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.

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

My creative space...

... has been a little wuiet lately. The printmakig workshop was closed during the holidays, and the whole family has been sick in turns. We're all tired and slowly recovering. But I did manage to sew a teeny tiny bit !

It's not the prettiest t-shirt ever, but it's my first one using my serger/coverlock machine, which I adore ! I'm so happy I actually paid the extra $$$ for the Babylock and the cover stitch... I want to make a lot of things with this but I need pratice first. Lots of practice !

Hop over to Kootoyoo's blog for more creative spaces !

Tailoring !

Tonight I'm working on a commission for my brother - when the Home Geek and I got married, we made a deal with him : he'd make our wedding cake, I'd make him a "pirate" wardrobe. Shirts, vests, and a coat - or a justeaucorps, as you'd call it in mid-eighteenth century France.
The shirts are done already, as is one vest (Oh dear, it's embarassing, I don't have any picture of the finished product...). The coat, however, is a BIG project for me. It is my first venture into fitted, not sleeveless menswear, and the first one where I actually have to do some tailoring. Luckily, it doesn't need to be either perfectly historically accurate or a Saville-Row. I'm fairly new to tailoring, and I'd like to show you around while I'm learning. It involves padding (placed over the chest in 18th century manner), interfacing, patience and handsewing.
(Don't worry, I'll de-cat-hair it before he gets it !)

Lines and lines of hand-sewn basting stitches... this is what awaits me on my sewing table now (errr... that would actually be the living-room table), and this is what will hold the fashion fabric to the more stable interfacing.

My creative space

Long time since I haven't shown you what's going on in here, he ? Let's see what I have...

What's this ? you might ask... This was, in its past incarnation, a 1892 woollen evening cloak, which I wore to a ball many years ago. But I don't like the shape, it's too wide on me to be wearable in everyday life, so into the recycling bin it went, and it is going to be remade into a man's rococo justeaucorps. Quite a change ! Unpicking all those decorative stitches was time-consuming to put it mildly.

This is more familiar... Black ink and colored pencils, we'll see what it morphs into...

Some sewing !

I do realize I have neglected this blog for far too long... The kid keeps us both very, veyr busy and I've been working on personal sewing projects like a madwoman. I didn't even get to sort out all the pictures from past costume events yet. But I was relatively efficient following the victorian picnic organised by the Ministère des Modes in Lyon at the end of August. Hence, pictures from my 1872 polonaise !

The dress is a very light cotton print which almost reads like a solid on pictures. The trim is yellow cotton organdi - I normally use it to line my victorian bodices but I happened to find it in this color and I was out of fabric for trimmings. I know ruffles and pleats are more common for this year but I found a few examples of solid stripes applied as decoration as well. I'm wearing it over my black set of victorian undies, my victorian corset, my giant 1872 half-crinoline, and my flounced monstruosity of a petticoat. I patterned the polonaise with some help from Lady Fi and my 1885 bodice pattern, altering it to match period illustrations. One button that holds up the polonaise's skirt got loose on the inside of the skirt on the left side and I only noticed when I looked at the pictures - I'll have to make the ribbon loops smaller.
The hat is a regular straw hat I hacked down, wet and dried in its new shape. Then I added lots of stuff on it and kept adding things until it looked victorian enough.
On the whole, I loved how the dress turned out. I'd have preferred if the fit had been better and if the bustle hadn't had some issues during the day but it looks amazing in pictures and I had a fabulous time wearing it.

Rise of the undead and what I do with patterns

So, my digicam-that-was-dead is again not-quite-dead-yet. Yay ! Proceed to rising not-quite-dead and well, pictures !

This is to prove that a) I have taken up knitting again for some last minute Christmas presents (the fingerless mitten shown in this picture has since been finished, as has her sister. But neither the light nor the baby were cooperating to take pictures of the finished objects) and b) I do strang ethings with patterns. Like...
- turn a scarf pattern into a pair of fingerless mittens (granted, I knitted the scarf last year)
- heavily butcher them (see exhibit A, my avant-garde gown,, a mix of a Truly Victorian and a Reconstructing History pattern
- lose them and sometimes find them when I don't need them anymore. I'm almost done with reconstructing a 1872 half-crinoline out of bits and bobs of period instructions. And last week I stumbled upon Laughing Moon's bustles patterns.
- lose them and never find them again, I have a chronical issue with Past Pattern's edwardian straight-fronted corset pattern. I KNOW I ordered it twice already. I just haveeno idea where both patterns went.

