warm brown skirt + floor length hems

Excuse the sunset-ness of the pictures -- It was finally cool enough to wear this outside, so I dashed out as soon as I got home and changed.  Or we can pretend alien attack.  That could be fun too.

Anyhow, this is the first volley of my be-warm-with-options-other-than-polar-fleece campaign.  (Winter does get a bit monotonous) It's a self drafted 6 gore skirt, with a side zipper.   Its made of a thick woven cotton, with blue and white sewn (maybe woven, but it looks like stitching) stripes.  Its been sitting in the stash for ages, waiting for me to come up with something interesting.

 snazzy stripes.

 I've developed a fondness for floor length skirts lately, and getting the hem to the right length is a bit of a trick.   (I find about an inch off the floor is good - doesn't drag, but looks like it might)   Anyhow, to do it without help, I use my handy-dandy chalk marker on the lowest possible setting

Due to the stand, this still ends up being a few inches higher than I'd like, so after chalk marking, I go around again and add 3 or 4 inches (depends on the weight of the fabric) 

and voila! floor length hem!  In this particular case, I actually went with three inches, and then attached a hem band to the bottom.   This allowed me to use the band's seam allowance to anchor the hem, resulting in no visible stitches.   (the close up of the stripes, a few pictures up, is actually the interior of the hem.  I serged the end and whip-stitched it in place)

Experiments with embellishment (also, Renn-Fest!)

in which I abandon historical accuracy to the wolves. *

Long and involved story short:   I usually go to the renaissance festival in late October. This year, plans changed and we went today - when the temperatures were in the mid 90s (also, humidity?  yeah. lots.)     So I figured between not having enough time to finish my massive tudor re-do and not wanting to die of heat exhaustion, I would join the legions of women who go as sort-of-not-quite-belly-dancers and generally look pretty darn comfortable.

I also decided to experiment with embellishment.    (sadly, not at all visible from a distance, as you can see below)  Both the vest and belt have free hand embroidery based on the Angie's Fall design from Alabama Chanin (but mucked about by me - I didn't trace anything, just sort of did what looked right at the time) I also added a bit of beading in the primary petals of each design -- I ran out of time for anything else)  I've never tried anything so loose and sketchy looking before, and both enjoyed the process and the result.   (i.e. you will be seeing more of this at some point)

The Good:   as comfortable as could be expected (it was reeeeaaallly hot**, and we were all sweaty greasy messes by the end.  But, as usual, it was renn-fest-tactular.)   (fun fact: some of the performers strap ice-packs under their costumes to handle the heat and the layers.)

The Bad:  black on black really doesn't show up well.   Next year! colors!   (However, given this was made of the scraps of an old ikea slip cover, I think we can give it a pass)

Best part of the day?   I was able to wander around for hours (and drive there and back) and my knee didn't bother me.   (I tore my meniscus in March, and this was a first for me.)  Its aching  bit now, but I think that's more psychosomatic than anything else.

Pattern details:
The vest is based off the bodice of simplicity 3673, with pointy bits added, the neckline lowered and the opening moved to the front.

The belt is from simplicity 2158 (which is actually a belly dance costume, shock of all shocks.  It's rare I use something as intended - I think I originally got it as a basis for a bathing suit.)

The skirt is the lining I pulled out on an 80's monstrosity and now use as general purpose I-need-a-black-skirt-and-don't-have-time-to-make-what-I-want type of thing.



*Short digression on Amanda being a hero and pulling it off despite the heat.   She is amazing and insane and knows a lot of the performers and their secrets for making it through.  Although, I'm pretty sure she was ice pack-free.  Clearly, superhuman.

** not to be confused with I-refuse-to-go-outside-and-turn-into-a-hermit-hot, which is around about 110. like earlier this summer.  (33 and 43, respectively, for you Celsius folks)

(yes. I know, lots of fuss.   but the weather was the main topic of conversation today, along with making sure everyone had enough water.   I think I'll try to go again in a month or so....)

In which I vanquish a hole!

A beloved skirt (not so recently) developed a hole.   The fabric is so thin, and such an odd color I didn't dare patch it... so it sat on the sewing table for months (except the times I popped duct tape on the inside and brazenly wore it out anyway...)

the evil hole.

