9:40 PM Guild Busy

My last update on this blog was in February and at that time I was working diligently on the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge.  As I thought was going to happen, I didn't finish any of the challenges once All-Con preparations were underway and then directly after that we had a Picnic with the Pixies.  Of course, in April Scarborough Renaissance Festival began.  Scarborough runs through Memorial day, so I was tied up there for two months.  The month of June was spent wrapping up preparations for and presenting Costumers' Lost Weekend for the DFW Costumers Guild.

Whew!  That was a lot!  No wonder I didn't get around to catching up on the HSF challenge!

I didn't get any pictures of the fun at All-Con because I was too busy having fun.  But a few pictures were taken of me at Scarborough over the run.

Picnic with the Pixies was a lot of fun.  We had some ball jointed doll enthusiasts join us to up the pixie factor.

Here I am being all kinds of silly with one of the dolls

When you're playing with dolls, you may as well let the wee ones in on the fun.  Sometimes they have better stories

 Best part about this Guild event??  Bones got to tag along!!!  

Next time he's gonna need an outfit.

Unfortunately, we thought the picnic was going to be too muddy for some of the costumes, so we repeated the picnic in April.  I wasn't able to attend because I was working Scarborough, but I saw the pics and everyone who made it out looked Fab!

Costumers' Lost Weekend was Fantastic!  We had a few out of town guests this time, which is exciting.  And we had a day of workshops this year so we had something cool to take home with us.  We also had great panels the first day, as usual.  I'm really proud of our little baby con.  Year 2 was successful.  I'm crossing my fingers everyone is on board to do it again in 2014.

Oh!, but you wanted to see pictures didn't you?

Here I am at the Masquerade Ball with my friend Gypsy James

Aren't we a lovely, group?  We had a lot of attendees who weren't able to stay for the ball and a few who had to leave shortly before this photo was taken.  We had such a great time at the ball!  

I think this is my favorite photo of the whole weekend!  

It pretty much sums up what folks missed!

 Sunday morning several of us gathered for breakfast.  

We were quite the point of interest in the dining hall.

So what's next?

Well, I have a small commission that I am working on for this week.  Then I have a small repair for a friend.  Then I have the DFWCG's Retro Bowl event to attend.  And then I get started on a big commission.  And then I start getting ready for Fall Faire season.

Yeah, I'm probably never going to pick up that HSF challenge again.

As it stands now, I think I have my pattern all picked out for the Retro Bowl.  Though I said that yesterday and I've completely changed my mind again.  I think this is the 3rd time I've promised myself I'd make some 1940s slacks for a vintage event and chickened out on them.  I had a Costumer's Freak Out today over what I was going to try to sew for this thing.  I have no confidence in my slacks sewing skills.  And I couldn't remember what vintage patterns I had at home.  So I searched and searched and searched for something to order that I liked.  And didn't really find anything in my price range that I liked.  Thankfully I looked through my recent Vintage Martini purchases when I got home and have found THE OUTFIT!  I think.  

I hope!

Now I just need to find some fabric to sew it with.  I'd sure love it if I had the right fabric in my stash!  But that room is a complete disaster, so I may chicken out on digging through the piles and just buy new fabric.  Which is terrible, but Time is Precious!!!!!!

In any case, wish me luck.  I'm certainly gonna need it!

10:30 AM Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge # 4

The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #4 is the Embellish challenge.  For me, embellishment is not something I think about very often for my costumes.  I tend to wear middle to lower class outfits made out of sturdy materials which I can wash in my washer with ease.  If I have to dry clean something, it's never going to be worn.  Part of that reason is because I'm cheap and lazy.  The other part of that reason is because many of the outfits I make are worn for some working purpose.  For instance, all of my Renaissance Faire garb is made with the possibility that I might be wearing the outfit around the joust horses from time to time.  And let me tell you, horses can get you Very dirty, Very quickly!  I remember I used to have some really pretty white chemises and frilled shirts.  They are all stained brown and green from the horses and also from the sunscreen I wear to take care of my skin.  I also vividly remember a scene wherein my very nice lady's dress I wore for performances was picked up by my mount, Abraham, and flung back and forth in the air as a toy.  So it is impossible to maintain nice things in that arena, or in the stable.  Even now that I've moved on to retail at faire I still don't have any expectation of keeping anything nice.  Fancy fabric can get damaged during set up and tear down as well as when playing games with kids.  It's just not worth it to have to worry all the time about the pretty things on my outfit which may get ripped or damaged.

All of that said though, since I have been working at Pendragon here and there, I have become more comfortable with Small amounts of embellishment on my clothes.  And so this challenge was a challenge to myself to come up with something simple and pretty and Durable.  And did I mention simple?

