Pirate Wedding - Skirt 4 DONE

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last update! Actually, I can. I got married, had a weekend off, went to my sister's bachelorette party in Galveston the next weekend, continued working like mad on my costume, and then went to her actual wedding last weekend. It was glorious!

So the bustling with ribbons actually didn't work out very well in practice. I finally did what one of my coworkers suggested, and cut the waist hole bigger so that the front would be the length I needed it, and then I knife-pleated the back to the waist tape, sewed in a zipper and some hooks, and was done.

Step 1: Cut the hole bigger. I had to cut it like an oval so that I could keep the length in the back.

Step 2: Pleat it onto waist tape.

Step 3: Sew double-fold bias tape onto waistband to keep fabric from fraying. Install zipper. Try on skirt and discover that even though you were SURE the center back seam was... centered, it and the zipper are now off-center by a couple of inches. Sigh. OH WELL. Try on and decide nobody will notice.

Next post, my full costume!!!

Pirate Wedding - Skirt 4 BUSTLING

Man, there's a lot of stuff to do in the last few weekends before a wedding. Fortunately, that gave me time to mull over my overskirt and toss around bustling ideas in my head. It's almost done! I've worked it out!

What I finally ended up doing was:

1) sewed twill tape inside of the waist to stabilize the fabric.
2) sort of folded the fabric up to shorten it and laid it flat against the waist and sewed it in place.
3) pinched enough fabric on both sides to draw it to the back as a sort of bustle.
4) put a safety pin in place where I will sew ribbons to tie the bustle back.

I think it'll look good! It's longer in the front than I wanted, but I actually don't think it will look disproportionate, especially when I have the corset on. You can see the hem of my petticoat showing underneath the underskirt. I will need to buy some lace to trim it with so it doesn't look so weird.

I was also fretting about the small panel of goldish fabric on the overskirt, and how it looks so different from the more ivory colored fabric. And then I realized... JUST TURN THE SKIRT AROUND SO THAT THE GOLD FABRIC IS IN THE BACK AND COVERED BY THE BUSTLE.

So I just need to sew on the bustle ribbons and then a couple of hooks on the waistband. I should really learn how to install a zipper but my progress on this project has slowed down so much that I can't be bothered with that right now. The opening is on the side but tying back the sides into a bustle hides the opening, which is convenient. I also should put a proper waistband on, but the twill tape will do for now, and the corset will hide the unfinished edges.

I've finished my corset completely... The last part was putting the grommets in for the straps, which I have done!

Last thing to do is make the chemise. Which I really hope I can get done because after my wedding next weekend I will only have two weeks until my sister's wedding, and one of those weeks will be my honeymoon project of putting in a 144-sq ft garden in my backyard with my soon-to-be husband. So likely no sewing that week.

WAIT I just checked the calendar and I will have THREE weeks until my sister's wedding. No problem!

Pirate Wedding - Corset/Bodice BINDING

I started feeling bad about not following through on so many projects, so I decided to pick up my pirate costume again. I WILL finish Project 3!

I was looking at examples of tabbed corsets that other costume bloggers have done, and I saw a beautiful one that American Duchess made. There is a closeup of the binding and what do you know, you can see her stitches. And it doesn't detract from the beauty of the corset at all, in my opinion. Her work is so amazing.

Here is a picture showing the binding in detail. I wonder if the tabs separate out like that because of the binding, or if she has to shape the space between them.

So I went through my embroidery thread and found one that matches the color of the fabric & binding pretty closely. I actually went with 840 for the thread. I think it's Coats & Clark embroidery thread.

Look how it turned out. If I look closely I can see a few exposed threads, but they are all but invisible. I'm so happy! Now I just need to figure out binding between the tabs. I'll study Cathy Hay's instructions again tonight.

I should have been working on it last night, but it was such a lovely evening. I wanted to enjoy the warm weather and the beautiful sunset. I wish my camera could have captured the intense orange glow below the neon pink clouds.

Half-Boned Stays

So I'm on Project 4, which is really an extension of Project 3. Yet I've only finished one whole project (Project 1). Maybe I should rename my blog "Look What I Started To Make And Then Threw Into the Garage In A Fit Of Rage." Although I did complete two skirts for Project 3, neither of which I'm going to use for my pirate wedding costume after all. But... They'll be useful for ren fests. The costume is just not coming together like I had hoped it would.

