That bonnet I was working on

 Here are some pics of the bonnet, all trimmed and ready to go.  I was pretty happy w/ how it turned out.  I'd do the ribbon ties differently in future, but otherwise it looked perfect on the wearer and on stage.

 

 

In case you were wondering...

... whether I got into those classes I had to audition and interview for.  I'm waitlisted for the Alexander Technique class, but got into Voice for the Actor.

The latter class is at the same time as the costume construction class I wanted to take, but the instructor told me today that "you're probably too advanced for it."  It's for rank beginners - sewing terminology, how to use a sewing machine, a few very basic projects.  Too bad - sounded like it would be fun.  I wonder what the homework would have consisted of?

Getting psyched for this semester

Went to new student orientation last Friday and got a preliminary schedule.  I'm waitlisted for two classes I need, so they gave me two others to fill out my hours.  Today I met with someone in the Theater dept. about registering for one of the four 1-credit practicums I need for my degree.  She sent me to the costume shop to get a contract for the 40 hours I need to put in.  I'm now slated to spend 4 hours every Monday afternoon during the semester working in the costume shop, learning some tricks of the trade and, if I'm lucky, being trusted to work on some of the fancier projects.  

Poor me - "forced" to work in the costume shop.   When I got home and told the Chief, he teased me about staying past closing so I can continue to play in the costumes.  That's probably not too far from the truth - I full expect to have NO trouble getting in my 40 hours.  At 4 hours a week, I'll probably hit that number before the end of the semester.

They also have an arrangement they call a "fire sale".  Instead of spacing your 40 hours over the semester, you do a single 40-hour week during the week before classes start.  You get the same credit, but knock it out in a single week.  Not all of the technical shops offer this arrangement, but it's nice to know it's out there, in case I want to get a jump-start on my semester.

Regency stays complete! Next - a toile of the dress.

My seamstress just blogged (with my permission) about my stays, now that they're finished.  As soon as I finish this last paper, I can call it a semester and start working on a toile for my very first Regency dress.  First stop will be a fabric store to get some grid fabric, because I know at least the bodice pattern piece will need adjusting.  I've got some lavender dotted fabric that I'll use (because it was just as cheap as the muslin I was looking at when the Chief & I were in Amish country this summer).  With any luck at all, I'll be able to use my toile as a "real" dress.

My Regency stays are coming along

Had my second fitting this afternoon for my Regency stays.  My seamstress is giving me a very reasonable price because she's never done corsetry before.  She keeps telling me how much fun she's having, though - she's learning so many interesting things in the course of her research (scrimshaw busks, anyone?) and is enjoying learning new techniques.  The first fitting was just a single layer of fabric, to get an idea of where the seams, gussets & boning channels would need to go.  Today she had added a second layer with the busk and some preliminary boning.  It fit remarkably well; this is coming along nicely!

I had asked that it be ready by Thanksgiving so I would have time to make myself a dress (which I can't fit properly without the stays) for a Jan. 9th Twelfth Night ball the Chief & I plan to attend.  She's doing her part; soon it'll be my turn to start sewing.  The fitting scares me - I have NO idea how to make it work - but I know a few people locally who can help.  And even if I don't finish the dress in time for the ball, the Plan B dress I bought at last month's costume sale should do marvelously.  Just need to lower the hem and add some accessories and it'll be ready to go.

Not the fabric I meant to buy

The Chief and I took a day trip to Amish country on the way to a birthday party last weekend.  He wanted to look at furniture, I wanted to look for fabric for that cloak pattern I bought.  I did find some Christmas-red wool, but at $21 a yard, I decided to keep looking.  I wasn't really surprised to find that, this being quilt country, 99.99% of the fabric on offer was quilt fabric.  In one such shop, the Chief ran into Irene, a Mennonite quilt saleswoman par excellence.  She had him helping her peel back quilt after quilt in a big stack, told us the name of each pattern, pointed out all the features (different types of work, "every stitch sewn by hand") that made them special.  Funniest was that she kept warning us that if we didn't buy this or that quilt, someone else would.  She got to the Chief; we walked out of there with not just one but two quilts, when we weren't planning to buy any!  However, he did show his own shopping skills by asking if we could get a discount, since we were buying two quilts.  We didn't get the markdown he asked for, but we did get one.