Inspite, or maybe because of this twisted relationship to patterns, I have every intention to make this pair's of mittens pattern widely available to the customers in our stores... When I have enough time to polish it up :)

Old school

That was the theme for this week's EST (European Street Team) challenge on Etsy. I've had a blast working on the previous entry already "Enchanted Forest" (see above). Below is the entry for this week. My fingers have been itching to sew lately - there's not much I can sew for myself right now, my water-melon-muggling time is coming to an end in about a month and baby sewing isn't half as fun as costumes.
Or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to make a few rag dolls (like several of you guessed). I just love making rag dolls. This one turned up a lot simpler than the victorian kitties I previously did. It was fun buuut... I think I'll go back to the over the top ones, they are even MORE fun to make, and they feel more unique.
I present you Margot, the old school girl. When I think old school, I almost immediately think of tartan. Don't tell Margot, but I'm jealous of this skirt of hers. I can't wait until I've dropped my watermelon-shaped alien and I can make myself a tartan skirt out of this fabric.

"Vieux jeu", c'était le thème du challenge de l'équipe Europe (European Street Team) sur Etsy cette semaine. Je m'étais déjà bien amusée avec le défi de la semaine précédente,"Forêt Enchantée. Voici ma participation d'aujourd'hui. La machine à coudre me démangeait ces derniers temps. Je ne peux pas coudre grand'chose moi tant que je suis en mode matrioschka (plus pour longtemps), et coudre pour le bébé n'est de loin pas aussi amusant que de faire des costumes.
Ou peut-être que j'avais simplement besoin d'un prétexte pour coudre une poupée de chiffons. J'adore les poupées de chiffons. Celle-ci est beaucoup plus simple que les chats victoriens que j'ai pu faire précédemment. Je me suis bien amusée avec maaaais... je crois que je vais revenir à des choses plus élaborées pour les suivantes, c'est encore PLUS rigolo à faire et plus "spécial".
Voici Margot, une jeune fille adorable et un peu vieux jeu. Le thème me fait tout de suite penser à du tartan, allez savoir pourquoi. Ne le dites pas à Margot, mais je veux la même jupe qu'elle. Vivement que l'alien qui me squatte le bidon soit sorti pour que je puisse m'en coudre une !

Cum pedibus

I know my feet look ok in the picture but trust me, they're not. My feet have the worst karma ever. Just the other day, I managed to break a toenail and slice a toe open by hitting a stool. Not a rough edged, dangerously looking metal stool, noooo... A perfectly homely and peaceful wooden stool with nice, not sharp, well-rounded corners. A stool that has been sitting in the same place fo the workroom for weeks and I just forgot it was there, bumped into it and hopped away crying ouchie. Now you can laugh at me. Weirdly enough, the bad karma is limited to hitting things, and sometimes having items fall on them. This is quite odd given the biggest hazrad for bare feet in our house most certainly is pins. They are stray pins everywhere, no matter how much I pick them up and vacuum, there's always at least one pin on the floor in any given room. It used to scare my Home Geek to death...

Je sais que mes pieds ont l'air ok sur la photo mais croyez-moi, ce n'est pas le cas. Mes pieds ont le pire karma du monde. Pas plus tar qu'il y a quelques jours, j'ai réussi à me casse run ongle et m'ouvrir un orteil sur un tabouret. Pas un tabouret méchant avec de grandes dents et des bouts de métal coupants qui dépassent, nooon... Un tabouret parfaitement paisible et civilisé en bois avec des coins bien arrondis. Un tabouret qui occupe la même place dans le bureau depuis des semaines, qu'il m'a suffi d'oublier pour entrer en collision avec et m'éloigner clopinante. Maintnant vous pouvez vous moquer de moi ! Le plus étonnant, c'est que mon mauvais karma pédestre se limite aux heurts et parfois aux chutes d'objets, alors que le plus grand danger pour un paire de pieds nus dans cette maison est sans aucun doute la présence d'épingles. Peu importe combien de fois je les ramasse et je passe l'aspirateur, il y a des épingles partout, dans toutes les pièces. Ca terrifiait le geek domestique au début de notre relation...

My creative space

I've abandonned my desk and drawing desk and invaded the living room wiht my sewing gear. Can you guess what I'm working on ?

J'ai abandonné le bureau et pris possession du salon avec mon attirail de couture. Saurez-vous deviner à quoi je travaille ?

Three pictures...

Trois images pour résumer ma longue absence...

