24 Hrs and Counting.

Well, here it is: Booger Christmas mates with Great Pumpkin:


redover

I quite obviously haven't hemmed yet. Yes, beth....I'm waiting for you. Adam's pinning was not to my liking--and there were other issues that will be illuminated below.
So....the rundown:
The overdress is fully reversible booger/red. The box pleats are cheated a little, since I didn't have enough fabric for full box pleats. it has the effect at least.
Here it is reversed to booger:


The thing I DON'T like about my overdress is that I have the top lacing rings placed too high. I have to take some out and readjust to get my spiral lacing working again. Blast. But the top ribbon of the overdress lacing is HIGHER than the neckline of the ornge, and it just looks stupid. I haven't hemmed because I need to get up inside the bodice to make these adjustments.

And!!!!!!!! Wheeeee!!!!!!!!!! My adorable hat came in:


This is my favorite part of the overdress: How the lacings rings are embeded into the edge seam to expose only a half circle:

lacings

That's all for now. No doubt there will be Beth/Julie pictures after the weekend.

Beth--I really will TRY to clean before you get here. But I apologize to you and the dress engineer in advance for the mess. :)

Julie's "Episode"

Last night, I couldn't find my kirtle. It was completely gone. Poof. Needless to say, with the deadline looming, I completely lost it (mentally). Hubby was sweet and was looking all around for it, and it literally was not anywhere in our apt. I was crying, throwing a little hissy and accusing him of throwing it out (as it had been bundled up in a grocery bag). This is 1) because I'm just that crazy when it comes to costuming, and 2) because I'm PMSing. Poor hubby.
In a stroke of...well, not brilliance, more like stupidness....I realized I had been working on it in my carpool partner's car. Thank god it was still in there. I couldn't imagine the fallout if I lost AN ENTIRE DRESS! I raced over to get it straight away, even though I could've waited for this morning when we leave for work. Neurotic? Why, YES.

So, between last night's dress scare and watching Lost, I worked on my overgown bodice. I decided, as beth suggested, on the green rather than the yellow. It makes my dress look much more drab and peasanty. Drab is a good thing. The yellow would've been just a bit on the chipper side. The green is a grey-green sage, and rather like pale boogers. Matched with my red overgown material, I have named the overgown "booger christmas." This with my newly recovered "great pumpkin" kirtle combines my two favorite holidays, albeit in a sorta perverse way.

No pics of booger christmas yet, since I can't lace it til I install the lacing rings. But this should placate you. Behold, the great pumpkin:


Pumpkin'd !!
(photo alteration courtesy of a clever coworker)

I Got Nuthin'

Not an ounce of sewing last night--didn't touch a piece of fabric all night. Happy anniversary to us! Let me just say that the Flaming Turtle Fondue distraction was WELL worth the missed sewing. Adam practically had to roll me home.
Hope my dress still fits. ;)

I think I will frantically cut and sew my outer dress bodice tonight after my music lesson. More to come.

Let me also say that I'm wavering on my colors AGAIN!!!! God, I'm fickle. Do I line the outer dress with the yellow linen? Or my light greyish sage linen/cotton? Hrmmmm.....The yellow requires less ironing (pro)....The sage is not as bright (which is a pro in this list). I guess I'll decide when it comes to cutting tonight. Livin' on the edge. Story of my life. ;)

Recycled Pics

Well, last night I got much less done than I had anticipated. This is because I'm addicted to that Prisonbreak show. Oh, and the internet. Definitely addicted to the internet.

Anyway, after work my carpool buddy and I stopped at Trader Joe's--a sidetrip that took significant amounts of sewing time away, but yielded some very tasty vittles... I think I must have Beth explain me to about prioritizing. This is apparently a foreign concept.

I got home and managed to at least draft the overdress bodice pattern successfully. I'm having that 3 seamed "v" thing in the back. Like this:


vback (detail from Festive Attyre site)

Besided aggregiously over-estimating strap width on the back straps, it came out fitting well and just about what I'd envisioned. I'll just hack off that extra bit of strap. With any luck, I'll get some of the pattern pieces cut out tonight, but we've got anniversary dinner planned, so who knows if it'll actually happen or not.

Other news: Finally got my bodice lining whipstitched into place on the commute in this morning.
I DESPERATELY need to hem my kirtle. But no one was home to help me pin last night. I suppose I could have Adam "pin me to the floor" as part of our anniversary celebration, eh?
Tres romantique.

Pockets!

I worked Sunday to finish up the kirtle. I got most of it done. I'm whipstitching the bodice lining into place on my commute today. My pleating could use some work, admittedly. Perhaps if i measured before hand... Oh well, I'm a peasant. I'm allowed to look a little "hand-done". The back is not really crooked like it looks in the pic, just the lacing ribbon I wrapped around my waist is. I do wish I'd make the back waistline a bit shorter, as it bunches a little...

