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It's finished! Mostly.
Nov. 1st, 2007 01:30 pmWell, I was sewing right up until about 6:30 last night and still have a little bit of trim to put on the neckline, but nothing was missing that anyone but me would notice. I've decided to insert a zipper in the overgown as well, it's quite difficult to get on, though not quite as hard to take off. At some point today I plan to add the last bit of trim and wear it again this weekend to the Drachenburg Folklore Festival Sunday. At that time, I'll get pics. Last night by the time I got dressed, it was just too dark. Eventually I want to use something else to sew this trim on. The metallic thread I used is very scratchy against my skin. In fact, I had little red marks on my arms where it rubbed. Other than that, it was fairly comfortable to wear, and perfect weather for it. I could see where if I tried to wear it in warmer weather it might be a little less comfortable. I'd like to get a different shaper to wear underneath too, maybe one of the one's with shorts at the bottom instead of just the skirt type one I have now. It tends to ride up and become uncomfortable and I find myself adjusting it frequently. I definitely want to put skirt hitches and probably even sleeve hitches in eventually as well, especially for things like trying to eat, or hold a squirmy infant.
After some trick-or-treating, we went to the Warner Parks to join up with some of the Tennessee Fellowship and Nashville Smial. They're a great group and very welcoming. I'm glad to live in a city where there are people that do things like this. In Huntsville, there just wasn't much outside of the SCA group and I was just never very interested in joining the SCA there. Marie, Kathryn and Rebecca I met a couple of weeks ago when we went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Everyone else was new to me. Louis was wearing a chain maile shirt that he made himself that was really fantastic. They had a nice roaring fire going and lots of great food. Jonah was a big hit in his gnome costume. Chris got some pictures before we left the house. His entire outfit was thrown together yesterday evening. I was gluing his pointy hat at like 5pm or something. Hopefully someone will post the pictures they took from our gathering last night. As I was talking to Kathryn as we were leaving, she mentioned wanting to do something like this every year about this time, to kind of balance the year's events with the Ren Faire in May. I think it would be fantastic, especially if we could do it on a weekend to utilize some daylight hours for things like maybe a nice hike or something. The parks are really lovely, and bonus, they're like 2 or 3 miles from our house!
Steffany and Lilly came up as well. Lilly was dressed as Nagaina from Rikki Tikki Tavi. Steff did a fantastic job on a tough costume to accomplish. She used a baseball cap with styrofoam and covered it with black sequin fabric to make it look like a cobra's head. She put the little swirl markings that Nagaina had and painted some eyes on the top, then using pipe cleaners formed a forked tongue and attached it to the bottom of the bill of the hat. She wore a black leotard and Steff made a cape-like attachment out of the sequin fabric to look like a snake. Steff brought a corset and raided my closet to come up with a gypsy costume. She looked great, too! Chris wore a peasant-type shirt I made him a few years ago and the vest from our wedding. We threw together a "cloak" out of 3 yards of black silk velvet I had in my stash. It wasn't even hemmed, just a clasp at the neck and that's it. I had a hemmed piece of navy silk velvet to use as a cloak, but I never felt the need. I was quite comfortable in the dress itself.
We had a really fun time and even though there are still a couple of stray things to finish, I'm so glad to have this costume crossed off my list! Now, on to the Angel gown. . .
After some trick-or-treating, we went to the Warner Parks to join up with some of the Tennessee Fellowship and Nashville Smial. They're a great group and very welcoming. I'm glad to live in a city where there are people that do things like this. In Huntsville, there just wasn't much outside of the SCA group and I was just never very interested in joining the SCA there. Marie, Kathryn and Rebecca I met a couple of weeks ago when we went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Everyone else was new to me. Louis was wearing a chain maile shirt that he made himself that was really fantastic. They had a nice roaring fire going and lots of great food. Jonah was a big hit in his gnome costume. Chris got some pictures before we left the house. His entire outfit was thrown together yesterday evening. I was gluing his pointy hat at like 5pm or something. Hopefully someone will post the pictures they took from our gathering last night. As I was talking to Kathryn as we were leaving, she mentioned wanting to do something like this every year about this time, to kind of balance the year's events with the Ren Faire in May. I think it would be fantastic, especially if we could do it on a weekend to utilize some daylight hours for things like maybe a nice hike or something. The parks are really lovely, and bonus, they're like 2 or 3 miles from our house!