Anyhow, the other day I decided to try darning. For anyone unfamiliar, darning is basically reweaving a small section of cloth - usually mentioned with socks, but it works for anything.   I just stitched back and forth a few times vertically (going about a centimeter beyond the hole) and then across horizontally, weaving the threads in place. (Hand sewing, although I understand with sturdier fabrics, it can be done by machine, sewing, rather than weaving, the threads together.)

its effectively invisible when worn

The whole process took maybe 10 minutes, and a beloved skirt is saved!  Also, the repair is all but invisible, so I'm feeling pretty smug.

take that, duct tape patch!  I fix stuff!

black and white and...

I'm really not sure what to make of this dress - I really like it, without actually liking it at all.  (I know)  I was talked into buying the fabric, against my better judgement, and on its own, its a bit (a lot) much.  Since then, it's grown on me, and now gives me flashes of the destruction of the Death Star and/or  Speed Racer, depending on the angle I see it from.   ...and I do like the Death Star.   However, from time to time, I see crazy early 90s insanity, which I'm not so fond of.  But hey -- we're focusing on the Death Star.

Actually, its kind of a Rorschach test of a dress - so - what do you see?  hmm... very interesting...

I find I like it best toned down a notch or twelve with a sweater - I love black and white, but everything is better with color (and a nice section of solids, so one's eyes aren't fried out)

Anyhow - it is the fourth incarnation of the many-paneled dress that started out as an experiment with old bedsheets and immediately became one of my favorite patterns. (versions one, two and three - information on drafting here)  The skirt is enormous, far more than a full circle, and flares out straight at the waist if I spin fast enough.   (This can be slightly problematic when dancing, but then, that's what leggings are for...)

I'm starting to think it would also work really well with brightly color stockings....

who finally threaded her serger? this girl.

It took a lot of tiny squares, but I finally decided to stop being a lazy bum and thread the damn thing.   (Now, the fact that it takes less than five minutes to thread a serger compared to the amount of time I've spent cutting out tiny squares, and what it will take to get the whole quilt put together may not quite even out...  but yeah, sometimes I *really* can't be bothered.)

to the tune of Beethoven's 5th -- hem hem hem HEM.  six yards.

I'm also getting closer and closer to the day I buy a coverstitch machine.   I'm doing more knits, and I really hate zig-zag hems and always end up hand sewing them, so it would make a lot of sense, but I just don't have the space.   Clearly, the only option is to move.

the tiny squares cometh

Count is currently in the 600s --- soon... soon.....

I've also made some progress with chopping up old garments.  The sunflower shirt was one of my first attempts at copying RTW, from about 5 years ago.  The fabric is gorgeous, but the fit was pretty terrible (not that this stopped me from wearing it *everywhere* and proudly declaiming to all, that I had made it.)

The blue-tomato dress is from my senior year of high school (the pattern has since been lost to time) and still fits! ... for a given value of fit - I still didn't know what I was doing back then (this is over ten years ago now) so things are kinda wonky and the finishing is more than a little hilarious - It seems I was all about fold over and sew.   However, it too has joined the quilt as I don't think I've worn it out of the house since college.

Last but not least, the green shirt -- this was an early experiment with franken-patterns, from about 4 years ago.   I never quite got it to sit properly the the black trim was not one of my better choices - but it took so long to put on I couldn't bear to remove it - until now -- bum bum BUM.  It is next up for getting chopped into quilt bits.

I haven't really looked at any of these in years - at the time I thought I was hot shit, and compared to what the people I knew were doing (hello stapler) I was.   However, the quality of the garments is almost laughable - and the amount of improvement I've made over the past few years really shows when they are compared to my latest work.   Mostly, its making me think what I'll be able to accomplish with another ten years of study.  I'm still intimidated by fitting pants, woven sleeves, hemming knits and doing much of anything with slippery sheers....   ::crossed fingers::  mayhaps I'll get them too.

Free pattern drafting books from the 40s and 50s

from 'Practical Dress Design'

TJ, over at the Perfect Nose, has most gloriously and generously scanned and posted a number of pattern drafting books from the 40s and 50s.   (Copyrights have expired, so its all lovely and legal.)  I can't even begin to describe how amazing these are -- however, when I starting going through them the first time, I had to run around the apartment and scream for a little bit before I was calm enough to download them.

these are from the survey offer below

AND...(I know, could there be more?) she is offering yet another fabulous book for anyone willing to give her their measurements.    She is putting together a bra pattern and is trying to get a sense of the range of people who might be interested in such a thing.  (She would like you to know this is intended as a 'thank you' for people willing to take the time to help out with this.)