July 29, 2007
Weekend of Constant Sewing
I pretty much sewed all weekend except for the times when I was so tired that I just sort of sat there and stared at the wall or babbled incoherently. I guess I stopped to play spirit of the century for about 5 hours. I was a little too exhausted to game, but it was still fun.
I made some bloomers like I said I would. I didn't want to deal with an authentic drawer pattern, so instead I made up a pattern. My first attempt was very sad (I failed to put enough ease into the hips and thighs), but my second attempt turned out okay. I wanted knee bloomers, but I made them a bit too long. Since there is casing in the bottom I can tie them up around my knees when I'm wearing them as period underwear (ie. they won't be visible). Anyway, I have a very easy pattern if I want to make pajama pants in the future. (Even easier than parachute pants!) ^_^
I got the extra boning into my corset, which is now sporting 44 bones not counting the busk. I'm done with boning for a long time. I also sewed along the bottom and top edges to hold the bones in place. I manged to have a slight freak out when I pulled out a bone to adjust it's length and it shed a tip in the middle of a casing inside the corset. After beating my head against the table for a minute or two I sorted it out by ripping out half of the casing and then shaking the whole corset vigorously until the tip fell out.
The bust of the corset still doesn't fit as well as I would like (should have gone with a smaller top measure, I think), but it's good enough for now. I still have to bind the edges and sew some lace along the top. I got some really pretty black lace with a spiky edge that should look good (assuming I can stand hand sewing it on). I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a drawstring into the top binding since I'm going to have to bind it with a thinner width than I normally do. I think a drawstring might help with the bust shape problems though, so I'll probably try.
I had some trouble tracking down eyelet lace that was wide enough for my petticoat ruffle. I eventually found some out at the Joann's on the east side (thanks again for suggestion and the ride Danielle! :). The only problem is that it's a cream color, so I'm going to have to make the petticoat out of muslin if I want to match it (my broadcloth is a bright white).
I washed the lace and some muslin tonight and I'll iron them tomorrow. I also got the pieces traced tonight. I'm a bit torn about the size I should make. My hip measure is exactly between XL and XXL but my waist measure falls firmly in XL. The sizing only changes the pieces in the front and side front, so I can probably get away with cutting either. I'm torn over whether or not I should cut a size that is in between the two sizes. It would be easy to do, but I've got no idea how it would fit.
Overall I think I'm on track for GenCon, except for the DocWagon thing. I don't know how I'm going to pull that off. Maybe I'll be able to use some of my normal clothing for my 1890's shirt and free up a little time. It would really help if the folks running that game would hurry up and cast already. Bleh.
Links to this post:
All posts and other content on DigitalChangeling.com are © 2005 - 2006 Eva Schiffer.