic in classes!
( I know, right, I actually took pictures?! Well, it's for class... )

Well, maybe. I hope, anyway. And besides, it wasn't really being lazy the past few days; the tips of my fingers were starting to get sore from continually shoving a needle through layers of thick fabric on those stays for the binding and eyelets, so I decided to take a break. Rather a longer break than I planned on, but I wasn't just being lazy! I was reading, which is my other all-consuming habit that competes with my sewing time. And I read before I sewed, anyhow. I re-read my lovely hardcover copy of the Chronicles of Narnia (much love!), and then yesterday my mom and I found this random, cheap little bookstore that sells hardcovers for $5.99 and less. Not such a spectacular selection of fiction (boo- I want a set of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising), but they had a very nice selection of history and biography. Among other things, I got a book about Anne Boleyn, which I read yesterday until I finally started feeling guilty about my lack of eyelet-sewing. Around 11.30 at night, typically.

So I put on a DVD and sewed eyelets until about 3 am, at which point I had sewn the last 20 eyelets on the stays; now I just have to wait for Ali to come over on Tuesday (hopefully we shall be having a sewing night) so I can try them on and ensure the straps are the right length, finish the binding, and they'll be done. Yay! Then I actually will have finished something over winter break.

Okay, enough LJ; now I think I'll go find other unfinished projects to work on; unfortunately there are lots of them around!

Current Mood: cheerful

At the eyelet-making point I always wish I hadn't gone for front and back lacing. I love it to death when it's done, as it's so adjustable and easy to put on by oneself, but eyelets are my least favorite part. They're driving me bonkers. However, both halves of the stays are now bound (except for the straps, as I want to try them on her to check the length) and the eyelets are done on one half. More eyelets on the agenda for tomorrow. Joy.

Current Mood: cranky

Lalalala...the motivation continued until I got up to sewing the binding on the tabs on the stays. But I did make miles and miles of bias tape (which still probably won't be enough...that's how it always happens), which always bores me to death and takes away lots of energy. Maybe if I go put a DVD on I can get a couple more hours of binding in.

Maybe not. We'll see.

Current Mood: unmotivated

I guess after updating twice in three weeks or whatever, I now feel the need to compensate by updating twice in less than twelve hours. :) Anyway, after finishing up with my petticoat stuffs, I decided it was too early to stop sewing for the night. So, naturally, instead of picking up one of my many half-finished projects, I started something new. To be fair, I've been wanting to make Ali's stays for weeks, but haven't had any measurements. Today, though (well, yesterday) I came into possession of those measurements. So I drafted up the pattern for the stays I used before for myself, tweaking to fit her measurements (which are actually quite similar to mine), and changing the number of tabs at the waist from 7 to 5. Those tabs were just too small and fiddly on my stays. Hopefully these will be better.

Anyhow, I drafted the pattern up, cut out the shell and interlining fabric, boned the interlining, and sewed it all together. Doesn't sound like much, but it feels like it! Tomorrow if this lovely motivation continues, I can hopefully get up to starting the binding on the edges.