Snow Day update

I'm a snow junkie, and I am loving every flake, drift and forecast when it's like this.  To me, it's simply not winter until we have had some snow.  And more than anything else, I'm so very grateful for a snow day.

This weekend was a doozie.  I was up late every night, working on getting this project complete.  Friday night, I stayed up until 3:30 am, finishing the sequin pattern on the last panel of my reticule.  Saturday, I cut out my spencer and finished the dress.  Sunday, I did all the hand finishing on the garments, finished my slip, cut out and sewed my reticule, and tackled my hat.  I was up late till 3, doing handwork and then worrying while trying to go to sleep, trying to remind myself what I needed to gather, how I was going to get dressed at work, etc., all the while wondering whether we would even have school today.

That doesn't sound like much, but it was a lot.  I did not sew my spencer.  The skirt of the dress was far more complicated than I expected, and when I finished it, I knew I was done.  There was no time for a spencer.  So... another time.

Checklist update:

• chemise
• stockings
• shoes
• stays
• slip
• dress
• kerchief
• cap
• hat
• mitts
• reticule

I did not complete the spencer, as I said before, nor did I do the shawl.  The shawl is actually quite simple, but I'm really tired, and I just don't feel up to it.  I'm mentally and physically done with this project.  

Don't get me wrong--I've enjoyed it!  But spending every weekend for the last six weeks doing nothing but this project (and thus, letting housework, etc. get really neglected) has taken its toll.  My back and neck are killing me, my fingers are sore, and mentally, I'm ready to do something else.  I've been hankering to do some paper crafts.  I also really want to clean up and reorganize my bead storage and my paper crafting storage.  It's a cluttered mess... sigh.  

I do not have pictures to share at this point, but I'll take some.  I thought the hat would be more fun, and instead it was a total pain in the patella.  The truly fun piece was the reticule... mostly because everything went right on it.  Except that the heat of the iron did affect the older, smaller sequins I used on the first two panels.  The newer ones were heat resistant.  So I have two sides that are shiny and sparkly, and two sides that look a bit vintage.  Still shiny, but not so sparkly.  I did enjoy making the dress and other pieces, but man, that was a LOT of fabric!  For someone used to working with smaller sizes (dolls, kids, etc.), I was actually annoyed with how much the heaviness of the skirt was getting in the way!

However, it really did work out nicely, and I'm quite pleased with the end result.  Of course, the skirt itself was 6 inches too long!  I made a 1 1/2" hem (hemstitched!), and then had to make a 4" tuck all the way around... I knew I would possibly have to do that, but still... I was kind of surprised at how long it was--and how cumbersome!  But the tuck looks nice and sort of decorative--Yes, yes I did mean to do that!  :)  I wanted some sort of decoration on the hem, but most of the decorations for the time period were complicated, so... a simple tuck will do.  

And now that I have the time today, I'll see about making myself that coral necklace.  And maybe finish the bracelet, too...  At the moment, though, all I want to do is sleep.  

As for the end of the project--we were going to begin presentations today, and I was supposed to be the first to go.  I did not have time this weekend to create a short PowerPoint for it, so I will do that next.  One of the things the presentations need to address is what you learned through the process.  So... I'll post that part next!  Until then, nap on!  

Shoes and Mitts

My last post was very long.  This one is short... but part of the update from the last post.

I finished my crocheted lace mitts:

I may add wrist ties (they were included in the pattern), as the wrinkles mid-wrist kinda bother me.  

I also bought shoes!  Here's a picture:

The shoes for the outfit are on the right, as are the stockings (in a package).  The adorable gray flats' kitten faces are in sparkly crystals.  I'm not a big cat fan, but these flats were too cute to pass up!  (and they were on sale) I haven't worn them yet... soon!!

Original shoes were very similar... pointy toes, flats, etc.  I would have preferred boots, but finding boots today that look like ones from the early 1800s are difficult, and expensive.  Sigh...

 

Gorgeous!  I should decorate my new shoes, but I want to wear them afterwards with pants, so I think I'll leave them plain for now.  

These were called "half-boots", kind of what we call a bootie these days.  

Making Progress...kinda

Since my last post, I've made progress on my various sub-projects. These are all parts of the main goal, but they do take time.

