theladyrebecca: (Default)
Wow, look - Saturday's post already!

I believe I just took two classes on Saturday - Heirloom Sewing Techniques, and Tailor's Canvas. Both were super useful and informative, and taught me a lot of techniques that I had no knowledge of previously. Now I just have to find the patience in my sewing to actually utilize them. 

I wore my Victorian skating dress, which was very warm. It made me really glad I hadn't attempted to pack my green wool winter bustle gown, which is even warmer! I'm going to have to try to remember not to bring winter-wear to CoCo, even if it is air conditioned. Too bad, since I think winter-wear is actually my favorite.



As usual, it seemed like there wasn't enough time to get ready for the gala (why don't I ever learn?!). And like I vaguely remember last year, the gala red carpet line was ginormous, so we had to walk outside to get to the picture area, where our dinner group had planned to meet up. Too bad, as I would have liked walking the red carpet with my giant train. (Also, trying to round up 25 costumers at a gala red carpet line for dinner is like herding cats.) We did make it over to Maggianos, though, which was as tasty as usual. And I didn't spill anything, which was good, since I didn't have time to take pictures before dinner! I liked that everyone seemed to be hanging out in the hallway/CoCo lobby area instead of in the ballroom, since it's always so crowded and loud in there. And I actually put my train down a couple times (though really only if someone was taking a picture). I spent way too much time on that train to let it get dirty or stepped on! Overall, I really enjoyed wearing my gala gown this year. I need to figure out what else I can (safely) wear it for!

And now, picture spam of the finished dress!



Sunday/Monday
I wore my new Laughing Moon pattern-test pelisse on Sunday. (PS, with the new wallpaper, the hallway past the photo studio makes for great daytime photos!) I hit the Bargain Bazaar in the morning, and found a couple gems - namely, 6-7 yards of dark navy wool, and an antique bodice! Not sure how I managed either of those, since there were at least 30 people who were ahead of me in line. No patterns this year, though, which is a little bummer, but I think I also got a couple trims, too. The only classes I remember taking on Sunday were Cynthia and Cathy's corset binding class, and Jenny-Rose's hair class, both of which were great. 



On Monday, I took the bus to the fabric district, and bought way too much silk, especially considering I had bought some on Thursday. But on Sunday, they did have the goldenrod taffeta I was looking for Thurs, so now I have both. Of course, it turns out I'm doing my gala gown out of the butter yellow anyway - oh well, I guess I'll have beautiful fabric for a future project!

Wow! I actually finished all my recapping! 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I feel like I made almost nothing this year. I honestly think I did too much theatre for one year, and the past few months, I've just felt very worn out. That, combined with working all year (instead of being unemployed for 8 months like I was last year) means very little sewing actually got done. 

But this is what I did actually manage to do:

I completed the green wool bustle gown. Most of this was done in 2016, but I think I did the neckline dickey area and the hem in 2017. I also made an adjustable length quilted petticoat that I used for this dress and my skating dress, and decorated the hat. And apparently I never took any pictures of the quilted petticoat. 


Fur-trimmed skating dress + trimming an old vintage hat


Finished my crewel-work 18th c pocket


Designer Disney Snow White


1860s corset


1860s Giant Turquoise Ballgown, which also included making royal orders and a headpiece. I made this in two parts, completing the base dress by the beginning of April, and then making the train and trimming it in the lead-up to Costume College. 


Belle-inspired jumper dress


Regency Laughing Moon Pattern-test Pelisse


Elizabeth Swann


Rose's Deck Dress from Titanic


Two Halloween skirts


Velvet Regency spencer


Reversible Disney tote bag, Thumper, Dumbo, Dr. Who Scarf


Plus a commission for altering a Zouave jacket and making another Victorian jacket, and 14 little girls playdresses and 2 skirts for etsy orders.




This post has made me realize that I haven't put anything from this year on my website, and I never did a CoCo wrap-up post for Friday through Sunday, either, or completed outfit posts for Elizabeth Swann or the Turquoise Ballgown. Whoops. I should probably do those! 
theladyrebecca: (Default)

I tried on the turquoise gala gown with everything (except jewelry) yesterday for the first time, and I am so in love with it. Like, I was so happy, I felt like I could cry. I'm pretty sure that's what brides feel like. And somehow, it fit even better than when I wore it in Port Townsend. So anyway, I marked where the hooks and eyes on the train waist needed to go, and how the sash needed to go together. I think I may need to pin the sash to my dress at the shoulder so that I don't adjust it all the time, but at least it looks right. And I took a couple of pictures, which was very difficult since I don't at all fit in the mirror. 

