OK. Back to the clothes!

I managed to get both bodices close enough to finished that they could actually be worn so both the brown linen and the plaid silk made the rounds at TeslaCon 3.

When you consider the fact that I only *finally* found my corsets on the morning we left it's pretty amazing that they fit at all, let alone the fact that they looked pretty good! The brown linen was fully sewn and lined but it will need to be taken apart to have the seam line boning added now that I have more time. I'll also be raising the shoulder line and taking in the bodice above the fullness of my bust.

The surprising twist on this outfit is that although I arrived with a bodice I had to be sewed into. (And only halfway, at that.) I walked into the vendors area and lucked into a booth selling corset-making supplies and scored a length of brass hooks and eyes on black twill tape.

I've loved this stuff since I first saw it but it never hit my brain as 'period' enough to use...until Steampunk!

I stitched to the outside of the front opening of my brown bodice and it works/looks smashingly! (Insert happy dance here.) It gives just the edge the outfit needed.

The plaid silk bodice hadn't gotten nearly as far when we left the house so I dragged along my sewing machine and the fabric and pattern to make sleeves. (And the pattern to mark the neckline, and lace and ribbon for trim, and so on.) Luckily I had already sewn on the main bodice lining so when I finally realized that I could either *be* at Teslacon or *sew* at Teslacon I was able to make a wearable bodice out of what I had. I really like the simplicity of this one so I think I will finish it (boning and shoulder adjustments, maybe a placket under the center front...or a zipper...) and then make the 3/4 sleeved dinner bodice with lace flounces I had envisioned. I think I may have enough fabric for a day bodice and additional overskirt or train pieces too. I guess we'll see!

What is Steampunk?

Many of the people whom I told about TeslaCon asked me that question, which I wouldn't presume to attempt to answer 'for real.' My favorite quote had been: "Steampunk is what happens when Goths discover the color brown" but now that I've gotten my feet wet I'm starting to think that at least *some* of Steampunk is what happens when renassiance costumers take a holiday!

I have a sneaking suspicion there were more than a few of us about...

Oh my, but TeslaCon is fun!

More about the costume progress later, but I thought you'd like to see the plaid dress in action!

There's hope.

Just a work-in-progress pic to remind me that I am moving toward bodice-dom!

What was I thinking? Or was I even thinking AT ALL?!

Having cut out all my linings, interlinings, and the fashion fabric for my day bodice I am now confronted with the fashion fabric for the dinner bodice. Can anyone remind me why I thought it would be a good idea to make my first bustle dress in an UNEVEN PLAID?

(Pounds head on table)

Worse, an uneven plaid with a strong HORIZONTAL STRIPE?

(Pound)

(Pound)

(Pound)

What's that you say? It'll be pretty?!

Argh!

OK, take a deep breath...

I WILL start on my bodices for TeslaCon. I WILL!

Right now.

A picture is worth, well, a whole lota words

See? Side to side ribbons holding my bustle tapes together so it doesn't look hideous from the outside!

Thank goodness for portable posteriors!

I have been deep in the mire of a rather spectacular FAIL with the bustling of my second skirt. I started by approximating the placement which worked so well with the plaid silk, but...

Yuck!

Then I tried moving things around to lift the center lines considerably higher (in an attempt to rid myself of that rather horrible set of side to side folds) and...

Double Yuck!

I've been moving the pins, and trying it on, and getting Clarence to give opinions and take pictures, and taking everything off and trying again. Over and over.


Only to arrive at yet more YUCK!

Sigh.

I had read the very good suggestion of draping your bustles on a dress form but since I don't have one I was stuck in the fitting loop until it occurred to me that maybe I could rig something up...and thus my Marvelous Fitting Assistant was born! (OK, created!)

Yes, that is a pillow and my bustle pinned to a high-backed chair. When in use the front of the skirt is all rucked up but it is full enough not to be a problem. And being able to make adjustments and see the changes first-hand makes a huge difference!

Voila! SUCCESS!

As it turned out, my problem was that the tapes depending from the waist band onto which the outer puffs are attached were sliding to my sides and stretching the skirt fabric into flat folds. I simply attached two short pieces of ribbon horizontally to connect and draw together the opposing points. Easy-peasey!

As Clarence commented, now my butt has a bow on it.

Bustle skirt #2

In a lovely brown on brown striped linen from my stash.

I'd still like to play with the bustling, and come up with a few more outfits, but since one daytime and one nighttime outfit are my bare minimum list of things I *have* to make for Teslacon I'm going to move on to bodices. Which means I need to go dig through the stacks of still-packed boxes from our move and find my corsets...

