Swiss Waist - Lisa

I just keep thinking of new things I need to make in a week.  (I need to stop thinking)

With a skirt and blouse, my metal bustle is going to cause some waist problems.
Yes, I'll be wearing a corset, but the kraken will be a heavy beastie and doubtless will pull waistbands all 'out of sorts'.  I'm using a plain brown belt to hold it on.  I had daydreamed of straps and a tentacle harness but my many tribulations have put that out of my head for now.  (yes I had a crash and burn yesterday and spend another couple of hours re-doing it)

So in order to keep my midsection tidy, I'm making a quick Swiss Waist.  I'm using this easy pattern  Swiss Waist 1860
I learned an important lesson making the Haradrim costume.  Cool hardware can make for awkward dressing.  I bought this hook tape to close the front of my Polonaise (my first blogged project).  The hooks are not terribly secure.  One shy shrug and my goods were on sale.  I need constant tension to hold them in place.  I also learned that it is REALLY DIFFICULT to hook something tight enough to keep constant tension.  So I'm adding a couple elastic side sections.  I will also add a couple of hooks to hang useful items from.

I have this urge to add all sorts of decoration to this, but then I realize that I need to see how if hangs with the kraken belt.  Here is an image of a similar belt (mine is darker) and it's brass soviet russian buckle.  The belt doesn't stay tight.  I may need to wet the leather and wear it.  In my corset.  (naw, I'll use a carefully placed binder clip - I don't want diaper rash of the corseted areas).

And I should probably carry a weapon.  Although I find they often get in the way.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting at work, blogging.  I need to be home sewing or drilling or gluing something.

Weekend update with tentacles - Lisa

Busy, busy weekend including a lovely sewing day with Robin.

We took no pictures.  She worked on her renaissance chemise and helped my by pinning sleeves in my grey jacket.

I sewed in the sleeves, and finished a new petticoat (just to use the new ruffler foot).  Note to self:  Ruffler works just fine as long as you go slow.  Do NOT go fast.

Now, in addition to pondering massive life changes, I need to finish (in less than two weeks):
petticoat - needs hook closure (safety pin might have to work)
brown shirt - needs waistband, frogs and hem
grey jacket - needs buttons and buttonholes

And the Ass Kraken!  (I'm getting there.....)

And I ALSO have to do my 'volunteer costumer' sewing.  6 colonial vests, 4 colonial dresses, 2 cheetah suits and about 8 sets of wings, along with miscellaneous tweaking.  And that has to be done in 4 weeks.

This will be a miracle....

Putting Kraken parts together UPDATED- L

A quick glimpse of the nearly finished eye casing.

The bubble wrap background will likely be replace with something less obvious, even though it DOES look kind of awesome.

By the end of the day today the eyes and the body will be connected and the tentacles underway.

And the best part?  The wavering lines of the plasma ball hypnotized one of my cats.  He sat and stared for nearly an hour; occasionally leaning in to sniff.

I have now started working with my fourth type of glue. This one works well.  Unfortunately it can only be used to glue flat surfaces together.

       ---------------------------------------------------------

I'm NEARLY ready to put this together which WILL include tentacles.
My lack of experience and proper tools is hurting.  I have tried so many, many glues.  Most take 36 hours to set.  This means it takes a couple of days for me to learn the extent of my various failures.  But I have not given up.  I have loads of tiny cuts on my hands.  I have random glue blobs to clean off my 'head'.  I still have some aging and pounding with a hammer to do.  I'm really looking forward to the hammer part.

My current struggle is to get the flaps around the eyes to lay flat.  They don't want to lay flat.  Nothing sticks to them.  Last night I cut the pieces that will attach the head/body to the eye unit.  And if you look carefully, you can see a plasma ball in place. I still haven't figured out how to hold the eye piece closed.  It needs to open and close to allow access to batteries.   Did I mention that this bad boy is HEAVY?  I haven't even added the tentacle tubes.  This weekend is very busy and I'm not sure I'll make much progress.  But I can hope.

On top of this, I got volunteered to help with costumes for my son's acting class.  So far, other than minor repairs, I have 4 sets of wings, a halo, 4 girl's colonial dresses (including one stars and stripes for 'Betsy Ross') and 6 boys colonial vests.  The difficult stuff comes today with 'fantasy creatures' (I know there are at least two flying cheetahs).  And I have 4 short weeks to do it all.  And no money.  Magical!!!

It's Awards Season in Blogland!

And it's true, flattery WILL get you, well....a lot!  (at least from me)

Alisa at Dragonfly Designs has shared the Inspired Blogger Award with us for the Kraken Bustle.

Which is inspiring to ME since I spend two hours on it with very little visible progress last night.  I'm really getting close to a visible breakthrough.  Fingers crossed.  Tentacles are being prepared.  EL wire being considered.