Once I took it off, I finished the waistband and the sash, which means all my CoCo sewing is done! That said, I also spent a little time last night figuring out what pattern I wanted to use (and what alterations I wanted to make to the pattern) for a new Belle-inspired dress made of Beauty and the Beast stained glass cotton to wear to Disney. So hopefully I will have time to throw that together. It should be relatively easy (famous last words). 

I also finished my handout for the class I'm teaching. I still have to cut out all the pieces I'm providing, and buy the supplies I need for the classes I'm taking, too, which will hopefully happen tomorrow.  

theladyrebecca: (Default)
After a super productive Friday, I had no time at all for sewing yesterday, and didn't get much done today, either. I painted my order ribbon with two more narrow stripes down the sides (which is how it looks in the portrait, but not how the Order of Charles III ribbon actually is, so I decided to add to the wide stripe I had already painted). And while that was drying, I finished painting the medals. Such tiny details - I wish I had smaller brushes, because while I think I got the Starry Cross medal pretty darn close, I couldn't put much detail on the Charles III medal. And then I made the bow tops for them, and I put pin backs on so that they would be easily removable.

In the picture, the top one is the Order of the Starry Cross, which started as a cabochon backing for a pendant, an the bottom is the Order of Charles III, which was a blank gold medal. 


I was hoping to be able to try on all the gala stuff, so that I could figure out the sash length and get the hooks and eyes on the train waist, but I ran out of time before rehearsal, so that will have to wait till Tuesday. 

I also dug out my extant 1890s bodice with the huge sleeves, which I will be bringing to show my class, and washed the organdy so that I can cut out all the pieces for the students.

So here's a couple questions for the hivemind -  
1) We're making an 1890s sleeve as part of my class. There are tons of 1890s sleeve shapes out there - should I do an 1890s upper sleeve puff, which would work either for an evening sleeve or paired with a lower sleeve, or should I do a leg-of-mutton sleeve? I'm leaning towards the former because they require less fabric. 

2) Also, because there are so many sleeve shapes out there, I was thinking of providing drawings of a couple shapes in my handout, and not providing a huge paper pattern (especially since I will be doing all the fabric cutting ahead of time). Is this fairly normal for classes? I can't remember. 

Progress!

Jul. 14th, 2017 11:57 pm
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I worked on CoCo stuff for the better part of 12 hours today. I'm feeling pretty tired, but at least I got a lot done!

Elizabeth Swann is completely done. Unfortunately, I found out that no one else in the Keira Knopely group actually managed to make anything, so I'm bummed about that, and I guess I'll just be completely random at the Social. I'll probably also use it for my Halloween costume, though, and I am happy with how it turned out, so I guess not all is lost. 

Anyway, I started making the chemise for it yesterday afternoon, using McCalls 6817 as a base, but narrowing the skirt by about 28" at the hem. I had to piece the shoulder strap, because I was literally 1.5" short of fabric. (Of course, after I put it on, I realized it was 1.5" too long at the hem. And I lived dangerously, and didn't make a mockup. I wound up taking it in quite a bit at the side seam, and a little at the CB, and I changed the shape of the princess seams over the bust, since I am wearing it over my stays. But other than that, it went together quite smoothly. I'm not doing sleeves (at least, not yet), because I don't want the extra heat, so I have left the armseyes unfinished for now. I added a drawstring at the neckline, and the front spiral laces with eyelets going down to just above the hip.

I also finished the hook and eye at the waist of the skirt, and yesterday, I finished all the frogs/buttons/pickups on the overgown. And last night, I did one coat on my shoes, then I did the other coat and the finisher today, and put in the buckles. 




But that wasn't all I did today! I also made my earrings for the gala gown, and the headpiece. For the headpiece, I took a circle of millinery wire, wrapped it in white velvet ribbon, and then dyed it turquoise. Then I added a huge triple bow of the turquoise ribbon, and a lace bow with hanging tails. It needed more, though, and many of those headpieces seem to have a piece that runs across the top of the bun or curls, so I took the leftover pleated ribbon from the train, and it fit perfectly! I also dyed some ribbon millinery flowers, which I will either fix onto combs or barrettes, or I will just twist into my hair, since they are on wires. 



