Christmas Dress

I promised a post on my Christmas dress, so here it is!!! :D

I started with around 5 yards of uncut corduroy.  Not enough for the pattern, but I decided to do a contrast collar and cuffs to cut down on it, and shorten the skirt if I had to. Which I frequently do with my 1950s dresses because they were LONG to allow for the petticoats.  So I start cutting out the bodice. And as I go to cut out the second part, I realize that I'd cut without paying attention to the nap.

*face palm*

Okay, so how do I handle this? Knowing I'm already short on fabric, I decide just to keep the mistake going.  Maybe no one will notice, right? So I finish cutting everything out, including lining for the bodice and interfacing and pack up everything to take home to my parents' house for Thanksgiving.

I start sewing.  I try on the bodice and look down.  You can totally see the nap.  I ask my parents if they can tell, mom can't at first, but dad can.  We decide that I might as well keep going, so I work on the skirt.  After sewing together several panels and putting in the pockets I realize that I only cut two sides instead of four.

*face palm*

At this point, I hate the dress and my mom  pretty much just looked at me and said we're going to the fabric store.

Christmas dress take two:  I bought the right amount of fabric (black crepe) and lining (a pretty black and white houndstooth) as well as a yard of white satin to do the collar and cuffs.

By the way, at this point, I have two weeks to get the dress done to wear to The Nutcracker which is why I started making a new dress for Christmas to begin with. After I got home on Sunday, I cut out the collar and cuffs, to get it out of the way.  So my goal on day one (the Monday after the fabric store) was to get everything cut out.  I got the black cut out, and part of the lining.  The second day, I finished the lining, washed the interfacing (I just used muslin) and started sewing. Day three: finish the bodice, except the collar and cuffs.



Day four: fixed a fitting issue and got the collar on.




Day five: collar and cuffs on and with fancy stitching on the edges. Started pinning all the skirt panels together.



 By the evening of day six, I was working on pinning the lining in place. At that point, all that was left was the zipper, stitching the lining down and then hemming the lining and the dress itself.





On day seven, I hung up the dress to let the skirt settle before hemming.

Day eight, I was really tired and didn't work on my dress.  As of day nine, the dress just needed the lining finished and the both the lining and dress hemmed. The overskirt was underway, but the petticoat hadn't been touched yet.









Day eleven: I finished hemming the overskirt, with a satin stitch. And stopped for the night because if I knew that if I didn't every single seam was going to end up with a satin stitch.  So all that was left was the gathering and the waistband. And the petticoat.



By the Friday before the event (day twelve), all that was left was the petticoat so I spent my Saturday cutting and gathering yards and yards and yards of netting.









But it all got DONE on time!!!

And of course, I ended up deciding not to wear the overskirt. I just liked it better without it. Maybe I'll just use it as a Christmas tree skirt.

Little to no progress from Miss Wilde...

1. Finish the commission. - Haven't had the chance to work on this recently. I really need to make some time for it, but my weekend is booked and my weeks have been crazy busy lately. Planning on next weekend to get it done.
2. Petticoat for my green and white sundress. - Haven't started this either. Need this done by August 3.
3. Bunting for my nephew - DONE
4. Halloween skirt - Gathered to fit the yoke but not stitched.
5. Femme Joker - Cut out the suit.
6. Sis in law wants a matching nursing cover so I need to try and get that done by the time the baby comes (late August / early September)

What's In Miss Wilde's Sewing Basket

I packed a lot to work on this weekend, since it's my only sewing machine access for a while:

• The petticoat. I just finished sewing the hem by hand, but I need to add the black ruffle, so the black broadcloth is packed. I also packed the crazy quilt skirt so we can measure the petticoat length for the black ruffle.
• The basque bodice. I need to finish cutting the lining from the broadcloth and start putting it together.
• The blanket.
• The playsuit. Everything's cut out just need to start putting it together. I found lilac thread to use! And I think I'm just gonna with a white zipper.

I'm hoping to get the petticoat done, the blanket sewn together and ready for hand work and the playsuit and the bodice at least started this weekend. I might concentrate on the playsuit first, because I don't see it taking a lot of time.

Here's hoping I get Fern back from the doctor soon...

Progress Update - March 19 2012

Cut out the rest of the bodice: I did what I could. I cut the cuffs and collar out of the Paris print, and cut what I could out of black broadcloth for the lining. Beau is borrowing another piece of black broadcloth I have next weekend, so once I have that back and wash it, I can cut out the rest of the lining.

Finish gathering tier 3 of the petticoat and sew it onto tier 2: Done! I checked the length by pinning the petticoat to my dress form and then pinning two gores (basted together) over it to see how everything looked. Which is so far, so good. Right now, the petticoat is a couple inches longer than the skirt. My current thinking is that I sew lace to the bottom of the petticoat, and then add the black ruffle (attaching it to the seam where tier 3 is attached) so that it comes to the top of my boots. Another idea: I add a narrow ruffle of eyelet and attach it as well as the black ruffle to to tier 3...


