green_martha

It seems I brought my pink mp3 player back form the dead. or maybe it's just the plug I tried to charge it on at work that sent it into coma. Woot !

I'm not sure it really shows, but I have made some ( beading progress )

I've sketched a lot of this and that, too. I was so annoyed of not getting anything good done... Tonight I have a feeling like maybe my pencil is my friend again...
( Sharing this cat's narghile was a BAD idea... )

The Pillowflower's belt is entirely beaded !

(and the underskirt and apron for the Goth Kitty are mostly done, too)

Yay for progress !

The red pirate waistcoat for the lil' brother is DONE. Yeah !

Here it is at lady_darkstone's place, drying on a chair (I had just washed out the markings for the buttonholes. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for pictures with content, as Nick already proved he can't model it properly.


So now I have completed everything that's a real MUST for the men I dress up for lady_darkstone's wedding, I can concentrate on my own stuff. I foresee long hours of beading in the near future, with Goth Kitty and translation breaks inbetween. Wish me luck... and patience ! This is what I got accomplished after finishing the waistcoat this afternoon.

(We also took some time to cut my hair, I'm still getting used to having it only shoulder-long, and I couldn't get any good shot of the new Green Martha tonight, sorry)(BTW, lady_darkstone's balcony has a much better view than any hairsalon you could find)

I'm totally exhausted, with quite cramped neck and shoulders, and about to crash into bed. That may have to do with the fact that the week was very busy, probably a little too busy for my own good. We tried to make the most out of my brother's short stay with us.

( For wedding stuff, click here )

( For sewing stuff, click there )

I really need something that bring sme instant gratification those days, problem is : all the projects that HAVE to be done are on the time-consuming side.
But at last, I got one small item done. The 1920s bra is finished !
( Beware ! Boobies-coverage under the cut ! )
It squishes me almost completely flat, as desired, and is relatively comfortable for my sensitive ribcage. It's definitely thicker than a modern bra, so I'm a little more conscious of what I'm wearing. The outside and the binding are poly satin, the inside is white coutil. The ends of the bra and the places where the buttonholes and buttons go have been reinforced with a second layer of coutil.
Please don't pay attention to the variosu pencil marks, I'll have to wash those away ;)

I'm pleased with it, except for one little problem :

The dress isn't hemmed anywhere, so there'd be even more bra peaking out of the neckline. I think I'll add a small fabric band here...

I have found a red glass pearls necklace to go with the dress, but I'll have to find some other shoes. The sole of one of the pretty gray ones I had is cracked... :(

I'm not sure how I want the pillow flower's skirt to look like, so I figured I4d show you and listen to what you think of it :

Option 1 : white triangle pointing down


Option 2 : black triangle pointing up (aka original design)


(It's just sloppily pinned in place now to get a rough idea) What d'you think ? I'm leaning towards option #2 right now.

I'm also wondering whether or not I should pu some batting into Provence's mantle, I feel the wool + interlining + lining alone could be a little light for February...

It finally came, the moment where I had to admit I have *too much* fabric. Too much to choose from actually.

Tonight I braved the dark and cold garage and searched for some wool to make a short (or maybe nor so short, we'll see) mantle to go with Provence. First, I had to find my way between wine bottles, computer parts, boxes and old bikes. Second, some of the drawers were so packed with fabric I could not open them and had to partly dismantle the upper drawer to access what was inside. Third, there's no light in our garage, so I scrambled with a torchlight and took some wool upstairs. All the wools come from my grandma's stash. I found some red poly lining fabric that's a pretty good match to what I wanted as a lining. I also found a pink cotton twill printed with small flowers in a particularly disgusting shade and pattern which I'll spare you.

Anyway, the wools are ( under the cut )

I've almost ruled out the reddish brown. I find the greenish brown a bit too dark, plus it reminds me too much of Demeter's dolman, but it does look pretty close to the dress fabric. And then I really really *can't* decide between the two beige tones. I left the red lining in the pictures as a reminder...

