Remembrance

On this day in 1919, my grandmother was born. And sixteen years ago, almost to the day, was when she died. I was ten. There's a lot I didn't get the chance to do with her, and there's a lot I never got the chance to ask her. And being adopted, it can be hard feeling connected to your own family because whether intentional or not, people equate blood with family. Like there's something that people who don't share genetics are missing, even if those people literally raised you.

Though her health didn't really allow it during my lifetime, my grandma used to be an avid crocheter. There were doilies she made on every end table. There were crocheted dresses on the extra roll of toilet paper in every bathroom. And there were crocheted glass covers, only used on the sacred of days, the rare Rootbeer Float Friday. I tried to learn, but grandma couldn't teach me, and my mom is left handed. (Nowadays I can crochet left handed in order to teach others, but at seven or eight it was beyond my ability.)

But even though there was a lot that couldn't be passed on, a desire to be crafty was instilled in me. That and the fact that a house isn't a home without copious yarn crafts. As I grew I learned how the things I saw everyday were made, and through books I taught myself the skills I had been surrounded by.

Now, almost two decades after her death, I make my bed with purple sheets in remembrance of her, with pillowcases that I cross-stitched with violets and lace trim  I crocheted. I top my bed with the quilt that I made, and add a crocheted counterpane that I inherited from her. And I know that even though we didn't share a drop of blood, she was family, and I wouldn't be the person I am today without her influence.

I love and miss you, Grandma.

Crossing things off the list

Having finally been able to meet up with Crowley and work on things for her, I can officially cross stuff off the to-do list.

Firstly, Crowley's chemise. I was going to do more detailing on it, but lazy happened.

Close up of the handmade lace.

Secondly, Crowley's drawers. I still need to add buttons and buttonholes, but she needs to try them on so I can get the fit. Also, considering that it is physically impossible for me to pass up sale buttons, how do I not have any that are plain black? The best I have are domed black velvet buttons, but A) I may end up using those on Crowley's bodice, B) there aren't many so I can't waste them, and C) domed buttons under a corset sounds painful. So I need to buy MORE buttons. (I love buttons, but I can never spend less than $20, because I will buy buttons by the crapload.)

Close up of the stacked ribbon trim. I was going to do 1/4 inch tucks around the legs and stitch the red ribbon to the underside so that an 1/8 inch of red ribbon would peek out from the tucks, but once again lazy happened.

I choose to do Crowley's undergarments in black since all he wears on the show is black, with a touch of red because he is the daring-est devil you've ever met. It's a perfect color scheme for the King of Hell.

The corset, chosen for the player not the character, is an olive green stitched in gold. The whole thing is finished except the seams, since I like to do a final fitting before everything is flat-felled and encased. Once I do the fitting, I can bind it, bone it, and floss it. Considering I want to have everything done in 4 months, I need to get busy.

Project Steps:
Chemises (Completed)
Drawers (Completed)
Corsets (4 of 5 Completed)
Bustles (2 of 5 Completed)
Petticoats (2 of 5 Completed)
Skirts (1 of 5 Started)
Bodices (Not Started)

Just keep sewing, just keep sewing . . .

Historical Sew Fortnightly #12

I am, once again, doing things. Yay for motivation. For this challenge I made . . . another corset.

Okay, there have been a lot of corset posts, but to be fair I need five total and they keep qualifying for different challenges, so go with it.

My fourth corset is for Gabriel, and ended up very nice.

The corset is a peacock silk dipioni flat lined to coutil, stitched in brown silk. It has an olive silk binding and a ivy border.

I had to hit a couple of fabric stores in order to find a binding I liked. None of the options I thought would work in the beginning actually looked good when the corset was finished. The leaf border was a speciality ribbon I found as a remnant. Since I didn't have any matching thread I had to very carefully remove the ivy from the brown ribbon it was attached to in order to save the thread it came with.

For the laces I found this very nice brown cording that matching the stitching. The flossing is the same thread used in construction.

The breakdown:

The Challenge:  #12 Shape and Support

Fabric:  Peacock silk dupioni, olive silk dupioni, cotton coutil

Pattern: 1880s corded corset from Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines, drafted to measurements

Year: Mid-1880s

Notions:  Brown silk thread, brown polyester cording, spring and spiral steel bones, spoon busk, grommets, and 2/3 of a yard brown ribbon with ivy border

How historically accurate is it?  The pattern and construction are good, but the lacing is polyester and the glitter printed ivy trim is way off. Considering that these are pretty minor points, maybe 90%, though the color may have been too out there for the time period.

