green_martha | Entries tagged with daisy

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately - I suspect I was really, really tired and needed the vacation. Now I have regained some energy and I give you the obligatory "yearly costume review" post.

Back in January 2010, I tried to push myself to finish one project a month for a year. It worked quite well for the first half of the year, then as I went back to work my productivity went downward and I stoped keeping track. Most of all, this year has been bad for pictures - I forgot to snap some of half of the things I made, and I still haven't gone through the Vaux one. Boooo ! I'll try to catch up now that I'm home, but first, what did I make ?( click )

That'd be 10 or 11 projects in a year. Not quite 12-12, but considering I had a baby on my hands and how exhausted I spent the last months of the year, that's really not bad.
Oh wait ! I made a 12th thing ! I made a maternity t-shirt with th serger, it was so quick I forgot it ! *ticks the last box off*

Now for the coming year, what do I want to make ?
- finish the 1887 red maternity bustle dress
- make an 18th century quilted maternity ensemble
- make an adorable baby
- work on the super sekrit eyebrow project with

heileen
Nothing else is set yet, but I suspect this will change after we have the programm of the Ministère des Modes in January...

Now for the mundane stuff ( click )

Current Mood: accomplished

My green 1872 polonaise, here it is ! Finally done... I worked on this like a madwoman for the last two weeks, I gave up on the batiste jacket (it would work better with a solid color than with a print anyway), and finished the hat on Sturday even... wait, Sunday morning at half past one.

The dress is a very light cotton print which almost reads like a solid on pictures. The trim is yellow cotton organdi - I normally use it to line my victorian bodices but I happened to find it in this color and I was out of fabric for trimmings. I know ruffles and pleats are more common for this year but I found a few examples of solid stripes applied as trimming as well. More details after I've played with my boy (who kindly le tme post this before waking up from his nap). On the whole, I loved how the dress turned out. I'd have preferred if the fit had been better and if the bustle hadn't had some issues during the day but it looks amazing inpictures and I had a fabulous time wearing it.

Current Mood: accomplished

wOOt ! I really didn't think I'd make it ! Now to iron the dress, group all the stuff I need for tomorrow, dig out the hatpin(s) and find a hairdo solution...

Current Mood: accomplished

... Maybe I'm not going to achieve everything I wanted to achieve by Sunday. I won't have an embroidered batiste vest. Maybe I even won't have a hat. But I do have a dress...

... Just a teaser...
It looks better on me than on the dummy, of course. It's not perfect by far. The fit above the breast and the armholes both gave me fits, but I wasn't going to spend years on it.

I cut down a straw hat. It's currently drying in the bathroom and here's hoping I get to add some of the trim I bought for it tomorrow.

And after that, I seriously need a break from sewing. That beast of a dress was much more work than expected and I feel a little burnt out. And sad too, because

heileen won't be there on Sunday, and she's ALWAYS been there at costume events, and how am I gonna do without my costuming buddy ? *whines*

I'm-going-to-make-it. I'm-going-to-make-it. I'm-going-to-make-it. I'm-going-to-make-it. I'm-going-to-make-it...

...ooooom.....

Longest part of the trim is pinned to the polonaise. Still need to add three bows (two of them are half done), then boning the seams, finishing the center back under the peplum, attaching ties lefts and right in order to loop up the skirt portion. That's the programm for tomorrow.
Plus making a hat. And a vest.

I-can-do-it. I-can-do-it.

Woohoo !!! I. Am. Excited.
I just basted the sleeves in and tried the polonaise on... and it looks pretty darn awesome ! Pinned the trim in place to check distance from the edge. There's going to be more around the neckline and at the wrists, plus some going all the way around teh bottom of the polonaise.

The skirt is now complete except for closures. Yeah, I know. I'm pressed for time, and I'll probably end up taking the train to the event. I can handsew buttons on the train. I can pin a skirt closed if necessary. I can't fake missing sleeves or missing trim.
The fabric isn't a light green, it's actually a bit darker with little flowers - see ? I was a bit hesitant but in the end I find it works for the dress.

And I leave you with a box of cuteness...