Oh, and I tried on Mary Poppins, and despite the weight loss, I don't need to move any hooks and eyes. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing... I'm thinking about possibly wearing my skating bustle on Friday to teach, though, and doing Mary Poppins and the pelisse on Sat or Sun. I still haven't decided what to wear when, but I should probably get on that. 

So at this point, I think this is what is left:
-Make order sash and paint order medals for gala gown
-Try on gala gown so that I can put hooks and eyes at waist of train
-Prep class materials for my class
-Buy supplies for the classes I'm taking
-Make a skirt or dress for Disney, if time

I think that's it, but I'm sure I'll find other things that need doing. However, I'm definitely feeling more relaxed now. 

theladyrebecca: (Default)
Little by little, I'm getting closer to finishing this bodice. Yesterday, I fixed the bertha by adding in two small pieces over the shoulders. I tried it on afterwards with the bertha pinned in place, and it seems to work. I also pressed the hem up yesterday, so that it would be easy to sew today. 

Then today, I added the lace over the pressed hem, so that I would only have to sew it once. And my silk organza arrived, so I started on the box pleating for the neckline. I finished one row of box pleating, and it is pinned in place, waiting to be handsewn onto the bodice, which I hope to be able to accomplish tomorrow, in the hour I have between work and rehearsal (probably overambitious on that one, but I'm going to work on it at lunch at work, too). Then if I have enough energy when I get home from rehearsal, maybe I can convince myself to pleat up the other strip of organza, which goes between the top of the bertha and the bodice neckline. That way I can hopefully get that sewn on with the bertha on Friday, and this project will finally be finished!

Or at least, mostly finished, since I still have to finish the sash and orders. That's going to wait until after I get a good chunk of Elizabeth Swann done, though. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll really have time to start it this weekend. I have plans Friday afternoon as well as a performance in the evening, and on Saturday I'm hosting a costume event, which will end in time for me to get to that evening's performance. Then Sunday is our final show, and I think I'm called to rehearsal in the evening. 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I finished the last bertha panel yesterday, sewed the four panels together, and pinned them along my neckline just to make sure everything was working. Except, it wasn't. I already knew that the bottom of the bertha at the CF was poufing out too much, so I pinned about 5" out of it. But then, of course, the bottom of the CB is way too small. Actually the CB even at the top is a little too short.

I was aiming to have the berthe go all the way to the edge of the bodice, and either meet edge to edge or overlap a tiny bit. But instead, it's basically going until just before the lacing. I have seen that on extant bodices, but it's not my favorite. But at the bottom of the CB of the berthe, it's about 4-5" too short to reach the edge. I doubt that releasing the excess in the front and pulling it to the back will really work (though it would certainly be nice if it did!). 

So anyway, I'm going to attempt to lace myself into the bodice this evening, and see what the bertha looks like when the bodice is actually on me, and not on a dress form that it totally doesn't fit. I think if it doesn't fit, I'm going to open up the shoulder seams of the bertha and add additional sections in there, because I feel like adding them at the back would make it obvious I was too short. 

In any case, this is clearly making this project take way longer than I wanted it to. Sigh. 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I completely finished the train on Thursday. I felt like I was working on it forever! So much hand-sewing. It took even longer than I had anticipated because I totally forgot about the eight bows that had to go on the train, too, so I made those and hand-sewed them all on as well. 



Friday, I slept in, and decided instead of the bodice (because I wanted to go to Joanns and look at lace options), I would work on the Snow White cape. So I patterned the cape (because I'm incapable of making anything simple), and cut it out. Each of the two back pieces took up the entire open space on the bedroom floor. Then I sat down at my serger to put red thread on it, and discovered I didn't own red serger thread. Sigh. So I showered and got all ready for the day and headed to Joanns to look at lace and pick up the serger thread. Unfortunately, that meant that by the time I got back, I had just enough time to serge the four pieces before I had to head out to my performance, and when I got back, I was too tired to sew. 

Saturday, I put the cape together and hemmed all the edges, since I wasn't lining it. I'm going to pin it closed with a sparkly brooch, so that meant the cape was done! So then I turned to repairing Mary Poppins - I cut new bones for the two open channels on the waist cincher, and spent the next hour or so reattaching all the applique edges that were peeling on the skirt, and attempting to get the weird dirt lines off the back (to no avail).

Then I turned to the ballgown bodice. I used the ruffler foot to gather up two organza strips for the sleeves, and sewed them on over the seam between the two sleeve poufs, and put a piece of the embroidered lace on top of that. I made the strips the same length all the way around, but I'm debating about shortening the length as it goes under the arm, since that part of the sleeve is shorter. Playing around with the bertha, I realized that I needed to make some sort of a base for the gathered sections to go on, so I draped the organza over the bodice on the form, and cut base pieces out of the organza. So far, I have taken three of these pieces and put the gathered/pressed organza sections on top of them. I'm basting them in place for now, and will finish the edges once I put the bertha pieces together. 

At rehearsal tonight, I ripped off the old lace I had put around the neckline, sewed on bows to the sleeves, and hand-whipped closed the two broken channels on the Mary Poppins waist cincher. So Mary Poppins is officially done! I actually won't be able to finish the bodice right away anyway, because I realized that I wanted box pleated white silk organza around the neckline, instead of lace, and naturally, I've run out. Hopefully it will be here within a few days. 

So anyway, I'm hoping to finish the last bertha panel tomorrow before rehearsal. Once those are together, and I make sure they are fitting right on the bodice, I can hem that and add the lace to the bottom, and whip the bertha on. Then all that will be left is the silk organza at the neckline! If I finish the bertha before the organza gets here, I'm moving on to Keira Knopely, which might actually happen, since I don't think I'm called to rehearsal every day this week. 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
Another day of not meeting my goals. Besides the fact that I'm a slow hand-sewer anyway, I had to spend 1.5 hrs on the phone with Comcast, health and dental insurance people, and a couple dentists, so that certainly didn't help. And I should have known not to try to sew to a Tom Hanks movie I'd never seen. There were definitely parts of Sully where I was too caught up in the movie to sew. 

But excuses aside, I did pleat the train to the waistband, and the waistband is close to completion. I'm going to flip it to the inside of the train and stitch it in place, and it needs hooks and eyes, but otherwise it's done. I also now have more than half of the box pleated trim sewn on, and all of it is pinned into place. I also had to whip the edges of where I pieced parts of the underside of the train. And last night (because I'm terrible at going to bed on time), after I posted, I stayed up and did some of the base painting of the details on the medals.

I'm not allowing myself to do any more tonight, since I got less than 6 hours of sleep last night, so I seriously better get a lot done tomorrow evening. What's the chance that I can finish the train and get a good chunk of the bodice trim done? (I'd say slim-to-none.)
theladyrebecca: (Default)
Ugh. Didn't get nearly as much done today as I wanted to, mostly because it wound up not raining, so I mowed the front and back lawns and did some weeding. At least my yard looks better, and my mower lasted through almost all of both lawns before the battery died. And since my backyard is huge, and most of it was 2ft tall, I call that a success!

On the sewing front, I did manage to dye the velvet ribbon - however, I had to pat it dry because rinsing it wanted to wash most of the color out. Since this train will hopefully never be around water anyway, it didn't seem like a big deal to me, so I went with it. I sewed down the ribbon to the box pleat ribbon, and started sewing that on. I have a little under a yard of it already sewn down at this point, and I have another few yards pinned into place (as much as I could do before running out of silk pins). It looks really great so far, but I have a feeling it may want to flip when I'm actually wearing the train down, which means I have to run a line of stitching towards the other side of the ribbon as well. Sigh. So much hand-sewing!

I also dyed more organza for the berthe, and painted the rest of my ribbon. I went with the actual Order of Charles III, which is one white stripe down the middle of the light blue moire ribbon, but part of me wishes I had copied the artist's artistic license in the portrait, where he made a middle stripe plus some narrow outer stripes. The thing is, I could find no evidence that those smaller stripes have ever been present on the Order of Charles III ribbon, so I should probably leave it as is, even though it's not as pretty. 

Tomorrow I really hope I can get all the pleated ribbon sewn on, and the waistband added, or else I'm going to be even more behind. 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I added the narrow gathered net to the train today, and I put the velvet ribbon over the gathered net on the skirt. I realized that I don't want the velvet ribbon on top of the net on the train, because it makes too bold a stripe, and while that looks good on the skirt, it doesn't look right on the train. 

I also tried to test dyeing the ribbon, but I didn't feel like heating up my giant pot for a one inch piece of ribbon. So basically, the ribbon made it to light blue, but not turquoise. I guess I'll have to actually heat up the dye tomorrow to see if that helps - otherwise, the pleated ribbon isn't going to get the velvet ribbon addition, either. 

Besides that, I did a test painting section on the order ribbon - I painted about 20" of it. I'm not loving it so far, but I don't know how else to make the order ribbon, since I wasn't able to find striped moire ribbon anywhere. Maybe I'll like it more once the paint sets. Oh, and I silver-polished the medal I'm using as my faux Order of Charles III. It's not quite the right shape, since it doesn't have the middle section, so I'm debating about just leaving it silver, and not adding any of the detail that's in the actual medal. 

I also went grocery shopping and bought a lawn mower, which I tested out as soon as the battery made it to halfway. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'll hopefully be able to do the rest of the lawn (I ran out of battery cutting my 2ft long lawn), but so far I love it! It's the 40amp Kobalt cordless electric model, and it is really lightweight, and actually made it through my crazy long lawn! I have to admit, I'm actually a little excited to cut the rest of it!

Anyway, other than mowing the lawn, my goal for tomorrow is to get all the box pleated trim on the train and attach the train to some sort of waistband. Because then the train will be done!

theladyrebecca: (Default)
I did so much work on train trimming this weekend. Friday night I got home from opening night and stayed up till 1am so that I could finish the box pleated trim. Then Saturday I sewed from about 11am-4pm, and managed to get all of my net trim cut into strips and then either gathered or ruched, depending on the trim, and I gathered my other ribbon trim before heading off to another performance. When I got home, I sewed down half of the wide net trim. Luckily, I was able to binge-watch Orange is the New Black through all of this. 

Then today after the matinee, I came home and sewed the other half of the ruched net, then started putting the rest of the trims on. I got the wide lace added, and managed to sew down both sides of the ruched ribbon on top of the net. Unfortunately, I realized that the box pleated trim will have to be sewn on by hand, so that's going to be a huge time suck, but luckily, everything else is by machine. 

I'm hoping that tomorrow after work and grocery shopping, I'll be able to sew on the rest of the machine sewn trims (gathered net with narrow velvet ribbon on top), as well as sewing the velvet ribbon on the skirt. I also want to see if the velvet ribbon will take dye, because if so, I'm also going to add it down the center of the box pleat trim before I stitch that on. I would love to completely finish the train by the time I go to sleep on Tues, because that gives me the rest of the week to do the bodice trimming, make the Snow White cape, and maybe even make the orders that go on the turquoise dress. I want it done!

Anyway, here's a picture of the train as it looks now:



By the way, does a train from this era (I believe 1866) just get pleated up to a full waistband that goes underneath the bodice?

theladyrebecca: (Default)
I wound up having today off instead of tomorrow, but unfortunately, I had almost no time to sew. I was able to finish the body of the train between work and rehearsal the other day, so I spent today's sewing time pleating up the ribbon for the train trimming. At first, I started doing knife pleats, because I had tested box pleats and they didn't seem to give me what I wanted. But after 20+ finished inches of knife pleats, those weren't right either. So I fiddled around more, and realized that what I needed was very tiny box pleats, with about .25" pleated on each side of the box. Naturally, this means that I am feeding the ribbon into the sewing machine three stitches at a time - I have to make little estimated pinches and feed it under my foot, because I can't press it or it will ruin the effect. And since I need about 7.5-8 finished yards of this, this is going to take absolutely forever, which is not good. I managed to make 40" of it today. 

The rest of the day was spent finally getting my dog's nails trimmed, running to the library and Joanns (about $25 and one hour later, I walked out of there with 30 cards of buttons I probably didn't need - I should not be trusted around clearance sales), and then we had an invited dress for my show tonight. I'll probably have about 30 mins to sew tomorrow between work and opening night, so maybe I can get a bit more pleating done. Or at least rip out the part I pleated wrong! 

Oh, and my velvet ribbon came - it's a tiny bit narrower than I was hoping, but it will work fine. And I ordered my fabrics for the Elizabeth Swann dress and the Snow White cape. Now I just need to finish all the turquoise gala trimming in the next week, so that I can move on to the remaining projects... 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I spent the 30 mins I had free between work and rehearsal sewing! I didn't accomplish much, but I got the two taffeta panels for the train assembled, serged the top and bottom, and did the two side seams  to attach the organza to the taffeta. There won't be time to sew tomorrow, but maybe I'll have another 30 mins on Wed?


theladyrebecca: (Default)
I spent all day today sewing - in fact, it's the first day I haven't had to leave the house in a really long time, which was wonderful. I worked on the trimming of the ballgown skirt all day, and naturally, it took way longer than I thought. But it's basically done - the only thing it's lacking is narrow velvet ribbon going down the center of the ruched net trim. I clearly didn't think that one out ahead of time, but it is now on order, and should be here by next Monday. I also probably ought to sew together all the joins in my organza and my lace, since I haven't done that yet. 

It's trimmed with three rows of 5" wide gathered strips of dyed turquoise silk organza, layered with embroidered net lace from Joanns, and above that is a row of gathered net (very soft Casa collection stuff from Joanns). The net lace definitely looks bolder than I'd like (and looks even bolder in the pictures than in real life), but I'm sure once everything else has trim, it won't feel so garish. I have to admit, there's a little bit of regret adding the trim, since it was such an eye-catching color just plain. But I'm determined to replicate the portrait. 

Anyway, I thought it would be simple, but 1) my ruffler foot broke, and I spent an hour calling around to see if anyone local sold them (no), and then trying to fix it (which I did!); then 2) I didn't have enough organza already dyed and cut into strips, so I had to cut two additional strips, which then didn't have a selvage edge like the others, dye them, put a tiny narrow hem on them, and then repeat all the steps I had already already done with gathering and attaching all the rest of the organza; and 3) I likewise prepped 5 strips of the ruched net, and wound up needing six.

So I'm pretty sure I worked from about noon-10:45, with many two 1-hour breaks... My back is really sore from all that sewing now, but then again, I won't have another chance to sew till Friday, so I guess it makes up for it. 

Here's a couple pics:



During one of my breaks, I also was playing around with what to wear when at CoCo. If I'm able to finish all this trimming by mid-June, then I think will actually have time for my burgundy Elizabeth Swann PotC dress for Keira Knopely. And assuming that I do make that one, this is my line-up:
Thursday Pool Party - Designer Disney Snow White (still need to make the cape)
Friday Day - Mary Poppins, since it will be easy to teach in and to attend a dance class (need to fix boning in the waist cincher, and possibly some skirt appliques)
Friday Night - Keira Knopely (haven't even bought the fabric yet)
Saturday Day - Either the pelisse or the skating bustle
Saturday Gala - Giant turquoise ballgown of doom (needs train, bodice trimming, and Order-type accessories)
Sunday - Either the pelisse or the skating bustle 
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I wore the giant turquoise ballgown on Saturday night for the Victorian Festival ball in Port Townsend. Overall, it was a success, but it definitely wasn't perfect.

For one thing, I'm really glad I made a modesty panel - I don't know if my corset was not laced down enough or what, but I had about .5" gap in most of the lacing. And then the weirdest thing is that from the waist down, it couldn't lace closed at all. I think there was a good 2" open at the very bottom. I'm not sure why that is - I took the pattern from my old ballgown, which is worn over the same cage crinoline (though I was wearing it with one less petticoat). Anyway, I don't really think there's any way to fix that, even for version 2, but if anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way!

The only other weird thing was that the top of the bodice kept trying to ride down in front. I know it wasn't the waist shifting, and I had bones in the CF that went up to the bottom of the bust, but above that, the bodice wanted to scrunch down, which showed my chemise a little on top. Again, not sure how to fix that. The scrunching will be hidden by the bertha, and I do plan to add more bones in the seam allowances, but I don't think that will solve it riding down.

Other than that, though, I loved it. It was very comfortable, and despite the small sweep in back, it was just fine to dance in. I'm excited to see what all version 2 will hold, though I'm probably going to take a small break, and make Designer Disney Snow White before I go back to it.

Here's pics!
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I got the turquoise dress to a wearable state (well, except that I just remembered that the skirt doesn't have hooks and eyes yet). I did most of it yesterday - I finished fixing the back, bound the bottom, and made sleeves. Then today I finished binding the top and added lace around the neckline, which should help to hide my chemise.

I have tried the bodice on (without the skirt), and it seems to work. And I've tried the skirt on (without the hoop). So honestly, the thing I'm most nervous about is a) the hem will be too long in front, or b) it will rain going to or from the ball, and I will not fit under an umbrella.

I'm packing in the morning before heading out to Port Townsend, so I should probably get to sleep.... I'm not sure I've ever felt this unprepared for an event before...

Teaser pick from yesterday, before the neckline was done:
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I decided to do a couple tweaks to the bodice back. I'm adding in 1" of width in the shoulder straps so that they can sit a little higher up my shoulders, and I'm also adding in a piece that will add 2" of height in the top of the CB, tapering out to nothing by the shoulder seam. I've made up the pieces to be inserted, but haven't had time to actually put them in yet. In fact, I didn't even get much done during the show yesterday. I got most of two boning channels stitched into the CF, but that's it. So I have a feeling that most of the bodice will have to be unboned on this wearing.

I have so much left to do on this bodice in the next three days, and of course, I have rehearsal tomorrow and Thursday, so that leaves me with very limited time! I still have to put in the new pieces, finish the binding on the top and bottom edges, and do sleeves and at least some kind of bertha, or it will look very plain (and the added piece in back will be really obvious). Not sure when I'm supposed to do all this!
theladyrebecca: (Default)
The bodice is coming along. On Friday, I got all my pieces cut out and flatlined, and during Friday night's show, I sewed them all together. I pressed all the seams this morning, and made self bias for the binding. Then during the first show, I made all my eyelets and put in the bones for the CB edges. One of my castmates helped me put the bodice on between shows, and it seemed to be a good fit, so I started on binding during the second show.

However, now I'm worried that wasn't such a good idea! The bodice closed all the way and didn't feel tight, but looking closer at the pictures tonight, it looks like the silk is pulling, and there are all sorts of horizontal wrinkles. I don't know if that's because it really is too tight, or just because I don't have the bones in to keep all the seams from riding up...


The other part I'm worried about is the back. This is the same bodice pattern I used for my other 1860s ballgown, but I think this corset creates more of a back bulge on me, which so far looks very evident with this bodice. In fact, it almost seems like it's making the back of the bodice ride down, which is no good, since it already seems pretty low. I think I'm going to have to be very careful with bertha placement, because I have no idea how to make the bulge go away. Any suggestions?




My aliexpress bodice jewel options also arrived today. I think the 2nd from the right is the closest to one in the portrait, though I really like the second from the left as well. Now I just have to track down options for the Order of Charles III and the Order of the Starry Cross...




During our closing show tomorrow, I plan to finish the binding and start on the boning, unless of course you think it's all way too tight and I need to take some other drastic measures first!

Done!

Mar. 18th, 2017 12:56 am
theladyrebecca: (Default)
I finished the base skirt for the ballgown. After seeing Beauty and the Beast, I came home, messed with my pinned pleats beacuse I had pinned the skirt waist about 1.25" too big, and sewed on the waistband. Then I put it back on the form and started to mark the hem. I had been wanting to make a ruffly organdy petticoat for this dress, but I realized that by putting my Victorian child ruffled petticoat over my regular hoop petticoat (which has one ruffle around the bottom), the ruffles come fairly close to looking like one big ruffled skirt. So at least for the Victorian ball, that's what I'm going with.

Anyway, I managed to get my hem pinned and pressed before I had to leave for opening night. And then somehow backstage, I sewed like the wind, and was able to sew my entire hem! And since I consider myself a very slow hand-sewer, I'm quite surprised and proud of that. So that means that other than the hook and eyes at the waist, it's done! Or I should say, the base skirt is done. Once I get the bodice to a wearable state, I will go back and add all the lace and organza. I'm almost sad about that, because the skirt is so gleamingly turquoise as is.

Of course, since tomorrow is a two-show day, now I'm a little worried I won't have enough to do backstage. I'm going back to the corset, which needs the last 3 or so boning channels put in, about 16 bones cut to size and inserted, and the binding done. Hopefully, I'll finish that all tomorrow, though I'm not sure what that would mean for Sunday's show sewing. But it does mean that I should be able to draft out the bodice and actually be able to work on that at home next week. 

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