Friday, March 22, 2013

To Do List - Steampunk Empire Symposium and Work Clothes

For me:
  • Need to find white or pink laces for my new corset
  • Finish the lobster tail bustle
  • Maybe make a new underskirt for my Pink Paris ensemble, in a vibrant color like yellow or teal, if I can find some fabric that I like enough.
For my friend (she will be helping me with a lot of this):
  • Jacket and skirt to go with her new corset. I'll be making the jacket, and maybe assisting with the skirt if necessary.
  • Chemise and bloomers, also to go with her new corset. I think she'll be doing most of the work, but I'll likely be assisting her. 
That's not too bad, really.

I also want to finish some new work clothes:
  • The comic pants, which just need the zipper put in, the waistband finished and hemmed.
  • The black and floral corduroy skirt.
  • The striped corduroy skirt, which just needs the zipper, the waistband and the hem done.
  • And the purple skirt that was once a dress that just needs the waist finished somehow.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Completed Projects as of March 18, 2013

  • Finished Suicide Squad Harley Quinn for Ohayocon (finished in January, mainly stash sewn, purchased a few items like a zipper and bra cups)
  • Embroidery portion of my embroidered quilt (it only took about five or six years lol) (finished before January 14)
  • Keeper of the Keys corset (finished by February 1; I think it was all stash fabric)
  • Baby quilt for my cousin's little girl (some stash fabric, purchased flannel, batting and binding fabric; finished by February 18)
  • Quickie zebra print, elastic waist skirt for a concert that got cancelled. Guess I'll just stash it away for the next show. (purchased fabric, finished by March 1)
  • Chemise, petticoat and additional ruffled panel for the petticoat of my pink and white steampunk underwear ensemble. (finished by March 12; purchased fabric and quilt binding for the waistband, stash lace and twill tape and some other fabric) Corset (finished by March 19. Pretty much all stash, except I bought one thing of embroidery floss.)

What Miss Wilde Is Sewing Now - March 2013

Since we're a little over halfway through March, I figured it was time for a update post on 2013 sewing plans.
 
Here's my sewing wishlist from the beginning of the year:
  1. Try out a few tutorials I've seen online... Like American Duchess' Lobster Tail Bustle and the Butterfly Bustle Drape on Your Wardrobe Unlocked 
  2.  Finally make the Alison swimsuit from BurdaStyle that I downloaded a while ago.
  3. 1884 Wash Overskirt from Truly Victorian.
  4. A Natural Form Victorian dress. I've been looking at patterns on Truly Victorian, but haven't decided on what I want to do yet.
  5. An 18th century costume, starting with the stays.
  6. A Regency outfit, probably a dress and spencer, based off of Simplicity 4055
Of these, I've pretty much done nothing. I did start the lobster tail, but I haven't finished it.

Updated to do list:

  1. Lobster tail bustle from American Duchess' tutorial - deadline April 26 for the Steampunk Empire Symposium.
  2. Pink and white underwear set - deadline March 25 (for the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge). If you're a regular reader, you know that the chemise and petticoat are finished and the corset just needs the lace trim sewn on and laces. If anyone has a source for white or pink boot laces, let me know!
  3. 18th Century pockets - deadline April 9 (for the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge) These should be pretty easy, unless I decide to embroider them (which I probably should...)
  4. A 20s inspired dress to go see The Great Gatsby in - deadline: May 20
  5. A plethora of new work clothes (since I am soooo tired of what I have to wear now):
    1. Pants out of comic print fabric. Already started on construction! Old UFO, it'll be good to get these made.
    2. Black corduroy pencil skirt trimmed in floral corduroy. As a bonus, I could wear this with my floral corduroy jacket. This is a UFO, already cut out and pinned for construction to start.
    3. Asymmetrical wrap skirt made from a taupe suiting. Another already cut out UFO, pinned for construction. I'm a bit nervous about this one actually, the fabric is some kind of weave that doesn't seem super stable...
    4. Turning a dress into a skirt. All I need to do is put on a waistband of some sort. Right now I'm thinking white satin ribbon that ties in the back.
    5. Purple cotton sleeveless sheath dress. Another cut out UFO, pinned for construction to start.
    6. This past weekend I cut out another pencil skirt from a narrow striped colorful corduroy and pinned it for sewing. 
    7. I also have two other fabrics picked out, but I'm not sure what I'm doing with them yet.
  6. Long term project is the 18th century costume. I'd like to get started on the stays, probably once all of the above is finished.
  7. And I need to put together my embroidered quilt
  8. I also have three commissions set up:
    1. A quilt for a friend from finishing school, no deadline
    2. A costume for a client I met through a friend of a friend, deadline is July
    3. A costume for a friend, deadline is Steampunk Empire Symposium. (need to get started on this one)
So the current sewing is the corset for the pink and white steampunk underwear, the work clothes and the new bustle. 