On New Year's Day, my husband, Rob, and I made a duct-tape body double of my torso to put over my new dress form. We did this for two reasons: the dress form was a bit smaller than me, and my body has rounded parts that are not necessarily standard on dress forms.

This was fun to do, partly because I like working on projects with Rob (he frequently thinks of things I don't, and he has often helped me with my creative ideas), and partly because I've wanted to do this for years. It took longer than the tutorials I watched, probably because I'm larger than the people in the tutes, and we'd never done this before, so we needed to problem solve as we progressed. But Rob and I are both kind of perfectionists, so we both wanted to do it right.

I'm not a fan of silver duct tape...I find it kind of hard on my eyes, as it is reflective. So after grabbing a ginormous roll of silver, I opted to get a roll of extra strong white tape. We decided to use this for the second layer.  The first layer was rather soft, not what I was expecting. But that also explained why so many of the people I watched had really squishy results. The best video (linked here) recommended three layers, but we decided two was plenty. We were almost out of tape after the second layer, and as I was fairly immobile, wrapped in layers of webbing and polymer, I was not really able to travel. It was a bit like armor, and kind of cool in that respect. But I couldn't bend, slouch, or sit, and 2 1/2 hours of standing in uncomfortable shoes had taken its toll, and Rob had developed two blisters from all the tape cutting. We managed to gum up three pairs of scissors, too! I de-gummed them today with acetone.

When Rob cut the form up the center back, it was such a relief! I had to go to the bathroom, my back and feet hurt, and it was almost time for me to start making dinner. We hung the taped shell of my body on the dress form, just to see how it looked. It was a humbling experience. I hate my belly enough as it is, but seeing what I look like in 3D, well... let's just say I have inspiration for more weight loss. I'm currently at the lowest weight I've been in about 20 years, but there's certainly more to lose!

 

I've been busy with returning to work last week, but I've been working on other parts of the project. I'm tired when I get home, so I don't often have the motivation to do projects that involve several hours on weeknights. So, I crocheted one of the mitts I posted last week, and as you saw on Friday, I worked on the bracelet in class. I did more on it Friday evening...it's now about 2/3 finished.

In order to work on this project in my very small sewing space, I had to clear a lot of accumulated clutter. That actually was really good for me, and I'm donating some of what I unearthed to Ms. Sinclair's supplies. ☺️ And now I actually have room to work in there. That was Saturday.

Today, I padded and stuffed my dress form, and taped up the back to make it permanent. It's very cool to be able to try things on the form. I checked the measurements, and it's pretty much exact. When I was done with that, I got to break out my patterns, cut out the parts I needed, and figure out the measurements for the corset. This was surprisingly challenging! You have to use very specific measurements to determine size, and then what size to cut the gusset panels. It was more complicated than I expected it to be!

 


So... now I have a fully functional dress form, accurate pattern pieces ready to put to the test, and a clean sewing space. Woohoo! (ignore the crap on the floor under my computer desk...empty bag of stuffing, recycling, papers to file... and the top of my desk has accumulated clutter...I was kinda just tossing stuff on there while cleaning the rest of the area!)

Here is my progress on the bracelet:

What most of you saw me doing in class...

Just a bit more to go, and this part will be complete!

This week, I will work on my other mitt (I brought the first one to class on Friday), cut out the chemise and corset test fabric, sew them up, and hopefully finish the bracelet.

I met a friend for lunch on Saturday, and afterwards we went to Shipwreck beads. I picked up some coral beads in two sizes. Coral was a popular material for jewelry, and people from  the late 1700s through the mid- 1800s believed coral had health benefits. So if I have time, I might knot myself a necklace (beads strung on silk cord with knots between each bead).

Oops! I forgot!!

My last post was so long that I forgot to discuss one more detail of my ensemble:  Gloves.

Regency women had a lot of gloves.  Long, elbow-length gloves for evening, short leather gloves for warmth outdoors, lacy little mitts to keep hands warm but fingers free, etc.  

I should wear gloves with my outfit.  But... I'm not a glover, even though I know how, and I can work with leather.  Being ambitious, I have ordered leather for making gloves, however... I only have a month!  So I have also bought a digital pattern to make lacy fingerless mitts.  I can work on those while watching TV at night, so it's more likely I will make those than real gloves.  But... we'll see!  

Here's a picture of the mitt pattern:

Keeping it short and sweet!  Back to cleaning my worktable....