A Wedding Tease- Part Deux *8-1-08*

I underestimated the corset. I thought one day would be enough time, and suddenly it was Thursday and what happened to my vacation!? But, it’s done, complete with a pound or more of metal boning, a full lining, and finished with handmade bias tape.

Eh, okay, it isn’t completely complete. I can actually put it on, as it is lacking eyelets and lacing. So I can hold it up to my chest, ogle at its resplendent glory, and set it back down. It’s beauty has not been fully realized. All will be set right today, though, with a trip to my friendly neighborhood fabric store and lots of advice. I hope.

So for now, I have some pictures of the almost wonderful armor…erm, corset.

And, for a little tease, the beginnings of the skirt. I have the components for the crinoline cut out, and ready to sew up. I am doing the skirt freehand, off intuition and previous experience. And much crossing of fingers.

Lastly, here is a peek at the fabrics that will be used to make the yummy overskirt. Although this doesn’t *quite* capture the purpleyness of the chiffon, it’s pretty damn close. This was a hard shot for DH to get.

Wish me luck!

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The aisle is filled with scraps of fabric…

Ahead of me, my fiancee waits, a boutennierre made out of sewing needles and wads of thread stuck jauntily in his lapel. In my hand I hold, not a bouquet, but a giant pair of scissors, the blades waving demurely about my chest. I am wearing sewing machine feet as shoes, and sixteen layers of net in my hair.

I am naked.

Yikes! I’m glad I didn’t actually dream that! No, my last dream was some craziness about people with rubber stomachs. Thats weird enough for me.

Things are progressing quite nicely on my wedding dress. Yesterday was my big ‘attack the petticoat’ day, and it is SO close to being done. One more protective panel of satin on the inside, to protect my delicate legs from the evil scratch of crinoline and I can mark it off the list.

Its pretty ugly…but it gets the job done. Why ugly, you may ask? Well, I cut some corners, and instead of making a separate underskirt to sew the crinoline to, I just sewed it to the top part. With white thread. Very crookedly. I just glad this will be underneath all the prettyness.

In a fit of getting things done yesterday I decided how I am going to do my eyelets- hand bound with a buttonhole stitch. In other words- sixteen hours of my life making circles.

Front View:

Back View:

But they are so beautiful I don’t care how long they take. And when all is said and done, I know that this one will hold up to the test of time. Not like the one I made for my high school homecoming dance, where I ended up with a piece of boning digging into my armpit halfway through the evening. Still, I was the rockingest girl there.

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Driving me Batty!

Hiya

Today was pretty much a bust in the sewing department. Every have one of those days where nothing every really turns out right? Yeah, thats my day. So I spent a few hours hanging out with this would-be awesome pair of bloomers: brown cotton and a lime green lace ruffle. When I reached the waistband, which is the last thing I do, I realized that I had sewn the lace ruffly bit to the HIP, instead of the calf. ARGH!!! Okay, enough of that, they are totally unsalvageable due to the finishing I had already done to the rest of the seams.

So then I tried my hand at turning an awesome pair of stretchy gray pinstripe pants, replete with vinyl buckles, into a pair of shorts. I ended up cutting off about three inches too much, so they are tight, and short, and show off my knees too much for comfort. Maybe I can do something with the waistband later…geez. So that was my whole day, apart from having a fantastic breakfast at The Dish in Ballard, our new regular restaurant for morning much time. They serve you coffee while you are waiting for your seat (a wait that can be considerable), how can you go wrong with that? Decent coffee, even, no Folgers here. And after that a quick stop at the thrift store, and the fabric store, but then thats it. Really really.

Anyway, here are a few things I finished BEFORE today. They are a set, and look best when worn together. 🙂

The overskirt is made of flat cotton, with a pattern of bats, cats, stars and moons, and a mottled brown/orange background. My DH took a scan of one of the bats and printed me an bigger copy of it, and I used that to do the embroidery on the waistband. The buttons came off of the music appreciation jacket.

I also used the bat pattern to make these bat appliques for the net underskirt.

Here is the net skirt, sans overskirt. I put the appliques on so that you can wear it with just a pair of leggings, for a different look.

I put wide cotton knit waistbands on both, because I think they are super comfy and look better on than a gathered waistband. I really enjoyed the embroidery process. I did a lot of the bat appliques at this months SPON meeting. I also got to fly a plane that day!

The delightful Don the Pilot flew down from Everett and gave a bunch of us rides, and even let each of us steer the aircraft for a time during the flight. It was one at a time, so he must have given between eight and ten rides I think. Holy awesomeness! Thanks again Don!

PS- He said I was the best at flying. Nerves of steel, thats me! Haha…

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I fought the skirt…and I won

Today has been slowslowslow…a pretty relaxing day if it weren’t for the niggling sunburn on my shoulders and the wacky stinging back ache. Ah well, nothing some aloe vera and a trip to the chiropractor won’t cure, eh?

We had banana pancakes for breakfast (our new favorites and quickly becoming a breakfast staple), with some True North coffee. For any of you in Seattle, looking for a great cup, you can pick this local roast up at Central Market. So yummy! Better than…well, lets not go there.

A little while back I attacked my stash of goodies- jersey, lace, and buttons, oh my! It began with a great idea, a simple-ish three layer ruffle skirt with a gentle cotton waistband. After arguing with the various fabrics for about three days, and daydreaming of the skirt while I was at work, this is what I ended up with.

A detail of the buttons, sewn onto a length of fabric designed to give the skirt more room for my hips.

And my flouncy, poofy butt.

A great learning experience, and a terrific skirt, now. But during the process I just wanted to light it on fire!

I’m so glad my fiancée doesn’t let me play with matches.

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