Fabric addiction & new petticoat

Um... I need to stop buying fabric.

I only buy fabric from thrift stores, but still, it adds up. And there's no point in Buying Fabric With A Purpose (to make costumes) if I'm not actually DOING anything with it (yet).

But then, I find things like my most recent weekend finds:

$1.99 - for 7 yds of poly-cotton fabric from Goodwill. I can use this for mockups and practicing new things. For instance, yesterday I used it to practice making a chemise, which I've never done before. I've bought yardage from Saver's in the past and used it to learn how to make men's shirts.

$.50 - for three panels of red cotton velveteen from Salvation Army. I'll measure them when I get home. I'll save one to make a corset to go with the Christmas ren fest costume I've been planning (I found 4-5 yards of a red and green plaid at Saver's about a year ago and have been saving it for this).

(I haven't washed the fabric yet in this pic.)

$2.50 - for 6 yds of what I think is silk damask! I can't remember the yardage, and it's not a full width (only one of the selvedges is intact). It measures about 26 inches wide. It was hemmed using some kind of glue, but the glue is old enough to have lost its "grip" so I can unfold the hemmed edges easily. I haven't washed this yet either. I don't know what I'll do with it. It's so beautiful. I may have to just sell it and let someone more talented use it.

Pictures will follow later for the following:

$2.99 - for a long poly-cotton voile curtain that I'm going to use for a chemise for my friend's costume.

$1.99 - for 3 yds of retro fabric in perfect condition.

$6.02 - for 4 yd white linen curtain swag to use in a chemise for myself, a queen-sized 100% cotton sheet to use for a petticoat, and a vintage embroidered tablecloth from the Goodwill Outlet where everything is sold by the pound.

In fact, maybe I'll post pictures of everything in my stash. I spent only a fraction of the cost on the yardage and household linens that I will be turning into costume pieces that I would have spent buying from Joanne's, but I still feel kind of overwhelmed by it all. :-)

Oh, I almost forgot! I finished my friend's petticoat last night.

LOOK WHAT I MADE!

Me modeling the petticoat. I need to lose weight. :-(

Detail of fabric and hem.

I'm going to steal the Dreamstress's format for reporting on projects for her Historical Sew Fortnightly, even though I'm not participating in it (yet). It's a wonderful way to summarize projects.

The Challenge: Make a petticoat for my friend's Ren fest costume
Fabric: A cotton-something synthetic blend curtain from Goodwill
Pattern: 18th-century style petticoat
Notions: White thread, grey double-fold bias tape/quilt binding for waistband and hem, cotton twill tape for waist ties 
How historically accurate is it? The pattern is very historically accurate, but the fabric is not. I think the hem depth is accurate (I can't remember where I read hems of 18th century skirts were rarely more than 1-inch deep). I think using bias tape to enclose the raw edge of the hem might have been done sometimes, but I don't know. I think the waistband finishing isn't very accurate, but the waist ties are. 
Hours to complete: I didn't keep track, but will try to from now on. I think about 4-5 hours? Took longer than usual because of having to pick out the seams and learn how to do a French seam 
First worn: TBD 
Total cost: $4.99 for the fabric, $1.50 for 1st package of quilt binding, $1.79 for 2nd package of quilt binding, I already had the thread and the cotton twill tape. So $8.96 total (including tax).


This petticoat is about 90 inches circumference. I'm so happy with it now, but it was so frustrating to work on because I had to tear out all the seams, the edges were very easy to fray, the fabric is thick so I had to use a French seam on the sides, which looks sloppy, and I had to use bias tape quilt binding on the hem because it was too thick to hem normally with those massive side seams. BUT--that fabric makes a beautiful petticoat, the bias tape on the hem is a nice touch, and the thick side seams helps the petticoat to stand out more.

Now I wish I'd bought more of these curtains to use in the future. Maybe I'll be making a run to Goodwill after work. :-) If only I knew how well these would sell. But I think, if they're cheap enough, they'll probably sell okay.

Like a pioneer

I'm having a massively exciting evening of pinning knife pleats by the light of the fireplace, just like a real pioneer. :)

And then I BASTED them in place BY HAND!

I don't know why some people hate knife pleats. They are so beautiful. I just eyeball them since the only good tutorials I've found involve math, and I can't math. My waistbands always end up too big, so I just by default make my skirts and petticoats the 18th century style for adjustability.

My puppy has been "helping" me (she likes burying her Nylabones in the skirt fabric). Right now she's leaning on me and squeaking her Blue Guy (and deafening me and my husband in the process). I wish I could get a picture, but in the dim light of the fireplace it's just not possible.So here's a picture of her from a couple of weeks ago, when I caught her in a calm moment.

I hope you are all having an equally lovely evening.

(((hugs)))

Sewing again

I stopped updating this blog back in May of last year because it was summertime and to me, sewing is a winter pastime. Plus, it gets really hot in my little sewing room in the summer.

BUT, I've been doing a lot of sewing and reading more awesome costuming blogs, so I decided it was time for me to start blogging again.

I made two more skirts, a pseudo-corded petticoat, finally pleated that matelasse quilt into a quilted petticoat, and learned how to make a man's shirt. Oh, and I made a new corset. And then I went CRAZY at the thrift store and bought $100 worth of household linens and fabric thinking I was going to MAKE ALL THE THINGS AND SELL THEM ON ETSY AND EBAY YAYYYY SEWING IS FUN!!!! And then I became paralyzed with anxiety. I could have spent $100 on clothes for myself. I could have upgraded my iPhone. What is wrong with me?

I'll post pictures tonight.

Pirate Wedding - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

So my sister's pirate wedding was last weekend. My costume looked SO GLORIOUSLY FABULOUS, everyone kept asking me if I'd had it commissioned and I proudly said "I MADE THIS LOOK WHAT I MADE I TAUGHT MYSELF ON THE INTERNET!!!"

Me and my sis... I hadn't put on my belt and dagger and bracelets yet:

Me and the best man:

Back of the costume. See? You can't even tell the zipper is off-center:

Close-up of the dagger from when I tried on my whole costume for the first time:

I had to buy the chemise because I was just too burned out to make my own. I think it looks better than the gold one would have anyway.

I was really afraid that my costume would be too plain compared to everyone else's, but it was hands-down the best one there besides my sister's gorgeous costume.

I am so proud of myself!

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!

Ways to Bustle a Skirt

So I'm still hemming and hawing about my overskirt. It makes me nervous and anxious. I'm sure I'm thinking it's way more complicated than it actually is. This morning, I remembered that Google is my friend and decided to explore ways to bustle a skirt.

This etsy vendor makes circle skirt bustles and uses drawstring ribbons inside the skirt to hike it up. She also has one with a strap from the waist that can be used to draw up the fabric. Wow, $95 for that? Maybe I should set up an etsy store.

 This one uses ribbon ties on the OUTside of the skirt.

This tutorial uses drawstrings on the sides and pleated & pinned folds in the back.

That looks pretty darn good.

This one uses drapery tape. It looks a little too complicated, but starts out looking simple. But I like the idea of using drapery tape--I bet there's a simpler way to use it for bustling.

This isn't a tutorial on how to bustle a pre-existing skirt, it's how to create a bustle skirt from scratch, but it's so cool I have to include it here.

Here's a page showing all the different ways you can bustle a skirt. Very interesting! The Austrian bustle sounds like it might work for my skirt and looks like this.

That's all I have time for right now, but I have lots of food for thought.