I guess this is the end...

... of an adventure. I enjoyed blogging over here for a while, but as I recently stated, time has not been on my side lately, and this place has suffered from it. I find it hard to motivate myself to maintain two different blogs, and since I've started posting about my costuming adventures here as well, I figured I'd just as well redirect you to oen place where I talk about all my creative endeavours.
Hop over to my regular blog ! I'm still babbling over there !

Danke Cay !

I got an award from the lovely Cay ! wOOt ! Thank you Cay !
Here's the (rough) translation from the award text :
You got and award and want to get it going round ?
Post the "Liebster Blog" (favorite blog) image and the instructions (this text you're reading right now). You should also link to the blog of the one who gave you the award and comment there to tell them you accept the award and give them the link to your award-post. Then thing about 3 to 5 b of your favorite blogs, link them in your post and tell the blog authors about the award as well.
The goal of this action is to give some exposure to good, still not so well-known blogs , so please don't link to blogs that already have 3000 followers, but to the talented beginner bloggers and the one who've already been blogging for awhile but aren't that big in the blogosphere yet.

You know guys, it's hard to choose ! There are so many blogs I love to follow... Some of those already got the award... Hmmm, ok, here's my choice, in different languages.
Femmes en 1900 - come on, drool with me !
Cotumière hystérique - awesome creations !
Etching birds - because I always learn something from there !
Le dressing de Mademoiselle de L'Isle - she's amazingly talented !

And now it's back to sewing.... or to trying to sew, as it appears I lost my bodice pattern - which I needed for the sleeves, frack !

Sewing in progress !

I can has a skirt !
I figured I'd show you the end result of my hem ordeal? Sans closures for now, as I prefer to leave them until the last minute (superstitious me... or lazy me ?), and on a dress dummy without tummy padding - it hangs astonishingly well even without it !

The skirt is one layer of cotton (the yellow bit you see peeping out through the side opening), poly-cotton satin (the grey pleats), wool-silk-poly brocade, home-made toddler zooming past, poly-cotton velvet and a polyester red and purple shot something. And it's *heavy*. Ouch ! I think it's heavier than my green wool bustle skirt - probably due to the giganormous quantity of fabric I draped over the back. Not sure I'll do much dancing in this !

The reason why I'm not a superhero

If I was one, my archnemesis would be called "Hem". I don't think that's very good in terms of merchandising. Besides, I always *flee* before hems. I spent actually a ridiculous amount of time turning on my lappie, logging into blogger and typing this. Instead of hemming my bustle skirt. Which is like, the last thing to do on said skirt - almost. I still need to handsew one pleat in place. Then closueres. I guess Closures could be Hem's sidekick, actually. I've worn some petticoats more than once without a proper closure. I even think one of those petticoats still neither has a button nor a buckle, nor ties.
The hem is done now. It isn't pretty. Everything that could go wrong, did. The weird electrical itch that sometimes happens with TheSphynx (didn't last long, thankfully), the tension tightening itself, the bobbin being empty 20 inches before the end of the (huuuge) hem, the not-purposefully-gathered hem, the escaping pins,... In the end, my good old iron seemed to save the day and make the hem look acceptable. Hopefully it'll still look okay by daylight.

Did I mention wrangling half a ton of fabric over 8 square inches wasn't practical ? This is a picture I took while re-threading the machine... Yup, the fabric was crunched up like that.

Working on it...

Nono, I'm not dead, I've just been engulfed in holiday stuff and general fatigue. Oh, and sewing ! I have sa lot of projects for the new year, my next historical costume is due by the end of the month, then I have some research sewing projects lined up, some pirate stuff, lots of printmaking, a little bit of drawing, and a general website overhaul. And a baby. That's kind of a big programm already, and I expect more to come.

I'm slowly making progress and trying out new techniques at printmaking. Still working on the etching and most of all the wiping processes, I feel like I had found the right thing to do last year and completely forgot it over the summer ! It's soooo frustrating ! I used to be able to get good results with just cloth wiping, now I need to use paper or/AND the hand. I'm not not not proud of myself. And of course it seems like I'm the only one in the course with such an issue. *feels pouty*

(BTW, the upper plate a) looks much better in real life than on the flatbed scanner and b) is a collaborative work with Lady Fi)
So while I was fighting with ink last Tuesday, I granted myself a break and tried out a new-to-me inking process. The plate is an etched zink plate too (I think I posted it while it was in progress), but I only inked the upper part, not the etched ones. I couldn't get a smooth inking due to the plate and the roll not being very even, so I used my smaller roll and went for some intentional marks. I think I'm onto something that might turn out interesting, I just need to practice more...

I'm not putting up anything new in the shop for now. Iaybe later, when I have something I'm more satisfied with...

My creative space...

... is all decked up in holiday cheer !

I recently rearranged my sewing space, due to the holidays, my usual sewing machien needing repairs, the arrival of the serger... amoung other things.

The sewing machine is a 1933 Singer - it only does straight stitch, but it does it well, and for the rest, I have the Babylock. I should get my Pfaff back one of those days but I might stay with the current configuration, it saves space on the big table and I've come to *love* the Singer.

Above the machine on the wall are family photographs and wedding pictures from friends (and ours). I still want to add a few, and I'd love to find my grandparents' wedding picture to add them as well. The little cabinet on the left of the machine is decorated with etched metal plates by my Grandma and holds little sewing and knitting supplies.

In the picture on the far right you can see Karringa (the dress dummy) in my newest corset, and Madame Veto (the styrofoam head) sporting a hat-in-progress

Thankful....

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here but I love the idea of, once in a while, reflecting about all the things that make our lives beautiful and wonderful...
I'm thank-full for my beautiful son. Two years ago I was standing in tears because some doc thought I would never be allowed to have children, and here I am, with a beautiful and charming one-year-old sitting on my lap while I type this, and expecting our second child.
I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, always supportive, inspirationnal, and just as charming as his son. Over the years he's brought out the best part of me.
I'm thankful for all the matvelous friends I've met over the years.

I'm thankful for my hobbies, for the joy and light they bring into my life and the time I'm able to spend with them. I get to spend blissful hurs every week making art and learning about printmaking techniques (wait until I can show you my monotypes ! Monotypes are made of Awesomesauce !). I have an impressive collection of period material I can use as inspiration for my costume creations, and I have recently spent time scanning those pictures.