Pictures from Weekend Sewing

First up, some corset pictures!

Corset flossing, day one or two. Its a learning process, as you can tell.
Corset flossing, halfway through the process
Corset flossing complete, time to start putting in the eyelets!
Eyelets complete, only thing left is to trim it out in some pink lace that matches the chemise and petticoat perfectly.




Next, I started putting together the comic pants! I decided to ditch the center front fly zipper for a simple side zip.  I was also worried fit (since the pants were cut out about ten years ago) so I did a 3/8 inch seam. I may go ahead and take it in to a 5/8, but I'm okay with the current fit. Next is adding the waistband, putting in the zipper and hemming them. And then I'll have a new pair of pants!


Comic pants, stage one of construction

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

From Ohayocon - A Picture by the Ever Lovely Sarah Hans

The Governess (Grey suit), me with Gloria from the Airship Archon

Corset, petticoat and current sewing projects - Pictures!

Basting the layers together before binding
Binding a corset really kills your fingers
Corset with the binding finished!


Finished ruffle panel!
Hem ruffle on the petticoat
Pants the I'd like to finish - comic print fabric
Skirt I'd like to finish - black corduroy and floral corduroy. Adding the floral print because the UFO skirt as originally cut would be too short for me now - It would show the tattoos

Monday, March 11, 2013

A Little Update...

First of all, check out  my Instagram for lots of inprogress photos of current projects! My username is midnyghtsnow

Now, despite being sick last week (I caught some 24 hour stomach flu that I'm STILL recovering from), I managed to get quite a bit done.

1. The ruffled panel and the petticoat for my pink and white steampunk underwear are DONE. All that's left now is the corset...

2. Which I have worked on, a lot. It's put together, boned, and I finished the binding yesterday. Next up is the eyelets (once I fix a little problem - I didn't really leave room for said eyelets where they should go...) and then the flossing and probably the trimming. Contemplating trimming it out in pink lace that I have that is pretty much the exact some shade of pink to match the chemise and petticoat.

3. I also pulled out a few UFOs and some stash fabric to work on making some new clothes for work. In the picture above, you can see a pencil skirt pattern (I'm working on a black corduroy trimmed in floral corduroy version, and I may be making one out of the narrow stripe in the picture as well), another skirt pattern that is cut out of a taupe suiting, a dress that I made years ago that never fit (I cut the top and skirt apart, gonna add a waistband to the skirt and maybe repurpose the bodice as well), another dress pattern that was cut out of purple cotton, and a pair of pants out of the coolest fabric -- comic print. I also have some turquoise corduroy that I want to make a skirt out of and a white and black silky material that I think wants to be a blouse...

Friday, March 1, 2013

Pictures aka Costume Porn! - Tour Wear and Pink and White Steampunk Underwear

Tour Wear!
 
Close up of the Tour Wear!

 Two pics of some lace that's going on the pink and white steampunk underwear

Binding for my new corset

Base of the ruffle panel for my pink and white petticoat


Close up of the petticoat ruffle panel. The half circle at the top is where it'll sit on my bustle pillow / cage petticoat

Ruffles for the ruffled panel

Close up of the lace on my ruffles

New white underbust corset, outside

New white underbust corset, inside
Close up of the corset lining

Ruffle panel with ruffles all pinned for the sewing
Ruffled panel with the ruffles all sewn on