What I wanted to find at this year’s trip to the LA Garment District was something to go with this hot pink and silver (polyester) sari I’ve had in the Stash for years: I made a sketch of my costume concept in Tara Maginnis’ drawing class at Costume College (shown at left). The idea is
Berthas are ugly and hard to make! But I’m getting there — evidence is in my folder on the Y!Group. Photo of my bodice with the bertha pinned on and lace pinned on (but not gathered). OMG I hate berthas! So completely ugly. And it kept angling weird, and the pleats went wonky on me
Ok, back to the salt mines of my masquerade costume. Ugh. Trim. I usually love trim. But frickin’ rows of ribbon are BORING and TEDIOUS and my back is KILLING me from sitting at the machine. Of course, the next thing after that is hand-sewing, not any better. Whee! <— note facetiousness.
I have my base skirt assembled with the 2 tiers of black lace. I realize my lace is rather heavier than in the original, but ah well, it *is* a lovely embroidered lace and the pattern. I think, overall, my gown is going to be darker than the original. My purple is darker, my lace
Katherine and Kendra, thanks for both of your opinions! I do like the shape of the petticoat — hard to tell in the fabrics picture, but when I floofed it all around, the skirt looked like it will have a really good shape, well-domed, true enough to the period, imo. Which was the whole point
Didn’t someone suggest that the shorties (like, ehem, Sarah and me) wear a little bit of a heel? If so, I have simple black pumps with louie heels that would work. I’ll also keep trolling my thriftstore for white that I can dye to match my gown, but there’s enough black lace on mine that
It came down to the wire, but I did it! I finished the outfit in time and, despite some trouble actually getting to the event due to weather and map issues, I had a wonderful time at the Elizabeth and the Pirate Feast! But first, the finishing pieces…
Last night, I hemmed 180″ or so inches of velveteen overskirt. By hand. And stabbed myself in the thumb about two feet from the end. Where’s my Purple Heart medal now? Guess there’s the blood to add to all the sweat and tears that have gone into this costume. I also finally sewed skirt hooks
My carpool driver is on vacation this week. I got a ride to work yesterday, but I had to take the bus to work today. I decided to make the best of it and sew during the hour-long trek. Even though I don’t have coffee until I get to the office. Quelle horror! Wasn’t too
Ta-da! Mom beaded one sleeve, I beaded the other. We are certifiably nuts. She, even more so, because she’s also beading the forepart. And I married into nutjobs because my stepmom-in-law helped bead the forepart and called today to say she could come back this week and bead more. Wow. I am the luckiest (and
12 noon to 8pm — beading! Me, Mom, and Deb. We finished both sleeves and about half of the forepart. Mom took the forepart home to finish herself, and she also took the trim home to pearl, if she has time. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow, I’ll assemble the inner sleeves and hopefully get to all the fastenings.
I’ve finally been beading. Watching an awful Sharks game is apparently more conducive to beading than watching an engrossing Bronte adaption. Doesn’t look like much, does it? Well, it isn’t. I suspect Mom has gotten farther along on her sleeve, even though she started later than me. And hers will look much tidier, of course.
So here I am last night, prepping the top edge of the skirt for cartridge-pleating. I’m using a strip of gingham because (a) I have a boat-load leftover from a previous cartridge-pleated skirt, (b) it makes for super-fast and easy marking, that is, no marking needed, just count off the squares, which is simpler when
Two hours to bead five rows on this one sleeve. 20 rows total on this one sleeve (and I started at the wrist, so I’ve only done the short rows; haven’t gotten to the widest rows yet). Two sleeves total. I don’t do math, but let’s just calculate that at 18 gazillion hours to finish
I’m having a rather “what would Kendra do?” time with this costume as I realize I really have to just suck it up and do a boatload of hand-sewing. Especially on these sleeves. There are just so many bits that are too fiddly for the machine, either they plain won’t fit because they’re too thick