Petticoat on my dress form.


Skirt pinned over the petticoat, I'm thinking I'll need to wear a net petticoat underneath for more fullness...


Length of skirt versus petticoat.

Of course, I don't have 10 yards of white lace in my stash but I did have a massive amount of a cream lace. So it's currently in a water and bleach bath in an attempt to lighten it. We'll see how that turns out.

Check the lilac linen: DONE! Not only did I have enough linen, but I washed (light), dried (low and only for 40 minutes) and ironed (linen setting, sprayed with water as I went along) it! Then I cut out the pattern.


Laying out the playsuit pattern...

I didn't start putting the bodice together, mainly because I really didn't feel like it.

What Miss Wilde Did This Weekend...And this week's to do list

Some sewing for Beau: Replaced a zipper in Beau's vest. Sewed Velcro onto some patches. And helped him put grommets in a banner.

Worked on my projects:

• Worked on my crazy quilt skirt. I now have a mere 5 seams standing between me and my last gore being finished.
  
• Started the petticoat. I used a petticoat pattern from Simplicity for the yoke and cut it from some white broadcloth. I laundered the muslin and cut it into strips: two 45" pieces for the first layer, two 90" pieces for the second, and one 90" plus six 45" pieces for the third. The first layer is a little narrower than the other two. I also pulled, washed and deconstructed my eyelet skirt, but I haven't cut it up yet.
  
• Worked on my basque. I laundered the interlining fabric, re-did the pattern pieces in a larger size, and cut out the satin and the interlining. I also pinned the interlining to the appropriate satin pieces because it's going to have to be hand basted.
• I looked for fabric for the playsuit / skirt combo, but failed. I might try to squeeze the playsuit out of a piece of lilac linen I have, I'm only 1/4 yard short...
  

Week of March 12, 2012 To Do List:

• Finish my embroidery. EDIT -- I finished my third gore and my mother finished her second. Pictures tomorrow!
• Work on the petticoat. EDIT -- This is probably on hold til the weekend. The 'gathering' thread I used doesn't want to pull through and gather. I'm going to have to re-do it.
  
• Baste the interlining to the satin for my basque bodice. EDIT -- Started the hand basting tonight. I have two pieces finished.
  
• Finish cutting out the basque bodice (I still need to do the contrast cuffs and collar as well as the lining)
• See if I can use the lilac linen for my playsuit.
  

Gypsy Steampunk: Crazy Quilt Skirt Progress -- Halfway DONE!

Picture time!!!

First up, my mom sewed a crocheted flower onto the gore she's working on right now. She thinks its from a doily one of her grandmothers made.



Next, I just finished my second gore! That means the skirt is halfway done!



And last but not least some detail shots:


I stitched down a little flower applique to cover up the knot at the end of cording I couched down along another seam. From left to right, the blue / green is a double herringbone, the green is a Russian chain stitch (I think), the pale blue (looks white) is a braided chain stitch, the orange is a cretan stitch, the gold is a blanket stitch. And in the lower corner, is some green feather stitching.


This is a new stitch for me and I really liked it. The pale green (once again it looks white) is a fly stitch. Above that is the basque stitch and in the lower corner you can see some blue feather stitching.

I'm feeling really good about this project right now. We have three of the six gores embroidered. I've been working on calculating fabric requirements and dimensions for the petticoat.

Speaking of the petticoat, my original idea was to make each tier twice as long as the one above it. Yes, I want a FULL petti for this costume. But...when I went through all the calculations, I came out with needing 12 yards of fabric for the bottom ruffle.

Um...12 yards for ONE ruffle? I don't think so.

So I went back and re-calculated at around one and a half times the size of the ruffle above. Not as full as I like, but Miss Wilde is frugal. I'm still going to need about 5 or 6 yards of 45" fabric for the bottom ruffle. But I'm a little more comfortable with that than with 12 yards.

To Do List Update - Gypsy Steampunk and Christmas

Steampunk Gypsy:

Three of the six crazy quilt skirt panels are finished and at my mother's house for embroidery. I need to find some of my embroidery threads to take to her for her to use on them. Panel number four is well underway.

As for the corset, I've reached the construction point. After hand basting the cotton interlining to the silk for support and stability and also hand basting the broadcloth lining to the denim interlining, I started sewing everything together. Both sides of the silk outer layer and lining / denim inner layer have been stitched together. I need to baste together the front for fitting purposes, probably take it in some, and then move on to sewing the layers together. I'm planning for this to be lightly boned, probably just at the center front, side front, side and center back with no boning on the curved side back seam. I'm also only planning one bone per seam as opposed to the usual two bones per seam that I usually follow.

