green_martha

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 )

... or not. I just ordered a pattern for the casaque. Went for the Mill Farm pattern. Don't feel up to making it up from scratch. And have settled on the fabric, thanks to lady_darkstone. It's blue and washable, and I should have enough of it for the casaque and matching petticoat. Which is better than the silk I'm not sure I'd have enough of for both. The silk will get use for some fabulous victorian fanciness, I promise. I have plans. I just need excuses and err... a flat belly. :D And time, obviously.

I even uploaded them onto the computer. Except they're crappy mirror pictures, so crappy that all of them are so dark and blurry you can't see *anything*. Okay, that's a lie. One of them is sharp. A back picture. But you can only see about one third of my back...
I promise, I'll try to take better pics by daylight.
The state of things right now is that I'm inserting boning into the jumps. I'm making the 1790 white linen jumps in Jill Salen's Corsets (thanks Gloria for reminding me there were some in there !) and so far, things are looking good. Looks like they'll give me support in the right places without compressing the belly and will be pretty comfy. I'm debating about putting some boning into the front diagonal channel or not. Salen herself is unsure, will have to check the fit.
And then, I still have no idea what to choose for the fabric. I'm a bit bummed about using my remaining silk for that. Not that I don't like the color or else but I'm not that thrilled about making two costumes in a row with the same fabric. Aaaaand I'll wear this in August, it might be hot, and thus I'd like something more washable in case I sweat myself to death...

Edith sayz : the jumps are a tad too big. And I'm still undecisive about what to wear over them. Must find a way to fiw them first, though.

Not that I'm much of a pattern-using person myself, I tend to stick to period diagrams and draping a lot. But right now, I'm making a knock-off of my cushion slipcover pregnancy blouse (have to come up with a better name for it... although the one I'm making now ? Out of an old bedspread and matching slipcovers) for a pregnant friend and I had a little angel ask for the pattern as well. So while I'm making the blouse's second version, I'm taking note so as to make a proper pattern with instructions. And discovering that takes alot more time than just flying by the seat of my pants like I usually do. I have a whole tank of newly gained respect for all people that make patterns, it's not as simple as it sounds. Not really hard for this particular garment, but there are a lot of steps and you have to write it all down. But the process is quite interesting. And the blouse will look cute.

I kinda mentioned I was sewing some pregnancy stuff, right ? Well, here it is, two new skirts for the summer - and also for after th epregnancy if I did my stuff right. Which I think I did. Drawstring waist FTW, baby !

I can't remember whether or not I mentioned this awesome fabric earlier... ? It's some kind of poly stuff that hasn't been designed to ever see an iron, with an underlayer that feels slightly more like light cotton, and a shiny top layer, both being woven together in some spots which form the flower design. There's a 20cm part that's tightly gathered with elastic. I just had to buy two repeats of the design, cut them apart, sew them up the sides, hem, and add a drawstring. Plus some minor adjusting up the sides. Lazy and effective, and much appropriate to hold a growing belly ! The drawstring should make me able to gather them tighter after pregnancy as well.
Up first, the short pink and purple skirt. I have a matching bright pink jersy to make a matching top.
The frightening part here is I noticed this is my definition of a short skirt. I don't really feel at ease in anything shorter, unless I can wear opaque thighs under it. I'm kind aold-fashioned, right?


And the long cream one. I made it a little less full at the bottom, more tibe-shaped.
On both skirt you see a close-up of the drawstring and how the elastic part goes over into the non-gathered part. I just love it !

Pictures !

The colors are less red-orange in real life, as always, my digicam picks up red tones waaaaayyy better than any others. It still needs a hem at the bottom, as proved by the obvious wonkiness, but I don't trust myself to do it on my own right now. I've been feeling very down today, with cramped neck and upset stomach, and I don't want to mess this up. I'll wait until I feel better or can meet with lady_darkstone for help. Too bad she was here yesterday and not today.

...to bed. I feel stupidly tired, although I haven't done anything really productive today. Yesterday I was so on the roll, and now I'm collapsing like a bread in an open oven. I'll try to get up reasonnably early tomorrow to compensate, and maybe work on the blouse some more. The body is almost assembled, after which I'll need to fin da way to attach it to the yoke so that it looks alright.
I saw a beautiful smocked blouse today in town, now I want to try my hand at smocking. Please slap me on the head and kick this idea out of my brain !

ETA : okay, I lied, I *did* finish assembling the body of the blouse and cut the neckline to match the yoke. I still think it'd look gorgeous with smocking but that would require hunting for some golden thread to really match the fabric. And since I'm lazy and trying to not buy any more supplies to make my Matrioshka wardrobe, I'll highly probably stick to just pleats and bows. Because I *have* to use every possible last scrap of fabric, right ?
OMG I jsut realized, I'll soon have an excuse to sew fabric dolls. I need to start collecting fabric scraps again. Oh my !

There's not enough awekeness in me to take advantage of it before work when I have an "early" shift ("" because I'm a lazy bum and realize this would be late for almost anyone else in the world) and when I come home after work and running some errands it's gone. I long for the return of endless summer days...
But today ? No work. No excuse.

The beige and white one is the one I made on Friday. The striped one I made yesterday evening. 'Cause we're leaving in a few minutes for Gap (a town some two hours down the South where my parents spend their vacations, not the shop !) and I needed something to wear. See, anielmom, I was wrong, I could not use the stripes horizontally - because I had bought just the right amount of fabric for *one* t-shirT. How unlike me is this ?
This is my shiny new pair of maternity jeans I'm wearing with those - although you don't get to see them in their full awesomeness. But trust me, they're awesome. And super-extra-comfy.

Now I'm off to finish packing my stuff and hop into the car. Yay !

I guess I'm officially officially pregnant. The social security (national health insurance) sent me the confirmation that they got my pregnancy papers.
And then I bought two pair of maternity pants - because of all the ones I have, only two are still wide enough and not too worn off to be wearable to work, and I suspect one might get too tight anyday now. The other was one or two sizes too big, so it might hold a little longer. Most skirts won't be comfortable much longer either, in fact I had a big sigh of relief when I switched from my flower hippie skirt today into the maternity jeans.
I also bought a maternity t-shirt - quite cute, without "rock'n roll mother" or my due date or anything of the like written on it, don't worry justmiaou ! So now I have a pattern I can easily duplicate. Reverse engineering rulez !
Yes, I'm trying to justify the $$$$ I spent on those three items. The shop I went to is rather upscale, but judging from the cut of the pants, I can't complain. Methinks I looked quite spiffy in the jeans and black t-shirt today. Except for the glitter that did not quite want to stay *just* on the t-shirt. *ducks and run from the above-mentioned lady*
Okay, of to work. If I want a new t-shirt for tomorrow, I'd better make it !


OMG we got the new printer today. And it's HUGE ! This thing weights over 30 kilos and it's a giant 80*80*50 centimeters box. The HG is playing away with it right now, and we have no idea where it'll reside int he long run. Probably under our desks.

So a little trip to H&M persuaded me that I'd have much more fun making clothes than buying them. I zoomed straight home (ok, I did not zoom that much, there are speed limitations) and sat at the Darth Matrioshka empire dress. When everythign was done but the hems I went to try it on and *whooosh*, seems one of the neckline laces wasn't secured enough, and it slipped right out of its casing. Aaargh !
I need some nutella. And finding comfort int he idea that in less than an hour I'm off to see Heimlich - that's the baby's name until we know whether it's a he or a she.
"I'm a nice little putterfly..."