Steffany and Lilly came up as well. Lilly was dressed as Nagaina from Rikki Tikki Tavi. Steff did a fantastic job on a tough costume to accomplish. She used a baseball cap with styrofoam and covered it with black sequin fabric to make it look like a cobra's head. She put the little swirl markings that Nagaina had and painted some eyes on the top, then using pipe cleaners formed a forked tongue and attached it to the bottom of the bill of the hat. She wore a black leotard and Steff made a cape-like attachment out of the sequin fabric to look like a snake. Steff brought a corset and raided my closet to come up with a gypsy costume. She looked great, too! Chris wore a peasant-type shirt I made him a few years ago and the vest from our wedding. We threw together a "cloak" out of 3 yards of black silk velvet I had in my stash. It wasn't even hemmed, just a clasp at the neck and that's it. I had a hemmed piece of navy silk velvet to use as a cloak, but I never felt the need. I was quite comfortable in the dress itself.
We had a really fun time and even though there are still a couple of stray things to finish, I'm so glad to have this costume crossed off my list! Now, on to the Angel gown. . .
Still plugging away on the Blood Red gown, though I haven't made as much progress as I'd like, I'm still making progress and that's really what's important to me right now. Regardless, I'm not letting the looming date of Halloween put me in a frenzy of sewing where I'll compromise quality to have it done, as I have with this gown before. I've had to undo so much that I did wrong because of that before. All in all, I'm going to be much happier with the result this time than I would have been had I finished it in a hurry two years ago.
Unfortunately, I haven't made any forward motion on gathering items for Jonah's costume either, though. I need to pick a day next week to drag him around town to do just that. Luckily there's a strip of Charlotte Pike that has like 3 or 4 thrift stores within a mile or two of each other and I should be able to gather most of the stuff there. Other than that, a trip to Party City for some beard hair (wonder if the new one on Charlotte is open yet, that would be awesome) and a trip to Michael's or somewhere similar for some felt and that should do it.
Thursday night I joined some of the lovely ladies of the Nashville Smial of the Tolkien Society and the LOTR Tennessee Fellowship to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I would LOVE an opulent Elizabethan gown, but my skills are no where near there yet. Her armor was fantastic too! Definitely a drool worthy watch. It was fantastic to meet some of the local Tolkien fans as well. I look forward to so many more outings with them all!
I registered for A Long Expected Party and they'll be receiving my deposit check shortly. So now, I'm looking in my stash to see what pieces of costumes I have and what I can attempt to get done in the next year for that. I'd also like one or two outfits to wear to the Ren Faire in May that do not have trains (I couldn't bear dragging silks through all that dust and dirt, or if we're unlucky, mud). I've got one meager piece of the Chase outfit (just the lace for the collar, that still needs to be stripped of it's red and overdyed with grey). Another one I thought about was the Shieldmaiden. It's something I wouldn't have to wear a wig for which is fantastic, especially if it happens to be hot. And although I'd really love to have Galadriel's Mirror gown done by next September, I just don't see it happening, not within the budget I have to work with anyway. Perhaps if I get enough Christmas money to pay for the beaded/embroidered fabric from Bindu, I could pull it off. But then I'd want to make the crown and the brooch and such and I'm not sure my soldering and cutting skills will be up to par. I think I could pull off the brooch, even already have the mother-of-pearl disc(s), but the crown intimidates me. I suppose I could always do without the crown for now though. I also have an "inspired by" idea that will turn out to look similar to the triad of Arwen jumper gowns in ROTK. I've got that overgown I dyed that turned out not dark enough for the Blood Red gown, but it really is a lovely shade of dark blue/navy with a purplish cast. Bindu has this gorgeous ivory/gold/silver brocade that I'd love to pair it with and Dinesh has a lovely jacquard trim in similar colors that could be beaded. That same trim is what I thought I'd get if I decide to try a Starry Mantle. That would be another sort of simple Eowyn gown I could try to have done for ALEP. The Victory gown would be another trainless one to try, but not cheap and not easy (with those raglan sleeves). Of course there's the Refugee, but I've just never been very drawn to that one. As far as what I already have on hand, all I need are lining and trims for the Angel gown and it can be done. I think I might need more muslin as well, and that goes for anything I attempt unless I've already got a pattern worked out somewhere.
So, there's a lot of "maybes" in that list. I guess I need to look at what I really want, what I already have and what I think I can do and/or afford. I don't want to make a long list of unattainable goals. But first, to finish the one at hand. . .