Une coiffe à froufrous de dentelle, une chaussure à moitié recouverte de brocard... J'étais plongée dans le dix-huitième siècle ! Mais les arts graphiques reviennent sur le devant de la scène, maintenant que ma casaque 1740 est finie.
Je fais des essais à l'acrylique, beaucoup de travail pour trouver la bonne forme d'expression en ce moment, je ne suis pas sûre que la majorité ne finisse pas dans un carton mais j'aurai au moins appris quelque chose.



Three pictures to sum up where I disappeared... A frilly lace cap, a shoe in the process of being recovered with brocade,... The eighteenth century got me ! But I'm transitionning back to graphic arts now that my 1740s casaque is done.
I'm doing trial runs in acrylics right now, working a lot on finding what media works best for me. I'm not sure most of it won't end up in a storage box, but at least I'll have learned something in the process.

Steel and music fail

I've made the ugliest pair of pocket hoops this side of the Milky Way. Don't know where the fabric came from (several degrees of hand-me down) but it's nasty. Pocket hoops involve boning, which in its turn means cutting steel. I dug out the Mighty Things That Cut from the garage, wrangled with the steel and the duct tape, marked the right length, wrangled some more, made a dent, a little bigger dent, managed to cut it, yay !... and... the remaining coil of steel fell from the balcony. Good thing we don't live in an apartment anymore, I'd have been very embarassed to ring at the neighbor's door to retrieve my steel.

Second fail of the day : I have weird cartoon songs stuck in my head (Heidi folks, Heidi !), trying to get them out I open XMMS on random... and out comes Megumi Hayashibara... So now it's no longer just in my head, I have the Slayers soundtrack on repeat. :D

Just for the record : I have a sad and long history of twisted love for awful prints on period underwear. See my multicolored checked bustle for a proof.

Of pirates and expecting mothers

I just finished sewing some custom creations and took pictures right away. In the absence of the recipients, the garments will be modeled by Karringa, the fakir-woman, and Nick, the nearly-headless dress dummy.
Je viens de finir quelques commandes que j'ai photographiées aussitôt. En l'absence des destinataires, les vêtements seront présentés par Karringa, la femme fakir, et Nick, le mannequin presque-sans-tête.

This blouse was a specific request for a pregnant lady. I reused the pattern from a pregnancy blouse I have made for myself. Both garment are made from upcycled fabrics - cushion slipcovers and bedspreads. The pocket actually conceils a spot where the fabric was ripped and patched.
Cette blouse était une commande pour une jeune femme enceinte, d'après le patron d'une blouse que je me suis faite. Les deux tops sont faits dans des tissus recyclés, d'anciennes taies de coussins et couvre-lits. La poche cache un endroit où le tissu avait été déchiré et rapiécé.

Which buttons do I choose ? For what you ask ? For a pair of pirate shirts... Aaarrrrh !
Quels boutons choisir ? Boutons pour quoi ? Pour une paire de chemise de pirate, moussaillon !

I went with the dark bronze, plain military style buttons in the end. I know I have enough of those for the matching waistcoat and justeaucorps. Nick was nice enough during the photoshoot, he neither collapsed nor tilted so far to the side that you'd mistake him for a hunchback. That's not common for him, so please say with me : Good job Nick !
The shirts are a mixture of 18th century patterns and the client's wishes. They're machine sewn, finely pleated at the neck and wrists, with gussets at the armpits and shoulders, and an applied piece to reinforce the end of th neck opening.
Je me suis décidée pour les boutons vieux bronze tout simples, de style un peu militaire, car je sais que j'en ai suffisamment dans ce style pour le gilet et l'habit assortis. Nick a eu la gentillesse de ne pas s'effondrer pendant les photos, et de ne pas non plus pencher au point de paraître bossu. C'est plutôt rare de sa part, alors, tous avec moi : Beau travail, Nick !
Les chemises sont un croisement entre des patrons du 18ème siècle et les desideratas du client. Elles sont cousues à la machine, finement plissées aux poignets et au col, avec des goussets sous les bras et sur les épaules, et une pièce de renfort au bout de l'ouverture devant.

And finally, something I'm rather proud of... The logo is still in the works. We have a temporary version but I can't send that to have labels printed so... I present you the all handmade shirt, with matchign handmade label !
Et pour finir, j'en suis assez fière... Le logo est en cours de finalisation. Nous avons une version provisoire, mais pas quelque chose que je puisse envoyer pour faire imprimer des étiquettes donc... Voici la chemise où même l'étiquette est une pièce unique !