Where did the time go???

I just got back to my blog and noticed the last post was dated 11/1/11.  Where did the time go?  So much has happened in this past year that I feel the need to update you on all that has transpired, but where oh where to start???

November 2011 was a horrible, horrible month for me.  11/16/11, my husband was killed in a car crash and it has left a deep deep hole in my life.  While trying to deal with the most upheaval in my life, my sewing took a back seat.  It's been a long road to come back to it, although I did manage to create a decent looking gown for the 2012 season.

This gown was one I've had lingering in my mind for a while.  And while the photo does not show all the details on this, it still was pretty decent.  The forepart is a pressed velvet that I managed to score big on. It was a remnant piece and cost me less than $10 (no lie).  I cut it and beaded the bejesus out of it with red glass beads.  It shines in the sunlight but doesn't pull away from the design.  The gown in this picture is not quite finished, as I have since put on shoulder rolls (no pic of them) and had the trim beaded in pearls and gold beads.  Thanks to a dear friend of mine who took the time to complete the skirt for me.

Now, yes, most of the time the swallow sleeves are much longer, but I didn't like the idea of them almost dragging on the ground and on my short frame, they seemed overly long enough.  It was also my first time working with tabs on the bodice, and I wasn't impressed with the way they turned out.  Maybe next time it will work better, right?

This was the first time I did not use my own patter for the bodice.  I broke down and purchased a Margo Anderson pattern and I can say that I was not impressed.  However, I'm going to give it another go this season to see if it was my grief hazed mind that couldn't work with it or if it were actually the pattern. I also have to make a new corset and chemise for this upcoming season.  My corset (the one in the blog) got ripped apart this last season.  I lost so much weight from the stress in my life that I had to cut out the back and put in extra lacing.  Since then, it's been up and down and there has been too much stress on the grommets.  Besides, I don't like the way it fits, so it's on to a new one!  I already have the fabric picked out for it!  I have two gowns I'm planning on for the upcoming season and one that will be just for fun!  

This first picture is fabric for an Italian style gown I've been dreaming up in my head.

I've decided to go with the gold background and black motifs.  I'm not fond of the it being the other way.  It's a wonderful taffeta with cut velvet motifs on it.  I'm not planning on much embellishments for this gown.  Trimming it in simple black velvet ribbon will be nice.  This is the style I'm thinking of doing.

I love this gown and the style of it.  I do have a soft goldish chiffon that will need some stiffening to make the trim on it, unless I can score big on some form of lace that will work for the ruffle.  Maybe in black??

The next gown will be in the Elizabethan style that I'm so fond of.  I'm still sorting out the details of the sleeves etc, but it will be in this fabric.

The green is a nice darker olive green light weight taffeta.  It will have to be lined with something and I have yet to figure out what.  Something that is heavier weighted, but will still give the flow of the taffeta.  A flannel perhaps?  I'll let you know what I figure out.  The yellow fabric is (at this point) designated as the forepart.  I have my eye on a different fabric for it and since it will be the forepart only, I won't need more than 1 1/2 yard.  I'll let you know if I get it and what the final cost is.

Finally, for fun:  I've seen this, but not done in the misguided seamstress way...so this will be my fun  gown for the season:

I just hope I have the ambition and the drive to get them all completed.  It's been a rough year and I'm hoping that with it now being over a year, I can finally concentrate on completing the work the way I know I can, and not just 'theater'ing it.  Keep watching as I begin my journey!

Did you miss me?

Well, November has officially arrived.  What a ride these last couple of months have been.  I've been sidetracked from sewing by working for our local Village of Terror which ran five weekends in October.  I was hired on as the costume coordinator and it was an experience...and we'll leave it at that.

I whipped up 13 hoods, a vampire coat and some demon pants for this gig.  Nothing like doing a scramble two weeks before the show opened.  As anyone knows, I don't like having to do shoddy work in a limited amount of time.  But they turned out ok.  The vamp coat, well, THAT was a treat to do.  And if I say so myself, it turned out wonderfully and looked great on our vampire king.  Here's a couple of pictures...

This was a two day project and it was a chenille type of upholstery fabric that had a wonderful flow.  I'm impressed by the way it turned out and the way it made our Vamp King look like a king, not like Prince (long story).

So, my summer was full of baseball with my youngest son, but I was able to make it out to MRF a couple of times, andf also made it to Bristol once.  Got a great picture out of me when we were at MRF.  It really shows the full gown and makes me look great.

