Sewing Update
I've not been completely worthless in the sewing room in the three weeks since we got back from Costume Con, but it feels like it. So to motivate myself, I'm playing Show-and-Tell with a few things I've finished up lately.
Used all the leftover fabrics from making Bilbo's Dressing Gown to make one of the world's uglier lap quilts. Right now I've got it tossed over the back of the leather lounge chair in my sewing room where I do a lot of hand sewing and *cough*readingfanfic*cough* Ahem. But it does have tabs for hanging if I can get my hands on a dowel rod for doing so. Same basic layout as the dressing gown, using piping and all fabrics I already had, with the exception of the burgundy velvet border. I cut that so close on the main project that I had exactly enough leftover to make ONE small square, which did make it into the quilt. The backing is the lining material, oddly pieced since the pieces cut out of it were large and oddly shaped, plus one square of the material I used to make the piping. Then there are two rows of piping, separating the patchwork from the border, and along the outer edge. I think it looks pretty shiny, myself.
The other wrap-it-up was to finish the late 19th century ladies had that for some bizarre reason, I thought I had time to start at like 2 am the night before leaving for Costume-Con. Sleep deprivation does not equal smart decisions, kids. I didn't have buckram, so I sewed four layers of the netting leftover from the hanbok petticoat together and rand with it. The hat shape was a bit... well, it was effing ugly. Lopsided and uneaven, but I'd already put the effort into assembling it, so I decided to just keep adding trim until you couldn't tell anymore. I did use the millenary wire for support and roughly followed the 1880s Hat pattern from Truly Victorian, though. Other materials were black silk velvet covering, attached with black silk thread and black silk ribbon. There is a black silk gauze veil that I've pinned up in a weird fluffy shape that looked okay in the mirror but is hard as hell to photograph. I put a velvet bow and a whole bunch of dyed black feathers rescued from a feather boa that I quit wearing when I realized that sweating made the dye bleed onto my skin. Shouldn't be a problem on a hat, though. I'm thinking I might save this project to count for one of the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenges, such as the one about re-using/re-purposing existing items.
Current projects include the beginnings of a first draft for a pair of late 18th century stays. Never done these before, so it ought to be interesting. The shaping is significantly different from the corsets of 100 years later and I've never actually worn a pair of stays before, so this ought to be interesting. I also tried starting a quilted petticoat of the same time frame for the HSF Squares, Rectangles & Triangles challenge, but I started the cutting while I was going through my obligatory post-con plague, so the pieces aren't lining up the way I need them to. If I ever get all three layers the same size and sewn together, the hand-quilting with be a great project for me to take along whenever I need something to keep my hands busy.
Other than that, the next con is OsFest in Omaha the last weekend of July. Might need to be making up some Game of Thrones character for my bff to wear to that. I would like to think that I could get the Queen of Hearts done up in time, but I doubt it. My motivation levels are kinda baseline just now. I'll also be hosting a costumed tea party at my house in July, so there's sorting out costumes for that one. Of COURSE I don't want to wear anything that I already have. Perhaps that 1870s Tea Gown I've been eyeing can finally be made up.
Used all the leftover fabrics from making Bilbo's Dressing Gown to make one of the world's uglier lap quilts. Right now I've got it tossed over the back of the leather lounge chair in my sewing room where I do a lot of hand sewing and *cough*readingfanfic*cough* Ahem. But it does have tabs for hanging if I can get my hands on a dowel rod for doing so. Same basic layout as the dressing gown, using piping and all fabrics I already had, with the exception of the burgundy velvet border. I cut that so close on the main project that I had exactly enough leftover to make ONE small square, which did make it into the quilt. The backing is the lining material, oddly pieced since the pieces cut out of it were large and oddly shaped, plus one square of the material I used to make the piping. Then there are two rows of piping, separating the patchwork from the border, and along the outer edge. I think it looks pretty shiny, myself.
The other wrap-it-up was to finish the late 19th century ladies had that for some bizarre reason, I thought I had time to start at like 2 am the night before leaving for Costume-Con. Sleep deprivation does not equal smart decisions, kids. I didn't have buckram, so I sewed four layers of the netting leftover from the hanbok petticoat together and rand with it. The hat shape was a bit... well, it was effing ugly. Lopsided and uneaven, but I'd already put the effort into assembling it, so I decided to just keep adding trim until you couldn't tell anymore. I did use the millenary wire for support and roughly followed the 1880s Hat pattern from Truly Victorian, though. Other materials were black silk velvet covering, attached with black silk thread and black silk ribbon. There is a black silk gauze veil that I've pinned up in a weird fluffy shape that looked okay in the mirror but is hard as hell to photograph. I put a velvet bow and a whole bunch of dyed black feathers rescued from a feather boa that I quit wearing when I realized that sweating made the dye bleed onto my skin. Shouldn't be a problem on a hat, though. I'm thinking I might save this project to count for one of the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenges, such as the one about re-using/re-purposing existing items.
Current projects include the beginnings of a first draft for a pair of late 18th century stays. Never done these before, so it ought to be interesting. The shaping is significantly different from the corsets of 100 years later and I've never actually worn a pair of stays before, so this ought to be interesting. I also tried starting a quilted petticoat of the same time frame for the HSF Squares, Rectangles & Triangles challenge, but I started the cutting while I was going through my obligatory post-con plague, so the pieces aren't lining up the way I need them to. If I ever get all three layers the same size and sewn together, the hand-quilting with be a great project for me to take along whenever I need something to keep my hands busy.
Other than that, the next con is OsFest in Omaha the last weekend of July. Might need to be making up some Game of Thrones character for my bff to wear to that. I would like to think that I could get the Queen of Hearts done up in time, but I doubt it. My motivation levels are kinda baseline just now. I'll also be hosting a costumed tea party at my house in July, so there's sorting out costumes for that one. Of COURSE I don't want to wear anything that I already have. Perhaps that 1870s Tea Gown I've been eyeing can finally be made up.