The back will fasten with lacing and eyelets (I'm contemplating stitching over the eyelets to give them a prettier look, but haven't decided for sure) while the front will likely close with a separating zipper. I want to have straps of some sort that go up the front to the buckles at the shoulders, my mother suggested brown would look pretty with the teal. I agree but wonder about how that will look with the planned black petticoats. I also need to find buckles. Brown pleather straps would be rather lovely though, and I have some brown faux silk that may work for the binding...

I'm also planning to make a tiered black petticoat to wear underneath the crazy quilt.

Christmas presents:

I started my other Christmas sewing. I made a pillowcase for Beau and used the left over fabric to trim the stocking I made him from left over red taffeta from Diamonds are Forever. My stocking is the same base fabric and will be trimmed in some University of Cincinnati cotton I have in my stash. Other than finishing my stocking, the only other thing I have to sew is the toaster cover for my father's gift.

Harley Quinn body suit improvements:

I know how I'm going to do the cuffs, but I haven't started them yet. I did cut out the collar but its too small and needs to be recut at a slightly larger size.

Elf punk hat:

I'm thinking of some sort of fascinator style hat, covered with clip on Christmas decorations, fabric flowers, red tulle, and some gold beads.

Stash sewing:

If I don't get any commissions, this will probably be the next project tackled. I'm planning something vaguely 18th out of a cream and black flocked taffeta (if there's enough fabric); and a new skirt for my black plaid outfit that is more plaid, probably a shorter skirt with a wide plaid ruffle or pleated ruffle at the hem leaving little of the actual skirt exposed.

Speaking of commissions, I am taking them again. I've had some interest from a few people but nothing firm yet.

Improvements 2

I went to the fabric store and picked up (1) materials for my vest - embroidery floss, a small hoop and embroidery needles as well as (2) fabric for my new Harley Quinn bustle - 2 yards of 108" wide white muslin. It should more more than enough for the bustle petticoat. I also picked up some embroidery books from the library for my Ottoman vest project.

I also worked on the petticoat ruffle for Harley Quinn. Both sides are now hemmed. I contemplated trimming the bottom hem with lace but decided against it as no one's really going to see the petticoat anyways. Once the ruffle was hemmed, I stitched a gathering stitch along one edge (standard regular thread on the top, button thread in the bobbin) and pinned the ruffle to the petticoat, matching ruffle seams to petticoat seams.

Section by section I - pinned the bottom of the ruffle along the hem of the petticoat, gathered the top edge to fit the section, and pinned the ruffle down. Then I sewed the ruffle on, removed all the pins and clipped the gathering threads.

The ruffle looks good and I think it will definitely help my skirt hold its shape, just like I wanted.


I'm packing up things to take over to the beau's today. I think the Joker pants and vest are going to be the only project I take. And maybe an embroidery book or two for research.

And I've added a project to my to do list -- my friend and fellow Archonite has asked for my assistance on a costume for DragonCon. Which means more money for Miss Wilde's Convention Fund! I also have a couple friends interested in corsets and met a woman at the club this weekend who may be interested in some sewing as well.

EDIT - The Joker trousers have been tried on, and need taken in just a pinch. And I worked on my vest a little bit - started couching down silver embroidery floss along the edges. I'm planning two rows of couching and then a pattern of some sort followed by two more rows of couching to form a nice elaborate border.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

The Joker 5 and Harley Quinn Improvements 1

I got the pants put together - sewed the side seam, the inseam and the crotch seam. They look rather large, so like I mentioned before, a fitting will be necessary. Here's a shot of the pants currently, I think they look rather well, don't you?


With the Joker trousers to a point where I need my beau before I can move on, I looked at my trusty to do list and decided to work on my HQ petticoat. I had the fabric for the ruffles already as it was left over from the petticoat so I snipped and tore five twelve inch wide strips (one for each gore, they won't be gathered as much in the back because the two back gores are wider than the front three), sewed them together on the ends and I pinned the bottom and top hems. Next up will be sewing the hems, then the amazing fun known as gathering!

And here's a picture of the pile of ruffles on my sewing table:


A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Last Minute Ohayocon Prep 2 and Normal Clothes for ME!

The Imperial Officer was a success last night at Last Night on Alderaan. Miss Dashwood snapped a picture before I left her birthday celebration so hopefully I can update this entry later with it. Before I wore it, I did fix the hem.

I fixed my beau's gloves -- it was a pretty simple repair. They have elastic straps that wrap around the wrist and velcro in place and the straps needed replaced. It was easy and quick to take the old ones off and put new ones on.

Then I put a waistband on my black petticoat. I took a piece of black knit left over from other projects, trimmed it so it was more square on the ends, cut it in two lengthwise and sewed the ends together to form a long piece. I stitched it onto the waist of my petticoat, about an inch or a little more from the top (this was so that the tears and holes in the petticoat would be covered), then stitched again to hold the waistband in place before turning the edges under and stitching it down. I also used narrower strips of the knit along the back opening to finish those edges as well. All it needs now is some sort of closure, probably a hook and eye which I don't have with me.