In the end, my project was so simple I kind of feel like I cheated.  It took almost no time to complete and I totally copied the idea from Pendragon (who I'm sure did not invent the idea either it's so simple).  Oh well.  It was a good exercise for me to think outside of my box.  Now to put it to the test of surviving at Faire.  And surviving my laundromat.

The Challenge:  Challenge #4 Embellish

Fabric:  Metallic woven ribbon trim sewn on linen fabric.

Pattern:  None, I just sewed the ribbon to the already existing collar and cuffs on the shirt

Year:  Tudor period 

Notions:  The ribbon

How historically accurate is it?  From my knowledge, blackwork is historically accurate here - this ribbon is not.  However, the shirt is completely accurate being made from linen and made from the Tudor Tailor book.

Hours to complete:  Took me all of 5 minutes.

Total cost: $4

12:36 PM Sherwood Forest Faire Opening Weekend 2013

Since the first day Sherwood Forest Faire opened I have been dying to get to take a trip down to the Austin area to attend.  I had heard so many things about what kind of faire it was expected to be and then I heard so many rave reviews once the first season finished.  The only bummer was that half the faire run overlapped Scarborough Renaissance Festival (Scarby).  And March is always a Very busy time for me as there are several cons and festivals I participate in happening all throughout the month.  Not to mention March is my last minute preparations month for Scarby.  I was pretty convinced I would never get to attend Sherwood.  Then they moved the season up so that Sherwood concluded just before Scarby began.  And at that point my only problem was getting over camping in the cold.  I am Not a fan of cold!  And I'm no where Near prepared for it.  Lucky for me, this weekend turned out to be rather moderate.  We were expecting a deluge of rain, so the camp site was light, but we had an Amazing time anyways.  The rain gods smiled upon us and didn't really let us have it until the wee hours of the morning when everyone had pretty much decided to go to bed anyways.  The rain gods were also kind enough to stop the rain just before time for everyone to start waking up, so really the worst part was if you were a light sleeper and then you were probably worried your tent was going to fly to OZ.  I am not a light sleeper.  I didn't hear a thing.  I very well Could have landed in OZ and stayed asleep for all I knew.  Good thing it was just a storm and not an act of magical travel to an alternate dimension via a funnel cloud.

Here I am in my basic wool medieval dress.  I made this years ago for a 12th Night feast I attended with some SCA friends.  It is from the La Fleur de Lyse Woman of Medieval Romanesque Period 1060-1150 pattern.  If I remember correctly I made a bunch of adjustments to the fit as I wanted it to be plain like the peasant dress, but more fitted like the lady dress.  Now that I have worn the dress a few times, I may actually go back and let out some of those seams because I think it would look better.  I also want to go ahead and put some sort of embellishment on it so I feel like wearing it more often.  I have a feeling it will get more wear at Sherwood now, so I just want to make sure I enjoy wearing it.  I prefer plainer, lower class garments to highly embellished fussy ones, but this is a little too plain.  Even for me.  I have to say that I LOVED wearing the turban the whole day!  Holy crap that was incredible not having to worry about what my crazy curly hair was doing in all that damp.  Not to mention it is in a strange short transitional stage right now.  

In another Rennie life I sometimes work with a joust company.  I was a lady rider for New Riders of the Golden Age for a few years.  Two years at Scarby and one year at Norman Medieval Faire.  I also worked the kiddy warhorse rides.  This year the joust troupe contracted to work at Sherwood.  I was really torn between working and making Sherwood a play faire.  In the end I opted to play at Sherwood this season.  I haven't been able to properly play with my Rennie friends in quite some time and so I decided that was more important this time.  But of course I got to chat with my old joust friends and smoosh horsey faces.  And marvel at how the horse I rode last time at Scarby has grown.  The horse in the red and gold above...that's Abraham.  He was just a baby joust horse when I rode him.  He has grown Quite a Bit!  And he's a full time jousting horse now.  I'm so proud!  

11:40 AM Pattern jigsaw

I spent most of my life despising jigsaw puzzles.  Yet this week I find myself happily spending hours each night piecing and scotch taping back together patterns.

One of my not so secret dirty secrets is that I'm horrible at putting things away properly.  Match that with a household of fur kids who love making a bed out of whatever I am paying attention to for a project and you have a recipe for tissue paper destruction.

I'd like to say that this is a lesson learned, but I know it's not.  There is a slight satisfaction in bringing a near destroyed object back to functionality.  So I am sure I'll have many more patterns to tape back together in my future.

10:00 AM All-Con Costume Madness!

