The sun is shining
The sun is shining, Linnea and Ian are still fast asleep after an eventful night (Linnea both wet the bed and vomited). I'm up with cramps but homemade blueberry muffins, coffee, newspaper and memories of yesterday are cheering me up.
Yesterday was a horrific day for Norway, and I think, not wrong of me to suggest that it was a horrific day for all of Scandinavia.
On a personal level my day was very, very good. I got to up curl up on the couch feeling dreadful while Ian bustled around making breakfast. Then Ian and Linnea skedaddled off to the park and to do a return at the post office for me while I did a bit of clutching at my middle and some sewing. Then we all made blueberry muffins together (thank you silverthoughts for the recipe). Then we walked into town, picked up contact lenses and 5 meters of ribbon. It was a lazy walk, more about getting out of the house than completing errands. Linnea fortuitously said she needed the toilet when we were right next to a toilet - yay! I spotted a hand mirror for Molly at St Nick's market but didn't get it.
I also found myself drawn into All Saints... this is my favorite clothing store in Bristol but is way way out of my price league. Recently the chain has been flirting with liquidation and every time I pass by I think... they may be gone by the time I can afford anything... Possessing a little bit of birthday money from Ian's parents still I popped in on a whim, immediately found an incredible skirt, which fit despite being size 14, and was marked down from £95 to £28! Wow.
Then we had milkshakes, picked up ribs to cook for dinner (with a gingerhoneysoysherry glaze) and took the bus home.
Before dinner I did a little bit of sewing and... I finished Molly's corset!
You may recall my toile: One layer of leftover fabric, all external casings, midbust pattern as it came. Boning was what came with the corset kit from sewcurvy, some of it was too long and I couldn't stitch across the top very easily. Half metal grommets (most of which have fallen off since due to poor hammering on my part) and half hand sewn eyelets. Parachute cord which wasn't long enough to lace the whole way down until it was tightened. As my first sewing on a sewing machine in a decade some of the lines were... a little enthusiastic, in other words wonky!
You may recall my 'mock up': White coutil, internal casings, 'floating' lining, bones ordered to length, pattern adjusted to underbust, left hip raised (I never knew my hips weren't symmetrical, it's a tiny difference but nothing like a jab from a steel bone to inform me!) and some alteration to the width. Hand sewn eyelets. Pleasantly long laces. Turned out nice enough to wear in its own right but something went wrong somewhere because it laces shut so easily that I don't need help lacing into it! Without proper layers (overskirt, underskirt, petticoats, bloomers) of other costume underneath loose at top/bottom edges.
I knew I made the right decision in doing two practice runs because when I started in on my chosen materials I had a least a little idea of what I was doing.
The final: fashion fabric fused to coutil, internal + external bone casings, tightened up pattern a bit to leave a lacing gap, metal grommets (set with pliers), 'pointier' cf and cb.
I bought a cheap red skirt on ebay and altered it. I pinned up a white skirt I already had. I braved shoe shopping to find some proper faux leather boots. And, using my 'spare' time since last Christmas for sewing instead of rowing or driving I actually learned to make a corset for myself that fit and makes Ian's jaw drop. When I began this project I had a vision of Molly, and when Linnea and I were painting one day I painted this:
The 'real' Molly looks like this:
Yesterday was a horrific day for Norway, and I think, not wrong of me to suggest that it was a horrific day for all of Scandinavia.
On a personal level my day was very, very good. I got to up curl up on the couch feeling dreadful while Ian bustled around making breakfast. Then Ian and Linnea skedaddled off to the park and to do a return at the post office for me while I did a bit of clutching at my middle and some sewing. Then we all made blueberry muffins together (thank you silverthoughts for the recipe). Then we walked into town, picked up contact lenses and 5 meters of ribbon. It was a lazy walk, more about getting out of the house than completing errands. Linnea fortuitously said she needed the toilet when we were right next to a toilet - yay! I spotted a hand mirror for Molly at St Nick's market but didn't get it.
I also found myself drawn into All Saints... this is my favorite clothing store in Bristol but is way way out of my price league. Recently the chain has been flirting with liquidation and every time I pass by I think... they may be gone by the time I can afford anything... Possessing a little bit of birthday money from Ian's parents still I popped in on a whim, immediately found an incredible skirt, which fit despite being size 14, and was marked down from £95 to £28! Wow.
Then we had milkshakes, picked up ribs to cook for dinner (with a gingerhoneysoysherry glaze) and took the bus home.
Before dinner I did a little bit of sewing and... I finished Molly's corset!
You may recall my toile: One layer of leftover fabric, all external casings, midbust pattern as it came. Boning was what came with the corset kit from sewcurvy, some of it was too long and I couldn't stitch across the top very easily. Half metal grommets (most of which have fallen off since due to poor hammering on my part) and half hand sewn eyelets. Parachute cord which wasn't long enough to lace the whole way down until it was tightened. As my first sewing on a sewing machine in a decade some of the lines were... a little enthusiastic, in other words wonky!
You may recall my 'mock up': White coutil, internal casings, 'floating' lining, bones ordered to length, pattern adjusted to underbust, left hip raised (I never knew my hips weren't symmetrical, it's a tiny difference but nothing like a jab from a steel bone to inform me!) and some alteration to the width. Hand sewn eyelets. Pleasantly long laces. Turned out nice enough to wear in its own right but something went wrong somewhere because it laces shut so easily that I don't need help lacing into it! Without proper layers (overskirt, underskirt, petticoats, bloomers) of other costume underneath loose at top/bottom edges.
I knew I made the right decision in doing two practice runs because when I started in on my chosen materials I had a least a little idea of what I was doing.
The final: fashion fabric fused to coutil, internal + external bone casings, tightened up pattern a bit to leave a lacing gap, metal grommets (set with pliers), 'pointier' cf and cb.
I bought a cheap red skirt on ebay and altered it. I pinned up a white skirt I already had. I braved shoe shopping to find some proper faux leather boots. And, using my 'spare' time since last Christmas for sewing instead of rowing or driving I actually learned to make a corset for myself that fit and makes Ian's jaw drop. When I began this project I had a vision of Molly, and when Linnea and I were painting one day I painted this:
The 'real' Molly looks like this: