Protected: The Birthday Masquerade – at long last!

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Decisions and Deadlines

Hmm… so, the problem is that I’m a bit behind schedule on my three projects: the PoP: Tamina costume for the Historical Costume Inspiration Festival; my Birthday Masquerade outfit (AKA, Lady Luck Pierrot outfit); and a waistcoat for my young man (for work and for his steampunk outfit for my Birthday Masquerade Party).

• Prince of Persia: Tamina - I’ve done a quick mock-up of the harem pants in natural muslin (that is, the English definition – I think Americans call it muslin gauze?).  They are very sheer, so I’m glad I’m going for the long-length tunic over the top, otherwise I’d be a bit of a flasher!  I have gone for a very baggy leg because the fabric is so sheer and drapey, which seem to work well, especially as I’ve also decided to pleat the excess fabric rather than gather it.  More on that another time. Still to do – er, pretty much everything?  I might have to go for just the tunic and harem pants in time for the festival, and leave the cropped waistcoat for another time.  Deadline – beginning of October.

• Birthday Masquerade outfit - I’m still working on these damned stays, but they are an integral part of the costume (and any other 18th century costume I want to make in future), so they need doing.  However, I am currently trimming down the fray allowance and applying fray-check to the edges, so after today the stays will be in a wearable state, even if they’re not quite finished yet (no bias binding).  Still to do – again, almost everything!!  A pierrot jacket, a few petticoats, a sash and a mask.  I had hoped to make a cool hat and a fan, but these accessories might have to wait until a later date.  I have most of the fabrics (just need some cheap white sheets/fabric for the under petticoats).  Deadline – 24th November.

• A Modern Waistcoat for an Architect-In-Training – we have the fabric (including a rather fun tartan lining, which was free from a friend!) and I’ve traced an existing waistcoat to use as a basis for sizing; his lordship has sketched what he wants (it’s a bit complicated!) and we’ve worked out the construction.  To do – tonight I should be pinning a mock-up to him so we can finalise the pattern; then it all needs making (still – argh!).  Deadline – 24th November.

As you can see, I’ve cut down on some accessories I had planned, so I’m going to try to continue with what I’ve outlined above.  But (isn’t there always a but?), if I get any further behind schedule, I might have to put Tamina on hold and use what I’ve done of my Birthday Masquerade outfit for the festival.

So, I’m afraid blog posts might be a bit thin on the ground as I’m so busy at the moment and I also have some work-related news to share with you in the near future (but more on that later), which means more busy times – goodness!

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Stays, Now With Eyelets!

Yep, that’s right – all those pesky little hand-sewn eyelets are done and the straps are attached:

Though they started off a little shaky:

The bottom one that you can’t see very well was my first effort – it’s probably just as well it’s not very clear on the photo as it looks awful!!  I tried out a few different techniques: pushing the hole from the outside from the inside, overcasting or using buttonhole stitch, and stitching from the inside or the outside.  I found the best results came from: pushing from the inside to the outside (first with an awl, then with a wider knitting needle); I drew a circle around the hole; I used buttonhole stitch, pushing the needle from the outside and following the drawn circle.  After a couple of practice ones, they came out much better:

But before I could do the eyelets, I realised that I needed something to go behind them, since I’m attaching the lining after doing the binding.  So, I cut a couple of strips on the bias from the lining fabric (purely on the bias because of looks, I have to say!) and hand-stitched them over the folded over section of outer fabric.  Sorry, not very clearly explained, but here’s a photo:

So when the two sides come together, the stripes form a kind of chevron pattern:

So that’s the progress so far, all that’s left is stitching the ends of the last few boning channels, trimming down the seam allowance and then the evils of bias-binding attachment.  Even so, I think the finish line is in sight!

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Film Costume Love, Part I: The Good Doctor

I can’t believe I forgot to blog about this when I first saw it – clearly I had a lobotmy that week – so here it is now and my gushing about how much I love it:

Yep, I said it – I don’t mean her (nothing against Lily Cole, it’s just not her I’m in love with), I mean her costume in this scene of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, specifically the pair of stays she is wearing.  Annoyingly, there are very few pictures around of the outfit:

Really, these pictures do the stays no justice – they’ve got this fabulous flowery/fruity thing going on and would make a great fae/goddess/woodland spirit type costume, or go for grapes and get ready for Bacchanalia!

Either way, I love the stays and want them.  I think I’m going to have to buy the DVD and get some screen captures.  The whole outfit is a nod to the 18th century, with that hair and the shift and the pantaloons she’s wearing could either be a Victorian lady’s bloomers or a 17th or 18th century gent’s breeches fancified.

If you haven’t seen the film, do have a looksee: it’s a lot of fun and if you don’t enjoy it, then you at least get to see these stays as they’re right at the beginning!

And yes, it says ‘part I’ up there – I think I’m going to give some film costume love every once in a while, so look out for more as and when the whim strikes me!

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Stays, Stitches and Spectacles

What a weekend!

Friday – I got home from work to this yumminess:

(They’re a bit creased as I’ve hand-washed them, but haven’t ironed yet.)

The photos really don’t do these fabrics justice.  I’ll confess, I’ve been too busy to do a burn test, but from the feel of the fraying threads on the cut ends and the way they hold colour (so luminous), I am sure they’re silk.  If not, they’re bloody good synthetics.  To call the darker one navy is to do it a great disservice: it’s far richer in colour than navy normally is – it’s more of an indigo.

And I was right about the lighter blue – it’s not electric blue, instead it’s an absolutely amazing cerulean blue shot with a lighter violet, which makes it seem almost ultra-violet when it shimmers and catches the light.  Even better, the two sides of the fabric are quite different – one seems a mid almost-turquoise shot with purple and the other is a light greyish-blue with the violet sheen.  I seem to recall that the edges of the polonaise-style jacket (up to the trim line) are a green facing, which is making me think of using the opposite side of the fabric for the edges and using a purple trim (perhaps purple velvet ribbon).  I suspect I’ve not explained that very well – I’ll put together a diagram at some point!

Polonaise style jacket from the Cut of Women's Clothes

Which leaves the question – mostly light with the darker side on the edges, or mostly dark with the lighter?  Decisions, decisions!

Saturday – went to the library, got the Beginners Crewel Embroidery book, another introductory embroidery book and this little haul:

I’m thinking calico pockets embroidered with green leaves and twisty stems and blue and purple flowers with yellow stamens.  Unfortunately they didn’t have crewel thread, so I had to get regular stranded cotton, but I figure this will be good to practice with and when I have a bit more money I can order some (probably from Sewandso.co.uk as recommended by Rosel).  Oh, and the ribbons are for cockades (as per the good Duchess’s tutorial plus a couple of other (less good) tutorials I’ve found in old books) – I’ve got some blue and white buttons as well as some brassy anchor ones, so I thought I’d go for a nautical theme.

I also had an eye test on Saturday and for the first time ever, I was prescribed glasses.  I got a great deal (two pairs, including scratch-resistant coated lenses for £99 – one pair of those lenses is usually around £70) and picked up one pair yesterday (the other is on order).  I always wanted glasses as a kid and now I’ve got them, it’s really weird – I think I’m glad they’re only for me to use when I feel I need them (when my eyes feel tired or I feel a headache coming on and I’m using a computer).

Saturday evening (I said it was a packed weekend, didn’t I?) I worked on the stays and I’ve finished sewing the boning channels on the front panel:

They’re not perfect, but not bad considering my newness to sewing and still-developing machine skills.  In the end I decided to sew straight through the ridgeline that forms the two horizontal bones as it would have been a massive headache to sew around them by machine (if I were hand-sewing I would have done that, though – I do like the look of the horizontal stitches) plus the ridgeline is a different width to the cable-ties, so it might have looked odd.

And as for the rest of Sunday – well, I read those embroidery books and did a little bit of stitch practice with some spare embroidery thread I had in my stash.  Unfortunately it’s off-white and pretty much matches the calico perfectly, so it wouldn’t show up very well in a photo, but this week I’ll get started on the pockets and will post pictures then.

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Cable Ties, Ready To Go

At last – I’ve finished cutting and filing down all the cable ties for the stays!! My hands hurt and I did manage to stab myself in the knee (it bled quite a bit, but not on the stays, which is the important thing), but the boning is ready to go. Oh and I nearly pinged a craft knife blade in my eye when it broke, mid-cut!

It took me a lot longer than I was expecting, but maybe that’s partially because I was a bit analy retentive about filing them smoothly. Now I can get on with the sewing bit – yay!

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Protected: Stays – The Mock-Up (Or mockery?!)

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Not the Saturday Shoe – How About Free Pattern Sunday?

OK, so yesterday’s Saturday Shoe didn’t happen.  Instead Ikea happened.  And after Ikea happened (for three hours!) the making of the things from Ikea happened.  It’s great because the flat is looking awesome and most of the storage problems in our bedroom should be sorted out (huzzah!), but it’s not so great because I’ve discovered that Ikea gives me a headache whenever I go.

So, in order to appease the Blog Gods (or you, my dear reader), I am posting a link to a fabulous website I found this week that has free patterns [insert flashing neon text here!].  And not just any old free patterns, but free patterns for stays and corsets.  And the stays look like these Diderot ones to me, so that could be useful to you if, like me, you’d like to make the Diderot but don’t have the first clue about pattern drafting.

OK, OK, but where are the patterns, woman?!  Stop teasing us!

At once, my dears!  The site is by a graphic designer and arty fashion type, Ralph Pink – I found it completely by chance through a comment he had made on a tutorial on Thread Banger (which I only discovered this week – what a plonker!).  Anyway, there are Diderot-style stays, an hourglass type corset and a flat-fronted corset (I’m guessing this is Edwardian from the shape, but I don’t know much about fashion in this era, I’m afraid), as well as some other bits and pieces, such as swim suits (basic, strapless or low-legged), a kimono, high-waisted culottes, hipster trousers and ‘bubble shorts’ (which I think would be rather cute made up in the style of an 18th century gentleman’s breeches).

As the site is flash, I can’t link directly to the patterns, but all you need to do is go to the site, click the intro image and go to ‘pattern cutting’.

It also looks like he plans to do a menswear section at some point, so I’ll be sure to keep an eye open for that.  And if you should happen to be reading this, Mr Pink, thank you so very much for sharing these patterns with us!  I’m rather excited to give them a try.

Let me know if you use them – I’d love to see the outcomes!  I’m planning to at some point, but not for a little while, at least.

Edit: I also noticed a couple of problems with the patterns themselves:

1. The files have been saved as “filename.pdf_” which means they won’t open.  Just rename the files and delete the underscore and they work fine.

2. Some of the patterns are ‘chopped off’ – I think the PDF has been sized incorrectly.  Opening them in Adobe Illustrator I can see that the information is there, it’s just off of the page.

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Sewing Machine Goodness

I have taken those promised photos of my lovely new sewing machine:

Snug in its little case.

Awake and raring to go!

It even has all the original feet that came with it and the instruction manual, which revealed a cute coincidence … In the back is the original guarantee/warranty receipt with a space for you to enter date it was bought, I recognised my Dad’s writing instantly showing that it was bought in April of the year I was born.  So my machine is the same age as me (or older by 7 months).  A silly little piece of info, but it made me smile.  My Mum’s birthday is in April, so I’m guessing it might have been a birthday present (I must remember to ask her!).

Anyway, I took the machine for a turn at the weekend – as I made a Yule present, I can’t post pictures yet, but here is the fabric haul from Saturday:

The plain fabric with thread on the left is for something else, though…

Yes – I finally have a pretty binding fabric for my stays!  In these pictures it looks red, but it’s actually more of a deep pinkish colour – or raspberry, if you will – which creates a great contrast with the silvery blue dupion fashion fabric.  I also got matching raspberry thread for the boning channels to add to the effect – I’m hoping it’s going to be pretty and bold all at once … and the stripey lining will always make me smile.

But first I have more Yule gifts to make and a Zombie Antoinette dress to finish (no, I haven’t forgotten!) – I sense I’m going to build quite a relationship with our dining table …

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Stays – Bias Binding

I’ve been having a bit of a headache trying to find a fabric to use to make bias binding for my stays – everything I see that’s the right colour is too stiff or too thin.

My Mum came down to visit this weekend, so we went to Chichester yesterday and I knethere was a fabric shop there, so I was eager to have a looksee… Still no fabric.  They had some ready-made 1″ bias binding in a couple of good colours, but it was just so stiff and I wasn’t sure if it’d be thick enough.

Argh!  It’s like I’ve chosen the wrong colour fabric completely!

At the moment, I think I’m going to use the cotton stripe I originally bought for the lining as it’s soft, but thick enough, the colour looks great with the dupion and the stripes might look quite cute.  And if it looks crap, well, it’ll be hidden anyway and I’ll do better next time!

Did have a lovely weekend with the mothership, though – Chichester is a very pretty historical city where we had a wonderful lunch at this brilliant sandwich shop (rare roast beef with mustard mayo and salad on granary bread – YUM!) and then the world’s best cupcake… Oh my gods, it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

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