Donnerstag, 26. September 2013

First Photoshoot

In my very first post, I talked about my very first selfmade dress, the yellow Regency dress. I drafted the pattern (not on my dressform, because it sucks, but I'll tell you about that later), figured out the closure and sewed the whole thing up; I even embroidered the bib front - only to realize that the bib was too small, there was no way to close that dress over my chest and wear it modestly, even if I had a shift and stays to go with it. So I had a dress I put a lot of work in and the only way to wear it would be for me to cut off the prettiest part that had also been the most time-consuming. Needless to say, I was very reluctant to do that and put it off, resulting in the dress sitting in a box in my closet for about a year.
At least it looks pretty on a hanger...
I recenty decided that that's just no way to treat your first big project and asked a friend of mine to come over and model it. Enter the Muse:
She made time in her busy schedule to help me show off my dress :)
I put her into the dress (yay, it fits :) ) and did her hair, which took a lot of curling and pinning and probably took longer than the actual photoshoot ;) 
Then she got her accessories: an old necklace of my mother's that i pinned into her hair (I thought it just looked nice...), a cashmere scarf (also from my mother) and an antique fan made of ostrich feathers that belongs to - suprise - my mother as well (my aunt owns an antique-store, so my mother gets some very interesting birthday gifts from time to time). I also meant for her to wear the finished knitted sleeves, but they didn't go well with the dress, so I guess I'll have to take some "modern clothes" pictures of them. The shoes are the Muse's. We simply went into the garden to take some pictures, and I think it went pretty good, even though the Muse kept losing her scarf. (I find it amazing how the girl with two brothers loves to play dress-up so much that she modeled her skill-set around it while the girl with a sister needs to be taught how to sit down with a long skirt and a scarf without almost destroying her outfit ;) )
Anyway, I had fun, the Muse had fun (at least I hope so) and here are some pictures:
Picking Blackberries
Admiring the Plants


















Drinking tea


































Is that a blackbird?
































I think this one is my favourite, though:
This and the first one. She's just the prettiest when she laughs, don't you think?
There's gonna be more Regency on this blog soon: in my next post I'll show you pictures of my finished sleeves plus the progress on my Regency stays. Remember those?

Sonntag, 22. September 2013

I almost forgot...

that I had some pictures to show you! I finished the green corset. And while working on it, I figured that I had finally something to enter into the Historical Sew Fortnightly! (For those of you who don't know what that is, click on that link, read that post and every other post in her blog that has to do with the hsf - it's just amazing!)
I've been ogling all those fantastic creations forever without ever having something to enter myself, but here I go.
No shift, no self-timer (took this on my
phone because I couldn't find my camera)
and waay too little hip
The Challenge: #19: Wood, Metal and Bone

Fabric: Green Cotton and and some unaccountable, probably synthetic, but very sturdy lining fabric from Ikea

Pattern: This.

Year: The pattern says late 1870's...?

Notions: Hooks-and-eyes-tape, satin(?) ribbon, zip ties for the boning

How historically accurate is it? uhm... it is called a corset and corsets were worn in that era, but other than that not at all. I could overlook all the wrong materials if it would at least give me the proper support and silhouette it's supposed to, but it doesn't. Well, better luck next time :)

Hours to complete: never timed it, so no clue.

First worn: for the pictures

Total cost: maybe 10-15€ for the zip ties and the hooks-and-eyes-tape, everything else was from stash. Yay, at least it's a cheap failure ;)

Oh - and it's currently laced with bright blue and green shoelaces because I didn't have anything else, but I don't know under which point to file that info ;)
At least it looks nice from behind :)

I have an idea of ripping up the side seams up to the waist and putting in some hip gussets for some more curving (and to have somewhere for that squish to go, as the Laced Angel puts it).
Does anyone have any ideas if that will work at all? Or should I just go with making a new, improved version all together? After all, this was only supposed to be a trial run?

Montag, 16. September 2013

Buchlinge

Short post, so you guys know I'm still alive. I finished my corset and will put up some pictures soon, although I'm not completely happy with it and consider changing some things. Other than that, there hasn't been a lot of sewing possible the last few weeks since the room (and cupboard) I keep my sewing things in have been occupied due to my parents' remodeling our kitchen. So I turned to knitting - a scarf for my mother, possibly as a Christmas gift - so shhh! :)
Gotta love the colour.
This is the pattern I used.
Because I (obviously) can't work on the scarf when my mother is in the room, I started another knitting project for when we're watching TV together: knitted sleeves. The dreamstress made a blogpost about her regency sleeve mitts, and, unlike her, I knit, so I figured this would be a nice and easy project. It won't be historically accurate at all, and I'm using rather thick wool, but this way I a) don't lose patience halfway through and b) can even wear them with my modern day clothes this winter (or at least I hope so). So far, I've got about half a sleeve, so I haven't taken any pictures yet.
Things I did take pictures of: Buchlinge! For the absolutely confused among you: Buchlinge (booklings) are characters from a novel by one of my favourite authors, Walter Moers. I started reading his books after a friend's recommendation, and since then, usually got that friend something Moers-related for his birthday. There haven't been any new books recently, so what to get him? I was getting kind of desperate since his birthday is this weekend, but then I got the idea: make him a couple of booklings! Freehand-amigurmi worked pretty good for the tiny minion, so why not for a bookling? The shape is pretty basic, but recognizable, so today I sat down with some blue and purple yarn and tried it. Lo and behold, the booklings:
I made the purple one second, so it's neater, but as the book says they come in all shapes and sizes, I don't sweat the difference. That's actually a tiny book they're holding, made out of cut up paper, cardboard, fabric and lots of glue - but if you want my advice, refrain from tiny bookmaking without having the proper tools, I ruined a needle while sewing the pages together ;)
I'm pretty proud of them, I hope he'll like them (and if not, I'm gonna keep them for myself! :) ).
Since our kitchen is now almost done, I think I can take hold of my sewing room again soon and will get some things done. So many ideas!