Unfortunately, I haven't made any forward motion on gathering items for Jonah's costume either, though. I need to pick a day next week to drag him around town to do just that. Luckily there's a strip of Charlotte Pike that has like 3 or 4 thrift stores within a mile or two of each other and I should be able to gather most of the stuff there. Other than that, a trip to Party City for some beard hair (wonder if the new one on Charlotte is open yet, that would be awesome) and a trip to Michael's or somewhere similar for some felt and that should do it.
Thursday night I joined some of the lovely ladies of the Nashville Smial of the Tolkien Society and the LOTR Tennessee Fellowship to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I would LOVE an opulent Elizabethan gown, but my skills are no where near there yet. Her armor was fantastic too! Definitely a drool worthy watch. It was fantastic to meet some of the local Tolkien fans as well. I look forward to so many more outings with them all!
I registered for A Long Expected Party and they'll be receiving my deposit check shortly. So now, I'm looking in my stash to see what pieces of costumes I have and what I can attempt to get done in the next year for that. I'd also like one or two outfits to wear to the Ren Faire in May that do not have trains (I couldn't bear dragging silks through all that dust and dirt, or if we're unlucky, mud). I've got one meager piece of the Chase outfit (just the lace for the collar, that still needs to be stripped of it's red and overdyed with grey). Another one I thought about was the Shieldmaiden. It's something I wouldn't have to wear a wig for which is fantastic, especially if it happens to be hot. And although I'd really love to have Galadriel's Mirror gown done by next September, I just don't see it happening, not within the budget I have to work with anyway. Perhaps if I get enough Christmas money to pay for the beaded/embroidered fabric from Bindu, I could pull it off. But then I'd want to make the crown and the brooch and such and I'm not sure my soldering and cutting skills will be up to par. I think I could pull off the brooch, even already have the mother-of-pearl disc(s), but the crown intimidates me. I suppose I could always do without the crown for now though. I also have an "inspired by" idea that will turn out to look similar to the triad of Arwen jumper gowns in ROTK. I've got that overgown I dyed that turned out not dark enough for the Blood Red gown, but it really is a lovely shade of dark blue/navy with a purplish cast. Bindu has this gorgeous ivory/gold/silver brocade that I'd love to pair it with and Dinesh has a lovely jacquard trim in similar colors that could be beaded. That same trim is what I thought I'd get if I decide to try a Starry Mantle. That would be another sort of simple Eowyn gown I could try to have done for ALEP. The Victory gown would be another trainless one to try, but not cheap and not easy (with those raglan sleeves). Of course there's the Refugee, but I've just never been very drawn to that one. As far as what I already have on hand, all I need are lining and trims for the Angel gown and it can be done. I think I might need more muslin as well, and that goes for anything I attempt unless I've already got a pattern worked out somewhere.
So, there's a lot of "maybes" in that list. I guess I need to look at what I really want, what I already have and what I think I can do and/or afford. I don't want to make a long list of unattainable goals. But first, to finish the one at hand. . .
Quick update
Oct. 9th, 2007 09:54 amIn the interest of not getting too bogged down on the computer, I'll try to keep this short. . .
Of course Halloween is upon us, and once again, I'm attempting to finish my Blood Red gown. At least a lot of the work was already done. I did opt to scrap my overgown (will be used for an "inspired by" version using a gold/cream brocade for sleeves and a gold cream trim that I'll add faux pearls and other beads and maybe embroidery to, at a much later date). I've got some of the syfabrics navy silk velvet that everyone else has used on the way. Although more work for me, there's good news in that I have to take in the undergown pretty much everywhere. I started working out daily (well, weekdays at least) the first week of September and in that month lost 4 inches from my hips, 2 from my waist and 2 from my bust, also lost 2 inches in bicep girth (speaking of, I need to hurry this up and stretch and run my mile for the day before Jonah passes out on me for his morning nap). I still have a lot of work to do on myself, but I'm making good progress. I guess it's better to have to take something in than let it out (especially since I had already trimmed the seam allowances and there's no way it could be let out without adding extra fabric, which I don't have). I put together the sleeves yesterday and am still so enamored with that brocade from Bindu. I'll be plowing forward on it today, after my run. If I have the undergown done by the end of the week, I'll be ecstatic.