I am running a panel at All-Con this year about Historical Costuming in Anime.  I was struck by several young costumers at Anime Fest last year who were beginning to show an interest in being period correct for their Anime cosplays based on history.  So I decided this was Finally an Anime topic I could contribute to!

Well, my patterns arrived today, so here is a sneak peek of the work I have in store for putting my costume together for the panel.  Some of you already know what the focus of my panel is going to be, but for the rest of you, can you guess what Anime I'm working on?

1:30 PM Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #2

Moving right along with the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge brings me to Challenge #2, the UFO, or UnFinished Object.

Several years ago I made up a nice striped linen Edwardian period suit for a small DFWCG outing at Lone Star Park for Kentucky Derby day.  Shortly thereafter I gained a little weight and the suit no longer fit.  So I put it away.  A year or so later the DFWCG hosted its first Spring tea party.  I didn't have time to make a whole new outfit and I still loved my linen suit, so I let out the seams and wore it again.  Unfortunately, when I let out the seams, I did so rather sloppily and several of the seams were too close to the linen fabric edges causing the frayed fabric ends to poke out.  The cotton backing was still in tact, so the suit held up, but it just looked awful.  At the end of the party I put the suit away again and vowed not to wear it again until I could take it back in and fix the seams.  Since that declaration, I have worn the skirt many times.  The skirt has always been fine and it works wonderfully with a shirtwaist for a more casual look.  But I longed to be able to wear the whole ensemble again.

When the DFWCG announced their outing to the travelling Titanic artifact exhibit this year, I wanted a whole new outfit.  Knowing full well that I was short on time, I purchased a new pattern and plotted out fabrics in hopes that I could make a pretty new kimono dress.  But with that knowledge of the time crunch in the back of my mind, I also pulled out the linen suit for a back up measure.  You see, I've lost, and finally been able to keep off, that 10 lbs I gained years ago.  I was pretty excited that I was finally at a point where I could take the suit in and put it out for a good back up for the event, not to mention put it back in the rotation for other events.

I'm glad I made the decision to have a back up outfit ready for repairs because I still adore this suit and once I Finally got off my butt to do the repairs, it was well commented upon by the Guild folk at the event.  And you know, that kind of positive attention on our pretty dresses is SO the reason why love my costuming hobby!

So, enough babbling about the back story, here are the details:

The Challenge:  Challenge #2 UFO

Fabric:  100% striped linen from fabrics-store.com

Pattern:  Rocking Horse Farms Ladies' Coat Suit

Year:  1909

Notions:  None

How historically accurate is it?  As far as I know it is pretty accurate.  I machine sewed the whole suit, but I used cotton and linen fabrics and period appropriate buttons when I made it the first time around.  I didn't alter the pattern at all.

Hours to complete:  It took me about 30 minutes to take in the waist where appropriate.  Then I tackled the issue of re-seaming the places where the fabric ends were showing through.

Before fixing the seams

After fixing the seams

Pressing the fabric even and re-seaming the entire coat from hem to waist took me about 2 hours.  Finishing all the jacket seams with a mock french seam (which I hadn't done before because I didn't know anything about seam finishes) took me another hour.

My little mock french seams

 Since that picture was taken, I also moved that top button to it's proper place so that the jacket doesn't gap anymore.  Moving the button also fixed the slightly askew collar.

Total cost: $0

8:55 PM The cote that can't be darned

My little red cotehardie was damaged in the wretched clothes dryer at my apartment complex.  That dryer has a tendency to snag clothes and then rip holes in them.  But I've never seen it do this level of damage before.  Obviously I am no longer using the machine at my apartment complex.  I now take my clothes to a proper laundromat.

When I first saw the damaged spot, I figured I could sew the rip back together.  Afterall, the rip is in a straight line.  I should be able to accomplish that.  But tonight I realized that the rip just wasn't that simple.  Not only did the fabric rip apart, but a whole chunk of fabric was just missing.

I can't fix that.  Not without matching fabric to put in a patch.  And I don't have any more of that fabric.  Plus, I got that particular fabric at an outlet store in the fabric disctrict.  So matching it is near impossible.  The only way I could pull off a patch job is if I decide to sacrifice the detachable sleeves. 

My other option is to hack off the bottom of the skirt at the rip.  That would make the cote just longer than knee length.  I've seen earlier blaiut dresses that were layered with a shorter dress on top, but I'm not sure I've seen any cotehardies done that way.

Given that I have yet to ever wear my detachable sleeves with this particular cote, I am going to go ahead and sacrifice the sleeves for a patch.  That is my most versatile option being that hacking the skirt length would mean having to make up a whole new under cote to be wearable.  And I just don't have time for that before I need to wear it.

6:59 PM Clearance Madness!

One of the perks of living in the big city is that heavenly place we call the "Fabric District."  There is a Joann Fabrics across the street from my office and I have a VIP card that gives me 10% off of my entire purchase at any time (thanks to my DFWCG membership), plus I subscribe to their coupons and have the Android app, but even with all of that the Fabric District is Mecca for finding good fabric deals.  Especially when Golden d'Or has their Inventory Clearance Sales!!!  I'm not kidding.  One year I found pure heavy wool in that clearance for $1.99/yd.  I've also found other good wools and even good  linens in there too.  That's when the angels from heaven shine their light down on my dainty head and sing Hallelujah!!!

But deals like that aren't exactly so easy, nor are they the rule of thumb.  Yes, there are amazing deals.  You just have to dig for the right fabric.  Or break out your best Black Friday game face.  I witnessed two women arguing over a cutting today and all of a sudden my joke to the bossman about crossing his fingers I made it back in an hour and sans a black eye just got a little real.  Eventually, they figured it out and were able to laugh about how silly they were, but I had to stand in line for a little over an hour to wait to have my fabric cut.

So what did I get?

On the left is a pretty plaid corduroy.  I have plans for that to be a sweet belted cape.  I've always wanted a sassy vintage style cape!  I should have enough left for a skirt.  $2.99/yd.

In the middle is a little bit of upholstery fabric.  It's totally a synthetic blend.  Mostly synthetic.  That thread's awful shiny.  And there's not much of it.  But there's enough for some bodice/kirtle sleeves and a stomacher to tie onto my Pendragon bodice for work at Scarby.  And there may even be enough fabric for a narrow forepart.  Actually, that's pushing it, but I can hope right?  If there's not enough fabric for the forepart, then I'll use it to make one of my riding bodices I make from the Tudor Tailor kirtle pattern.  $2.99/yd.

On the right is a light weight cotton.  I got 6 yards of this so I think it's going to be a dress.  Maybe vintage, maybe modern.  I should also have enough fabric for a top of some sort.  Again, maybe vintage, maybe modern.  I'm not sure yet.  I'm pretty positive it'll sit in my stash for a while before I decide.  But I just couldn't say no to it.  $0.99/yd.

I passed up a really nice periwinkle and peach plaid taffeta that would be Brilliant as a late Victorian Natural Form dress.  I'm really regretting that now.  I should have gotten it anyways.  I shouldn't go back to get it, but I can't stop thinking about it.  So I may go back tomorrow or early Saturday to see if it is still there.  If it is, then it was meant to be.  If it isn't, well, I'll probably cuss myself and then proclaim that I didn't need it anyways.  Wish me luck!

6:15 PM This is how we Christmas

Christmas Eve is a big foodie deal in my family.  Thanksgiving is more of a formal food affair and we do have long back and forths over what food we're going to fight for to keep in the repertoire.  On Christmas Eve though, we experiment.  I can't remember exactly when we decided to do appetizers for the Christmas Eve gathering, but what I do remember is Mom being tired of cooking two large meals right after the other.  I think I was still in Junior High, or maybe I had just entered High School, but for me that translated into "more cheese balls and cookies!"  So naturally I was all for it.

These days our family gathering is much smaller than it used to be due to other parts of the family doing their own thing for the holiday.  But we still gather at one of the family homes to eat together and open presents.  Below is our Christmas table with all of our dishes.  Though apparently we were missing Mom's truffles.  For shame!

Mom is the sweets queen.  She always brings her traditional Christmas cookies and gingerbread men plus whatever other cookies or truffles she feels like throwing together.  It's not Christmas without those Christmas tree and candy cane sugar cookies.  I remember sitting around our kitchen table as a girl decorating those.  the trees have much less of those silver beebee looking candies on them now that I'm not decorating anymore.  I think our dental plans are thankful for that.

Mom also always brings the beef.  Our thinly sliced Burgandy Beef favorite was a tad overcooked this year, but it was still just as good as always.  I'm one of those people who prefers my beef on the medium to medium rare side.  I don't care what Mom said about the dish being overcooked.  I still took a baggy home with me to eat for the rest of this week.  Also seen here is the horseradish sauce that is to accompany the beef as well as my sister's shrimp dip and some cheezy things and bacon wrapped sausage appetizers.

Here we have the Mushroom plate.  