There are some rules for this award.  I must:
1 - Display the award and link back the the person who nominated you
2 - State 7 facts about yourself
3 - Nominate 15 bloggers for the award
4 - Notify the winners

Seven Things - remarkably more difficult that I thought it would be

1. The sheer amount of fun I'm having sewing and making things, not to mention blogging about it, has really surprised me.  I didn't expect to fall so deeply in love with making stuff.
2. I'm hoping to retire soon and devote my life to doing all the things I wanted to do when I was younger and haven't got around to yet.  Like writing, gardening, designing clothes, sleeping in, having bees, photography and baking bread.  I used to want goats, but it's just too much work.
3. I'm a born rule-breaker (skeptic/scientist).  This has caused me a LOT of grief but I'm still proud of it.
4. (running out of ideas)  I am a 'citizen scientist' for the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association.
5. (struggling) I used to jump horses.  Then I got hurt too often and quit.
6. (help!)  I studied molecular biology in college but wanted to study oceanology.
7. (desperation) I played in a surf punk band in the '70s.  

Robin can add 7 things too, except that she's sick AND at work, and busy as anything right now.

15 blogs... well, I'm not sure I regularly read 15 blogs.  And many of the blogs I read, I never comment on.  So they might be a wee bit surprised when I do.  I'm taking some discretion here.  I'm posting the one's I can think of right now and I'll be back with more.  Also, I want Robin to chime in.  These are in no particular order.

1. Disparate Disciplines - Sewing blog  Mari is a fun writer to read, and she is FEARLESS.
2. Disparate Disciplines Sewing Patterns  it's only a little bit of a cheat.  Mari is starting her own pattern company and has some great ideas.  I don't sew for every day, but I'd like to start trying.  I'd like to be this brave too.
3. Three Dresses  Leila is another fearless and fun sewing MACHINE.  She cranks out tons of stuff and focuses on fit and fun.  I met her thru the 1912 project and we moved on to discussing fitting our chests.  Because it's not easy.  She takes ideas and clarifies them (at least for me).
4. Historical Sewing  This lady is a born teacher and really talented.
5. RetroRack  Gail Carriger's clothing blog.  I don't always agree with her, and we don't have the same aesthetic, but she posts some darned fine pictures.  Also, she's fun, funny, and makes the most egregiousness spelling errors!  (for a writer) 
6. Domestic News  Becky Gladstone is another 1912 project acquaintance, and she has inspired me to be more accurate and deliberate. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is.  She's a genuine renaissance woman.

Lisa is taking a break now.  She is at work and can no longer ignore this fact.  She and Robin will be back with more blog links.

Kraken and Jacket - moving slowly forward - L

 The kraken so far...
You can barely see the plasma balls in the eye casing.  I will need to trim that back.  The gluing on the body is going slowly.  Once it is done I can add more rivets.  Then I have to add tentacles and hook it all together...  AND once that's done, I have to attach it to ME.  There are little tiny hinges on the eye casing.  The 'eyes' are now removable for battery replacement.

And I'm nearly done with my jacket.  Just need to sew on the sleeves and add buttons and buttonholes.  The pictures are different exposures.  The dark picture is a bit more realistic, but the light pictures highlights the detail.

And I suddenly found myself in charge of costumes for a kids play.   Hmmmmm

Release the Kraken! UPDATED- L

Due to my riveting problems (pun intended) work on the metal is slow.  My current plan is to glue all the parts and add rivets afterward.  The glue requires at LEAST 36 hours to set properly.  I can only glue a little at a time because the curves try to pull straight. Masking tape won't hold multiple sections in place while the glue sets.  I have about 3 'glue sessions' left to get the bulk of the 'head' put together.  Then some pounding, drilling, and riveting.

In the mean time, I have been working on the case to  hold the eyes.  Initially this seemed simple to me. Because I didn't think.  I'm still using my original metal for this, and it's very thin and soft so I've had to reinforce it.  There are two of these pieces which will surround the eyes.  I have to add hinges and a latch.

That is on the agenda for today or tomorrow.  Then I'll reinforce the eye opening and add padding and stuff to hold the eyes in place.  It's heavy.  I still need to attach tentacles and a way to attach it to ME!

And speaking of tentacles, here are the parts I've put together...

I'm not sure about the EL wire yet.  As a concept it is very appealing, but adding the switches and access to them is problematic.  I will be painting the clear tubing somehow.

Finally, I'm also making a jacket.  I made a LOT of progress on it this weekend.  The bodice and lining are made.  The sleeves are nearly made.  The collar is made.  Everything is fit.  I'm fairly confident I can finish it this week EXCEPT for embellishments.  I'm not 100% set on what I will do.  As long as I don't set the sleeves, I'll still have access to sew on trim.  And I can do it by hand too.  Here's a peek at the back - dark grey wool with black satin piping.  The lapels will be a textured black wool, and the collar is black velvet.  It hasn't even been pressed yet!  I was running a little late to work this morning and didn't get a picture of the pressed bodice.

