How I Fell In Love With Sewing

Hair success!

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:02:47 GMT

\

(I did the hair tutorial I posted about yesterday successfully!)

Ahh Christmas Break, You Are So Close

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:33:33 GMT

As is the Christmas Open House at the Newland.. AHH!

I've been working with Laughing Moon #103 1890's Waists.

I'm desperately trying to whip up A from a white cotton with printed white dots while still surviving the second to last week of school. I don't even know where the old waist is so I have no choice but to make the new one (and I wouldn't be complaining if it weren't for the time constraint)

Here's to hoping!

Oh and here's a fun braided up-do tutorial I started playing around with this afternoon (while not sewing like i should have.. derp)

http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/how-to-braided-updo/

I'll have to try it tomorrow after my shower because giant, puffy thick hair did not want to cooperate. XD

Oh!

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:00:48 GMT

I know what my next sheer dress is going to look like

LOVE!

Edit: Found from http://www.flickr.com/photos/76452380@N00/sets/72157625358316217/with/5219232803/

Oh hai, event pictures :)

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 07:08:27 GMT

I'm too tired from school, work, and general nonsense to go into great detail. So I'll let the pictures do the talking. Until the end of the semester, I'll really need to give up sewing to get as high a GPA as I can sooo there will be a long silence (if all goes according to plan) here. As if I've been the talkative type...

Wow... I JUST noticed how lop-sided my collar is... no wonder I was getting strange looks.. haha I jest. I hope I wasn't getting strange looks..

Meet Spice Pig! From a group who normally does frontier reenacting from Utah to Wyoming. This was apparently their first Civil War event and I think they're first event in California. http://mechampottery.com/ They were super nice and I wanted to buy everything :D

So you put spices in Spice Pig through the corked hole in his rump and pour them out through his nose! So so so cutes! Gina and I are huge fans of Spice Pig

More thoughts

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:57:44 GMT

Yesterday I bought a TON of velvet ribbon to trim the cinnamon wool bodice with :) However I have since realized that my curvy design cannot be done with velvet ribbon.

I can't decide between the almost diamond shaped trim (on the seated girl in the 1st photo) or the trim in the second picture.

I love how unique the first one looks and Captain Rivers would approve of the militaristic style.. but, I've always loved the gracefulness of the second. Decisions decisions!

Thoughts

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:15:56 GMT

There's a reenactment coming up in 3 weeks(or so), one of the biggest ones and I *REALLY* want to have my cinnamon brown wool dress done by then. I know I want to have a double pointed bodice in the front and I have pretty jet buttons for it already. I just can't decide how I want the sleeves....

EDIT: probably going to go with a coat sleeve thats a little fuller at the top so almost like leg-o-mutton but not quite as FULL

My goddogther(Katie) and I :3 She didnt want to wear her costume just yet

Oh and in case you forgot, today was the feast of Saint Crispin! We few, we happy few, we band of brothers... etc

Party!

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:26:15 GMT

So far only one picture of all of us has been uploaded. Grr. But! There will be more on actual Halloween :D

vampire geisha, person from Tron, draenei, and little red riding hood
I love my dorky friends! :D

There was also a cat, evil doctor, sexy cop, pirate?, and someone in a ski mask with an airsoft gun?

Quilting :)

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:49:18 GMT

I was wondering why I sudden became sniffly and sneezy out of nowhere... and then I noticed this

Giant pile of wool fluff? Sneezing? There may very well be a correlation..........

In other news, I abandoned studying yesterday to quilt the cape of my quilted hood :)

The cap, crown, brim part is all drawn up and I've already done two small triangles. The cape and the cap's quilting will be pointing towards each other and I plan to have the brim in a cross hatch design. I love hand quilting! :)

Proud

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:21:45 GMT

I'm excessively pleased with how this project is going to look :) In hindsight I would have switched the types of wools I used (make a gab dress and a flannel cloak) but color was more important to me than being a little chunky in the flannel bodice. Its only noticeable in the back which will mostly be covered by the cloak :)

I received my wool batting today and am taking a break from cutting it right now. Its like cutting cotton candy, or a cloud. I love it!! From http://www.sugarloafwool.com/ I highly recommend their products! Fast shipping and beautiful wool. All that needs to be done is make the quilted lining (*laughs* I make it sound like nothing when its the bulk of the work left and my deadline is Oct 23rd..), somehow make the skirt longer.. dunno how it ended up being shorter than the petti when I based my measurements off the petti...., hooks and eyes and finish up the hood (if I have time) If not then I will make the hood look done..