We stopped at one last fabric store on our way to our hotel, where the Chief picked out some flannel for another pair of flannel lounge pants.  I also bought some lavender dotted cotton to use for the mock-up for my first Regency dress.  I figure if my maiden effort goes together reasonably well, I'll end up with two dresses - the practice model and the "real" one. :)

Getting a little ahead of myself

I'm already starting to costume myself for a Christmas caroling group I haven't even auditioned for yet, and which only asks women to provide a "Victorian" blouse.  I checked their website, decided they're going for a vaguely Dickensian look, and the hunt was on.

The first pattern I ordered, which arrived yesterday, was Folkwear #205, the Gibson Girl blouse:





I also ordered Butterick 5266, for the cloak.  I may or may not ever get around to making it, but if I want a mid-19th-century cloak, I've now got a pattern that will suit admirably.  (However, I'd probably change the closure to something a little less labor-intensive than all those tabs.)

 

But the purchase I'm most excited about is the one no one will see.  It's a corded petticoat (worn in the 1830s-50s, before the invention of the hoop, to make skirts stand out and achieve more of a bell shape), much of which is handsewn!  It just arrived today.  I'll need to add a small extender to the waist but that's a trivial adjustment, and MUCH quicker & easier than sewing one of these from scratch! Because it's used and has a couple of tiny spots near the waistband, the price was eminently reasonable.


Now all I have to do is come up with an audition recording to submit and hope my voice is what they're looking for.  If so, I'm already half dressed! :D

Tryng to get the Regency project back on track

Someone on Facebook posted a link to a blog post giving a checklist for a complete Regency outfit.  I commented on FB that I'd love to put such an outfit together but needed a set of long stays.  The costumer for Daddy's Dyin' sawmy comment and shot her hand up, saying she'd love to try it.  She admits she's never made stays but if I'm willing to "tolerate [her] learning curve", she'll be happy to have a go.  Tomorrow I'll probably go over to her house w/ my pattern & busk and let her take a first batch of measurements.  I have no clue how long this will take - she wants to make a first draft in muslin while she learns the techniques - but maybe I'll have stays that actually fit me by Christmas.  I can finish the chemise while J is making the stays.  Once I have the stays, I'll be able to start on the dress.

This project is taking a whole lot longer than anticipated, but finding someone willing to make those stays was probably my biggest hurdle.  Done!

Sewing again

A local chorus is doing a Messiah sing-along this Sunday as a benefit. They're using our church as the venue so they've invited our choristers to join them and I'm one of those who are taking them up on the offer.  I managed to get to their last rehearsal Monday night (SO much fun singing those choruses!), where it was announced that dress code for the women is a full-length black skirt and long-sleeved red blouse.  No blouses of any color in my closet, but it seems my red turtleneck will do.  The "wardrobe mistress" (the woman making the dress code announcement) looked pained when I told her my longest black skirt is only boot-length but gave her grudging approval.  

I used that as an excuse to swing by the fabric store after work this afternoon (yes, I braved a mall on Black Friday and lived!) and buy a simple skirt pattern and some fabric.  I went with a black short-nap velour.  The panne velvet was a bit flashier than I really wanted for a "uniform", and the woven solids were either too shiny/sparkly or too dull-looking.  Well, there was that one floral jacquard, but it wasn't one of the sale fabrics.

I cut everything out tonight - easy when it's only 3 pieces.  I plan to put it together tomorrow and see if I can dragoon, er, beg someone to pin the hem for me.  It suddenly occurs to me that I should have cut it so I can add pockets - argh!  Maybe I can fudge the seam allowance a little...