Check out my pocket! Don't I look leisurely in my GQ pose? We'll not speak of how I sewed them on inside out (ahem...twice) before getting them right. Here it is in full "glory." It still needs hemming:

pleats

pocket!

socks

I couldn't resist puttin ths pic in. These socks are ridiculously funny. Love my new leather slippers, though!
Hrm...an iron wouldn't hurt, eh?

Now I need to knock out the overdress so I can stop feeling like the Great Pumpkin....

Creamsicle

Today, not only did I GO to renfest (noncostumed), but I also worked on my costume for NEXT weekend's renfesting. So very productive when I have to be...

My evening was spent bodicing. I decided to line my bodice in heavy non-stretchy canvas in an attempt to make it sturdy without needing boning. After I cut out the lining, I tried it on with my lacing strips, and made a few changes--shortened the torso, made the straps a bit narrower and the neckline a bit higher. I threw caution to the wind at this point and decided to cut into my dyed orange linen (afraid of screwing up since I only dyed 3.5 yds--just enough for the dress).

I've finished sewing the bodice lining into the bodice, and gave it another test try-on with the lacing strips. I also pinned some fabric around the waistline to see what sort of gathering/pleating I might like to do. I think I've decided on the small box pleats off to the front sides, with a flat front to avoid pouchiness under the over dress. Here's what it may look like:

bodice and pleats

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The fabric color really IS mottled, thanks to a botched dye job. ;) And there is that pesky under boob wrinkle. I assume the weight of the skirt once sewn on will help that a bit. I could bone it, but honestly, this is supposed to be my comfy dress. And I'm justifying it by saying that many of the flemish paintings featured wrinkly bodiced ladies. So its authentic....yes....
Oh, and I couldn't wait to try on the partlet with the bodice/dress, so that's why that pic is there.

So, to do:
1) Put eyelets into bodice for lacing--I"m considering the big ole grommets, as it will be a time saver, and theoretically covered by the overdress. I can always thread cover them later. But i really hate the big ones. I just don't know if i could finish eyelets in time....
2) Pleat and Attach skirt to bodice
3) Sleeves--I plan to whip these out fast.
4)Overdress?--If there is time
5) Black partlet?--I picked up a remnant today, just in case

Maybe:
Prewash skirt lining (a cotton/linen I picked up today for $2/yd)
Assemble skirt and lining

So, question for the peanut gallery:
I am not positive about lining the skirt. I think it will give it more weight since the linen is pretty light. It would make it hotter for summer, I guess (but it is a cotton/linen lining, so not too bad). That above pic is with two layers of my linen pinned on, and I like the fullness, so maybe lining would be good. What do you guys think? Keep in mind that the overdress skirt will be 2 layers of linen, too. I can't decide!

Oh, and what do you think of my eyelet predicament? Big grommets, or little ones that will take me much time to cover with thread (i do have a decent commute to work where I could probably do this, though).

The Eleven Day Race

I have let this project go in a major way. My renfest date with Beth and (hopefully) Niter is 11 days and counting. It occurs to me that I better get my butt into gear and knock out my peasant gear!

So, I've got the caul, smock, partlet and corset. Lets ignore the fact that I've put on 25 lbs since April, thus making my wonderful new corded corset...tight. Tight is a bit of an understatement..."Unyieldingly and constricting-ly body-hugging" might be a more apt term.
So, what to do with the rest of the costume? I think I will make it of the size to fit the corset, so that it all matches SOMEday. Meanwhile, I may opt out of corsetry wear for this go-round of renfesting. The kirtle is gonna be side lacing, so if the gaps are a little bigger, so be it. They will be under the outergown, anyway (assuming I finish the outer gown in time, which is a leap of faith on my part).

So, last night I dug out all my fabrics, and also lined up my finished pieces on the table to make myself feel better.
I think its working, as today I've felt a very keen desire to go fishing about on my favorite costuming sites--something that I actually haven't done for quite some time.

On the agenda for tonight--Bodice Drafting (cuz i'm daft, and I accidentally threw out the pattern I used for the corset). I take that back. I actually found the pattern. I raised the neckline a bit and widened the straps to cover the corset straps in case I can fit into it some day. I think the neckline could still be a bit higher. I'm quite happy with the position of the lacings. I think its actually a little too big for me, though. I guess that means all the cords in the corset really shrink it a great deal, cuz this is the same exact size pattern. Now I don't feel so bad....
Here is my work in progress:




I decided the v back neckline would be nice. Mental note to shorten the back waistline a bit so it doesn't do that bunching thing....