No piccies, too lazy, too little time, too late at night. Most of my sewing has been night sewing lately (I got backk to work a week ago). I'm feeling soooo much better being back in the "business", and the kid is doing better each day with the sitter. Yay !
Anyway, the dress...
- skirt is trimmed, hemmed, placket-ed, waistline is marked, needs a waistband
- polonaise is put together, has collar and front facing, is hemmed. Needs closures and trimmings. And errr...
- sleeves are hemmed and have the first layer of trim.
The rest is just an idea right now. But I still feel good. After all, I can do without the vest if I'm really pressed for time !
(And I didn't mention it when it happened, but the top tie on my bustle ripped the other day. Repaired id, added two additional ties to take some of the strain. Hoping it'll hold. Note for next time I make this bustle : 1cm wide steel is TOO HEAVY)

It's late and I'm tired. That's what I get for sewing late into the night.
I've done some progress on the polonaise. Not enough to not feel stressed, as I need the gown in two weeks and it's still not done and OMG how am I going to finish everythingin time ? The dress is mostly put together - minus setting in the sleeves, which I won't attempt at this ungodly hour. The polonaise and skirt are hemmed, the skirt has a placket, the polonaise has darts. After putting the sleeves in, I have to decide on a trimming scheme (I have a clear plan for collar and sleeves already, yay !) and make it happen. As I'm now out of the dress's green fabric I'm using sheer yellow cotton organdi for trimmings. I originally bought it just for lining bodices, but in the end I think it's going to look better than my original plan (which was ruffles of dress fabric with small ruffles of white fabric peeking out underneath). My goal is to finish trimmings and closures (oh yes ! I need... wait, I need buttons ! I don't HAVE buttons ! Or maybe I do ? Mother-of-pearl would work okay enough... I need to search my boxes or go hunting ! - anyway, I need buttons and buttonholes) by the end of next week, and use the last, kid-free week for the hat, the batiste jacket, the hairdo and possible finishing touches like errr... finishing inside seams. *whistles innocently*
If I manage to make it, it's probably going to end as one of my favorite dresses so far. IF.

Current Mood: rushed

Mock-up #2 for the skirt portion of the polonaise. I was too lazy to dig around and exhumate the last pock-up, started from scratch, and now I'm all full of SQUEE! over how it looks ! Yay ! Now, please, dear Bastet, dear FSM, dear whateveryournameis-God-of-Fabric, make my fabric be enough for the dress !

Current Mood: happy

With Lady Darkstone's help, I got a mock-up that fit my torso for the polonaise. I even went as far as draping a sleeve tonight, and I love how it looks.
In the meantime, I also started emptying our closet/attic, which is going to get painted and reorganised over thenext couples of days. I put aside two trashbags and one big cardboard box of old clothes to be giben away, put everything into neat piles for which I found a place in the rest of the house, discovered I fit back into my green bustle dress and my leather skirt, and did a bunch of other things like going to a birthday party, buying groceries, playing with the kid and going to the fabric dealer -who didn't have any more of my bustle fabric. I think I can still make it if I piece the hell out of it. Worse comes worse, I can scrap the box pleat at the back of the polonaise and just leave a flat, not bunched-up point there. It's period as well.
I feel pretty awesome tonight !

Current Mood: accomplished

... with yet another very GREEN! mock-up. Don't worry, it's only the mock-up ! I solemnly swear no piece of the GREEN! fabric will be used on the actual dress. (please ignore the doll-sized armhole, I'm just working on the skirt portion for now !)

I'm not 100% happy about it. I think I need to sit on it a little. Any thoughts, LJ-brain trust ?

ETA : I think I have too much fabric at the side on both the front and side back piece, and not enough fabric at the CB and CF. Does that sound right ?

Current Mood: contemplative

... and also to some extent to prove to the world that yes, I AM crazy.

After completing the monster 1872 bustle from period instructions, I went on to the patching petticoat. Which calls for ruffles, LOADS of ruffles at the back. 4554 centimeters of them. Eeeeeep !

Current Mood: crazy

The stiff-ey poly-cotton blend is not longer stiff after washing.
I only pre-washed one of my two pieces before cutting out the petticoat.
The petticoat is going to be super pretty anyway, I'm really happy I used this very light fabric !
The fabric reacts really well to starching. Spray-starch is Good(tm).
I do indeed have some linen left over, but it's wouldn't be as fluffy.
I really, really need to re-organize my fabric stash.
La Mode Illustrée bound books get sold for a steal on french eBay these days.

Current Mood: hot

I keep forgetting I need a PETTICOAT over my Big Big Bustle. No petticoat I have will fit over THAT.
I can't remember whether or not I have enough white linen for it. Because if I have, it's in the kid's room. And the kid's finally asleep, after refusing to sleep this morning and sleeping just one hour this afternoon.
I could sacrifice part or all of my stiff-ey cotton-poly-mix, but I(m not sure how it would behave under another mostly cotton fabric.
I guess there's no way I can avoid the bodice, then...