Here are my pattern pieces. This pattern is already sized up to fit a size 8-10, so I didn't have to ask my graphics friend to resize it.

I'm going to get to work on the mockup. I can't figure out where the waistline is from the pattern pieces, so I'll sew the mockup first and then work on fitting it later, skipping the slash & spread step.

Two hours later, I finished the mockup, put on the lacing strips, laced it up, tried it on, started feeling ragey, looked at the clock and wished it was later so I could start drinking vodka, took it off and resisted throwing it in the garage with the rest of my failed projects.

The lacing strips that I made for the 1911 corset that I stopped working on so I could work on my @#$%ing pirate costume are too big to attach to the back without sewing over the seam connecting the side back piece to the center back piece. Sigh. This is just so frustrating.

So I pinned the lacing strips on with giant quilting safety pins, but then had to unpin half of them to lace them up. The corset fits bizarrely, but it's really hard to tell because I think I'm really going to have to put boning in at least on the front panel, because otherwise I just can't tell at all how it needs to be taken in/let out. So I need to cut out a second piece of the front panel, pick out the seams of the two side front panels, and sew it back together with the boning channel layer.

Also, my boobs are starting to sag, which was horribly obvious in my unboned mockup. I've always had beautiful breasts and now at the great age of 39, they are starting to sag. I just feel miserable about everything right now and think I need to walk away from this project for a few hours and get out of the house.

1911 Corset - On hold(ish)

I finally got all the grommets set in my second lacing strip. Except that I didn't have enough grommets and couldn't find any at the local craft or hardware stores that were 1/4" diameter. So I had to use eyelets, which suck because they snag the lacing ribbon.

Then I fitted the corset and had a meltdown because I looked so... plump. Not flattering. I am not a plump person so I should have just gotten a grip, but I didn't. So that set me back a few days until I could face it again. Then I fitted it the best I could--had to take it in a bit at the underbust and hips. I think I did it okay.

But I haven't gotten around to altering the pattern pieces and making the second mockup. The reason is because I need to make my costume for my sister's pirate wedding at the end of April. I know there should be plenty of time to see the corset project through and still do my costume because it will just be skirts and a chemise, and I've proven that I can make a skirt without a pattern and that it's easy, and a chemise SHOULD be easy but I haven't ever made one, and I'll get someone else to make the bodice...

BUT...

I am getting married on April 7 so I want to make sure I have plenty of time to make my costume as well as prep for my own wedding.

So I'm going to work on my costume, and fit the corset stuff in a bit at a time instead of on-schedule. I hope I don't regret it!

1911 Corset - Lacing strips

I made the lacing strips today. The instructions were to cut an 18" x 5" piece of fabric.

I discovered that the bottom of a 12-pack of soda makes the perfect template for the lacing strips. It's exactly 5" wide and 16" long. After I traced and cut out the lacing strip fabric, I remembered that it was supposed to be 18" long and decided that 16" would have to be good enough.

Setting the grommets... Setting the grommets was a bitch and I'm only halfway through. I got one lacing strip done. It is really, really hard to cut through 3 layers of denim. The punch that came with my grommet kit was not up to the task. So I had to poke a hole with an awl (after making a trip to the hardware store to buy one), then force a phillips-head screwdriver through it to enlarge it, then cut the hole bigger with a pair of small scissors and trim the ragged edges so they wouldn't completely cover the grommet post.

My grommets were not lined up evenly at all, even though I marked the holes evenly. I spent the entire time vehemently swearing. My hands are incredibly sore and I know they will feel worse tomorrow, when I have to finish the other strip. I tried using a drill to drill the grommet holes, but after one hole realized that was a big mistake, because the drill bit just twisted the fabric fibers and distorted the seam.

Here's a picture of the shittiest grommet setting I could have possibly achieved. I don't think it could be worse if I tried. Whatever, I don't care as long as they will work for fitting the mockup. I hope I can do better on the final product.

1911 Corset - Mockup resized

I followed Jo's instructions to correct the size of my mockup with a couple of exceptions:

A) She pointed out that I had added seam allowance to the edge of the lacing strips in the center back, which I didn't think I had done, so I took that out and that saved me 2 inches right there. The mockup now had a 30-inch waist.

B) I did the 1/4-inch seam in the middle of each panel except for the center front panels. So four panels per side, 1/4" off each one, gave me two inches on each side. So, I took a total of 4" off the rest of the mockup. Total of 6" eliminated.

