Like I Don't Have Enough Ideas to Sew Already

Steampunk Batgirls!

Tin Man Adora: Gun Belt and Corset 1

Gun Belt

The gun belt refuses to buckle around my DTD dummy. It buckles around me.

I’m smaller than I was when I built the dummy! Which also means I should make a new dummy, but I’m ignoring that for now.

The gun holster should be further down the thigh.

To fix it, I need something along the same principle as my sword’s frog only without the slant..

Only there is no scrap leather to make something since I got rid of it. Since I have no time to outsource this solution, I’m using my sword’s frog. Not the most elegant look for a professional Tin Man, but an accepted workaround to get me through Halloween. After Halloween, I see if the leather shop in Lafayette can help me out with a permanent piece.

The bag in the picture I’m basing off this image.

Cain’s belt actually has pouches, but there’s no way I can recreate that on such short notice. And what I’ve found to buy is too modern.

Corset

Nothing fancy, just plain canvas and cotton that’s not pure white. This is the first time I’ve used a Butterick pattern and the first time I’ve tried a Victorian corset.

Sewing Hobby? I did have one once upon a time

Yeah, I'm trying to get the costume done for Halloween. Fabric stashes in my house and Suzanna's avoided the major expense on yards of fabric. Suzanna had the bright idea to go to Academy after we were less than impressed by the toy guns available in the costume shops. I have small hands, but they are bigger than a six-year-old's. Huzzah, Academy had a plastic handgun (so no tripping metal detectors) that fires rubber bullets modeled to look like a Magnum .44. I could probably use it for a Dirty Harry costume too. We also found a holster and belts to make the belt and bandoleer. Now all I need is a frog to hang the holster further down my leg and the proper hate. And to get the sewing done, natch.

Digging through my material stash reminded me off all the sewing projects I want to do, the ones I set up the Garb Closet to chronicle my attempts at. Serious writing is on hold until after December 12th (or I find out I failed whichever comes first) and I could fill the spare time with website projects, but I think I'd rather decrease the material stash until I'm ready to pick up the next writing project.

Course I could gorge the sewing bug on the Tin Man costume and not get anything else done. Nebulous planning at its best!

New Website

http://www.fashion-era.com/index.htm

Slightly new look

I've switched over to Blogger Beta and chaged the layout a tiny bit. You may need to scroll to the bottom and resubscribe your blog readers.

Project: Captain Kate's Red Outfit: the Corset 1

I found a group to go see "Pirates of the Caribbean" in garb! Followed by a pub crawl in the French Quarter that I won't be doing--that pesky driving flare up again. So I need to finish at least the corset and red doublet by July 8th.

I am really impressed with the fifth picture in the Extreme Costuming gallery, and her ideas about showing a corset off. COurse my colors are different being red is the predominate.



Thanks to the Tudor Tailor, I now have a pattern for the Effigey corset. Now we get to see just how well I can modify.

Finished (and Mostly Finished) Characters

Agnes Bailey, wife of Harry Bailey and head cook of the Tabbard Inn


Agnes needs a few more props, mainly her kitchen. And boy are those pictures to lose 40 pounds. :p

Pirate Wench


The wench has no name yet, but she does have jewelry that needs repair.

Captain Storm-blown Kate Roberts


All of Kate's props work. Real spyglass, real astrolab (doesn't show up well in these shots), and real sword. But damn, I'm surprised I don't tip over while wearing the coat!

Notes: 2006 Updates

I went from 18 planned projects to eight, nine counting the pillows I want to make. What happened?

Christine de Pisan I have all the materials for, and I want to play her at Acadiana Medieval Faire at least for one year. (Though it looks like Agnes Bailey is going to be stuck on cooking demos for a while.) It will also round out my 14th Century collection to the noble level. Still need more accessories though. Christine is the one in the blue.


I want to do Granuaile as Irish chieftan, leader of 200 men, not the grubby pirate most go for. In that mode she will be crossdressing, with a doublet based on the Dungiven jacket.

The final idea sketch looks like this:


Since I quit the Louisiana Renaissance Festival, I don't need multiple outfits for Capt. Kate. The red one will work just fine for visiting other Faires.


"Shakespeare in Love" is on the list still have plenty of the pretty fabric and the bodice is falling apart. The second bodice may not have the corset built-in (or at least not done with uncovered steel boning), so it should last longer. I'm also saving it for after I've lost some weight.


The Eowyn refugee dress turned out so badly; it's a matter of pride to redo it.


The Victorian era is still an obsession. I don't know if we'll ever have a place to wear it to, but I still want to recreate this dress and jacket.


I have Simplicity pattern 5457 and want to sew that up too.


