green_martha | Entries tagged with toad

Our trip to Vizille, with Heileen, Lady Darkstone (who was in a 100%-not-historical mood), and the kids was on Sunday. We were lucky to have reasonable weather (i.e. not too TOO hot). Despite a massive hair disaster, we managed to get there in time to say hi to our friend Antonia, have a picnic in the (gorgeous !) park, then went bakc home so that the kids could take their nap under the Home Geek's supervision (turns out they didn't want to nap that day, oh well...), went back to see the end of the battle and tour the museum some. It was fa-bu-lous. In fact, we had such a great time we didn't take that many pictures.

Only picture I have of Antonia's gorgeous Directoire gown...

The theme this year was 1792, so Heileen and I went with Directoire fashions. I re-wore the printed cotton I had made last year and focused on making new stuff for the kids. I just added a last minute cockade and changed the turban arrangement. I intended to add feathers but didn't have the energy in the morning, and decided I didn't want to brave the wind int he afternoon, so the feathers stayed in the car. Heileen wore her fabulous pleated back Ikea-sheets Directoire gown, that I had not seen in person yet.

Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français, 32e.
Cahier de Costumes Français, 25e
Suite d'Habillemens à la mode en 1780 -
Museum of Fine Art, Boston

Heimlich has outgrown last year's skeleton suit, so he got a new one. I just changed the lapels' color form the original plate to make it more patriotic. I made him a new chemisette out of linen and cotton scraps, the jacket and trousers are of plain Ikea cotton with buttons I found on eBay ages ago (labelled as ex-DDR buttons); the scarf is a simple tube from a remnant of my han bok project. Yay for a 100% from stash project ! I didn't ahe the time to hunt down correct shoes nor make a new hat, so he wore the same non-period hat as last year (which he loves loves loves. When I dug it out on Saturday he had to wear it to breakfast !) and his usual shoes.

My fabrics for Toad being very fine and transparent, I made her an underdress to go under the "chemisete" sic), a simple green cotton chemise-style dress fitted with two drawstrings around the neckline and chest ( a few detail shots, including growth tucks, here). The white chemise dress is put together out of rectangles and triangular underarm gores, with just one drawstring at the neckline. The fabric is a fake eyelet lace (the "embroidered" parts are actually some kind of printed puff paint... yeah, I know, puff paint... *giggles*). The cap was a last minute addition, from cutting diagrams from the Kannik's Korner infant pattern. I only had to buy the ribbon for the ties, everything else came form the stash as well. In fact, except the white fabric, everything came from the scraps bin.
All of my pictures are on FlickR, Heileen's are there as well.

Now, I obviously need to print and start carrying business cards around, especially when I'm in costume. We had one lady come up to us with stars in her eyes "Did you make that ?" "Can I touch it !" "Oooooh the back is beaaaaautiful..." I gave her my mobile phone number, but I felt like such a fool for not having the cards ready.

Current Mood: accomplished

It was HARD to get those two pictures. Almost heroic I'd say, but I did it. Proof that the new skeleton suit fit.I've patterned and cut out the lapels, and just patterned the cuffs. Right now I'm trying to get some pants done. I patterned them at the playground this morning, yay for playground friends that keep the kids busy !
Oh yeah, I have pictures of my commission to post as well. The client was super happy, I'd have tweaked a few more things if I had had more time, but on the whole I'm pleased. And happy that I got this done with just one fitting for a body type I'm very, very unfamiliar with. The pictures are still in the digicam, though
Other than that, Nounou is on vacation for five weeks, so we're all pretty busy here. If it could just cool down a few degrees, or be horribly rainy for a few days, I'd be perfectly happy.

Current Mood: busy

As in, costume parts ;)
First the finished chemisette for Heimlich. Linen remnant, poly-cotton batiste remnant, mother-of-pearl button, and well, elastic in the casing at the bottom for ease of dressing the wiggly child.
And on the right is a sneak peak of Toad's underdress. I'm using the source assembled on Pinterest by Heileen and Corsetra (THANK YOU ladies !). I ended up making a second, large hem at the bottom as the original narrow one wasn't exactly straight (the fabric stretches in weird directions) and it was a bit long for Toad.