What fun. (Sigh)

Wow! You're my lucky 10,000th visitor!

Thank you!

A blast from the stash

Something like 15 years ago I found an whole lot of organza ribbon in a wonderful pumpkin pie color, CHEAP, and bought it up. I stitched it up with some lace and black cotton with the intention of making a flounced petticoat but it never got finished and I have been dragging that too-pretty-to-throw-away-but-basically-useless pile of fabric around with me ever since.

I am now quite flushed with the glow of virtuous accomplishment because it is a useless pile no longer!

My bustle petticoat in progress...

I put on my bustle and had my honey measure the waist to floor length front and back (which is 13 inches longer, by the way), took off 21inches for the finished length of the flounce, added 4 inches for a 2" tuck to cover the seam, added seam allowance and cut I piece to the front length and one to the back. I sewed those pieces into a tube (with an opening at the left side for getting in and out) and here we're pinning in the darts and back shaping/gathering to fit.

Even with the tuck turned the wrong way (up!) I'm pretty happy!

Only 14 days to Teslacon 3...

OMG, It's a skirt!

In fact, it's a skirt with a big poufy butt!

I still have all the handwork to do to finish it (waistband, hooks and eyes, ribbons, etc) but look, it's a skirt!

Another bit of progress

All three rows of lace are now stitched on my skirts so I thought I'd post another picture. The uppermost row is the lace just after it has been stitched and flipped over, the middle row is partway through the pinning process (I match up the corners of the pattern above and below the place I will sew the tuck, 1/2 way up the lightest row), and the bottom row is all done!

Back home and back to work

In order to cut out my skirts without making a separate set for the plaid skirt I basted in the tucks and hem before I cut it my pieces. This move allowed me to simply place my pattern pieces on the fabric, cut as usual, and when I removed the basting stitches my seam lines already had all the fancy angles I will need to get my tucks to lay flat on angled seams.

To make my lace emerge from underneath the bottom edge of the tuck I attached it by zig-zagging the upper edge of my lace to the fabric which will lie just behind that edge when the whole thing is finished.

The striped fabric which you can just see through the lace (above) is going to be the face fabric when the tuck is complete (see below).

I stitched the tuck so that the black lace will fall above the black stripe on my skirts. This first row of lace/black is also the hemline for my skirts. (I should mention that I reversed the direction of the back piece from the pattern. I want a straight hemline with a black stripe so I put the extra fabric which accommodates the bustle at the top of my skirt instead of the bottom. I put in some extra in order to accommodate my larger bustle too. Yet another experiment!)

I like a deep hem so I included an entire pattern repeat when I cut the fabric. This stitched up into the top of the fabric behind the tuck. It's completely invisible from the right side. Nice!

And now, back to the ironing board!

And then there was SANDY

Hey, who knew they were expecting a hurricane in Baltimore?

I only heard about it as we were on the way to the airport, at which point it seemed rather too late to say "hmm, Honey, maybe we should stay home?"

I've never really been in the potential path of a hurricane before. it's...interesting. In a hotel there isn't much you can do to prepare! I think I'll go see if they have any bottled water in the vending machine...

:)

Renaissance Africans in Europe...and BALTIMORE!

Wow. I really don't know what to say.

Being in an art museum that has *any* depictions of black people is pretty rare in my experience. If we are there we tend to be the ketchup of the show, not the burger...or even the fries. Just the condiment that underscores the importance of the main dish.

Unless, of course, it is a special exhibit of some kind...(sigh...)

So here I am at the Walters and it *is* a special exhibit, but for the first time in my experience it is truly a show about me. My timeline and place in art and the world, and history. I'm surrounded by folks who could be my family, wearing things I would wear, doing things I might do, and suddenly I'm not that weird black girl who likes to pretend to be 16th century Italian. (Like *that* could have happened! ... Insert eye roll here.)

I'm that weird 20th-21st century girl who likes to investigate her cultural history. I *belong.* We really were there.

And I gotta tell you, the painting of a whole gang of Black Landsneicht is a real life changer!

And now for the lecture...

Hi from Baltimore!

I'm here and braving the potential hurricane to see the REVEALING THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE exhibit I previously mentioned. As it happens, the only day I can visit the show is also the day they are having a 4 hour forum about it. So I'll be there too, of course, and I also hope to pay a visit to their very nice collection of renaissance jewels, and who knows what else?

I can be such a scaredy-cat!

I've been sitting on my hands the last few days. (Well, OK, pleating lace trim in my glorious new perfect pleater!) All because I have been too afraid to cut into my plaid silk for the skirt of my first outfit.

You see me starting with the hardest of my planned outfits? I pick the one with tucks in the plaid skirt, some of the pieces of which are triangles, to start!

