Multiple Things

 

Thing the First:  I will be going up to Kingdom Collegium on Friday, Nov 5 - staying overnight at a yet-to-be-determined motel/hotel, and then potentially booking it home again the second the event is over Saturday Nov 6  (actual return date TBD, depending on tiredness/sleepiness level and how long it actually takes to make the drive, and how long the event runs).  I'll for sure be going, The Strid is most likely coming along as well.  I'll have room for 1-2 (comfortably) more people if anyone else wants to get in on the out-of-area action.

ETA:  the estimated drive time is 7 hours.  (WHOA)  I will need to reschedule my class on Friday night and leave directly after work instead.  With a 7-hr drive, I may have to stay the night Saturday (I don't really want to, but we'll see what happens.)

ETA 2:  There are a plethora of hotel/motel options in Missoula.  I'm a snob, and will pay the extra $40 to have a relatively nice place to sleep.  That being said, if anyone wants to carpool, please let me know what your hotel/motel preferences are, and we'll work together to get appropriate lodgings.  (Rooming together will reduce cost.....just sayin')

Thing the Second:  I'm feeling that my wardrobe is decidedly lacking for someone who is going to be teaching classes.  I'm thinking about attempting to whip up something new in time to take to Collegium.  This project is TBD.  Hm.

Thing the Third:  TEA!  I'm holding another tea - scheduled for November 14.  Site is TBD, but it's definately on the 13th, and it'll most likely be in the SLC/Layton area.  The theme will be "Literary Charachters" - so please start thinking about how you'd portray your favorite character from literature.....any genre, any time period!  (Hurrah!)  Paper invites forthcoming......(waiting on site - if you have a suggestion, please let me know and we'll get this ball movin'!)  Uhm.  The Kingdom calendar listsT4T as the 13th. d'oh.  Ah, c'est la vie.  bodice_goddess - as that is the weekend that you're going to be down here, do you want to go to an SCA event??

Yeah.

AMBITION
Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.  Or the unimaginable hideous gaping void of space.  One of the two.

Do I *NEED* a new dress? No. Do I *WANT* a new dress? YES.

 

The Mary gown I want to do *RIGHT*, so that means that it's out for Collegium.  So, on the less-complicated spectrum of things, There are some of the ones I'm thinking about.  (Yes, I've been bitten by the German bug, canyatell?)

I'm thinking of doing the earlier style below - it's not done a whole lot in these parts, and I love the big long sleeves, and if I can find it, I think I have a bodice pattern all ready drafted up that would start the process along nicely.  I'll probably end up doing the high-necked shirt (as in the first two) - I might even be able to repurpose one of my Italian shirts for the purpose.  (Totally TBD at this point)

I just need to figure out what fabrics I want to use, and I'll get rockin' and rollin' on this project.  I don't think it would be terribly intensive, so hopefully I can finish it in a reasonable amount of time.

I have other pictures that have this shoulder-cape dealio, (that seem to be worn with the style above - but I can't find 'em right now) and if I have time, I'd LOVE to do one of these, too.

Completely SMASHING weekend!

I picked up bodice_goddess after work on Friday afternoon, and headed home. We relaxed that night, poking through the goodies that she had brought on her trip. And oh my! What a pattern collection! She was good enough to let me hold on to the patterns until she comes back next month - I have a lot of work ahead of me!!

Holly was not able to make it down for the sewing, as she had done something nasty to her back. I am hoping that she'll make it up this next weekend. I think the plan is to make goggie costumes. Yay! (Although I'm hoping to not re-live the "dragon wing" experience. you just had to be there.)

On Saturday, we really got down to business. Bodice_goddess created a BEAUTIFUL corset that I am oh-so-jealous of! (The good part of this is that she purchased enough fabric for me to make a similar corset for me! YAY!)

The finished product:



Honestly, the pictures do not do the piece justice -- there is so much detail, and it is a stunning corset!

We took a quick break, and I was able to Skype with Melia. It was so nice to chat! I so wish she could have been here for the sewing festivities. She'll have a lot to catch up on when she gets back!

I worked on a bustle from Truly Victorian on Saturday, and I quite like the result! The layers of ruffles took an enormous amount of time, but well worth it in the end. As per usual, I read the instructions, then went merrily on my way completely ignoring them! Heh. I think you gain a sense of independence if you don't use commercial patterns on a regular basis. I think I may make a shorter bustle using the top back half of the pattern...the construction and support structure is really interesting, and I'd like to scale it up to make an even larger (!!!) bustle.



