A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

This is me posting about Winterthur so I can get on with my sewing! I feel guilty for neglecting an event post for sewing for the next event! If I leave it too long I won't do it at all.

As I think I mentioned, we had wonderful weather to wander about the grounds; the only time we really spent inside was in the DA exhibit. We all made our way though the exhibit, and decided we were all peckish, and where were our servants to bring our food to us??

Here's the entire group after seeing the exhibit. What you can't see is that our photographer is about to be run over by a bus full of seniors...

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I managed to get my butt out of bed at a Reasonable Time today, and got a respectable amount done on the jacket as a result. First I finished cutting all the pieces out, then I sewed the lining together, then put the pockets on the fronts. I trimmed the tops of the pockets with dark brown velveteen to match the upper part of the collar (also said velveteen). Machine wasn't thrilled with many layers of folded-over velveteen so stitching line is wonky. Decided I do not care enough to pick out.

Sewed the body of the jacket together, and managed to get one side of the front pad-stitched before work. I used my old standby for interfacing, cotton canvas - the pad stitching is just on the lapels, then the rest of the interfacing piece is just tacked down. It'll be fun if you can see those stitches, but I think they're pretty tiny so I should be okay!

Need to get the other front pad-stitched tonight before bed, to make sure I'm not behind schedule! I need to take the car for an oil change tomorrow morning, so I'll bring the collar with me and pad-stitch that there. Then I just have to attach the collar and facings, do buttons and buttonholes, and hem/put in the lining. Which could be safety-pinned in if it had to be!

Glad my hat's already finished...

I didn't get a lot of actual sewing done today (though I may finish sewing snaps on the skirt after I post this, since I finished the petticoat today and this could mark where the snaps needed to go), but I feel accomplished all the same. I have a tendency to leave thinking about hair til the the of the event, and when it's something I'm unfamiliar with, I really shouldn't do that!

reine_de_coudre's quick-and-dirty 1920s hair tutorial inspired me - 20s and teens hair are very closely related, I've discovered. (As an aside, that seems to be one thing they did change for Downton Abbey...the majority of hairdos in period photographs I've seen have more volume and might even be termed "frizzy", whereas even the curled hairdos of the Downton ladies are sleeker and much more flattering to our modern eyes. Since my hair is a big fan of "frizzy", I am all for that option.)

Samantha recommended a waving iron in her tutorial, so I went out and bought me one today. It was on sale, so I got a fun one with an adjustable barrel - can make the waves bigger or smaller. The smaller ones will be perfect for 20s, but the larger ones looked better for teens I thought. And yes, I then went to work with my hair waved in a different width on either side of my head. Heh.



It's not too bad, all things considered! And now I can see what adjustments to make - mainly get the whole thing up a little higher off my neck (though not too much because hat), and hide that rat a little better, oops.

And hat on head, because I couldn't resist.


FEATHAHS, YO.

Also, when I tried on the outfit, I was struck anew with the awful snausage-ness of it all, so I'm leaning towards making a belt and not worrying about the jacket at all. Although interestingly, according to the forecast, if we're there all day, I might want the jacket! (I'm always cold, shut up.)

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!
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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!

The main pieces of the blouse are sewn together; still have to do front fastenings, hem, collar and cuffs. My least favorite things! I was very dedicated and zigzagged the seam allowances, since this fabric is rather fray-happy and I want to be able to wash it! And that zigzagging was sooooo incredibly boring.

It's not as noticeable on any of the other pieces, but it was really reinforced just how off-grain this print is when I cut the cuffs! Par for the course from Joann's, but it certainly entailed a lot of swearing and yanking on the fabric, and it's still a bit off. I sincerely doubt any of it's noticeable, especially once it's all put together, but it did make it very annoying to cut out!

I fitted my mockups for the teens skirt and blouse today and got them to, well, fit. That's always a good thing! It was three-plus hours worth of fiddling this afternoon before work...it certainly doesn't look like it, but I promise you it was! Must remember I am World's Slowest Sewer. Nineteen-teens are...fiddly. I forgot that this is one of the few eras I like wearing more than I like making. Usually it's the other way around!

Unusual for me, I'm not really basing this outfit on a photo/fashion plate/etc. Instead, I've got this light blue, slightly heathered wool suiting (that didn't look at all heathered in the picture, or I would not have bought it, despite the price) from a fabric.com sale a few years ago, that has always wanted to be a teens suit. Lady Mary Crawley had a very pretty light blue jacket in series 1 (remember this is being worn to see a Downton Abbey costume exhibit!), but that's more of an inspiration than a concrete basis.

The overall plan is to have a matching skirt and jacket, with a blouse. I'm being smart and making the skirt and blouse before I worry about even mocking up the jacket!
( Pictures of ugly mockup! )
Day off tomorrow, but it will mostly be spent Partying with blackcat452 in funny clothes, because she had to miss Fort Fred! So I can't guarantee any more sewing. Though I should probably put an actual waistband on my teens petticoat before this event...that made it great fun to fit the skirt. Add it to the list!

Why yes, hemming cap pieces does take forever! With any luck I'll finish hemming the last piece tonight, and then maybe get it sewn together tomorrow. Not looking good for the garters - I only started the second garter in my 15-minute break at work! Maybe I'll wear one purple garter and one screaming orange garter, heh heh heh.

I did trim my hat though! That was the next important thing.




I was very deliberately trying to avoid going matchy-matchy with my dress, and orange and green silk ribbons fit the bill pretty well, I thought!

And I would like to note that right now, I'd really really like to be working on my teens outfit for the DA Winterthur exhibit! I have all the fabric, the patterns are all set (I decided to cheat and mutilate some modern patterns to get what I want, instead of springing for the nice historical patterns I was looking at), and I've been plotting a really strange hat with obnoxious feathers. Now, I'm sure that, come Monday, when I actually can work on the teens outfit, I'll find my desire to make it has magically vanished into thin air...but that's what I wanna do now!