I started basting in the tucks last night and cut out the back panel, Today I've gotten a good encourageing "talking to" so the front pieces should be cut out tonight. In-progress pictures soon...

Voila!

I've decided on on making 3 rows of pleated lace over the lowest three rows of black in the pattern. They will be attached to the back of the tucked stripe layer. It means I'll lose 3 rows of fabric per tuck but I think it will look just lovely.

Oh My Gosh! I Kinda Love It!

The great bustle adventure continues!

I added the waist tapes to my black bustle and it is just as amusing as I thought it would be to *finally* have a properly protuberant rump!

Who would ever have believed that my natural endowments could ever come to seem...skimpy?

I discovered that the hoops of the bustle poke me in the back when I sit down ('though the whole thing does fold up rather nicely) so I've decided to hold off on finishing it up. I'm contemplating making the innermost hoop shallower but I want to see/ feel the effect of a more professional bustle, and try it with a skirt, before I decide.

So, on to bustle #2!

I've bought Truly Victorian's pattern TV163: 1887 Imperial Tournure and have been altering it to something closer to my size. Since my hips are extreemly full in comparison to my tiny waist I expect I'll be playing with the fit quite a bit after I get it put together, but to start I sized-up the waist band by two sizes and the other pieces by 8 sizes. It really should be 10 but since the Tournure doesn't actually close in the front I don't think it will really matter and Clarence and I agreed that 8 sizes larger seemed to be about the right coverage across my butt.

We won't know if it was the right decision until the thing comes together...

Yeah for birthdays!

My darling Mama has just decided to give me a perfect pleater for my birthday present this year! I have been gazing at them admiringly as I contemplated all the trimmings I will need to make for my new bustle gowns and now...woohoo! A perfect pleater will be mine!

Combined with that nifty barbeque fork pleating trick I think my dresses might just turn out alright! :)

OK! We're off and running!

It's just shy of 2 months until Teslacon 3 and I've finally put down my fear, picked up my sewing tools and gotten started on my costuming projects. I've ordered three patterns which should arrive next week (more about them later) but in the meantime I've started on two projects I've been thinking about for a while. Namely, reworking two pin-tucked white cotton shirts and a skirt into a passably steampunk petticoat-chemise combination which could become a tea gown with the addition of a matching jacket. And a collapsible wire bustle.

Yeah, a BUSTLE.

I've been intimidated by this project for a lot of reasons but today I got up and started untwisting those hangers from the dry-cleaners and...Voila!

My bustle in progress:

Folded

Unfolded

I'm still in the process of wrapping each individual wire with organza ribbon. I plan to attach rosettes over the hinge on each side and a flounce on the bottom wire...and add the waistband, of course! Measurements will follow along with pictures of my finished project.

Off line for a bit

Our new home has no phone line, so weird!

We're having to figure out a new way to stay connected to the internet so please bear with me for the next few days as we work our way thru these..."technical difficulties!"

Back to thinking about that Lotto partlet

I ran across a sample of the kind of work that made up those mats I mentioned in my earlier post. I found this on eBay

See the similarity in texture and depth?

The ad describes it as crochet but it doesn't resemble any type of crochet I've seen or read instructions for. I'd think it was woven on a frame and knotted except that the threads lie in stacked bands rather than bunches and the connection points are level with the rest of the surface rather than dipping in. If you happen to know the name of this technique please share!

It's that time of year...again...

Sigh.

We're moving once again.

Only a couple of miles away from our current apartment and to a place and location which seem like they will suit us much better, so that's good, but it's still all kinds of packing and hauling right in the middle of a nightmarish level of other commitments!

Not the least of which is the IRCC II Challenge.

I'll have at least a few days at the beginning of August to concentrate on sewing but right now progress is so slow as to be undetectable without a time-lapse camera!

IRCC II - Tasty Nibble 14: Oooo! Lacy!

I'm keeping a more detailed record of the progress of my Camicia in the "Stitch by stitch" page but I couldn't resist sharing this shot...

I'm not getting much lift (I need to try fitting a bodice when it doesn't have lace I care about attached) but even though it's cut extremely low I feel really secure that this neckline isn't going anywhere. It's definitely the best fit I've achieved so far. happiness!

IRCC II - Tasty Nibble 13: Camica is begun!

Stitching the lace onto the neckline...

DONE, DONE, DONE!

Yippee!

IRCC 2 - Nearing the finish line with the loose gown

After cutting, trimming and hemming the 14 tabs for my shoulders I sorted them by width and separated them into two similar stacks of 7 tabs each. I decided to layer them so I made two off-set stacked strips, three-on-four, and pinned them together.