Aaaaannyways, I need to finish cutting the batting before my cat realizes there is 3 yards of wool all laid out for him to play on....... yeah right Mr Kitty, keep dreaming

Steady Progress

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:54:20 GMT

Petticoat- Done!
Bodice- Needs hooks and eyes, possibly sleeves, and trim
(I have a picture but I have since re-cut and sewn the fronts since the original darts were very far apart)

Skirt- Cut, Needs to be made

Cape- Cut, Waiting for wool batting to arrive so I can start quilting the lining :3

It only took about an hour of staring at the wool laid flat on the floor and some good advice from mom to finally cut it out. Both pictures are of the cape folded in half. The second is the lining, cut into gores since homespun does not usually come in 60" wide. I'm so in love with this project already! And I've barely begun sewing and seeing results!

Hood- I've decided to make the hood separate from the cape for versatility :)
I'm using the marquise.de 1859 pattern found here: www.marquise.de/en/1800/schnitte/s1859_8.gif It took me a couple of days and a lot of searching on the internet to actually figure out that the 16in side is supposed to be cut on the fold. (Ohhh!) So, Hood finally cut out but no progress until the wool batting comes :)

Yay!

Oops

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:46:16 GMT

I "accidentally" cut up and took apart my old hoop skirt to make it child sized for Little Red :3
&
I "accidentally" bought this vintage pattern from momspatterns.com

Still have 3 essays to do tomorrow (all pretty easy 3 page, double spaced, 14 font) for an in class test on Wed, and I need 3 pre-essays for a similar test next Tuesday turned in by this Tues... oh and 2 honors Children's Lit papers due this Thursday

Needless to say, I can't wait for this week to be over

Little Red

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 04:03:52 GMT

1860's style :)

After reading Little Red Cap and Little Red Riding Hood (and about 3 other versions of the story) in Children's Film and Lit last thursday night I had a crazy notion that I NEEDED a red cloak for my Civil War re-enacting. And then it occurred to me: Why not be Little Red for Halloween? :)

So without further ado I present: The Project Plan

The Idea: A red wool cloak with a quilted lining, a brown woodsey dress in a 1860's child's style, possibly a short hoop, white fluffy pinafore apron, and my pretty Robert Land side-lacers :)

The cloak:

As soon as I saw this illustration I knew I needed it :) the capelet/pelerine is just so adorable!

Wool Gab+Homespun Lining

The Dress:
For a while I couldn't decide whether to go long-sleeved or short; gathered or darted; etc, etc. But with the help of some brainstorming with my girlies and Ms reine_de_coudre I finally decided to go with a brown, wool, short sleeved, boat-necked dress with a 1860's child-length skirt and tucks paired with a slim sleeved blouse and voile pinafore apron. Amazingly it only took me one sketch to get it exactly how I wanted it:

And that's that :) I'm so excited for this dress. All I need for undergarments is a shorter petticoat and possibly to fiddle with my hoop skirt. Its going to be a big project and will definitely keep me busy. Which is good because then I don't have to think about sad things.

Good luck to all Halloween projects!

The Sunless Summer

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:08:18 GMT

To start with, I'd like to apologize for the sudden haitus from everything livejournal and almost everything sewing since what? July? My beautiful, talented, and strong-willed grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer shortly after Mother's day and after a nearly 90 day fight she passed on to God's hands on August 16th. She lived two months more than the doctor's thought she would and her passing was with 7 of her devoted children and her husband. So to say the least its been a busy summer being mother at my house (because my mom was with hers) and working a brand new job, starting school, oh and of course running the Huntington Beach Civil War Days registration again.

I miss my grandmother nearly every day but lately her past words of encouragement with my sewing has fueled my fire again:

My Civil War work dress 3.0

Sadly, this is one of the only pictures I got of it at the event (what with me being enslaved to the Registration booth). Not entirely sure why I'm leaning like that. Anyways... about the dress:
After much brainstorming I decided to pleat the bodice and then the tops of the sleeves (slip-stitched down the pleats on the bodice and backstitched the sleeve pleats)
T
(see? invisible stitched pleats vs pinned pleats)
The skirt is knife pleated as well and has a self hem facing. This dress can actually go both over the hoop and without hoop :). It closes with hooks and eyes and was so much fun to wear :)
Darrell has made me jealous with how many pictures he got of himself and I only have this one.. whatever!

