Christmas and Ohayocon Prep 10

Well, I was a little bit naughty last night -- I ignored my Christmas sewing for Harley Quinn.

I finished cutting out my HQ jacket, so I now have both sides ready, one black, one red (fingers crossed that it goes together like its supposed to, but if not at least I have plenty of extra fabric!). I also cut out the muslin interlining and red broadcloth lining for the body of the jacket. I plan to leave the sleeves unlined.

Then I put together the skirt and it turned out just like it should have. Oh botheration, I just realized that I wanted to put pockets in the skirt and I forgot. And I finished all the seams already. Hmmmm wonder if I can pick a couple apart to put in a pocket? I should be able to... I used a sort of flat felled seam on all the seams (except the center front because it was the selvage and won't ravel) -- just turned under the seam allowance towards each other and used a zigzag to hold it together. I did not stitch it to the garment because I did not want visible stitching on this skirt. After finishing the seams, I stitched together two left over bits of red quilt binding and made the waistband. I sewed it to the outside of the skirt, gathering the back where it will sit over the bustle pillow and pinned it on the inside for me to hand sew today at work.

In my sewing basket today --
1. HQ skirt: hand stitch waistband on, pin polyester horsehair braid to the hem and maybe rip out part of a couple seams for pockets
2. HQ bustle: to start sewing on red ribbon
3. HQ corset: when trying it on for a photo last night, I realized that its a little small. I'm going to see if I can take out the zipper and either reposition it or add a tiny bit of fabric so that the corset fits better. The bottom fits okay, but the top is rather snug and crushes instead of enhancing my bosom. Its also rather uncomfortable to think of wearing for more than a few minutes.

I'd like to get all of the above finished today and then work on Cliff's pajama pants. I'll feel much better when they're out of the way.

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Time Traveler Entry #7

Hello my dear readers,

I got a lot done today. I started by cutting out the interlining, pinned it to the bodice pieces, then looked at the directions and realized the interlining gets sewn to the lining not the outer fabric so I had to take apart the lining (which was only basted together anyway) then pin and sew the interlining to the lining pieces.

The directions call for you to trim the front of the bodice before stitching it together, so I pulled out my green ribbon and white lace but when I laid them on top of the bodice front, it didn't thrill me. I'll probably either leave it untrimmed or I will add the trim later if I decide I do like it but the lace and ribbon has been set aside for the time being.

I put together the lining and the bodice - darted the front, sewed the back to the side back and then the front to the back at the shoulders - and decided to forgo the boning. Then I stitched the lining to the bodice along the neck line, clipped the curves, turned it and basted all the raw edges together.

Next, I cut my own bias strips from the clock fabric to use in place of the packaged bias that the pattern calls for. My main reasoning for this was because while I have several shades of packaged bias, none went with my fabric. Making my own seemed like the best move. This is my technique for using bias on this project - pin along one side right sides together, machine stitch, fold the edge over, encase the raw edge and hand stitch into place.

One piece of bias was used to finish the front edge of the bodice. Then I made the peplum and attached it to the back of the bodice, finishing the raw edge where it attached with more bias. Next, the front and the back of the bodice were sewn together at the side seams and still more bias was used to encase the raw edges. My final task of the day was to use bias to finish the armholes of the bodice. One side was machine stitched on but the other is just pinned because my fingers hurt from hand sewing the rest of the bias on. All that is left on the bodice is to put the zipper in and then trim it.

Until next time,

Miss Leah J. Wilde

EDIT: photos added

The bodice while I was putting it together















The bias