post-event high
So Belvidere, though hot as Hades, was thoroughly enjoyable! sewloud and mandie_rw have both done writeups, and I doubt I can really add anything, so I shan't bother. At one point my necklace started turning my neck green and no one noticed for a while, but I took it off when we were thinking about getting a tintype, because who knows how that would look! I wet my hankie and scrubbed at my neck to try to remove the green, which naturally made my collarbone bright red, instead. Oops!
Lace was whipped on the night before, and maaaan was it scratchy! A day in fabric softener was not adequate, clearly. Photo is link to album, btw
We did some jewelry shopping at Saturday's Child (and spent too much, as expected), and spent hours and hours sitting and just gabbing at the Egypt Campaign tent. We brought a lot of food but didn't have much room for it because, you know, corsets, so half went back home with us. The night before, in hattish desperation, I tore all the purple and black trimmings off my wee straw hat (I last used it for Amanda's bustle birthday at Longwood Gardens two Februaries ago). So in the car on the way there I hastily trimmed it with a strip of the same green I used on the dress and some paper flowers from tayloropolis. I kept foisting the hat into poor Amanda's face asking for opinions on how many flowers and where and so on, but she was gracious about it. And I'm quite pleased with it! I'll leave it as is, I think...until I need a wee hat for something else, of course. I also sewed up some quickie butt-bows, which were useful in covering the safety pins used to polonaise the skirt.
As expected, there was some weird fit around the bust - largely it's too small, despite lacing the corset a bit tighter at the bust, and I'm not sure really how to fix that; it's too high for letting out the darts to help, and the side seams right under the arms are pretty much maxed out... I dunno. Maybe I can't improve it and it will always be just a leeetle too tight. I never feared the buttons would pop off though, so it's not a huge problem. I also really need to make a dust ruffle for under the skirt, not just to protect it from dirt, but to protect the pleats from being bent out of shape! They took too long to get messed up, haha.
Saturday night was spent on Robin's couch, and Sunday she and Amanda and I got all excited about planning next year's Belvidere trip. I'm still pondering what I might want to make, which is very bad. I have quite a few things to plan for in the next few months; I need to put next fall on the back burner. By the time Amanda was put on the train and I headed home I was incredibly sleepy, but naturally by the time I got home I was very energetic and wanted to CLEAN UP ALL THE THINGS.
My house kind of turned into a disaster area, since I was speed-making the dress and the corset simultaneously. I want to get a head start on my dress for the Masquerade in October, but I can't do that until everything is cleaned up from THIS, so.... things were put away, sweaty underoos were washed, I even repressed the pleats on my skirt before I put it away (I've learned to do my future self a favor, since I HATE discovering upon pulling a thing out the night before an event that it really needs a good iron). The skirt fringe dried derpily because I hadn't released the bottom until the last minute, so I dipped it in a bucket of water and hung that to dry. Tonight I combed out all the leaf-detritus it picked up. Last but not least, I put a hook and eye on the new petticoat! Tomorrow I am unexpectedly off, and I have PLANS.
Lace was whipped on the night before, and maaaan was it scratchy! A day in fabric softener was not adequate, clearly. Photo is link to album, btw
We did some jewelry shopping at Saturday's Child (and spent too much, as expected), and spent hours and hours sitting and just gabbing at the Egypt Campaign tent. We brought a lot of food but didn't have much room for it because, you know, corsets, so half went back home with us. The night before, in hattish desperation, I tore all the purple and black trimmings off my wee straw hat (I last used it for Amanda's bustle birthday at Longwood Gardens two Februaries ago). So in the car on the way there I hastily trimmed it with a strip of the same green I used on the dress and some paper flowers from tayloropolis. I kept foisting the hat into poor Amanda's face asking for opinions on how many flowers and where and so on, but she was gracious about it. And I'm quite pleased with it! I'll leave it as is, I think...until I need a wee hat for something else, of course. I also sewed up some quickie butt-bows, which were useful in covering the safety pins used to polonaise the skirt.
As expected, there was some weird fit around the bust - largely it's too small, despite lacing the corset a bit tighter at the bust, and I'm not sure really how to fix that; it's too high for letting out the darts to help, and the side seams right under the arms are pretty much maxed out... I dunno. Maybe I can't improve it and it will always be just a leeetle too tight. I never feared the buttons would pop off though, so it's not a huge problem. I also really need to make a dust ruffle for under the skirt, not just to protect it from dirt, but to protect the pleats from being bent out of shape! They took too long to get messed up, haha.
Saturday night was spent on Robin's couch, and Sunday she and Amanda and I got all excited about planning next year's Belvidere trip. I'm still pondering what I might want to make, which is very bad. I have quite a few things to plan for in the next few months; I need to put next fall on the back burner. By the time Amanda was put on the train and I headed home I was incredibly sleepy, but naturally by the time I got home I was very energetic and wanted to CLEAN UP ALL THE THINGS.
My house kind of turned into a disaster area, since I was speed-making the dress and the corset simultaneously. I want to get a head start on my dress for the Masquerade in October, but I can't do that until everything is cleaned up from THIS, so.... things were put away, sweaty underoos were washed, I even repressed the pleats on my skirt before I put it away (I've learned to do my future self a favor, since I HATE discovering upon pulling a thing out the night before an event that it really needs a good iron). The skirt fringe dried derpily because I hadn't released the bottom until the last minute, so I dipped it in a bucket of water and hung that to dry. Tonight I combed out all the leaf-detritus it picked up. Last but not least, I put a hook and eye on the new petticoat! Tomorrow I am unexpectedly off, and I have PLANS.