But I did not come away completely empty handed..
Civil War Days loot:

Salt jar (because it was tiny and cute), picture frame, actually 7 spools of antique thread, two Virginia buttons (for a future project)
AND a tin pitcher, two sprigs of dried flowers for bonnet stuffs, and Laughing Moon's 1890's Waist pattern

:D and $100

I have a lot more newness to post about that will require more posts tonight or tomorrow.. Including what will be the most fantastic Halloween costume I have ever made :)

Old Fort MacArthur days

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:36:07 GMT

The event this past weekend was the first multi-era reenactment I've ever been too. It was quite confusing at first to see a WWII tank next to a pirate encampment next to Union soldiers. It took Darrell and I FOREVER to find the place (involving much reference to the iPhone and walking up giant hills) but overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to attend in October? Preferably in Revolutionary era dress since I can't do that when Darrell is here. :)

I was a little disappointed that I did not finish the skirt in time (It just needs a hem :\) but I did manage to finish the waist and wore it with my grey wool skirt and an emerald green ribbon/belt thing. AND I couldnt find my cameo or thistle pin so I had to whip up a cravat and pin it on.. not my idea of a terrific outfit
Darrell said I looked great but I think I looked quite last-minute-slapped-together...

The next event is in less than 3 weeks, I'm planning either to just wear my pink dress or actually finish what I wanted to wear to this event

Computer is finally fixed

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:53:33 GMT

Ugh that was nearly a month of horrible spyware horribleness :\ Who knew it would only take a day with my uncle to fix it all *sigh* oh well.

I started sewing a white waist for Old Ft. MacArthur days next weekend to wear with a (hopefully fixed) black silk waist and maybe a cinnamon wool skirt :) That's a lot of maybe's but I can see it all in my head and I REALLY want to wear it. Will power!

Have a happy 4th of July! I know I will since it will be spent in sewing heaven :)

Pocket!

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:37:40 GMT

Just need some ties and we're good to go :)
I'm amazed at how much stuff I can cram in it (makeup, sewing tools, giant scissors, camera, phone, Pride and Prejudice, etc)

It's not that fancy embroidery-wise but I absolutely love it and plan on making more in the future. I just really needed it out of the way so I could start/finish other unfinished projects like:

-yoked bodice dress
-green sash for plaid sheer (which is basically done)
-black silk corselet and white waist
-work petticoat
-brown wool waistcoat for Darrell (since we decided it would be less insanity to buy a frock coat)
-smaller cravat for Darrell
-etc

Newland summer outfit

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:56:38 GMT

Since Christmas I've been craving a non-holiday looking blouse for my 1890's skirt and now I have the money for it! (Yay!) So I've been brainstorming the past couple of days what colour/style/material I could use to make a dressy but not Christmas-y.
I have a ton of this lace I found antique shopping in Orange:

And then I came across this light pink on Pure Silks.com http://www.puresilks.biz/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=38

Which combined inspired this concept sketch:

Later-1890's sleeve puffs (not eat-you-alive-leg-o-mutton sleeves) with tucks, lace cuffs and maybe baste-in longer sleeves for winter. Silk collar on the neck attached to a lace yoke(?) with scalloped lace frill and shell buttons closing in the back.

My only worry is that the pink will not go with my plum/maroon skirt. Or I'll screw it up somehow like my first blouse which was way too tight in the shoulders and sleeves :\

Derp.. dorky picture.

A 4.0 semester

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:56:44 GMT

deserves a 5 star dress :) I've been lurking on Modcloth.com for what? 5 years? And have never bought anything.. until now :) I finally worked up the courage to get myself a congrats-for-getting-all-A's-this-semester dress: http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Blogger+of+the+Moment/Gala+Darling/Soda+Fountain+Dress+in+Cola I can't wait to get it and try it on :D Eep!