The red linen pants suit and matching skirt is so I have more work clothes. And I have about 7 yards of a nice red linen to use up.
[INSERT PIC OF RED LINEN PANTSUIT]

I've added a new section: Interested-In Projects. These are outfits I'd like to try because many other costumers out there have, but feel no particular hurry to do so.

The first one is Flemish peasant garb. I want to play with it because it looks smashing done right.


The second is because I have the Simplicity patterns 9531 and 9533. It's recreating Italian Renaissance style, however this one is dead last on the list because I have no fabric for it.


So here's to 2006 and hopefully a saner sewing schedule!

Notes: Flemish Peasant

Here's the first links to start with on this project.

Recreations of Flemish Dress

Working Women's Dress in 16th Century Flanders

Constructing a 16th Flanders Outfit

Notes: Victorian Dress

1872 Vest Basque pattern to buy to recreate the maroon velvet dress.

Notes: Medieval Garb

Pattern:

http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/medievaldress/Page_1x.html

Sites with good pictures of garb:

http://www.medievalheritagesociety.co.uk/index.html

http://www.dmca.org.uk/dmcafs.html

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/purbrookbowmen/bowmen_photos.htm

Medieval Furniture Plans: http://livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/oakley/

Elizabethan:

http://livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/timetraders/

Victorian:

http://livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/victorianexperience/

Notes: Victorian dresses

I'm planning ahead for next year, hopefully me and Chad can afford to participate in a Dickens Christmas. I'm looking at 1880s because that is the Simplicity pattern I already have.

Dress for Tall Stacks: Tall Stacks is a celebration of the steamboat era/Victorian times. Nice overview by the decades.

Antique and Vintage clothing for Sale A few items in this group I'd like to recreate:

Maroon velvet dress

Sherlock Holmes plaid woman's coat

Gold brocade and ivory silk evening gown: mainly interested in the sleeve varation. My pattern is sleeveless, but I don't want to freeze.

Lavender evening gown 1890s

Walking Gown with matching jacket: a good alternative gown idea if the evening gown doesn't work out due to weather.

The Copper taffeta: like the sleeve variation

Reproduction Victorian Dress for Sale, some items I'm interested in:

Peacock blue ball gown

Iced purple evening gown: sleeves! Okay so it's really cold this winter.

Gold and velvet tafetta: and more sleeves.

Article on the Victorian Christmas season and fashion expectations

Victorian trivia articles

Shooting Star History: recreated bustle dresses

Visiting Dress 1880s: I like the stlye of that whole ensemble, maybe in a different color?

Victoriand and Edwardian patterns from Patterns in Time no men's patterns, odd.

Overview of both men and women's Victorian fashion

Demode's pictures of Victorian clothing

Picture of an evening fur coat

Worth dress: like the color combination

Gold evening gown: love the way this drapes

Three gowns: love the colors

Men's Victorian garb

What Victorians Wore another article

Articles on Victorian garb from GBACG

Project: Granuaile's Garb: Fabric

Fabrixx Outlet had a remnent sale and I went on Saturday for the sole purpose of finding doublet fabric for Granuaile. I'm using a green color scheme and a saffron dyed shirt for Ireland.

What I ended up walking out with two green pattern peices (peices being 2 yard remnents of upholstery width fabric). If they end up being too modern designs, I grabbed a green corderouy. I also got a light blue-green of drapery silk, heavy stuff, a really close to carnation in what Chad thinks in a linen, and a gold satin-like material that I was considering for trim or lining if I do slash-and-puff sleeves on the doublet.

Heady idea, wearing your money on your sleeve more or less. I'm just glad I'm not a regular participant in the royal court.

Project: DTD Post 3

Note to the one soul actually reading this blog: Yes, I know I skipped Post Two, but I think I have notes for it at home and will add it later.

This weekend I finally had Chad's help and we stuffed the dummy. I put the final layer on Sunday.







She did end up an inch off in spots, which the instructions say time to rearrange stuffing. And Chad still insists the boobies aren't right. But for my first try and for the sake of getting something that will make my life easier, she's perfect.

And this is the shortened version. When the shell went down to my mid-thighs, I see why occassionally strangers ask me when the baby is due. See Intentionally Left Blank for my next step to deal with that.

Project: DTD Post 2

Back to Amy and Kenn's to work on taping me up for the dummy. Unfortunately, I didn't write any notes on the event. It took much longer than I had anticipated. And I ended up giving Chad a sore shin since I kept kicking him for inappropriate comments in the same spot on his leg.

Project: DTD Post 1

With some down time at work, I browsed the GSFBCG's site and saw a link to an article on how to create a dressmaker's dummy of your very own. I've been wanting one, but have read the horror stories of the bought versions (i.e. they don't match you and the clothes don't fit either) and couldn't afford it anyway.

