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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I’m a pirate too…

A pirate who occasionally forgets how to use a keyboard, apparently.  After at least a week, finally, a new post!

I’ve made little progress in the wedding dress field.  I have the crinoline pieces cut, sitting, mocking in the corner of my living room.  I’ve come up with my share of excuses, too:  I don’t have the right needles.  I don’t know what to do next.  I’m worried about ruining the fabric.  Oops, I seem to have cut my right hand off.

But no more!  Tomorrow I dive head first into the world of satin and poof!

In other news, I have a few new items available in my Etsy shop.  Like a pirate vest!

I love this thing!  As usual, it is made with upcycled fabric and trims.  The buckles, even, are rescued from an old pair of pants.  Its kind of adjustable, as the straps have three hole choices, and its fitted besides.  I could totally storm the seven seas in this.

And another pair of bloomers:

These are a bit simpler, as well as a bit shorter, than my others.  Nice though, and pretty easy to wear.

I haven’t been as productive lately.  Aah!  The Olympics!!!  Oh my god!  Michael Phelps is my freaking hero, and I don’t even like swimming.   Oh, and I made thirty tiny bags to send to a lovely woman in Idaho, who will be putting them in her shwag bags for an upcoming craft show.  If you’re in Bellevue, Idaho on Labor Day weekend, check out the Bellevue Labor Day celebrations in City park.  Great fun to be had by all.

Until next time!  Which will be sooner than last time, I promise.

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Birthdays and Bloomers

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Tonight we are headed out to Dark Knight to watch Christian Bale’s yummy Batman performance, and the last movie that Heath Ledger made.  You know, pre-OD.  I’m working on a theory that Batman sent him over the edge.  I’ll have more insight after the credits roll, I’m sure.

Anybody know a good recipe for a white frosting?  I’m baking an awesome cake tomorrow, as a celebration for said birthday, and I need the super whitey whitest icing, for this great design I thought up.  Photos forthcoming of course.

Aaaaand, finally, what I’ve been working on: Bloomers!!!  Freaking awesome bloomers, if I do say so myself.

I got a length of this great fabric from Goodwill a few weeks ago.  They had four pieces of it, but I only bought one, wanting to try it out before I made a bigger purchase.  Bad choice.  I love the fabric, but by the time I went back, other people had loved it too.  Boohoo… But these are great!

And then, these uber bright beauties!  I made these out of fabric left over from making my MIL and apron for mother’s day.  I’m not sure how well these baby’s will go over, but I think they are so FUN!

And lastly, a bit mre brown and beautiful.  Not quite as pleasurable to work with as the black pinstriped fabric above, but nice nonetheless.  I’m particularly fond of them without the ribbon in them.  They remind me of an Arabian fairy tale.

Last but not least- I am now a member of the EtsyRain team!!!  Yay!  I love Seattle!  I love Etsy!  Wootwootwoot

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Rip that shirt up!

Hi there!
Well, its been a few verrrry busy days, whipping myself into a flurry of new creations! This is but the first, and I’ll admit rather untimely, installation.

A while back I went to the local goodwill outlet and loaded up on all sorts of cool and interesting things (including a blue sequined jacket that I bought, threw around my room for a while, and subsequently abandoned). So I had a lot of not so cool items just begging to be made wearable! Who am I to resist that?

This is an old shirt, straight outta the 70’s! I don’t know if you can tell from the photos too well, but it has shiny gold pinstripes, and multi colored polka dots! I love it! I added some puff sleeves, and sewed on a complimentary piece on the front with a decorative stitch. Yay for new sewing machine! Hehe, my glasses match the shirt.

And here is a closeup of some of the details. I pleated the sleeves for the puff. I have since started using gathering instead of pleating, but they give such different looks I’m having a hard time deciding which I like better. Oh, and you can really see the detailed stitching here. I like it, the thread matches the shirt perfectly!

This one is similar to the turquoise one, in design. I applied the same kind of appliques on the front, but left off any detailed stitching. And I added puffed sleeves, finished with the same tshirt material. The shirt itself is rather curious. At first the pattern appears to be peacock feathers, but upon closer inspection it looks more like tulips. I don’t know…

And a closeup of the detailing. So on this one I gathered the sleeves instead of pleating, what do you think? Also, I was thinking of adding a stitch of embroidery around the border of the appliques, to match the detailing on the sleeves. I’m a little worried it would be too much, though.

Whew! I’m tired of typing! Let me know what you think!

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Wiping the slate…

I went to Goodwill on Sunday (gosh, surprise!) hunting for fabric and notions. I’ve been to this particular Goodwill several dozen times over the past six months, and while it is pretty big, I was sure I had at least browsed every section of the store.

I was wrong.

There was still one, lone exception, lying in wait immediately after entering the front door: collectibles. Its very exclusive, they even have their own cash register! Now, I must admit, I was pretty unenthused with the whole bit- old bags, old plates, old shoes, blah blah blah.

My discovery waited for me at the jewelry counter, secure behind a sheet of dirty glass. Cufflinks. Honest to jeebs cufflinks. And an adorable picture to boot.