First up is my Mom's stuffed mushroom recipe and her rye bread snacks, which also have a small amount of mushroom in them.  Both of these items have been on the Christmas menu since we started doing this appetizer style meal years ago.  They're one of those items that we all insist on reprising every year.  This year I was supposed to make the stuffed mushrooms, but Mom's recipe ended up being put together by my Brother-in-Law since the makings of that recipe were one of several which were left at my house accidentally.  He did a great job with them considering we realized I got the wrong kind of Parmesan.  The greener of the stuffed mushrooms are Walnut and Spinach Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms from Foods for Long Life.  That recipe was a new one for me.  I've always wanted to add in a raw vegan option for us to try out.  I finally made it this year.  Except, I didn't have time to dehydrate the mushrooms, so they ended up getting lightly baked anyways.  They were a hit in any case, but I sure would like to try them out as they were made to be eaten sometime.  The little white bread appetizers are my sister's mushroom canapés.  If I remember correctly there's mushroom, mayo, and fried onions mixed together on that bread.  

On this next plate we have the Pumpkin Pie Wontons from food.com and Pear & Brie Tart from Beantown Prepster.

Those Pumpkin Pie Wontons were also made by my Brother-in-Law as yet another pre-prepped dish forgotten at my place, but it as it turned out, his were better than mine!  I actually made the Pear & Brie Tart, which was just Divine!  That recipe was a first for me and I was a little nervous about how it was going to work since I've never really worked with phyllo dough much, but it was very easy to put together and it tasted wonderful!  If you click on the link, there is mention of Philly Cream Cheese for the herbed cheese.  I used Boursin cheese because I never saw any such garlic herb Philly Cream Cheese.  But Boursin cheese is made like Neufchatel, which is fancy cream cheese, so it's the same thing.

I had one other item that didn't make it out to the table setting this year.  My Sweet Potato version of Perfect Parsnips from the Good Mood Food Blog.  These were another example of a pre-prepped food that was left at home, so we hurridly tried to replace them.  Unfortunately, I didn't put enough oil on them during the baking process, so they were too flour-ey.  Then after I added the oil, the cheese started over cooking, so the potatoes didn't ever crisp up.  But they tasted ok mushy, so we all snacked on them as we were cooking everything else.  By the time we were ready to put the last food on the table there wasn't even enough of the potatoes to put out.

For Christmas gifts, the adults in the family draw names for gift giving.  But we go all out for the kids.  Since my niece is the only girl child in the family, I've been making her fun costumes or purses or accessories every year for a while now.  I really enjoy it.  This year she asked for Renaissance Faire garb so she can be in costume for Scarborough Faire.  Her little brother also asked for garb as well, but he's still little enough that I think he forgot and would really rather have toys when it comes down to it.  I still made him garb.

Here they are in their new Rennie fashions:

I made my niece's dress from my tried and true Tudor Tailor patterning book.  This is actually the pattern I've used for most of my own garb.  It's simple and easy and can be worn under more embellished looks or alone.  I made it a little big so she has room to grow.  It laces on the sides and in the back and the shoulder straps are  loosely stitched so they can be adjusted as well.  The skirt is a separate piece for mixing and matching as well as full adjustment.

My nephew got a basic Tudor shirt with a collar and basic straight legged pants.  There's going to be a doublet later to fancy it up a bit.  I have all kinds of great fabric to dress him in, but since this was the first thing I made for him, I wanted to make sure I had basics first.  He should be able to grow in that shirt and the pant legs have several inches of hem to give.  Plus if he stays thin he can wear the pants as highwaters and wear cool socks with them.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and have a Happy and Save New Year!

12:15 PM Party Snag

I bet you're wondering where Part 3 of my series on finding a pet for the Holidays is aren't you?  Well, Part 3 is the section on Buying a pet and I'm really having trouble putting that one together.  It's really taking a lot of thought due to my personal feelings on the matter and I have a lot on my plate right now.  I'm crossing my fingers I can have it ready next week.

In the meantime, this is my latest drama.

I'm going to this fabulous Victorian Christmas Ball in Waxahachie, TX on Saturday.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Several of us from the DFW Costumers Guild have been dying to attend a proper ball.  So this is just the ticket for us historical costuming geeks.  And I already made an appropriate dress, so all was good.  There would be no fighting to make something new.  I could focus on the mini-garb for my niece and nephew.  Well, that's what I thought.  Until I tried the dress on last night.

Oh dear.  I was aware I had gained weight back from what I had lost over the last year, but didn't realize how much that weight would affect my red victorian dress.  It was bad.  Since these types of dresses are made to fit really well in the first place, gaining weight is not a good thing.  I barely was able to hook the bodice closed and there were gaps at the closures.  NO BUENO!!!  Just about the only way I can wear that dress now is to make a front piece to hide the closure.  Ok, no problem, that's a relatively cheap and realistic plan to pull off in the little amount of time that I have.  Then I looked at it again and noticed the Huge rip in the off the shoulder strap on one side.  And I also noticed many other parts that need to be replaced or covered due to damage from wear.  So in short, the whole bodice really needs to be replaced.  And I don't have the funds for new red silk right now.