That link led to a Threads Magazine article "Clone Yourself a Fitting Assistant". That article led me to Leanna Studios, where I can get detailed instructions for $7. Most of the people who offered comments on the process stayed under $55 for the materials, said it was a breeze to make, and has worked for their clothes.

The project for the weekend. Course I'll have to make another one for the corset and if I lose weight. Another thing I noticed nearly every female said their Duct-Tape Double was great incentive to lose weight.

Project: Capt. Kate's Red Outfit: the Shirts Post 4

Considering what I'm working on will actually go into one of the 14th Century outfits, using this project title is rather confusing. But until I get the material to start on something else, it will have to do.

The brown paper for the pattern does not work. My boyfriend suggested some type of plastic that I can't remember the name of. I want something more durable than the tissue paper; I'm rough on patterns. Plus the cat.

Today became a sewing day by accident. Chad--the boyfriend--and I got invited to a sewing party at Kenn and Amy's. They are helping some friends new to RenFaire cast get their garb ready. We packed the current projects and headed over.

New current project is Chad wants a coathardie--14th century garb. Problem is Period Patterns are evil. I spent hours just trying to make heads and tails out of their tissue paper and cutting that out. Come to find out most of the reviews on the Great Pattern Review for this company fall under "Not Recommended." Amy had used one of their pattern too, and hated it.

Once I was done with that, I could move onto the ankle-length chemise. I decided since this will be part of one of the 14th Century ensembles, I should go with a simple neck hole. After that was cut out, I got the gussets sewed to the sleeves and the sleeves sewed to the body of the chemise. I was worried because the amount of material for the sleeves seemed so short, but it's fitting my short arms fine so far. [INSERT PHOTO HERE]

Project: Capt. Kate's Red Outfit: the Shirts Post 3

I don't have the money for linen roght now, probably won't until August. So I decided to go ahead and do a mock-up that could be used in another ensemble. I have also bought a digital camera, but am now having picture hosting issues. The pictures will come back soon. I promise.

The directions created by the Smock Generator assume you'll be putting this directly on your fabric. I'm going to draw it on paper since I'll be making multiple versions.

The problem with the brown paper is it curls badly. So much for hoping that I wouldn't need to pin the pattern paper to the material. I saved paper by drawing all three lengths on the same sheet, but I decided to start with the ankle-length chemise if I had enough fabric.


I found enough in this green that's probably a cotton/polyester blend. The polyester makes it not fire-safe, but I can probably use the finished chemise as one of the 14th century gowns if it turns out well. Besides I have to use this fabric up before I can justify buying more.


My cat Mustard helping. If he helps this much on other projects, he may end up watching from the cat carrier. Locking him up in another room won't work, the only room with a latchable door is the sewing room.


I've figured out one good thing about commercial patterns, using the material fold takes up less floor space.



The only thing I'm unsure of while facing cutting the fabric is the neck hole. I want a collar with a small ruff and those instructions are not provided by the Elizabethan Smock Generator.

Problem for the next sewing session. I ended this one after cutting the fabric.

Blog Maintenance: New naming format

I just went through a slew of dress diaries. I'm not going to critique their writing, just bare in mind what I liked and didn't for this one.

I can't do anything about blog "new posts on top" format. Yes, it is the most tiresome thing in the world. What I promise to do is as I finish a project to go back and edit the entries so you can follow the links through them. So eventually I will be adding a "Completed Projects" section to the Sidebar to start a reader off. Okay, I'm ambitious, nothing wrong with that.

Secondly, the dress diaries overload prompted me to change the titles of the entries. "Project: Project Name: Part Working on #" will be the title format for the bulk of the entries. These will be the entries concentrating on the sewing work. "Notes: Description" are links and pictures I found useful or think will be potential useful and needed a place to keep them. If you're just interested in how the project turned out, you can avoid these side trips. Any titles that do not conform will be site specifics or a life update, which a reader can also feel free to skip. Unless you get confused and need an explanation like this.

Notes: Articles I've found interesting

http://www.sempstress.org/techniques/waistbands.shtml Construction of Women's Gown

http://www.sempstress.org/techniques/fitting.shtml A Fitting Concern

http://www.sempstress.org/techniques/eyelets.shtml Binding Eyelets.

http://www.sempstress.org/resources/beginners.shtml Beginners

http://www.sempstress.org/resources/tips.shtml Tips

http://www.sempstress.org/resources/faq.shtml FAQs

http://www.sempstress.org/resources/velvetpeasants.shtml The Velvet Peasant

http://www.sempstress.org/resources/varietyrant.shtml Variety rant

http://www.sempstress.org/patterns/math/skirtlength.shtml Skirt length

http://www.sempstress.org/patterns/math/skirtlengthworksheet.shtml Worksheet to figure out skirt length