1930s sewing project

I'm in rehearsal for a play that takes place in the early 1930s.  In a fit of over-optimistic ambition, I told the producer I'd make my own Act I dress.  I bought pattern T3412 (costumedeeva, on eBay), started a muslin work-up, and found that the pattern is, of course, not nearly as busty as I am. :(  Last night I sent out an SOS to a pair of costume goddesses it's been my privilege to work for on one show and another.  To my delight, the goddess coming to my rescue is the one who has her own pattern line for one of the Big4!  I'll be heading over to her place Saturday morning, dragging my muslin and pattern, and the only payment she'll accept is to allow her to blog about the fitting process.  I'm excited - not only will I be guaranteed a good fit, but I get to provide material for her bog, which I've enjoyed since she started it.

Bought my dress fabric this afternoon; I hope A will approve of my choice. :)

Prepping for the Chief's surgery

To get ready on the home front for the Chief's surgery, I'm making him a couple of pairs of elastic-waist lounge pants so he can pull them on and off one-handed.  I also laid in a supply of velcro "buttons" to be sewn onto several shirts so he doesn't have to try to deal with buttonholes or pull shirts on and off over his head.  I may also sew a casing and run elastic on one or two other pairs of lounge pants, just so he'll have more than 2 pairs in summerweight fabrics.  (Flannel he's got, though one pair is "seasoned" enough that it's about ready for new elastic.)

Regency project stalled

My Regency dress project is completely dependent on having stays that fit properly.  The ones I ordered seemed a bit small.  I notified the vendor but held off on answering her questions or returning the stays until I had my chemise roughed in and could try the stays on over the garment that would be going underneath.  I got to that point on Monday and finally tried the stays on over the (still-unfinished) chemise.  No good.  I took several pictures, emailed them to the vendor, and took the stays to the post office. 

I had hoped to wear the dress to Saturday's wedding; obviously that didn't happen.  Ah well; I now have lots and lots of time to figure out how I'm going to redo the neckline casing, which is too narrow to thread anything through it.  I've already trimmed the seam allowance, so I can't just pick out the stitching and reattach.  I may have to cut out a new one and replace the first one.  :(

I also need to come up with some petticoat fabric.  I wanted white microfiber but an hour spent searching on line turned up nothing suitable.  I ordered some "china silk" but, as I expected, it isn't what I had in mind at all.   It turned out to be that shiny, rather stiff lining fabric.  Now to send out an SOS to several costumers of my acquaintance and to the owner of Sense & Sensibility Patterns and see what they recommend.

Regency project, day one

A while back I got this bee in my bonnet to make myself a Regency dress (think Jane Austen), complete with underpinnings.  I even bought patterns for two kinds of stays, though I quickly realized that would be a MUCH too ambitious project for my relatively rudimentary sewing skills.

Tonight, after a month or two spent in pondering fabrics and buying patterns, I got the chemise cut out.  The assembly looks pretty straightforward, so with luck, I'll get it sewn up tomorrow.

I ordered custom stays, but they seem to be too small in the ribcage. The maker had some diagnostic questions for me; I owe her answers.

Still to do: a petticoat (dress fabric is dotted swiss, which is on the sheer side), the dress, and a bonnet.  Yes, I'm crazy enough to try to attempt my own millinery; good thing I was able to find a pattern on Etsy.  Oh, and I need to find a pair of shoes to go with this ensemble.  I hope to find a pair of plain white ballet flats, but may have to settle for something else.

There's a historic home in our area that holds Regency- and War of 1812-themed events.  When (not if) I finish my sewing adventure, I'll have to find out when their next event is.  I'm not ready to subject myself to the scrutiny of serious reenactors - my hand sewing is not up to that challenge - but if I can pass for a decent amateur, that'll be good enough for a maiden attempt.

There's an event coming up Aug. 2nd; wonder if I could finish at least the dress, if not the bonnet, in time?

Updates to follow; costume fans, stay tuned.

It's almost here!

Tech week, that is.  Saturday is the Sitzprobe w/ the orchestra and Sunday is load-in, with the cue-to-cue that evening.  Tech week!  When the theater magic happens!  I'm practically bouncing in my seat as I type, looking forward to seeing all the costumes (mine is navy) and the set, seeing how much luck I have projecting to the back row in my low register, finally being able to set spacing because we'll have the actual doors, "houses" and so forth.  There'll also be a "green room sweatshop", so I'll take my sewing machine to the theater along with the rest of my gear come Sunday.