In my panic, I started hatching a plan for just getting a lot of heavy lace to sew to the neckline and shoulders and then figure out something to cover the closure area.  But the more I thought about it, the more I really just wasn't buying that look with the natural form fan skirt that went with it, which is also a little plain.  I mean, I'd have to do a lot of work to make it look like it wasn't a hasty addition.  At this point, the plan ended up turning into a major expense and a bit of a handsewing project.

BAH!!!!

The party is Saturday, remember?  Three Days!  Actually, less than that since I work a full time job and have little time after work to sew.

But even as I was lamenting my problem, true insanity took over and the Holy Fabric Stash came to the rescue.  It's funny how these little devils start speaking into your ear about what you might be able to accomplish if only you listened to their cracked-out plan.  At that moment I remembered a nice piece of royal blue taffeta-like material that was handed down to me from someone else's stash purge.  Yes, those little devils won and I was energized with a new crazy plan.  The tag on the fabric said there was about 2 1/2 yds.  Hmmmm, what could I do with that?  I knew it was enough for a Truly Victorian August Overskirt even though the pattern calls for 2 3/4 yds.  But what else?  Was there any hope that I could also fit a bodice into the remaining fabric?  Let me tell you, folks, I was so determined it would work at that moment that I went for it.  I found my Truly Victorian Ballgown Basque Bodice pattern and I started puzzling.  By the grace of the Holy Fabric Stash, and those crazy little devils, I was able to just barely eek out that bodice.  It's gonna be sleeveless and I'm going to have to patch a small amount of fabric on the back tails, but nobody's going to be paying attention to them since they'll be overpowered by the bustle just underneath.  And later I can use some trim to cover it if I want.


Now I'm sitting at my desk waiting for lunch time to come around so I can go across the street to Joann's Fabric to buy something for an underskirt.  I'm using my Truly Victorian 1870s Underskirt pattern.  It's the exact underskirt I used with the August Overskirt years ago when I made my Mina Blue dress.  I also need some tulle for a trick I just learned to stiffen the bustle part of the overskirt for a little more poof.  And I'm looking for some lace for the neckline.  And buttons.  I don't think I have the time to wait for Saturday morning to visit the Button Man on Perth Street.  I guess that will just really depend on how cheaply I can get everything.  I may just be making a trip to Perth at 9am if the buttons I want are expensive at Joann's


Will I finish in time for the Ball on Saturday night?  Who knows.  I can always go back to the old reliable pink polonaise if I don't finish.  It's not formal, but it will work in a real pinch. 


Am I crazy to think I can knock this dress out in such a short time when I've never been able to do it previously?  Absolutely, but I'll never know if I don't try and I know I'll be sitting at the Ball disappointed that I didn't at least try.  I'd rather show up in something lesser because I failed than show up in something lesser because I gave up and didn't even try.

10:29 AM DFWCG 18th Century Picnic

This weekend I had two events I wanted to go to. Both were at the same time. I really really really wanted to go to both. And then something happened and I had a lot to work on at home. At that point, I told myself I wasn't going to either event. Then Saturday morning rolled around and after a period of time I decided I needed to get out for a couple of hours. So I thought about it and dressing pretty and playing outside with some Fabulous fellow costumers won out over standing in line for hours waiting to get a book signed. I had friends going to that too, but there was no guarantee we'd be in the same line, yadda yadda yadda, and come to find out some of those friends were still in line by the time the picnic was over and I was driving home. YIKES!!! I'm glad I went to the picnic.

The decision to go to the picnic meant I had to rush to do some finishing touches on converting my Bourgereau dress to a chemise dress. I just needed to make a small repair on the bodice and corsetlet and then I had to put together a quick and dirty bum roll and figure out what the heck I was gonna do with my hair!

The bumroll I made from a dollar store heart pillow. I was originally going to hit the dollar store for cotton balls and make my own bumroll, but then I saw this heart pillow and said Screw That! What would my fabulous Dragon Con roommate who manages to make amazing things out of strange found objects do?? She'd go for the heart pillow. So I went for the heart pillow. I attached some ribbon I already had to the top and opened up the bottom to take some of the filling out. Then I tucked in the pointed extra fabric to round off the bottom. The result is nearly the exact same shape I would have had to cut out and sew up! Mine is messy, but it's Underwear! Nobody's going to see it and this was a 10 minute job as opposed to a half hour job. I only had 10 minutes. Here's a photo of the bum roll partially finished.


