Marcon Prep: The Ottoman Vest and Cage Bustle

Ottoman Vest:

So far I've completely used up one skein of metallic thread - there are two rows of couched thread around the entire outside of the vest, and around the armholes and there is one row of couched thread about two inches above the first two rows around the outside but not the armholes.

Tired of couching thread, I pulled out the pink embroidery floss this evening and started a simple outline stitch inbetween the two rows of couched thread. I'm doing this to bring some pink into the vest to match the scarves better.

I'm thinking I'll add a nice gear design on the front in a couple places, but that won't come until after the border is complete. The large design on the back will likely also involve gears.

However, I have little to no idea what to do to fill in the border space. Maybe some spirals. Maybe a nice paisley design. I really don't know.

Cage Bustle:

I also worked on my cage bustle. I shortened most of the bones and basically pleated the casing down to be the right size. And I sewed the ties on underneath. I just need to try it on, and then put the skirts on over it to make sure the length is good before hemming it. I was thinking about ruffles, but now I'm leaning away from that.

I may have other plans for that left over muslin...

In other news...

I made myself a bandanna out of a remnant of UC Bearcats fabric that I picked up last week. It was a pretty quick project. All I did was use another bandanna to measure how big it needed to be and then did a narrow hem on three sides, the fourth was the selvage edge.

I've also had this costume idea running around in my head for a week or so. It's based on a Persian jacket I saw in a Racinet illustration. I was contemplating franken-patterning it out of a jacket pattern, but when I checked the Simplicity site today, low and behold, they have a pattern that is pretty much just what I had in mind. Of course, mine will be different as I don't have enough fabric for the entire jacket. It'll probably be sleeveless and shorter to accommodate how much fabric I have. Or I may end up buying more fabric, who knows. But this is probably where the muslin will go, cuz it would make nice lining for the vest I think. However, this outfit will likely not happen until DragonCon since I still have my vivandiere outfit to make for Marcon.

And now, this steam-stress is off to bed. Bonne nuit, mes amis, et dormi bien.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J. Wilde