         

And a quick hint of the eye...













               










  *    *    *    *    *

I got my Ass in gear!  I got crackin'!  Seriously, could we make any MORE silly puns?

I'm back with heavier metal and new finishes.  My hands are beaten up, nicked and scrapped. And it's starting to take shape.

 First, I tested finishes.  This looked very promising.  Brass for the base of the 'head' and riveted strips, and aluminum ducting heated and then waxed with copper Rub N' Buff.  I included a sample of the original aluminum and a rivet.

 But then I started to heat the aluminum.  This takes off the 'shiny' so the finish looks more realistic and aged.  And I got these really awesome patterns.  This is a direct result of my notorious impatience.  I wiggle.  And every time I wiggled, I got a swirl.  

I decided that, as much as I LOVE me a copper finish, the swirls looked fantastic.  (yes, I tested to see if they would show thru the copper because that would be best of all worlds...and no they didn't).  I threw a coat of varnish on the ducting and set to riveting.

And it is HARD TO DO.  I have to slice the brass strips so they bend.  Crimping them looked terrible.  One of the aluminum strips will NOT be riveted.  I feel glue in my future.  In fact, all of this will be reinforced with glue before I try to wear it.

And just in case you have NO IDEA what I have in mind, here is a very crappy drawing of 'sort of' that this will be when I'm done.

Or at least what I want it to be when I'm done.

Sorry for so many things about this drawing.  The top of the pictures is a person (ME!) wearing the Kraken as a bustle.  The brown square is how it attaches to my body.  Sort of a wide, boned belt.The kraken with it's sparkly eyes is sitting on my bum.  The long tentacles go over my shoulders and the smaller tan tentacles go around my hips.  Top tentacles are corrugated plastic tubing.  Bottom tentacles are clear plastic tubing.  There may some EL wire in there too.

The tidier drawing is what it looks like from the top. The white circles are where the top tentacles attach.

Riveting problems abound.  Power tools may be employed.

Send good wishes my way!!!!!

Rob's 2013 Costume Aspirations

Well, it's 2013 and my costume wish list pretty much looks like last year's! I did finish the Victorian Day dress and the Eowyn/Arwen dress and managed to make some strides on the Renaissance, but that's about it. So here goes for 2013:
Finish the cape - the hem and the hood are left. It's usable without the detachable hood, but I just want it done! ( Currently being modeled by Esmerelda, the dress form that I can't make look like me. I'll get to it someday....
1880s Polonaise: Have the pattern and the material - due March I also plan to make a ballgown bodice so this outfit can do double duty . Due to flu, colds and life, we aren't going to this dance.  Shelved for now.
Pirettes of the Caribooban: Have the pattern, material and accessories.  - Due October So far, I've traced the pattern for a giant-boob-covering peasant blouse. Dog ate the giant boob covering traced pattern and the traced pirate pants pattern.  Starting over. 
Renaissance Ensemble for a couple - Have all the supplies, next step is recutting the doublet muslin. This whole thing will take forever! Doublet Muslin recut and fit, ready to start the build. Started the build and am now hand sewing the trim.  Velvet is wickedly slippery! Making s-l-o-o-o-ow progress on this one.
Great Gatsby Picnic dress: No pattern, no material, no idea - due September Found a pattern, cut and basted the muslin. It ain't pretty.Bought a different pattern from Reconstructing History, found dusty orange-ground-with cream-apples-rayon material on sale!  Yay! Now I'm looking for contrast material for the yoke and jabot.
Regency dress: Have a pattern for the corset and the dress, have the material - no due date Still reseraching Regency trim ideas.
Regency Men's Coat and pants - Have the material for the jacket, no pattern - no due date and will probably get pushed to 2014 (Looking throught my pattern stash, I found I had a commercail pattern that will work for the pants and found some "buttercream" lightweight wool on sale. Decided that the commercail pattern for the pants isn't good enough and will search for drop-fall trousers patterns. Bought a book on tailoring because I lack those skills. That's it so far.
Victorian ballgown bodices for lavender dress and for orange plaid dress:  I'd already cut the muslins, but will recut them for a fuller bust. I want to do this because I get way too hot walzing in a day dress!
Men's Frock Coat #2 - Have a new pattern, found the material. Back burner this one as his current Frock Coat will suffice for now.
And I promised my sister a German Beer Girl outfit for Ocktoberfest. Have pattern, that's it. Sister has decided that, after quitting smoking, she's too fat for a German Beer Girl outfit. I told her the pattern was multiple sizes, but she didn't bite...

Unlike Lisa, I make no promises to blog on a regular basis as I can't even seem to find time to sew on a regular basis.  Like most of my life, this will be a "fits-and-starts" adventure.