In Civil War-ish news I've been pondering what to do to make my sheer dress better. Something just seemed to be missing. So sometime this week I'm going hunting for some forrest green ribbon to make a sash! I'll tack the skirt over the bodice to make it a flat line and then wear the sash over the not pink and green waistband (the waistband is white voile since I only had like 5 yards to make the dress)

What I've been up to

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:15:35 GMT

These past few weeks have been so hectic for me. Not only were there finals to worry about but my grandmother was in the hospital and has been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer :\ Which is weird to begin with since she hasn't had ovaries since 1958, but that's a mystery for the doctors to figure out. She's doing better and is scheduled to have in home hospice care this Saturday. So lately I've been fretting, taking care of my dad and brother, taking final exams and keeping the house clean all by myself XD. Needless to say, I haven't had much time for sewing at all.

However, earlier this week I finished a dress I had been working on before finals week :) The pattern is Vogue 1153.

I love the way it turned out, it is so cute and light and fruffly :) The perfect dress for summer and beach days. I can't wait for the weather to stop being gloomy!!

Also I started embroidering a pocket to use with my Civil War impression. I know for sure it's an 18th century thing but it would be so handy to have under my hoop skirt. I know reine_de_coudre uses one ;)

This is only the primary design, I figured I could draw more as I went along :)

Break

Mon, 24 May 2010 05:17:28 GMT

I wish I have things to post about but sadly this past week and next week will be filled with school school school! I have a 10 page paper due on thursday, a TON of spanish homework and 5 finals in three days. So I must take a break from sewing, socializing and the internet. All I shall leave with are a few reenactment pictures from Costa Mesa.

me with a tiny cannon Darrell and I taken by Ms reine_de_coudre who we had a wonderful time with :)

Cheater

Thu, 13 May 2010 03:56:54 GMT

I finished all but a few of the boning channels by machine. I feel like a dirty cheater, but I know that in 6 months or a year I'm going to want to re-try the stays anyways. I really wanted them DONE and now they are, save for a few horizontal channels and proper reed boning. Then it's self binding and two more eyelets at my waistline. They feel lovely on and (as far as my knowledge goes) gives me a nice, flat, rounded shape.

I love petticoats!

Mon, 10 May 2010 06:20:49 GMT

:D The past two days have been spent playing around with some Regency patterns and things so I tried making a petticoat. I have no idea if they even made petticoats like this but it was fun testing out things :) Still need to figure out how to close it (I accidentally cut it open-front not the back) and hem and tuck of course :)

Next on my list will be a pretty white shift and short stays. I even have the fabric for both. Oh yes, I do think the Regency era will fast become a favourite!

Blurg... college papers

Tue, 04 May 2010 20:44:55 GMT

They make me not sew :( I've been working on the yoked bodice wash dress and my stays but not much progress on either. On my wash dress I think the waistline is too low so I'm going to have to rip off the waistband and re-pleat it. Ick. I set one sleeve with the cap sleeves and am not too thrilled with the girth of the bishop sleeve. So some tweaking needs to be done on that.

In other news Darrell comes home tomorrow *happy dance* But for now its back to work! Boo!

Eeeeee!

Sat, 01 May 2010 05:30:12 GMT

My wool came today :D it's so light and exactly the colour I was hoping for. It will be SO perfect for the dress I'm envisioning! Sadly, I won't get to start it until after Darrell's frock coat is done. Oh and the yoked bodice is near completion, just need to pipe the shoulders and collar and set the sleeves.

Silk stays of doom

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:03:42 GMT

My computer can't read my camera's SD card so no current pictures of me trying them on. I do however have a picture of them from last night, sans all 18 of my pretty eyelets and two back-most boning channels *grumbles about technology*.

I turned under all the side seams and then back stitched all the pieces together. I rather like the little ridges the seams have, it's like having cording all around. They did turn out (as I feared) too big but I know where to take them in so it's no big deal :)
Next up, boning channels! Then trim down unfinished edges (and those gargantuan tabs!) then binding and doneness. Having it typed out makes it look so much easier than it really is. I love having projects to do at my leisure, no matter how badly I want these finished, it's nice to know that there's something I can work on without much fiddling.

Oh and if anyone is in the mood for adorable lemony goodness, pop into a Jo-Ann's and pick up some of this

(this picture does not do it justice)
I saw it and it demanded to be made into an apron. :) I think I shall happily oblige.