The next major challenge was to get my hair figured out. I have naturally curly hair, which is fantastic for 18th century costuming, but I don't have a lot of it, so I wasn't sure how on earth I was going to accomplish the right hair. I also wanted to wear my big straw hat, but I knew I didn't have time to add all the trims and bobs to it to make it look authentic, so I just decided to go without the hat. Luckily for me, I have this fabulous hair fall that I've used for a couple of other costumes. This fall is just about my favorite hair piece ever! I pulled that out of my wig drawer and did a quick and dirty updo with bobby pins and arranged a nice ringet on the side and fluffed my real hair up in the front. It looked Perfect! Except I didn't have any hairspray. And by the time I got ready and went out to grab hairspray on the way to the picnic, my hair had already fallen a little, but I did my best to fix it in the Walgreens parking lot.

Once I arrived at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens I was greeted by a group of Fabulous looking 18th century ladies and gentlemen! I tell you, the DFWCG has some seriously talented costumers. I am fortunate to be able to acquaint myself with these folks. I took a few pictures, but Crandall was kind enough to take many pictures of our day while the rest of us learned a period dance and played badminton and talked and posed. You can see all of those pictures, once I finish uploading them, at the DFWCG's Flickr stream. The few hours we were at the picnic really weren't enough. It would be lovely if one of these days we could make a longer day out of this particular event.

Here I am in my 18th Century finery.



And here I am after a redux of the pompadour for Saturday night beers. Yep, I went out with my pompadour. It was fun! Although I don't feel as though the picture gets the full volume of the hair. It felt like it was bigger when I was wearing it!

10:52 AM Regency Riding Habit

It's been a while, but I finally have a bit of the costuming bug again. I have to say that having some inspiration and motivation to make something pretty feels absolutely wonderful! It's been too long since I've wanted to make something and the construction hasn't been some source of stress. But this project is attached to an event that I may or may not attend with the DFWCG. And it marks a step in a new period direction. This costume is also the first new outfit I will construct after my weightloss, so it could possibly be the only thing I have in my costume closet, other than Rennie Garb, that actually fits without the need of alterations. And even better, this costume will be made entirely from stash fabrics and book patterns, so in essence, this dress is FREE!!!!!! I really like free.

When I got this inspiration to make a new dress, I had three dresses in mind. All three were from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1. My first option was the c. 1795-1800 Showshill Manor dress with the half robe. I love that dress. I've always wanted to make it. I had two fabrics that would have looked amazing for the project, but unfortunately I didn't have enough of the fabric that was perfect for the half robe. So that one was out.

My second option was the c. 1795-1803 dress from The Victoria and Albert Museum. It's on the same page as the previous dress. Then that dress was ousted because I didn't have any fabrics with the right yardage in the stash that actually went together well.

So then I realized that I had a very large amount of this dull golden-ish fabric for a dress and that the royal blue velveteen I had in the stash just might have enough for a Spencer coat. So I finally opted to go with the c. 1795-1810 Salisbury Museum Riding Habit. I love riding habits. There is little more beautiful than a perfectly put together riding costume, in my humble opinion. Ok, except for a ball gown, but seriously what on earth can compete with a ball gown?

Back to my riding habit...

I know I have plenty of fabric for the dress, and I should have enough fabric for the jacket, but if it turns out that I don't have enough for the jacket, blue velveteen should be easy to obtain and it won't be very expensive at all to pick up what is needed.

Here's the fabrics draped together on my dressform. This is when I knew the riding habit was the one.


I'm not sure if I'm gonna finish it all by next weekend, but it sure feels good to work on it. While my fabrics are hanging dry in the bathroom, I'm working on my shift. I'm using the instructions from Marquise de. I've needed a new shift of this kind for a while, so it will get multi-period use. That makes me very happy.

10:59 PM New endeavor - Knitting!

One of my most satisfying hobbies is costuming. I love it. I love making clothes that I can't buy anywhere else. Or well, let me rephrase that. I love making clothes that I can't Afford to buy anywhere else. That's actually how I started. I was a poor college student and I had discovered Renaissance Faires. I went to my first faire in regular clothing and that was the Last time I did so. My next faire I purchased my first chemise and bodice. I still had to wear my jeans, but that was ok, it was a start. I broke my bank on those two items and they were the cheap discounted Rentals. It was at that moment that I realized I could make my own clothing for a fraction of the cost. And I knew that it would tickle my grandmother Pink if I picked up the actual sewing bug!