I also cut out my Kermit pajama pants, put them together, hemmed them and made an elastic casing. They would be finished, IF I had remembered to pack elastic. Also its a good thing that they're just for me -- I accidentally cut out one leg upside down.

Yesterday I purchased a pattern to make a knit tunic and some purple knit (clearance!) for it. Prewashed the fabric today and I noticed I bought the wrong size of pattern. So now I'm trying to decide if I should exchange it or just make it and take it in to fit. I'm sort of leaning towards the latter, but I know I should probably exchange it. Well, I do work tomorrow so it won't be difficult.

I still need to finish my Harley Quinn mask. I really should do that as soon as possible. If not tomorrow, then Tuesday.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Pictures of Harley Quinn!

Yeah picture time!

Here's my petticoat when it was almost finished --



And here's a close up of the hem with the polyester braid pinned before sewing --



And a close up of my pretty red waistband --




And now for the bustle!! Here's the apron, with lace pinned on --



And here's the two pieces of the bustle waiting to be sewn back together --



And a close up of the lace on the bustle --




Now, for the corset!

Basting the zipper into the lining --



And a picture of the diamonds and the interlining --

Christmas and Ohayocon Prep 5

Greetings to my dearest readers on this chilly autumn morning. The weather just makes me want to curl up in bed with a good book and a good man or stay at home, all cuddly in pajamas and a robe and sew all day. Alas, I am at work and will spend my day in a chilly office (our heater isn't working right, thankfully I have a space heater under my desk or I'd be a Leah-sicle) instead of sewing like I'd prefer.

Now for my update on Christmas and Ohayocon preparations!

First off - I finished my HQ petticoat!

Secondly - I threaded the elastic through the casing of my beloved sister in law pajama pants so they are finished for the time being. A fitting is required to completely finish them after all.

With Christmas presents well in hand, I pulled out the next fabric and patterns for my HQ and started cutting! Out of my diamond patterned cotton I cut out the bustle apron and my new corset. I also cut all the corset pattern pieces out of white sateen (for the lining) and muslin (for the interlining). The back of the bustle apron was cut out of muslin and white sateen. It won't show (it'll be under the actual bustle) so I didn't want to waste my diamond on it when I need what's left of the diamonds to line part of the bustle. I believe the bustle is going to end up partially lined in diamonds and partially in sateen.

With everything cut out, I started a little sewing. The apron sides where pinned and sewn to the apron front. Then I pinned the two pieces of the apron back together but did not have the chance to sew them before I had to leave the Companions' Shuttle to meet my beloved adopted sister for food and libations (and talking of course). I did have the time to pull out my iron and our tiny ironing board and iron all of the corset pieces, 36 total pieces I believe -- six pattern pieces, three fabrics and two of each pattern piece.

In my sewing basket today -- All my corset pieces so I can pin them together for sewing. I'll pin the lining together so it can be sewn and used as a fitting tool. The diamonds and the interlining will be pinned so that each piece of diamonds is backed by muslin and sewn together before I construct the corset. I also have all of my bustle pieces so I can get them cut and pinned together so the bustle can be constructed.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Christmas and Ohayocon Prep 4

Well my dear readers, my HQ petticoat is almost complete! Tuesday I handstitched on the waistband (I particularly like the red waistband with the black and white stripes!) and pinned the polyester braid to the hem. Last night, I sewed on the polyester braid and finished the hem. All that's left to do is sew on the closure at the waistband!

I also cut out my HQ bustle. It's my own design, so fingers crossed it works! I plan to have a standard two part bustle - the actual bustle and the front apron drape. I discovered that the print of my fabric is not perfect (aka not straight) and I'm hoping that the slight deviations don't negatively impact my outfit.

Last night after working on my petticoat, I cut out the flannel for my sister in law's pajama pants. I had to take off a couple inched of length to get the pattern to fit -- the fabric apparently shrunk when I washed it. I then sewed them together (side seam, inside leg seam then crotch seam) and put in the elastic casing for the waistband. All I plan to do at this point is thread the elastic through and leave it to be sized to her. I'm also leaving them unhemmed -- she's rather tiny in the height department so I'd much rather have her try them on and pin the hem than try to guess how long they need to be.

In my sewing basket today - (1) HQ petticoat and closure (2) pajama pants and elastic and (3) the fabric for my corset and bustle -- I probably won't cut it out at work, but I might do it on lunch so I figured I'd bring it.

That's all for today!

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

PS - I took some photos of my petticoat yesterday but forgot the cords to post them via my work computer. I have failed you yet again, Miss Dashwood.