viennabelle

Late yesterday I got news about a friend who I've come to know as a fellow volunteer in my work with persons of disability. Friday he was laid off his job, after more than two decades of work for the American Bar Association. The part that is most difficult is the timing. He's got a particularly nasty kind of blood cancer and had returned to work after completing the latest in a series of treatments (small bone marrow transplants, which he has been responding to). He can manage without the job, but he can't carry COBRA and the components not covered by insurance for long.

So, losing his job ends up being a virtual death warrant.

This morning, I decided it's time to pull political favors that I've never used. I'm asking every lawyer I know to contact ABA for his immediate reinstatement for humanitarian reasons. So far, everyone is responding favorably. My network is largely Democratic, though a friend of mine who is a retired Republican Governor is trying to work his network, too.

So...if anyone reading this is a lawyer or has top legal contacts--PM me. I'll give you details.

I'm in the process of posting the videos and photos I took at CostumeCon. It's taking quite a while...

My overall impression of the event is marvelous! I loved the company, catching up with old friends and the amazing workmanship on stage and in the hallways. I made a point of dipping my feet in the sci-fi/fantasy water by taking a fang workshop. There were two dramas (my course fee was stolen and a discussion I had led someone to make injurious remarks about another costumer after I'd left) but these hiccups couldn't hurt the generally happy experience I had. I left feeling inspired and creatively stimulated, which is always the best takeaway!

To get started, here is a video of the Simplicity fashion show, showing the display of the new Wizard of Oz patterns:

I'm about off to drive from Virginia to New Orleans, LA tomorrow. I've been to NOLA several times, but this my first time driving there. Does anyone know of any "must sees" (or "must shops") in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham or Hattiesville?

Thanks to the oracle that is LJ, I settled on an inspiration for my kirtle--a detail of a servant in an altar painting in Bergamo (as usual, click to embiggen)! Is this not fantastic??? Subconsciously, this is exactly what I was aiming towards. My wool (for those who asked, I got it a few years ago from Burnley & Trowbridge--it's supposed to look like walnut dyed wool) But achieving this look requires more wool trim.

I finally completed my work yesterday by 2:30 pm and zoomed off to Needle & Thread (Gettysburg, PA) by way of Discount Fabrics (Thurmont, MD). My first stop was less inspired. I found good deals at Discount Fabrics--just nothing I really wanted. Ok, I'll be honest, I did drool over several of the silks and gawked at the huge leather skins they had--and then moved on. I was under the gun to get to Gettysburg with enough time to shop Needle & Thread.

While Burnley and Trowbridge is my all time favorite supplier, I do enjoy my visits to Needle and Thread. It  is an old fashioned, homey fabric store (complete with a Apocalyptically-inspired clerk that just amused the heck out of me) that caters to quilters and civil war reenactors. My first objective was to get more wool twill tape to match the other twill tape that I'd got out of the stash. The tape I'd had was a rather harsh tone of yellow, so I'd dyed it to get it to a lovely scarlet color. I was pretty sure we had picked up the original wool twill from Wooded Hamlet--a vendor who had left sutlering and sold off her business to Needle and Thread. To my surprise, the scarlet braid they had in stock was close in color--but lacked the muted variation I'd achieved in my hand dyed stuff. So, I bought the desired yardage in same the harsh yellow I'd started with, which was also in stock.   I also got some other miscellaneous tapes, wool cording, a bit of vintage lace and a half yard of some very cute quilting cotton for a doll dress.  I was quite pleased. Here is the stash, minus the tape (angldst --the baggie of buttons is the grab bag I got for you)...



BTW--the wool tape isn't there because I immediately put it to simmer in the dye I had left over from the first bit of tape.

Since I tend to discount shop, I am a fairly frequent re-dyer, especially of the trims and embroidery floss that I pick up on sale. For living history demos, I love natural dyeing, but for day-to-day sewing, I tend towards the convenience of fiber reactive dyes. For this project, I used a combo of Pro-Chemical's Polar Red and a little bottle of Jacquard's Poppy Red silk dye, along with a good dollop of white vinegar. Pro-Chemical sells neat little sample kits, which are perfect to keep on hand for small jobs like trimmings--I keep mixed up concentrate batches in the basement fridge, so I can just do small jobs on whim.

I soaked it in a water, vinegar and dish soap solution, put it in my dye pot to simmer for a couple of hours (no stirring!), then let it cool down and rinsed it. This morning I determined I hadn't left it in long enough (it looked a little too tomato-ish) so I resoaked it, then put it back to simmer.  Here is a photo before I returned it to the pot (this time, I corrected the colors, so that is the correct color for the kirtle).



Please note--my dye pot is hardly optimal. It is a very inexpensive old tin candlewax pot. The metal of the pot may very likely mute the brightness of the colors, but for my purpose, that's fine. Better than that, there's a safety consideration. Because he knows I've used it in the past to melt wax, my dear husband is unlikely to appropriate this pot when he next craves a dish of ramen noodles. Why  men would rather use cheap tin pots over good quality kitchen wear is something I've never understood (is it a chromisone thing?)--but this is always a consideration when I select pots (I hide my good steel dye pot that I use outdoors so he's never tempted).



While writing this, the lace I scored on Ebay when my sewing group visited the other day arrived in the mail. It is lovely--and interesting to compare with the lace I bought yesterday. The ebay lace is stunningly fine chemical lace, probably from the 1920s. The coarser lace I got yesterday may be a little older. It's machine bobbin lace with re-embroidery (apparently, by hand). The embroidery makes it look more like needle lace, so I'm leaning towards using it for my Charles II mistress gown, even though it's less refined. I have another idea for the finer lace...