Today I sew anything from medieval to 1940s vintage. Right now it is the start of the Spring Faire Season here in Texas. Scarborough Faire has begun and the season has been delightfully cool in the early parts of the day. I've even been able to wear my latest wool kirtle without melting. And since the first faire of the season always gets the creative juices flowing and I'm Still Broke, I find myself looking for ways to get Really Cool Garb done on the cheap.

My latest obsession??? Socks. Striped ones to be precise. But for now regular colored will do. Actually, on the scale of pricey garb items, socks are on the Low scale, so the fact that I'm obsessed with making my own socks is less about funds and more about the challenge of making my own freaking socks! There's just something extra satisfying about saying you made something that most people let their pocketbooks take for granted. Even more so when those items are perfectly budget friendly. I think it's because when the inevitable question of "why?!?" comes, it just feels Awesome to be able to say, "because I can."

So socks. I guess this means I have to learn to knit. Actually, I've been wanting to learn to knit for a little while now. Everyone I know knows how to crochet. Me being the one who wants to do what everyone else Isn't, I have made it my mission to learn the art of knitting. Me? Bullheaded and honery??? Naaaah!

I began this obsession quest Sunday evening. I scoured the internet for free online tutorials. I snagged several and began my work learning how to Cast On. After at least an hour of attempting not one but four different methods, I quickly decided that I was somehow handicapped towards knitting and I dramatically threw down my needles and shouted. You think I'm kidding? I actually picked them back up at least one or two more times to try again and repeated the throwing and shouting process over again until I was sufficiently defeated and ready to go to bed angry.

Tonight, however, I was saved by a video version of one of the pictorial lessons I tried the night before. The video was provided by Video Jug. It was with this video of oversized yarn and needles that I Finally realized that I was doing the knitting thing Backwards the night before and That's why it didn't work! So after I watched, and re-watched the video several times whilst performing each step, I Finally accomplished the very beginner steps of Casting On.

Then I moved on to the video of the basic knit. Now that I had the Casting On bit down, the actual knitting wasn't that hard to catch on to. Although I'm Dreadfully slow. But I did manage to get Three rows put together! And I was so excited about it that I didn't want to stop! Here's my handiwork:

Cute huh?

I think I'll be alternating practicing this knitting business with handsewing my cotehardie eyelets for the next several weeks. I doubt I'll be doing socks in the immediate future, but I'm pretty sure I'll manage one pair by the time Texas Renaissance Festival rolls around in the Fall. Eventually, I'd like to progress to knitting dainty little silk stockings, but that's Waaaaay off in the horizon. For now, I like my goal of striped socks.

11:29 AM Prepping for All-Con

Less than 24 hours until I get to enjoy the fabulousness that is All-Con! I'm excited and anxious all at once.

I'll be photographing the con from the DFW Costumers Guild table and uploading my pics to Flickr under the tag allcon2009dfwcg. I'm also going to try to blog throughout the day at http://dfwcg.blogspot.com/

If you're at the con, come say hi!

8:53 PM Sneak Peek at new costume

I'll be wearing this one to All-Con. I'm not gonna say what it is just yet. But you can guess. It's my version of a favorite fandom.

12:37 PM Wool Kirtle 2008-2009

For 12th Night 2009 I decided to reprise my Tudor Tailor Kirtle from last year. Except this year I decided to make it out of wool and and to reinforce it with buckram as opposed to the hemp cording I used last year. With the exception of the bust still being a touch too wide because there wasn't the bulk of the hemp cording to take it up, I was really happy with this version. I laced it up on the sides instead of the back so all closures could be hidden by a future over gown. I just need to figure out what the over gown will be. And I need to hem the thing. The wool bolt was a LOT longer than the linen bolt, so I can't just leave the selvaged end a little long. I think I'll take this opportunity to actually trim the hem as well. I never do that, but I ought to.

Following are pics of how it all came out. The pattern I used was a scaled pattern from the book The Tudor Tailor.

Front and back of kirtle showing buckram side of lining and buckram layer. Nothing is going to go in those channels, they're just for strength.


Front and back of lining side of lining and buckram layer.

These next two images are after I have already attached the fashion fabric, the wool, to the buckram and lining layer and connected the front and back at the shoulders. What you are seeing here is an inside view after I've attached the edging. The pattern only calls for edging at the armscyes, but I went ahead and edged the entire bodice.



Here you can see the "Right" side of the bodice once it has been completely put together. I had a little trouble with the edging at the center front bottom so it's not very perfect.


And here's a view after I've put in the handsewn eyelets. I arranged the eyelets for spiral lacing which I have not ever done before.


Finished kirtle inside out. The skirt was pleated and then whipstitched onto the bodice.

A closer look at how the skirt attaches to the bodice.

Finito! Except the hemming.