A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Apparently it did rain, but i slept so late I didn't even know til my mom informed me that it had. I did think I heard the dripping of snowmelt today before I got up and drew the curtains -- but when I finally got up to look, it was a little tiny bird, sitting on my windowsill, tapping on the glass! It didn't even fly away when I went right up to the glass, just hopped back a little to the deck railing and looked at me. So cute!

Anywho, am taking a break from the mad sewing to LJ a bit (yes, LiveJournal is now a verb). My poor fingers are getting sore from all this hand-sewing of layers of velveteen and buckram. The wool wouldn't be a problem except my fingers are already sore!

( Pictures of the mantle, in an appropriately snowy setting! )

Back to the mad sewing!

You know those times when you're trying to sew something easy, but it just turns out to be One Of Those Nights where for some reason you can't do anything? Yeah, it's one of those nights...it's all little things, but they're making me awfully cranky! All I wanted to do was hem the 1840s mantle...sewed the hook and eye in the totally wrong place, been getting pins under my nails all night (yay, puncture wounds!), the velveteen's been creeping out in places where I didn't catch the fold of the hem under the needle, and then I thought I was done hemming for some reason, but forgot a whole side of the thing. *head-desk*

Have decided to put the whole thing down and back away slowly! I'll see if I can manage to work on something else -- or I could just waste my night scheming up macros for a certain post on rock_macros that clarey_h and I are plotting! ;) We'll see.

I made the binding for the corset and sewed it on last night. I was sort of astounded that it only took me one evening's worth of work...but then I thought about it, and realized: no tabs. SO nice to put binding on a corset without tabs!

So I've got 24 eyelets left to sew, and then I'll be DONE, thankyouverymuch. I briefly contemplated putting a lining in last night, as the cording channels look pretty icky on the inside...and then I decided I won't, because 1/ I don't think the Corsets and Crinolines pattern I based mine on had a lining (the book's at the bottom of a pile, too lazy to go dig it out right now), and 2/ who the hell cares if the inside's ugly? I'll just get over myself and not take a photo of the inside!

I also started thinking about some sort of wrap to go with this dress, because I think I'm going to need it, unless the weather warms up a lot for January 23 (please please go the 23rd)! I decided I want a similar mantle to one in Bradfield's Costume In Detail, page I-don't-know-what, will scan it in later. It's a wicked little thing, deceptively simple-looking, but for some reason I could not wrap my brain around how to cut it out! I thought I finally figured it out, and cut the pieces for the lining, out of pink cotton. Pink because this outfit's going to be very black, and dammit, I want some color. And I like pink. Anyway, I cut the lining pieces out, and realized I'd made them too short. Derp.

That's when I went back to the corset, by the way! I took it as a YOU FINISH THE CORSET FIRST sign! ;) After I finish the corset I'll go back to the mantle, because making that before the dress makes perfect sense, y/y? I was Good and stuck with fabric from the Stash for it. Which means more black, but that's okay. The CiD mantle's made of shot silk, unlined, which would be lovely, and also very impractical for January. Mine will be black cotton velvet, lined with the pink cotton, and interlined with flannel. (I'd really like to have made it out of wool, but this is me being good. Okay, I did buy the flannel. But it was super on-sale, and IMO very worth it!) And trimmed in fake fur left over from my Tudor gown.

(I actually had a minute where I thought about it really hard to myself, going, "But...will that color fur look okay with black velvet?" And then I had to slap myself, because, really? WE ALREADY DID THIS. Cleverrrr.)