Another Update

I finally did get a chance to wear my Elizabethan burgundy gown this fall. My SCA group hosted the Caid coronation for their majesties Wilhelm and Thaleia. I was helping with the feast, and on the day of the actual coronation, didn't get to dress up very much, as I was in the kitchen all day.



And so, I decided to go all out the next day, at Queen's Champion.




I also finally made my hood and cloak. I used the gray wool I bought at the fabric store near the Great Western War site. They can be worn together, if it's very cold, but probably look best when worn separately. The cloak is a simple half-circle, lined with cotton. It has a half-circle cut for the neck, but no other shaping.



The hood is lined in a turquoise-colored linen. I decided to make it completely by hand. I cut the basic shape, then added two triangular gores at the shoulders. When I made it, I thought I made the liripipe was ridiculously long, but after attending my first cold event, and seeing other people with hoods, I realized my liripipe is actually kind of short. Some make them so long that they drag the ground. Ah, conspicuous consumption. I tried out the method of making cloth buttons that I learned at Great Western War, and I thought they turned out well. I also made my own buttonholes by hand. They're messy, but sturdy. I was very pleased with how it turned out. I actually made a second one for our shire's yule gift exchange, which I think went over well.





I also bought myself an inkle loom, and have been playing with string. I've decided inkle-woven belts are amazing. Leather belts don't look right with women's clothing, and the grossgrain-ribbon-belt I attempted was pretty much a disaster. But I love my inkle woven belt. I need to make more with patterns.




Okay, now I'm updated. I've been attending more SCA events recently, and I find that this leaves less time to sew. I think I've landed on a 16th century Italian persona. My name and device are going through the registry process, so my fingers are crossed. I have two projects I want to get started on soon. One is a blue doublet, and one is a lower-class, working Italian dress, possibly with a hemp-corded bodice. I also want to explore blackwork embroidery.

Update: Halloween

As I noted in the last post, I have been working on sewing projects recently, I've just been horrible about blogging and posting pictures of them.

The first of the un-blogged-about projects was way back to Halloween. I did help a couple of friends with their Halloween costumes. I was asked to help with a replica of the "Amnita" dress from the stage version of Phantom of the Opera. Many pictures of the various versions can be found here: http://aneafiles.webs.com/potocostumes/aminta.html.



We did a quick Victorian corset and knee-length hoop skirt as supportive garments. The dress is made of an orange-y-peach synthetic silk replica that I found for $1/yard. The bodice is a small piece of brocade, and the under-skirt is actual silk that I found for a very low $3/yard. I love that fabric store. My only issues were that the skirt does not come far enough around the front (as we were running out of fabric and trim by that point), and the underskirt should have been out of a darker fabric - something mostly black with only a few lighter-colored swirls.





This girl is also quite the Phantom Phan (as am I), which made this project a lot of fun. She also sings angelically. Her rendition of "Think of Me" is effortless.

Another friend asked for help with a Mad Hatter costume (from the most recent Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland). We made only the hat and jacket. The hat came out fabulously, though it was so top-heavy that it was very difficult to wear. We added a chin-tie, though it didn't really help.




My jacket-making skills leave much to be desired. I probably should have bought and followed a pattern. Oh, well. But I think the owner was okay with it. Here she is before the rest of the ensemble was put together:



We, along with a few others, actually made it onto the website for the local radio station. I was trying out my Elizabethan gown.

Organization

My messy sewing room had become a burden on my soul. I really had no place to put my fabric. There was an attempt at some form of organization in my closet, but it was inadequate for the shear volume of fabric. So fabric ended up in neat piles on the floor. And then the piles became less neat, and began creeping toward the center of the room. Soon it had taken over.

As for the ribbon, trim, thread, buttons, and even sewing notions that I bought, there was no place to put that either. Most things ended up staying in the plastic bag they came home in, which where stashed under the ironing board. The things for one project were mostly together, but I would forget what I had, and was unable to find things when I needed them.

So, I bought some fairly inexpensive metal shelves, and some fabric cube bins, and organized everything. All the fabric was cleared out of the closet, so I would have room to actually hang my costumes. Fabric is on the bottom two shelves, and ribbon, trim, yarn, buttons and beads, corset hardware, patterns, and all my sewing notions are in the bins. My goal shall be to sew up the fabric I have as I buy new, so that I hopefully won't have more than will fill the bottom two shelves.


Actual room in the closet for costumes!

New shelves.

I even had room for Mildred the Non-Living Dress Form to move back into the sewing room!

All my neatly labeled bins.

Also, I've been busy, I've just been horrible at blogging recently. I'll post more project pictures soon.