I've always loved tech week, but for some reason I'm particularly excited about this one.  Maybe because this is my first role with this company?  Maybe because I'm psyched about the set & costumes?  Doesn't matter; gonna be fun.  Even better is the fact that I was able to take the week off work, so I'll be able to sleep in after getting to bed late after rehearsal every night.

TW is getting involved too.  He's already been out to the scene bay twice to help with the set and plans to help with load-in Sunday morning.  He's also planning to usher the last performance, then stay to help with strike.  What a great guy!

Heading into the busy season

And here we go - my next show has its first read-through on Monday.  My pet charity is having a "do" in a couple of weeks on what would have been a rehearsal night, but the director tells me I'm not called that night.  Now the Chief & I can have a "date" during the week, which will feel like playing hooky. :)

The Chief & I will be home for Thanksgiving for a change and are trying to decide on a menu and guest list.  That weekend is usually when I pull out the Christmas china and put away the everyday stuff, so this means we'll have to decide whether we want to eat our Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas dishes, or not bring those out until dessert, or maybe the next day.  Neither one of us is big on rushing the season, so we might not even bring the dishes up from the basement until that Friday.  Yes, it's time-consuming to "rotate" the dishes, but I'm always glad when we do.  We don't decorate the house beyond a few pieces, so the dishes help put us in the Christmas spirit.

I'm taking off the day before Thanksgiving but have to work the day after so there'll be at least someone in the office.  However, since I'll be glad to have Wednesday off to cook, and the day after Thanksgiving is a great day to work because it's so quiet, I don't really mind.

We may be having a sit-down dinner party sometime in December for those friends & neighbors who already have Thanksgiving plans or just because.  The guest list will be driven in part by how many people our table seats w/ all the leaves in; it's been so long since the one time we used them all, neither of us remembers how many fit around the table.

Also on the December schedule is a trip for H's PhD hooding!  It'll be a very quick trip but will be SOOO worth it!

We also have to decide whether we'll do Christmas cards this year and, if yes, whether we'll do a newsletter.  With a dinner party, rehearsals and a trip for a hooding filling December, the cards may end up going out in, oh, January, if at all.

Oh, and I owe D some hemmed curtains; can't forget those, especially now that they're draped all over my sewing table & chair.

County fair

The Chief and I went to a county fair today; his first and my first in 20+ years. Not too hot for August, and relatively low humidity, so we didn't kill ourselves walking around looking at everything.

The Chief enjoyed the animals (we wandered thru the sheep barn as feeding time was approaching; all the sheep seemed to be saying something like "c'mon, where's lunch?!?"), but what he enjoyed best was watching all the little kids. The stroller brigade seemed to be out in force - flocks and throngs of toddlers, young children, even babies, all of them utterly fascinated by just about everything.

One vendor had a lot of John Deere equipment displayed, most of it available for kids to climb on. They even had a combine they'd converted to a slide - climb the ladder into the cab, then slide down the "chute". That one was very popular! They also had a corral full of JD toys for kids to play with, as well as a gift shop with all kinds of JD-logo items, mostly toys for future customers. The whole area was swarming with kids and parents with cameras. I asked the Chief if he wanted me to take his picture sitting in the cab of one machine or another, but he declined. ;)

The livestock barns all had empty spaces, even those barns where exhibitors had set up a space to hang out in the shade. I wonder how long it's been since every single one of those spaces was needed for livestock...?

We also strolled through the 4-H exhibit halls and looked at the winning entries in all kinds of categories. There was one for sewing by children (I didn't see ages displayed). One girl had done quite well - she had a 2-piece outfit that had won a blue ribbon, and a fairly intricate dress (not elaborate, but a lot of assembly and she'd added some nice, subtle touches) that had won a Reserve Champion award.

We stopped by a produce stand on our way out and bought about 12 lbs. of tomatoes. What on earth am I gonna do with all those tomatoes? Why, make marinara sauce, of course, using my fresh basil, rosemary & oregano. I just have to peel all these darn tomatoes first; that'll take a while, so making the sauce itself may have to wait until tomorrow. Our house is gonna smell SOOOOOOO good while it's simmering!