I hope that it won't mess things up since I left the center front panels the same size as before. It probably will mess things up.

Here's the re-sized mockup:

Tomorrow I'll work on the lacing strips. 

1911 Corset: Mockup

I made my mockup. I decided not to document the steps between resizing the corset pattern pieces (slashing & spreading) and making the mockup because it's just a matter of tracing the pieces onto your mockup fabric and cutting the fabric out.

So... The mockup. I was originally going for a 26" waist, which is two inches smaller than my actual waist measurement. Somehow, I ended up with a 32" waist. I'm really bad at math. Basic arithmetic I'm fine with, but fractions, percentages, etc., I'm lost. I really do think I'm math disabled.

 I also think my mock-up doesn't look quite right. I sent a picture of it to Jo and she said it looked fine.

Next mock-up I'm definitely using a patterned fabric. I got confused on how to sew the pieces together, even though they were notched, and I think if I had a fabric that had a clear "right" side and "wrong" side, it would be easier to figure out.

Here's what Jo suggested to fix the mock-up so I don't have to start over:

So it's 32 and you need 26 inches, that's 6 inches that needs to be removed. This is what I'd do, I'd take 1/2 inch out of each panel by folding each panel piece in half on the grain line and sewing a seam 1/4 inch from the fold. Boom, 5 inches gone. Then I'd fold the corset at the center front seam and sew another seam 1/4 from the original. There's another 1/2 inch gone. And finally, I'd bump the center back edge in 1/4. That should take care of the last 1/2 inch. Remove those those 1/2 inches in each panel, and the 1/4 on the center front and back. You can reconnect the top and bottom edges after fitting because you may need to add or subtract at the underbust or hips anyway and will have to check those edges anyway.

You're right, once you take a section out of the center of each panel top and bottom edges will no longer match perfectly, but this mock-up is about getting the fit right and uneven edges won't really affect that. You will still be able to adjust the fit by either pinning or letting out the seam allowances, and you'll still be able to gauge if the length works for you.

I'm going to use a colored thread to take in the panel pieces so I don't get confused and think the seam allowances are the trimmed pieces and vice versa.

18th-Century Petticoat

The photos are crummy but they get the point across. I took them with my iPhone because my "real" camera is a POS.

Step 1: Wash and dry fabric and iron it. Then hem along the selvedge. You don't have to trim the selvedge off.

I hemmed it initially and then had to hem it again when I was finished with it so that it would be floor length. I didn't want to hem it to floor length until I was finished because I wanted to measure the length while I was wearing it with a crinoline.

Step 2: Fold fabric in half and pin together along hemline to make sure it's even on both sides. Then make a cut through the hem and tear to make the rest of the cut. Check out the blogs I linked in my previous post for instructions on making the pocket slits.

Step 3: Take one half of the fabric. Fold it in half again and mark the center point with a safety pin. Make the knife pleats. You'll want to have the pleats face the center of the fabric (where the safety pin is) on each side of the safety pin. You have to pin each pleat and when you've got the whole piece of fabric pleated, sew along the top to secure the pleats.

I had to redo my pleats 3 or 4 times because I couldn't get the spacing right. Then I remembered Google is my friend. The standard knife pleat formula is 3-inches of fabric = 1 inch of pleat. I used a credit card as a template and measured my pleats that way.

It should look like this:

 Step 4 & 5: Attach the waistband and ties, then assemble skirt. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of this process! I bought a piece of unbleached muslin for the waistband. A quarter yard will do. Cut a 2" to 3" piece, fold in half lenthwise, iron to set crease. Then fold each half in towards center and iron to set creases. Now you've made something like double-fold bias tape, except it's not cut on the bias.

I sewed on the two waistbands and their ties before assembling the skirt because I thought that would be easier than wrestling 4.5 yds of fabric. After you've done the waistband and ties, pin the two skirt halves together right faces together, sew up the sides to the pocket slits. The fabric will be heavy, so put extra stitches in across the bottom of the pocket slits to reinforce them so the seams don't rip out.

Here's what the waistband and ties look like assembled:

And here's the finished petticoat! You can see where I re-hemmed the skirt. I like the look of that wide hem. The skirt is heavy and full and has a wonderful swing to it. I'll take a picture of it on when I get my corset!