No Heimlich dear, it's just the pitcher. Not every liquid is a variation of tea. ^^
Ah kids ! Keeping you up all day (and some nights as well), burping and barfing onto your favorite pair of jeans... and growing two inches in three months, making every thought of rewearing last year's skeleton suit absurd. maybe I can pretend Toad is a boy and stick her into the old suit ? Her own costume was already two small by its first outing, and she now needs something she can (attempt to) walk in...)
The plan for now is to make new outfits for both kids (machine-sewing everything and cutting some corners with authenticity) to make a 1790s visit to 1792 Vizille in July. I'd rewear my blue printed two-piece. If everything goes according to plan, Heimlich will have a new skeleton suit with cream pants, red jacket, possible cream cuffs, and a dickey that's almost done. And Toad should have white dress over a green slip. And a pudding cap if I manage to not sleep for one month straight. I suspect my plan will be a little TOO ambitious, I'll spend half of June on the beach and I'll have to scale down, but at least, I'll try.

I'm sorry, I'm a bit slow lately. Sick, very tired, aching, that's the short version.

( But my kids are cute ! )

I hope this was somehow readable, my head is swirling from the pain, and staying on the computer for more than a few minutes at a time is kinda hard...

Current Mood: sore
Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/345165.html

Cause it's totally what I'm doing, blog-wise. I guess being away for a week and then taking care of the two kids accounts for some of my silence, but mostly, I'm just too lazy/busy to type, and I don't feel like I have that much to show. I suck at taking pictures lately, I hope I'll get some next week-end - yay, costume outing !
The skeleton suit is still untried, but I got the shoes and they fit. Not sure I'll try to put a hat on the little pirate.
The big pirate is all set - 18th century shirt, shorts, probably barefoot, a tricorn, a sextant and a parrot.
The little princess has an almost finished frock - I need ties but the ribbon and the like I have here is too wide for the scale, except satin ribbon, and I don't wan to ruin the look of the (handsewn !) frock with ugly satin ribbon. This does require me going shopping some and it's not something I really want to do with to kids in tow, hence the procrastinating.
As for myself, knowing I have a few outfits to fall back on isn't really helping me work on the regency. I'm making small progress though. The three bodices are done - skirt bodice, jacket lining, jacket outside, yeah, they're all different. Sleevil was conquered in just two mock-ups (o_O). I have one half of the jacket skirts patterned and cut out, so they're almost done. After that, the skirt itself, and small knicknack - small, but time-consuming. Like ruffles everywhere, hooks and eyes, a belt, hems, and wristbands... I'm not sur eI can get it done by the 20th. Well I *could* get it done, I'm just not sure I want to over-tire myself doing it. Making a bodiced or a strapped petticoat would be nice, too. And I will need some type of head covering for our september outing (Heileen when do you want to come ? The house is all open !).
And well... I guess that's it for the costume update. Not much going on here, really.

... the precious little princess (in lack of a more personal term for the moment), our Toad(ette) :

More piccies by clicking on the above one !

And a little addenda to the litterary request in my last post : puh-leeze, nothing that will make me want to hang myself in my bathroom, 'kay ? I had to set aside the Hans Fallada book I had left because of that. I'm feeling pretty much okay, thank you very much, don't want to kick-start a post-partum depression, no matter how much of a masterpiece of classical litterature the book is.

Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/342315.html

... but I dunno where the HG pput the DSLR that's hosting the newest pictures. So this ost is going to be veyr much picture-less, which is a shame. Anyone who wants them is welcome to hold the staples that keep my belly together for me until tomorrow. :D
Little Ariane was born on Tuesday, she's pretty much perfect. I'm in more pain than I was after Gabriel's birth but I also feel a lot better. I was able to move around quicker and sent home earlier. The little one sleeps much better than her older brother did at the same age. We're trying to slowly adjust to being back home right now, and I'm enjoying the recliner we bought for her sleeping area. Best. Deal. Ever. She's currntly sleeping in her crib next to me.