After setting them into the armeye and then setting in the sleeve I have this:

Rather nice, I think. :)

I may decide to attach some of the tabs together near the tips to control the shape they make but I want to give them a bit of time to find their own way. Now on to sewing in the other side!

IRCC 2 - Shoulder tabs are on the way

I've cut shoulder tabs from the leftover strip from the original button placket and pocket flaps of the coat, 14 in all, and am now working on the gold braid.

(Belated) Happy Independence Day!

We were in Minneapolis visiting my father for the holiday. The amazing heat wave drove us inside but it turns out his apartment is a great spot for viewing fireworks!

Update on the bug skirt - Tahdah!

My bug skirt got hustled off into near-oblivion in the great Ack!-Mom-and-Bob-are-coming-and-the-house-CANNOT-be-such-a-shambles! clean-up of 2012 but today I got the itch (to stitch, hee hee) and finished it up.

I've been playing with pleats again but this time I did a flat front with the pleats falling away from the center in both directions. I also played with the waist line a bit. I like the raised waist on the wild pink and black (and brown and gray) print skirt but I'd need to bone the seams for the waist to stay up in the back--which I don't much want to do. On the bug skirt I decided to leave the fabric above the waist line in the front still attached which has the effect of a raised waist but disappears at the back where the other skirt gets all folded up by my rolls.

I followed the same basic process as on the other skirt, basting even pleats down from the top of the fabric to the hipline and then customizing the waist to hip angles of each one individually. I've only stitched the outer edges of the pleats down as far as the waistline. The ones in the front and back fit smoothly over the hips already and I think the slightly puffy pleats on the side back may well lay flat on their own after the skirt has had a bit of time to soften.

What do you think?

IRCC 2 - Inching closer...

The first row of gold trim is all stitched down and together, the second row is down, and the sleeves are pinned in place. I guess I'll have to figure out the shoulder trim any moment now...

IRCC 2 - And here's the proof!

(That would be the collar of my coat as I work on the first row of gold braid.)

IRCC 2 - I'm getting close...

No, really!

I attached the collar to the loose gown and I'm about 1/2 done stitching the fur together at the neck. I've also got the first 2 rows of gold braid pinned in place on the collar--all ready to sew--and the sleeves pined into the armseyes. That part is giving me a bit of trouble. I'm taking out one of the sleeves and repinning it until it hangs the same as the other one. I have a feeling it will take several tries but I know it will be worth the effort when they both *behave properly* when I wear the gown. Once I have the angles of the sleeves correct I'll be sewing in the underpart of the sleeves and then...(cue scary music)...making (up) the shoulder treatments.

I have a tiny little pile of fabric left from which to make something decorative for the shoulders. Well, that little pile and a lot of gold braid. Hmmm....

I'm also considering taking the second band of gold braid and doing something decorative with it as it rounds the collar and reaches the center back...

Also hmmmmm....

In the meantime, perhaps you would like to see a picture of my pile of scraps? Um, I mean my shoulder treatment in progress?

Woo hoo! I found a fabric store!

I've been in Indiana for nearly a year now and I'm feeling ready to explore. I happened upon a great blog, littleindiana.com which highlights things to do, see, buy and eat in small towns all over the state so I've been thinking about starting to use it as my exploring guidebook...and then came this post: Raders Fabrics in Danville, Indiana.

What a gold mine!

Two sleeves trimmed, on to the fur!

Wax Portrait! Pretty, pretty, pretty

I found the most interesting object while browsing the collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art today



Portrait of a Woman in Venetian Dress, possibly Bianca Capello

Possibly made in Italy, Europe
Late 16th to early 17th century

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/44066.html?mulR=30954|75

I love the wonderful luminosity of the wax.

The Gold is Down

And now I'm working on joining the sets of loops to make my trim pattern. Maybe there's hope I'll finish after all!

On to Sleeve Two

I've turned and hand stitched the edges of the second sleeve and the attachment of enormous quantities of gold braid has commenced.

I still have fantasies of finishing this silly loose gown this weekend...

IRCC II Tasty Nibble 12 - One Sleeve Down(ish)

The gold trim is finished on the first of my hanging sleeves.





I'm kind of tried of the house being coated with bits of faux fur so I think I'll add the gold braid to the other sleeve and both shoulder treatments before I line them all.

Fear Not! I am still working!

Real life has intruded quite a bit lately but I'm taking just a moment to show you my progress on my IRCC loose gown's hanging sleeve.



And, if anyone is interested in 1880's clothing I now have boards for my inspiration for Teslacon outfits on Pinterest.

http://pinterest.com/auroralucia/