Now that the prior season is over and Village of Terror is done, it's time to get back to the sewing I love....renaissance sewing.  We here in west central Wisconsin have 6 months until the next fair season.  In that time, I will be creating new gowns, not just for myself, but for the newest court members.  In all, it will be a total of six new gowns.  Now, for those of you have been following my blog, you've read that I like to make the gowns from the pattern up.  I'm going to cheat on these.  I've splurged and purchased Margo Anderson's Elizabethan Court Gown pattern.  I'm waiting for it to arrive so I can get started.  I feel like a kid in a candy store.  But I still have to create new corsets for these new girls, but that won't take too long.  And on the plus side, with three of these gowns, I'll have extra help getting them sewn together.  Three of these girls can sew, so they'll be doing the easy tedious sewing while I do the more difficult seams and contouring.  All in all, it's going to be great.

Keep watching, as I'll have more news and more tutorials coming!

The Finished Gown

As promised, I have pictures of the finished gown....along with a few others!

I'd love to see you all out at the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire!

The hat is called and attifet and is historically correct for the time period.  I'll try to get more posted on how it's made.  These pictures were taken at the Memorial Day parade 2011. 

Elf Shoes!

Our jetster needs shoes!  He really want's the swirly toed ones and I've made a different pair for him before, so I got out the pattern and went to work on new ones that are made of the yellow velvet to match his hat.

Start with the pattern.  You can get the pattern here...
http://sewing.about.com/od/hallowee1/ss/elfshoes.htm
I enlarged it as his tennis shoes will be inside.  I had to enlarge the sole and the uppers.  But being talented like I am, that wasn't too much of a challenge.

For the soles, I used two pieces of velvet to make sure they wore good.  Worse case scenerio, if the soles wear through, he will have to go back to his others. 
I stitched the two sole pieces together and then the uppers following the instructions on the link I gave you.

I highly recommend using a walking foot on your machine for anything that has a deep nap like velvet and furs.  Speaking of fur...keep an eye out for one of my next posts....

Once the uppers and soles were stitched, it was time to pin them together and stitch them up.  This is the tricky part, as you need to make sure that you match the center of the back of the sole to the back seam of the upper, or it won't fit right.  You also have to make sure that you adjust the fabric when sewing so it continues to lay right and not get bunched up and leave you with wrinkles.



Once they are completely stitched together, you have to turn them.  Now, I've never had to trim these seams as they turn fine without.  If you make these and find that the soles don't lay the way you want, you may need to turn them again, trim your seams and see if that works.

The final step I did is to stitch down the edges around the top.  In the instructions on the link (which, if you've read ANY of my other posts, you will remember that I never follow instrutions to a tee) it states the tops lay open and hang down.  I don't want these to do that.  So I folded over the front and back sides and stitched them down, and then folded the top edges and stitched them down.  I'm going to either put buttons or snaps on them to close them up, but that will have to wait until the jester gets here and lets me know what he prefers.

Final product!

Pictures

I've finally gotten some pictures to show you of the work that I've been doing.  I told you that I would get some up.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures yet of my completed gown.
:( but I do have a few of the sleeves and will post them.

So, onto pictures!!

This is my friend Jane and the corset that I made for her.  This pic was taken at one of our rehearsals and the reason she has on hat and horns is she came from the anime convention that was in town.  Lookin' great Jane!

This is Aaron, our court jester.  The hat and jinglies were made a couple of years ago, but the shirt (which is hard to see right now) is new.  I'm finishing up the pants that match.







Jane in her complete outfit.  The underskirt is separate from the forepart and the overshirt is also separate from the bodice.  You can see that the sleeves lace on and are open to keep her cool on our hot days at faire.  She has a doublet that matches and that can be worn separate from the bodice.  Green looks very good on her.  What is hard to see is the green is a jacquard and a lighterweight upholstery fabric.  It's swirly.

This will give you an idea of the sleeves.  I'm hoping to get a full picture today of the complete gown on the form.  I'll let you know!

What a crazy month!!

I haven't forgotten my blog.  I'm just so swamped with getting ready for season that this is the last thing I update. 

I do have my gown done....well, for the most part.  Needless to say, if you've every undertaken a project like this, you know that it's never REALLY done.  I'm hoping to have pics uploaded this weekend after rehearsal so you all can see what it looks like on.  I still have to make a hat and I'm debating on whether or not I want to put on a wire whisk ruff.  It would be real cool and would really set me off as 'the main dame'!  LOL!  Well, after the queen that is....