I have two rants, though. first : bereastfeeding ayatollahs. I tried breastfeeding Heimlich, I failed miserably, crumbled under the stress, it took me months to get better, both physically and mentally. I know breastfeeding is a really really good solution, I know it works in most cases. I was infuriated when I read in a paper graciously given to all young mothers at the hospital that "it works for everyone" (the sentence after that ? "It's very rare when it doesn't work" or something like that... yay, brilliant rethoric !). IIt'd have been a tremendous help for me back then if someone had really taken the time to talk my issues through with me and had acutally sreached for some possible issue. I had to search the net for days until I noticed an article by the Leche League (not in my mother tongue, thank goddess I understand english) about thoracic surgeries and breastfeeding. Had I known beforehand about the issue, I'd probably still would have tried breastfeeding, but it would have saved me a lot of guilt and anguish. I would have considered the option of it just not working for me. This time, I only cam accross one midwife who tried to talk me into it - I also had to change my heart medication in order to breastfeed Heimlich, and so far from all the medication we tried there's only one that I tolerate well (and when I say one, I mean one particular molecule, in one type of packaging, from one specific brand) - and she started talking about how there are different substitutes I could try for this medication. Yeah. Like I want to spend one month each time trying out each of the five possible options. Oh wait, how much does she know about which betablockers I should take, given she's a MIDWIFE ? Hellooooooooooooooooooo ? Can't she just take a simple "no, I've tried it, I won't do it again" as an answer ?

Rant #2 : ... will wait, Ariane is waking up :)

Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/341868.html

Lady Darkstone has named 2011 "the year of crap". Because small annoyances of no life-threatening nature tend to crop up with alarming regularity. Explaining how, for example, my website is now on its fourth version since January (and a lot emptier) - my Mom had a hard time grasping that no, there wasn't one particular reason like repeated failure of one single item behind this. Just lot of small crap.
So right now, tonight, I discovered that my website is once again broken (it happens regularly when you have a geek coding around on it. Except said geek hasn't been coding around on it lately. So : NOT normal). And then the scanner did "rbtbrtbrtbrbtbrtbrtbrt" and refused to scan more than one fifth of a page. Not normal either. I kinda suspect it didn't like me flopping it over onto old books rather than the opposite.
Well, the books aren't replacable, the scanner is. The website, though its precise current status remains unknown, is fixable - in the broader meaning of the word : I can make it again if necessary. So there's a pile of small crap again but dammit, I'm not going to let it get me down. Of course both things annoy me to no end and keep me awake. I used that awake time to get most of the work done on colouring the birth announcement card. Now I need to let the picture rest until I have some daylight to adjust some things but really, I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and getting it to a "mostly done" state has lifted a huge weight from my shoulders.

I have a lot of other things to post about, like some late teens/early 1920s costuming plans, or the 18th century extant gowns, but I'd want to post pictures and right now, I can't. besides, I'm starting to finally get tired enought o go to sleep, and my feet are complaining that I've sat on my chair for too long. Just a short note : if any of you happen to be near Lyon between now and September, there's a great costume exbhition there.

Current Mood: weird
Crossposts: http://green-martha.livejournal.com/337506.html

It seems I just bought two new Mode Illustrée books. I'm particularly happy about the 1867 one, as the earlier you get, the harder the books are to find - and the more the prices tend to sky-rocket. Both were *cough* relatively *cough* cheap. It's still a bit much for my finances right now but well... I guess I needed something really positive to make up for feeling so crappy lately.
I was almost back to normal yesterday, walked the kid to his nanny and stayed up (not excessevely late) to insert the busk in the Erris corset (which I partially screwed-up, turns out)... and today was super-low again. Lesson learned: don't try to be a human being, slug is more accessible to you.