*ponders ponders*

The next step, anyway, is fixing my own stupidity on the bodice mock-up (took in the WRONG shoulder seam...), then adjusting and putting in the second sleeve and see if the fit is still okay.
I'm waiting for Ikea to open next week to make a final decision on petticoat fabrics, I'm waiting for petticoat fabric to start on the underbodice, because I want them to match, I'm waiting until I have organized my beads to go back to the Pillow Flower, and I have forgotten the pattern for the 1913 jacket at work. And I must definitely put a BIG PINK WARNING SIGN over the living-room's carpet so that the Home Geek does NOT forget yet ANOTHER time that I have BEADS lying there and kicks them all around the place !!!! Gah !

Off to have dinner and watch a movie, and ponder more.

I intended to post a short note before leaving for work today but hey, I'd much rather write a loooong one. And besides, I was running just as late as usual. No matter when I get up, I always end up doing this or that in the morning and therefore rushing out of the apartment 5 minutes after the time I originally planned to leave.

( Five questions )

In the meantime, on the sewing front, I noticed I had sewed the front half of the Pillow Flower's waistband upside down, so that the pattern that was supposed to match (or not mismatch too much) did not. Luckily, ripping it apart and stitching it back in place did not take much time.

I had a major case of discouragment over Provence yesterday, but thanks to philcostumes's help (you're just made of awesome !) and to a little bit of WWKKD I'm now better.
I have taken out Demeter's bodice, copied the pattern from it by laying fabrics scraps over it and drawing on the seamlines. Which in itself is quite funny, or ironic; because Demeter was built to be worn over a corset, whereas this gown is not. There's almost no difference in the way it looks on me with or without the corset :)
The second mock-up was way better in terms of side wrinkles, though not perfect. From what I can deduct, I'm too square a girl for the original curvy lines of the avant-garde pattern. My underarm seam is an almost straight line, not a fish-shaped darty thing.
I kept the back of the Demeter bodice, however I did not want the seams running up to the neck in the front, so I mixed the front panel with the avant-garde front, and ended up with enough wiggle room over my boobs to carry an orange on each side. Not good. I know there was often some excess fabric there, but certainly not THAT much ! So on to the dummy it went, I did some intensive redraping. Now I'm going to take it apart again, cut out the new side back and front pieces and check the fit. Keep your fingers crossed ! If this gets too frustrating, I'll just start playing around with the hat.
Pictures to come !

I've been struggling with myself to NOT go to bed right after coming home from work, without great success. The brain has gone to bed. So I find myself staring at Provence and wondering "what's the next step ?". The only summat mindless task I could find was partially cutting out the Pillow Flower. I'm going to cut it out, sew it together and only then bead it. There are some spots where I want to extand a flower bead over a seam or partially hide a seam under beads. Which leads me to the thought that I definitely don't have enough beads around here, and have to go buy more. I'd like to add some golden and red beads to the mix. Maybe a few turquoise ones, too.
Ok, enough babbling, I'm brain-dead. I need to go to bed. I hope tomorrow will be more productive sewing-wise. At least I have a 2-hours lunch break, so I'll have time to scale up the 1913 jacket.

Yesterday I managed to pattern, cut out and partly put together the kitty chemise. Today I handsewed lace around the armholes. And that's all. The chemise has pintucks but no hem, the yoke is not assembled with the body yet, and there's a seam in the front that I still have to close - must try it on the kitty first to check where. And I'm tiiiiiired.

But I'm happy, for several reasons. First, blogging gives me a good opportunity to avoid admitting I'm completely insane - like, I can say the pintucks are all ahsamanja_babu's fault, she made me do it ! *grin*
Then, I have plenty of fresh fruit and vegetable again, yay for that.
And lastly, I splurged and bought a book on 1920's underwear - it's a reprint from a 1927, with pattern sheets, very similar to this one, a reprint from 1901 which I have already talked about. Well, I did not really splurge that much, it was still under 30 euros including shipping. And speaking of the 1901 one, I got a shock when I saw the price ! Glad I bought it when it was still affordable ! Not that it's that expensive for what the book is worth, actually.

Hmmm... I'm not sure I'm that coherent any more, so I think I'll just Go. To. Bed.