Crappy crappy picture! Taken on an old camera. I am so used to my HTB’s sexy, super expensive one that this little 3 meg just makes me sad.

I made a couple new pairs of bloomers, but haven’t gotten pictures of them yet. Oi, scheduling. They are fantastic, though, coming soon. They are doubly precious, as they broke a two day creating funk that had begun to get me pretty pissy. After Sunday’s careless hijinks left me with a pair of bloomers with the ruffle sewn on the hip (instead of the leg), Monday gave me huge, puffy, striped bloomers, that are just that side of ridiculous. They look like balloons!

I love sewing. I love making clothes. And the worst thing in the world is failing at a project, wasting a whole days worth of work time when I have such precious little time as it is. But my Tuesday bloomers have wiped the slate clean, and I am eagerly looking forward to an entire day off tomorrow to work for myself, instead of my boss.

Oh, and today I put in the paperwork to open my first retirement fund! Hooray, I’m all responsible and whatnot!

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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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A passionate affair- with my thrift store.

Wow, it’s a little hard to believe this day is over. It has certainly been a busy one, once I managed to roll out of bed, anyway. I came out to the living room, to be greeted with an email letting me know that I had an order to get ready. ‘What? Already?’ I asked myself incredulously. And yes, it was true, so I got to work making a couple of tags. An hour and a half later I finished that, and have decided that I need to rethink the idea of hand embroidered tags- time consuming much? But they are so cute. Next time I make one I’ll take a picture to show it off.

Then there were seams to be double checked, threads to be snipped, and wrapping to be done. I decided it would be a good idea to walk the two and a half miles to the post office, which would knock out an errand and my exercise in a fell swoop. Plus fresh air and good sunshine, it was great! I listened to Gogol Bordello the whole way there and back, which is perfect traveling music for me. Whether by foot, plane or train. They were with me for much if my time in England.

While I was out, I stopped at Goodwill, and found a few choice goodies.

This lace is amazing! I have to figure out some great ideas to use it to its full potential.

And this little grab bag of vintage supplies- for a buck! I love it.  Not sure what I’m going to do with those repair needles though.

I finished an adorable skirt combo today, after I got home, took a shower and a nap that is. I will have pictures on Saturday, so stay tuned!

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Red, white and…brown? Yeah!!!

Today’s theme colors are red, white and brown. You know, like vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and a cherry on top? I find this combination to be just as comforting as a big bowl of sweet, with a little dash of weird thrown on top. Even my bedroom is decorated in these colors. But I don’t see it around nearly as often as I’d like- so I decided to remedy that!

These are my pride and joy, and are on their way to a cyclist in Australia. So cute! They were a lot of fun to make, and will be a lot of fun to wear.

My favorite part- this big red ribbon isn’t just for show. The bottoms here are drawstringed, instead of being elasticized. That means that you could wear them with or without all that poofy.

And this guy is a superstrong, reusable grocery bag. The pics aren’t the greatest, which I ought to address, but the bag is great. It is fully lined, and doublestitched, and topstitched.

Plus it has the inner pocket to stick your grocery list, cash, cards, chapstick, cell phone, etc. And a little button closer so nobody steals your green beans!

Everything shown today has been crafted out of either recycled or remnant fabrics. Let me know what you think!

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In the afterglow…

This was the best Independence Day I have ever had.  Throughout the day I was planning on just staying home and working on some projects, like a new shirt design I’m perfecting. (to be unveiled soon)  It was a nice day all day, and with the windows open, and my HTB playing video games within touching distance, I was happy.  We got some Mike’s hard lemonade, made some French bread pizzas, and decided not to battle with traffic for a few sparly lights.

Until about 8.30, when we began to hear pops in the distance.  Soon, the four of us (me, HTB, SIL and her husband) were gathered on our deck, peering through the crack between apartment buildings at the lake, and the tiny bursts of beauty in the hills beyond.  It was time to head for the roof.

Armed with a beer, and a short sleeved shirt I ventured out, comrades close behind, and rand across the open rooftop to get a better, closer view of the lake.  It was pretty for a while, with over a dozen different shows going on in the hillside on the other side of the lake.  Tiny, but pretty.  Then some neighbors started setting off a few.  Then some guy in a boat started lighting sporadic bits of sparkle.  Then behind us a couple of shows started, slowly at first, but with increasing frequency.  Two of our neighbors joined us about halfway through, but other than that the roof was deserted.

Finally, competely unexpectedly, fireworks started blooming right in front of us.  So close we coulde see the trails of smoke let off by each fresh explosion.  It was one after another after another, as the show behind us started picking up, and another to our right, and yet another to the left!  Our heads whipped around at every pop to catch each new display.  Meanwhile HTB was busy taking time lapse photos, which I now share for your viewing pleasure.

 

And, on another topic, I have some fun lounging/pyjama pants, made out of an old Mickey Mouse sheet.  So comfy!  I made them with a wide waistband, fashioned from a super soft old tshirt, and lingerie elastic inside.

Have a happy Sunday!

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