Hours to complete:  I had to take a break in the middle, so no clue.

First worn: Unworn as of yet, but hopefully photos will happen soon.

Total cost:  $60?

Historical Sew Fortnightly #10

So, I didn't make anything.

Like, at all.

I was sick for a while, and didn't even meet my May goals, but since I did do some research, I figure I can at least present art-based costumes I hope to make in the future, starting with Amazzone Perugina:

Amazzone Perugina, by Cesare Auguste Detti

Although this is a late Victorian painting in the style of the 18th century, I intend to make this a proper 18th century habit. Unfortunately, that will not be for some time. To date, this is what I've accomplished on this costume:

This is half of the front of the stays to be worn underneath. I also made a shift, but that's as far as I got before I went back to my main project. Since I'm hand-stitching it, do not count on seeing this costume any time soon.

Pinterest recently inspired a search of painting by Alfred Stevens, who focused on painting women in the late Victorian era. His work shows off clothing to a stunning degree, and caused me to fall in love with this beauty from the end of the Natural Form era:

La Parisienne by Alfred Stevens 1880. Also, look at that sass. 'If that bastard doesn't show up in the next five minutes, I am done with him.'

 

I love the different shades of green, the lace trim, the sharp pops of black that bring the whole thing together, that matching parasol. So much love. Not to mention that at first glance the olive green appears to be velvet, but if you click through for the larger image, it actually has textured stripes. So either it is velvet with some striped texturing going on, or it's corduroy. I can do corduroy. Olive corduroy with chartreuse silk and a lifetime of happy feelings. And since my current project is approximately 1884, my basic undergarments (combination, corset) will work for this project. No idea when it will happen, but I will keep the dream alive.

And lately, having nothing to do with art or the HSF, I got a Victorian button hook for $6 at an antiques fair today.

It's small, only about 3.5 inches long, but it was too good of a deal to pass up. Happy!

Real fast

Not feeling too well, think I might be coming down with a sinus bug that's been going around. It's been affecting my progress, so I might not have much to show at the end of the month. So instead, here is Castiel in her corset:

Also note: Eyebrow.

Another One Bites The Dust

Third corset completed. Castiel's corset was finished only moments ago, and it feels good to be able to mark something off the list. Next up will be Crowley's chemise and drawers, and hopefully I'll be able to finish Gabriel's corset by the end of the month. Those three things: the chemise, drawers, and corset, are around 50% done at the moment. If I can get them done, then I can mark off the Chemise Step and the Drawers Step entirely, as well as only having one corset left to do. Get that done as far as the final fitting, and I'll be able to start on two more bustles and petticoats. Not to mention starting the actual outfits. We'll see how far I get by the 31st. But now pictures!

Castiel's corset is a garnet silk, stitched in black silk thread, with black silk binding and champagne lace.

Close-up on the cording. The silk is a bit darker that the photo shows, it's more of a burgundy than a red.

 Close-up of the flossing. Every other bone is flossed in a feather. For reasons.

The eyelet bones are flossed with a pair of wings. Please ignore wonky stitching on wrong side. Also, this is closer to the true color of the corset. The lacing is champagne to match the trim.

Finally, a close-up of the lace. You can see some of the feather flossing peeking out. 

The hardest part of this corset was that I stitched a couple of boning channels too narrow, and it was a bitch to get the the bones in later. One of the channels even had to be re-stitched. There are a couple of spots on Gabriel's corset that are going to give me the same problem, so I'm going to fix it before I install the spoon busk. No reason to give myself the same headache a second time.

Now I'm off, to go tie up Castiel and see if I can get some shots of her wearing the corset. And for those of you who have watched the season finale of Supernatural:

Suddenly, May

I didn't die on my recent trip or anything, I just haven't really gone online since. I missed the last two HSF challenges, but I got some work done on my 18th century stays. I'm nearly finished with Castiel's corset, just have the second half to floss before pictures. I now have all the supplies to finish the corsets, and Crowley finally was able to visit, so I can start making her things. Her chemise is nearly done, her drawers about 50%, and I fit the mock-up for her corset while she was here. Pretty soon I'll actually be able to cross off whole layers as completed for everyone, which is good since I've started having nightmares about not finishing in time. No pressure, right? Just my subconscious telling me I'm going to fail. :/

Oh, and the Supernatural season finale is tonight (I'll be watching it tomorrow since I don't have TV), so I need to make up some Bailey's for Castiel and I since we'll be watching it together. And Crying. Possibly Screaming.