Anyone remember the cartoon David the Gnome? Guess what Jonah's going to be for Halloween, heh. I think I can find most everything in store bought clothes (hitting up thrift stores for a blue coat, or even one I could dye the right color and brown pants). We've got a pair of shoes I think could work, I just need to color them tan. I have a black leather narrow belt I never wear that I can cut down to size easy enough and probably find a little buckle somewhere (come to think of it, the 1.5" gold ones we used on the groomsmen's vests for our wedding would be perfect, and those were at Hancock's). Then just make a red pointy hat out of felt with some starch to it, add an elastic chinstrap to keep it on and maybe even attach the beard to the chin strap so it's all one piece and maybe a bit more comfortable too. I wouldn't even think of trying to use any adhesives, that's for sure! Find a large stuffed fox to work as Swift, and there you have it, our 10-month-old son as David the Gnome. He's probably going to hate me for this one day. I originally thought a hobbit, but that can wait until he's bigger, maybe next year.
My wrap shirt is still in progress as well, though so freaking close to finished. I stopped working on it to put away all my sewing stuff when we were hosting a brew day back in the last weekend of August. Unfortunately, I didn't drag my sewing stuff back out. Fortunately, I worked on the office enough in the month of September that I can sew in there now, meaning that unless people are spending the night here (it's also our guest bedroom), I don't have to put everything away when people come over now. Unfortunately, the shirt too is subject to some sizing issues now that I've lost some inches (don't have a scale so I don't know if I've lost weight) but for the most part I think I can take it in at the shoulders on the front panels and fix all the fitting issues. It's just a matter of doing it. Then once I get that done, I need to put in the neckline and the sleeves, then sew the trim on and it's done.
Well, before I waste anymore time away from my sewing machine and the many other things I'm juggling right now, time to get off the computer and get something tangible accomplished.
Of course Halloween is upon us, and once again, I'm attempting to finish my Blood Red gown. At least a lot of the work was already done. I did opt to scrap my overgown (will be used for an "inspired by" version using a gold/cream brocade for sleeves and a gold cream trim that I'll add faux pearls and other beads and maybe embroidery to, at a much later date). I've got some of the syfabrics navy silk velvet that everyone else has used on the way. Although more work for me, there's good news in that I have to take in the undergown pretty much everywhere. I started working out daily (well, weekdays at least) the first week of September and in that month lost 4 inches from my hips, 2 from my waist and 2 from my bust, also lost 2 inches in bicep girth (speaking of, I need to hurry this up and stretch and run my mile for the day before Jonah passes out on me for his morning nap). I still have a lot of work to do on myself, but I'm making good progress. I guess it's better to have to take something in than let it out (especially since I had already trimmed the seam allowances and there's no way it could be let out without adding extra fabric, which I don't have). I put together the sleeves yesterday and am still so enamored with that brocade from Bindu. I'll be plowing forward on it today, after my run. If I have the undergown done by the end of the week, I'll be ecstatic.
Anyone remember the cartoon David the Gnome? Guess what Jonah's going to be for Halloween, heh. I think I can find most everything in store bought clothes (hitting up thrift stores for a blue coat, or even one I could dye the right color and brown pants). We've got a pair of shoes I think could work, I just need to color them tan. I have a black leather narrow belt I never wear that I can cut down to size easy enough and probably find a little buckle somewhere (come to think of it, the 1.5" gold ones we used on the groomsmen's vests for our wedding would be perfect, and those were at Hancock's). Then just make a red pointy hat out of felt with some starch to it, add an elastic chinstrap to keep it on and maybe even attach the beard to the chin strap so it's all one piece and maybe a bit more comfortable too. I wouldn't even think of trying to use any adhesives, that's for sure! Find a large stuffed fox to work as Swift, and there you have it, our 10-month-old son as David the Gnome. He's probably going to hate me for this one day. I originally thought a hobbit, but that can wait until he's bigger, maybe next year.
My wrap shirt is still in progress as well, though so freaking close to finished. I stopped working on it to put away all my sewing stuff when we were hosting a brew day back in the last weekend of August. Unfortunately, I didn't drag my sewing stuff back out. Fortunately, I worked on the office enough in the month of September that I can sew in there now, meaning that unless people are spending the night here (it's also our guest bedroom), I don't have to put everything away when people come over now. Unfortunately, the shirt too is subject to some sizing issues now that I've lost some inches (don't have a scale so I don't know if I've lost weight) but for the most part I think I can take it in at the shoulders on the front panels and fix all the fitting issues. It's just a matter of doing it. Then once I get that done, I need to put in the neckline and the sleeves, then sew the trim on and it's done.
Well, before I waste anymore time away from my sewing machine and the many other things I'm juggling right now, time to get off the computer and get something tangible accomplished.