Rehearsals have been going great.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on my gown and on the one I made for another gal ( I want to upload those pics too).  I love my role and the 'attitude' I have.  Kind of like me!  We have less than three weeks to opening day and I'm nervous and excited!  Nervous because I have so much to finish before then and excited because I really get to play!

On the lines of what needs to be finished...
One jester shirt and pants.  The shirt is almost complete and should be by tomorrow.  It's going to look great on him!  It's a bright yellow and orange and will go very well with the collar, wrist cuffs, ankle cuffs, waistband and hat that I've already made for him.  The pants are going to be a cinch to make.  Simple he said.  I can do simple.

One pair of faun pants.  These are going to be a dark brown fur that I've already cut out.  The trick will be putting in the butt cheeks (yes, they are NOT real) and figuring out a way to secure the legs.  The faun is going to be on digi-stilts so it's going to be tricky...

One bodice that is reversable.  This is almost complete as I'm mentoring the gal who is doing it and it is for her.  However, with time running out, I may just pick it up and get it finished.

One doublet.  This goes with the outfit for the gal who has the other gown.  It will compliment the gown and be an additional thing she can wear should she want the additional.

Hem up the cape.  Yes, I still haven't finished that. That won't take long...but it's still something that needs to be finished.

Hat...mine.  Not an easy undertaking, but should be able to have it finished by opening day.  This will be the last thing I do.  I always seem to put me off..oh well.  Here's a pic of what I really want to do hat wise.

If not that, then it will be this..

I'll try to get pictures uploaded after this weekend. 

Does this make my butt look big? Or How to make a Bum Roll....

I've been commissioned to make a few gowns for the upcoming Ren season.  We are starting from the base up and as I've already posted on how to do a corset (though this one has hook and eye closure in front....I may just post pics), I know you are all wondering about what else goes under these huge dresses. 

I won't bore you with all the details of what goes where, but will let you know that I've created a few bum rolls and this one is no different.  This project will take less than an hour to put together and an evening to stuff and stitch closed. 

Here's where you start to get a very in depth detailing of how to create a pattern:
http://www.reddawn.net/costume/bumroll.htm

I used the foil trick to get a true curve for the gal I'm making this for.  One trick that isn't listed on the site is you only have to go to just beyond the front hip bone.  You don't need to measure all the way around the hip line.  The ends don't meet in the middle.

From here, it was on to drawing out the pattern, using this as the inner curve.

These rolls can be anywhere from 4" wide to 6+" in back.  This one is a little over 5".  Don't worry if your back curve isn't exact, you can fold your paper and cut what you think is correct and it should be correct on both sides.

Find some type of fabric that is sturdy to use for your bum roll.  You don't want to use a stretch fabric and it doesn't have to be pretty.  This is one of those items that only you will see.  Since I had cotton duck here, that's what I used.  You'll need two pieces, so fold your fabric and cut it out.  Some sites will tell you that one has to go in one direction and another the other direction (grain and cross grain), but I've never had any problems just using it on the grain.  Once you have it cut, double check that the front curve is pretty close.  Be sure to put in a seam allowance or the curve is going to be too big and the roll will slip and slide.

You can see here that it's pretty darn close!  Now you need to find ties.  You can use ribbon (grosgrain, not satin)or even twill tape or you can do as I like to do, shoe laces.  These you can pick up real cheap and not waste your ribbon on something that's not going to be seen. 

You want to line up your ties with the end of the horns on both sides.  These are then going to be pinned down on ONE of the pieces and out of way of the seams.

Put on your next piece so the pins are inside of the roll.  TIP:  When pinning these down, pin TOWARDS the horn.  It will make it easier to take out the pins when you've finished sewing it up.

You're ready to sew this together.  Starting at the center back, you want to be sure to leave at least 5" or more open to turn the roll and to give plenty of room to stuff it.  You also want to be sure to stitch the ties at the very tip of the horns or it won't fit correctly.  If you miss it, rip the seam and do it again.  Trim your seam allowance close to the stitching.  Now, reach inside the roll and take out your pins and pull your ties through the hole.

Use them to help you turn the roll right side out.  If you need something to push the ends of the horn out, a dowel, wooden spoon or even a chop stick work well.  Press it flat and you're ready to stuff it and then stitch the hole shut.  Be sure to stuff it very firm, like you would a toy or doll.  Done!