Our county's fair is coming up in a few weeks; walking through this one has me seriously considering entering something in one of the cooking categories. Probably not the marinara sauce - this will be my very first batch; I haven't had time to play with it and get it where I want it. If I decide to take the plunge, it'll probably be some tried-and-true recipe that doesn't need refrigeration.

Domestic diva to go

A friend of ours finally bought his first house a couple of months ago and has been doing some major repairs in addition to the usual settling-in things. I offered to make him some curtains to help him keep expenses down, so a couple of weeks ago we went shopping for curtain fabric. He found several "candidates" for the kitchen curtains. I explained about swatches, so he piled up the bolts and headed off to the cutting table. To my surprise, the woman wielding the scissors gave him pieces perhaps 3 inches by the full 45-inch width of the bolt! Sure made it easier for him to decide which fabric he wanted in the kitchen, though I did go over there last week (at his request) to tell him my choice from among the 3 "finalists". I told him how much fabric to buy and will probably get them sewn up sometime in the next few weeks, depending on when he gets the fabric.

We had friends join us at the cabin this weekend (temps in the 90s and no a/c - we spent most of the weekend being limp and letting their baby entertain us). When I mentioned I was sewing curtains for DB, or maybe it was the costuming I've helped with, she wondered if I'd be willing to show her how to sew. Then this morning she asked me how to make chicken soup w/ a carcass; picking up on my passing reference to drippings for gravy, she followed up by saying she didn't know how to make gravy from drippings, either. I've since sent her instructions for both gravy and chicken soup, and said that if she buys the supplies for a basic sewing project, I'll help her through it. They live about an hour away so we'll have to make an effort to schedule this, but it should be fun.

Explaining my choice of curtain fabric for DB's kitchen made me feel like something of an expert, and having my girlfriend ask me for help with so many domestic things makes me feel that I actually know some stuff worth knowing. ;)

Switch stitiching

I helped with some costume pieces for a local show and had both my serger and sewing machine set up on the kitchen table. I needed the serger to edge 10 lengths of "tartan" as well as 10 neck ruffles and pieces for 8 jabots. Then it was over to the sewing machine to gather the ruffles and jabots and sew them to their ribbons or neckbands. It had been years since I'd had my serger out; now I remember why I thought it was worth investing in the Rolls rather than a Chevy or even a Cadillac. Not only does mine have variable-speed dogs for doing ruffles, it also does a very nice rolled edge.

I guess it's my version of power tools - the Chief has a router, table saw and so on, I've got a serger and sewing machine.

Stress? What stress?

[primal scream] This afternoon I learned from an e-mail that I suspect was meant for someone else that an app I've been fighting with since last June has a known problem! I didn't think it was operator error; now I've had that suspicion confirmed. But oh, how aggravating to learn I've been banging my head against a brick wall for 10 months, wasting untold taxpayer-funded hours, because of this. [scream]

Last night I went to a music rehearsal - another waste of time for me, as they never touched any of my music. So I have to go tonight because they didn't manage last night's rehearsal time well. Which is bad enough, but I have only cut out the apron I need to make; haven't even marked the pattern pieces yet. I sure coulda used the time last night to sew, instead of sitting around waiting for a turn that never came. Bleah.

Vintage costume!

The costumers were at Birdie rehearsal last night with lots of stuff for us to try on for size. I was delighted to learn that my "Ed Sullivan dress" (when the Macafees appear on the Sullivan show w/ teen idol Conrad Birdie) is an actual vintage dress! Not colors I'd've chosen, but an elegant print. Even better, it was made for someone essentially my size and shape; all I need to do is restitch a couple of seams. The fun part is that it's got a semi-dirndl skirt (with pleats rather than gathers), so I've got a crinoline, which may well be of the same vintage, to wear under it.

My housedress is nothing special, but I'll have fun making the apron to wear over it. The costumers want me to make it plain white, so I'm hoping they'll let me put a retro applique on one or both pockets to make it more 50s-looking.