Both bodice_goddess and I finished up our separate projects on Saturday. She kindly put off working on her next project to help me with fitting and trimming my bodice. (All the ruffles? Made by her!) Here's a lowdown of what happened Sunday and Monday:

All the piece cut out (phew! That took f-o-r-e-v-e-r!) The stripey red is the main bodice fabric, and the gold is the accent bodice and trimming.


Checking the final fit....


Yards 'n yards of box pleats! Some have their gold piping added, some do not....


This is what it is going to look like, down either side of the front....(though the right side will actually have gold piping like the left when it's all said and done)


Box pleats and piping of DOOM! There is so much ridiculous fullness added by this trim...it's standing out on it's own in this picture - hardly need for a bustle! ;)

I cannot thank bodice_goddess enough for wrestling the pleating into submission! The striped fabric has an awful tendancy to curl once it's cut. She had her hands full with the 'stripey fabric o' doom'!


You can see a peek of the collar at the very top of this picture....I'm not extremely pleased with how the back seam turned out...that thick gold line is giving me fits, but it's a small thing in the big picture.


I cannot wait to get this bodice done so I can start on the skirts! I am *SO* excited! Bodice_goddess gave me some ideas for skirt trimming before she left, so I'm going to be experimenting and seeing what I can come up with.

I need to get this done before she comes back, because next time she's here, it'll be all about HER dress!

Still to do:
Bodice -
-Bodice trimming
-Bodice lining
-Bodice buttons/button holes (ugh, my least favorite)
Skirts -
-Petticoat
-Gold underskirt
-Stripey draped overskirt

Weekend...

 
This weekend, while semi-productive, was also very, very mellow.

Friday I went out to the site for Harvest Ball to scope it out and make sure it'll be OK for our purposes, and it will be GREAT.  I really am very excited for this site - if all goes well, it'll be a great place for other events as well.  After that, my sis came over and helped me finish up the prezzies for Lil Miss' birthday.  Like a total goob, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product!  She loves to dress up, and there is a play kitchen set at her brothers school that she loves to play with.  Melia was getting her a kitchen and tea set, so I decided she needed a matching apron, napkins, tablecloth and cookies!  I thought for sure I'd be able to find some good-quality wool felt locally (which I did not!), so I only made a few types of cookies out of the nasty stuff found at chain fabric stores.  For x-mas, (If she ends up liking the play food), I'll be making her a better set with more types of food.  Many, many thanks to my super-crafty cousin and her fabulous blog for getting me hooked on felt food!

Saturday, Melia and I went shopping for bday party nibbles and decorations - let me tell you, it's not hard to decorate for a girly-girl birthday party!  (pink Princess themed EVERYTHING).  The party was very fun, if not a bit traumatic for the kids involved.  (Both little boys really wanted to 'help' her open her presents and play with her things)  I made the tragic discovery that my soft-sided camera case was not, in fact, at all protective inside my purse.  I pulled out my trusty camera to get pictures of the action, only to find the LCD screen shattered.  (I am sorely disappointed about this.  I'm really hard on my tech.)

Check out those cheeks!  Lil Miss is such a ham for the camera!  You can kind of see the 'sugar cookies' in her hand in the second picture.  I made 'em a bit big (not knowing the scale of the tea set 'n all) - so when I do them for real-reals, I'll make them about half the size (half the work, rite?!)

I couldn't convince her to put on her apron for a picture, but you'll just have to trust me, it was pretty dang cute.


Being the center of attention is what it's all about for Lil Miss.....



She wasn't quite sure about this whole 'opening presents' thing.  She just wanted to keep playing with her new toys, and got quite upset when we tried to convince her to move on to the next thing.....towards the end, she started figuring out that opening presents was a pretty cool thing to do....



  After the party, I spent a good portion of Saturday evening on the couch snuggled with the dogs, reading "Earth: The Book".  very funny stuff.

Sunday was a complete blank.  I got out of bed long enough to start a load of laundry, but went straight back to bed, feeling like crap - I ended up sleeping most of the day away.  (But by the time I got up, my migraine had subsided, and I felt at least semi-human again.)  I stayed up long enough to start a new book and watch the next episodes of Dexter and Mad Men; then went straight back to bed.  But today, I'm feeling great, so I think it was worth it, in the end.