Bored, yet there's so much I should/could be doing

[mellymell]

I knew asking about sewing notions here yesterday was a great idea. I got a lot of fantastic suggestions and thanks to those of you who made them. My sewing experiences will be a lot more pleasant after the holidays. Even if I don't get any of the things on the list, I'll be picking up little random items like that myself periodically in the coming months, I think.

I'm really hoping the rain will slack off in the next few minutes. I'd like to go check the mail (the trim won't likely be here yet, but I'd like to get the mail regardless) and I've got to run to the grocery and get the two dishes we're taking for Thanksgiving started (candied sweet potatoes with blue cheese and spinach casserole, yum!). I'd really rather not do all that in the pouring rain. But if I must, I must.

There's so much around the house I could, err, should be doing right now. But I just don't feel like doing any of it. I managed to work on the adjustments to my wrap shirt a little this morning. It would be nice to get it finished today so I could perhaps wear it tomorrow or at least some time this weekend.

I worked on the wrap skirt design last night and I think I've got my pattern shapes down and my cutting layout figured out. It really helped to have a store bought skirt to work from. Helps to see the finished product and kind of pick it apart, visually that is, not literally. The only thing is I need to keep in mind I'm working with silk velvet, not stretch knit fabric. The bought skirt has an elastic waist which if I tried to replicate with the velvet would bunch up and not be the look I wanted. So, I'm thinking about doing a tailored waistline and putting an invisible zipper in back.

Looks like two of the three things I have listed on ebay are going to sell and the other has a watcher that hopefully will bid before it's over. Dinesh also somehow overcharged me for shipping (not by my calculations, but whatever, not going to argue!) and I've got a $6 credit with him. I noticed this morning that the trim he said he didn't have any more of is relisted with 10 yards. I'll be getting those extra yards I wanted after all! I guess things sometimes work out if you don't worry about them. I better go ahead and buy them before I miss out again though.

Comments

[tongarii.livejournal.com]

I tried to replicate a nylon garment with linen and it didn't fit the same way (close but no cigar). The linen wouldn't stretch the same way the nylon did, so keep that in mind when you work on your velvet.

Wow and added bonus of the extra trim. I have to find some for my Blood Red Dress. Good luck on the sales items, I've done that for petty cash money and this time of year its great!

Happy Turkey Day!

[mellymel-cos.livejournal.com]

yeah, I'm wondering if I'm going to have that many problems though, since I'm not really trying to replicate the garment, just using it to see about what shape my pattern pieces need to be. I'm mocking it up in muslin first, which is not stretchy in the least either, so that should help to give me a better idea of what the velvet will do. Here's hoping!

I got four extra yards of the trim, making a total of 10 I've got on the way now of this pattern. That should be much more than enough! Since it might be scarce should something go awry or should I have miscalculated somewhere, I thought getting a lot more than I needed was much better than not enough.

Blood Red gown trim is a tricky one, too. I bought a few and finally settled on the one I'm using now, which was I think the second one I purchased. I didn't quite have enough of it, though and I've got a total of about 6" in the back of the neckline that I'm going to fill in with bullion paisley appliqués. If you feel like embellishing one, Dinesh has a red and gold version of the trim I just bought that could work. The entire width is too wide for it, I think, but you could cut it down to size or just turn some of it under. I think Yvette used a similar trim that was beaded for her version of the gown and it's quite beautiful.

[tongarii.livejournal.com]

10 yards of trim! More than enough. I used only 2.5 yards for the eowyn Green Gown trim and that goes around twice! Still I agree, more is better and you can sell off the excess trim when you are done.

Actually the trim that you link to is 3.5" wide isn't that correct for the Blood Red. I'll look into all their trims, very nice. My local Sari stores do not sell just the trims.

Thanks for the tips. Can't wait to see photos of yours.

faye

[mellymel-cos.livejournal.com]

Well, this is an entire bodice made up of trim. They kind of made a fabric of it. See pics on Maggie's site here. From what I can tell, 4 kind of partial rows (with the bust cut out) in front and 4 rows in back, then 3+ rows on each sleeve. Since I have such a long waist, I may have to do an extra row or at least a partial row on the bodice to get it to sit where it needs to on me. My waist is 36" as is my bust and my arms are 15" so that's roughly 4-5+ yards there, not to mention there will be some waste from cutting out the pattern pieces (though not as much as if I was using fabric yardage I don't think, since I can piece together just what I need). Then there's another row of the same trim at the bottom of the skirt which is at least 2 yards, possibly 3.

If that trim is the same size as the stuff I just got (which I assume it is since it's the same pattern), it's more like 4.25" wide. That's counting the raw edges that would have to be turned under, which account for .5" total (.25" on each side). So, the design is actually 3.75" wide, about .75" wider than it probably should be. I think Yvette turned under one side of the narrower border design on her similar trim (you can see her construction details here). That would make it just about the right width, I think and at the same time would give the illusion of two trims, kind of like the rows of turkey work on the bottom of the trim of the original.