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about the 16th century construction techniques!

Two weeks ago, I journeyed to Florida to spend the week with my mother. I had a lovely time, though my sister, who also was visiting, was ill. We spent the week laying low and I started--and made significant progress--on a Late 1500s/Renaissance Kirtle. Here's where it's at (click to embiggen):

I'm in a quandry about several finishing points. I've asked folks who came over last night for sewing--but our era is the 18th and 19th c. This kind of work lies outside of our expertise! So, for all my SCA/renish friends (or soon-to-be friends), I wonder if you could click below the jump and offer your advice on some things I am confused about.
( Questions and photos )
Thanks for any advice--I want this to look good, so your suggestions are very welcome!

(cross posted to SCA-garb)

I think Pilot has a shoe fetish...



Oh, yeah--and those are shoes I made, for my doll, not Pilot:



For my first effort at shoe making, I'm pretty pleased!I learned a lot making them and I can't wait to make a whole wardrobe of 18th century shoes (and now I start the mission to find adaptable shoe buckles, though the ribbons are period correct). However, now back to sewing!

Today we woke up to a winter wonderland...everything has been coated by 5" of beautiful snow. Children in the neighborhood took to sledding and we enjoyed brisk walks around the neighborhood (that is, up until DH got an emergency call for work). Since all was quiet, I used the day to catch up on another UFO--my 1840s corset.

I am not going to win any workmanship awards for this corset. It isn't especially pretty. It is made with supplies on hand, completely machine sewn and I really didn't waste time trying to make it "period." Thanks to tension issues with my machine, several places where I sewed the binding on had to be oversewn. But it looks acceptable and it functions as it should: it gives me a flat front and curvy sides and back. It makes my 1840s bodice look great. ( Click for more details and pictures... )

Well, it's been a while since I posted, but I've been fairly busy. So, here is a bit of a catchup post...

After my abortive attempt to make a dress for the Poe event (in under 4 hours), I took the bodice apart and added piping to it. I also took some modern crepe, starched it and sewed it on to see if it looked like the old crape. It isn't perfect, but it's as close as I can come to the real stuff, which isn't, to the best of my knowledge, made anymore.

Now, since I altered this to be front opening, I am thinking of taking more crepe, ruching it and making a placket of it over the front opening. It, of course, will mean taking the bodice apart again--but since it's really almost done, that's cool.

To be honest, the waistcoat was big a point of personal accomplishment when I made it. I bartered with a weaver for handspun handwoven cloth. Only the lining is machine made cloth. I hand sewed it...but cutting into it to make buttonholes is a little terrifying, since the weave is a little loose. I think I will try cutting it with a chisel, which I understand keeps holes neater. Fortunately, I have a scrap to experiment with.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done in the next 12 month.
- You have no clue what it's going to be.
- I reserve the right to do something unusual.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well. We all can make stuff!

 (yoinked from saraic )

(I hope this isn't a crafty ponzi scheme...)

Saturday was an awesome day! I emailed bauhausfrau  on when to meet and she suggested about 12 pm. Given that it was then 9, I figured...what the heck? Why not try to make a gown. Yes, insane, I know.

Amazingly, I got the whole bodice complete and was well on my way to cutting sleeves when she arrived. She looked at my dummy, the mess surrounding me in the basement and shook her head, trying to hold back laughter. I grimaced and started to try to formulate plan B. Her old gown was out, my old gown was out...then I thought of the old calico gown she'd given me. I hastily threw it on my dummy, figured out where to shorten it, cut off the extra and stitched down brush braid. The braid was really lucky--a quick trawl through my trim tub dragged up some vintage braid I'd bought several years back--that matched the calico perfectly. The result--in half an hour I managed to finish off a really nice work dress. I helped Bauhausfrau into a fantastic dark red silk gown--a sight to behold with matching boots (Robert Land, no less!), bonnet and jacket. Then I quickly found boots & shawl, added my mourning jewelry and put up my hair. We headed off to Baltimore and met for the tea.

We met up with the lovely missphilomena , her mom (wearing a stunning gown as well) and a family friend.  Miss P. told us all about her classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology, shopping in NYC and how she does such amazing work so fast. She wore a tiered gown in velvet trimmed silk plaid (very apropos of the Walter Scott mania of the era) with a matching jacket. Soon she was followed by padawansguide  who wore her truly stupendous gathered black silk gown with a new fur-trimmed paletot. It looked fabulous. jennylafleur arrived about the same time, wearing a grey stripped silk dress with hand drawn bias ruffles and a terribly pretty pelerine (I think it might have been detatchable, but I couldn't tell). She was joined by two other ladies--sadievale  and girliegirl32786. I wondered if jennylafleur  and sadievale  conspired beforehand, since sadievale  wore a striped gown, made of a darker fabric featuring perfectly matched panels (I spent a good part of tea staring at the precision in amazement) and an exceptionally lovely cut. girliegirl32786 --who had travelled the day before from West VA--wore a well-fit plum wool gown with a delicate white collar and a fantastic jacquard shawl. Set in the luxurious elegance of the Harbor Court Intercontinental, we had a leisurely tea, then headed over to watch the evening's program.

The entertainments were exceptionally well performed--the organizers had outstanding taste in blending serious scholarly presentation with comedy, music and terrifyingly gripping stories. By the end, when we lined up to meet John Astin, I felt like Edgar was there in our midst, pouring all the complex emotions of his life into our presence.

Thanks to everyone, but especially bauhausfrau for organizing it all--it was a fantastic day!