Renaissance Farthingale - Robin

I finished the Renaissance farthingale as much as possible.  Until I can stand up on two feet, AND have the corset made, this is it.  The tubing is the same plastic stuff as Lisa used.  I had a difficult time inserting it until I realized that tighter is NOT better.  The tighter I pushed it, the more it wanted to twist.  Once I let the tubing have some ease in the casing, it responded well.

Here's  a close-up of the casing, made with twill tape.  I made the ends cross over, thinking I'd be able to maneuver the ends out to join them.  WRONG!  I ended up undoing some stitches about 3 inches in length to be able to join the tubes.

And just because I am proud of it, here is my first flat felled seam ever.  I used flat felled seams so the tubing wouldn't catch on anything while inserting it and to enclose all the seams.  All seams on Renaissance underwear were enclosed due to the abuse the garments took from washing.  I'm sure my farthingale will be icky grubby from dragging in the dirt at the Renaissance Faire!

Next up for us both is the Ren Corset, which promises to be a fitting nightmare!

1912 Tea Dress - Robin

Here's a shot of Lisa's 1912 Tea Dress after we got most of it together on our Sewing Bee.  Now on to what I did!

I mad a vest for my boyfriend for the PEERS Titanic Ball.  Here are a few shots. Sadly for me, but not for him, he lost weight between fittings and the vest is now a little too big for him.   Why does that never happen to me???

Back view of the vest.  The front material of polyester brocade raveled like crazy, even though I finished all the edges before I sewed the pieces together.  That's why I decided to topstitch the whole thing, for added strength.  That also meant that when I found out it was too large for him, it was an "Oh, well....." moment.  I'm not taking the topstitching out.

I made an evening head dress out of some leftover sash material (that pesky Silkessence that Lisa and I love to hate) and added some beading, recalling the Oriental influence at the time.  Here it is posed on my Gibson Girl wig, not quite the perfect time period, but close enough for my purposes.

Here's the dress, completed.  I went through several iterations of trim before I settled for "simpler is better". To me, it STILL looks like a bad Mother of the Bride dress.  I liked Lisa's take on the dress much better than mine.

I had my boyfriend try to level the hem, but he had a difficult time, as I am in a cast and had to stand on one leg for him to pin. It took him forever and it was still uneven because I kept hiking my hip to support my weight on one leg.  I'll fix that as soon as I can stand on two legs again!

I added some cheap ribbon and even cheaper flowers that I cut off of fake ones from Michaels.  Lisa bought a bunch of different flowers when they were having a 50% off sale. Yay!

We'll get better pics of both our day outfits at the Titanic luncheon, hats included.
This week is taxes and the hat, neither of which is guaranteed to be finished on time.

All in all, I hated working on this dress.  I found the bodice difficult to fit properly if one has anything over a B cup.  Of course, after finishing, I came across a tutorial on how to fit an "all-in-one bodice".  Too late for me now, but at least I'll know what to do next time....if there ever IS a next time for this pattern.

Project Update and Housecleaning - L

While Robin struggles to get back online and get some pictures posted of all the work she's been doing, I'm sharing a phone pic of us at the Titanic dance (where I injured myself dancing).  Rob is wearing a cast and I had taken off my gloves for the evening (too hot!).  In addition, my carefully curled hair had drooped badly.  BUT here are our dresses! We will have better pictures after this weekend when we tour the Palace hotel and have lunch for the Titanic anniversary.

Now that my dress and hat are done, I am taking a few days to clean up my sewing room.  It seems my 'sewing room' has spread like mold to encompass my bedroom and dining room, with outposts in the laundry, kitchen and entryway.  As I'm organizing, I'm trying to prioritize upcoming projects and remember why I bought some of my fabric.  I'm also sorting my yarn because I got a new loom and both a sock knitting book and a sock knitting board for Christmas.  And of course I went out and bought a TON of new yarn.  I took a quick picture of my 3 large yarn baskets (what was I thinking?) And a bag with fabric for two dress that I bought because...well...it was on sale!
Here's what I have on my plate:
Finish the men's frock coat (1/3 done)
Make a renaissance corset.
Finish the rest of the renaissance outfit (need the corset first)
  ('finish the rest' just sounds so easy)
Re-do the muslin for the steampunk Maleficent bodice.
Make the lace bustle for Maleficent.
Make the metal bustle that I no longer need but desperately want.
Shorten the black skirt and petticoat that I recently made.
Make a 1910's day dress (can be used for everyday).
Make a 1940's wrap dress (can be used for everyday).
Make a steampunk military styled jacket.
Make a Dickens day dress.
Whatever the 1912 Project throws at us!
and this is just what I can remember....

I've got 1 grocery bag and 3 bins of fabric plus a box of large remnants.  Oh, and also three 10 yard +  rolls.  And who knows what else I will find while I tidy my space.  I've been doing this for less than a year and it's taken over all my spare time and space.  And I'm not upset about it at all!