You are in the dark.

*clicks on the light*

For three weeks we have been off on a trip. Mainly to Colorado, but extendedly to all sorts of places. In order... Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico (I seem to think it's hilarious... we were in it for only a few minutes. It was on the freeway through the desert, at the Four Corners Monument or whatever it's called), Arizona, New Mexico (for much longer than before), Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota. :-)


Before the gathering, I sewed up my swimsuit which is mentioned in the previous post, as well as made the dress that was for Harry Potter 6 (which I declined to go to at the last minute for very complicated reasons) into just a skirt partly because the bodice wouldn't work and because I didn't really have time to figure out how it would work even if it didn't really fit. It's a nice batik skirt now, green blue and purplish pinkish with a leaf design on it. It has a buttony placket on the side and is half-circle, goes to about mid-calf. I wore it to the gathering, so lots of you will have seen it already in pictures, and some saw it in real life! :-D

I also made a brown calico skirt. It was light brown with pink-and-red roses on it. It's gathered, three-gored, with a placket on one of the front gores. It doesn't have the buttons on it yet because I couldn't get them put on, so I safety-pinned it shut for the hike at the gathering. It's a little too tight in the waist. It was rather hard getting it the right size, and then I find out it's a little tight... we'll see what I do. Never fear! I could just give it away, but I love brown calicoes strangely...

Hoping you know the details of my swimsuit (the fabric, and what it looks like), I won't go into that. It worked out very well, though I ended up adding sleeves... and people liked it. :-) I wore it at Oak Creek Canyon for the first time. So, some of you have seen it in real life, and others in pictures.

The days before Harry Potter 6 came out, I made a cloak, too. It's not hemmed. Plaid wool, not at all sweltering hot, with a yoke which I masterfully put together. Someday I will try to explain how I did it so others can try... I don't know if it's exactly easy or hard. It does take a good bit of calculations, though, and that's mainly how I made it. O.O It's very nice, and works in the rain very well. I mean to use it in the future.

So, for the future, I think I'm going to calmly not try to overdo things in my life. Not give myself too much to do. I will have much schoolwork, so I'll probably just make myself some skirts, and try to make myself some patterns for interesting mediaeval-inspired clothing. Mediaeval meaning the true style they wore then. No princess seams, and no annoying, modern sleeves. The sleeves will probably be near kimono-styled (which isn't really mediaeval, but it isn't modern and I don't like putting in modern sleeves), and the skirts will be rectangular with triangular gores in the sides. Few people probably know about that- it was how they made the fulness for skirts back then, though I find they used many triangular gores to do it, not just one, and I really, really don't want to use many. Anyway, it's not necessary.

Very soon I would like to make some more skirts, too. Since they're so simple, and if I have room to cut out and a machine to sew with, it will happen quickly (I think). I'll be looking for fabric very carefully... I love so much of it but have to pick only a few...

And I'll try to plan some Sunday outfits! I suppose I should try to get some Folkwear patterns to use for that and costumes. O joy. I shall try not to overwork myself, though.

Westu hal!

And a leetle update

Things happened yesterday and today. Yesterday, the swimsuit pattern from Simply Modest Swimwear (I think they call themselves...) came, and also the Indispensible Corset Fitting Aid came from Fitting Room. Today, the 1840's-1880's-ish corset came from Past Patterns. So, I'm all ready for... doing some more things.

I'm very glad, although it's really odddd to be able to go ahead, now. I am really worried about not getting things done in a month. I want to make a lot of things for wearing everydayly, and then, I also want to do my historical sewing. Because we're going off to Colorado in a month, I suppose I should focus more heartily on everyday clothing. Also, I'm planning the little outfit for the opening night of Harry Potter 6...

Yesterday, I traced out the top front of one of the dress patterns from Simplicity, so I can make a slip. It's part of the HP outfit, sort of. I mean, I'm making it especially for that, but also just for everyday clothes. I don't know exactly how I'll do the neck. I'll have to fool with it and it's likely I'll end up with a V neck, maybe a little wider than the one I'll end up for the dress. Then it won't show at the neck very much. Possibly, I will just do a deep, wide neckline... I think that would be more multipurposeful, useful and all... so I'll probably aim for that. Then I can wear it under probably anything that I make.

Hopefully I'll run at this stuff with a pickaxe of doom... and get it done. Please pray that I can get what I need to done. To get an idea of what I'm AIMING for, but may easily not get to (and last night I tried to make it clear to myself that I wouldn't go insane if I didn't get it done by the ISLAS gathering), what I'll write down soon. What I'd really, really like to do is to be able to make enough everyday clothing that I don't have to wear most of the storeboughten stuff that I wear right now... just so you understand that I'm not trying to make a megawardrobe. I'm not that sort of person. :-)

Here goes:

2 pairs of swimsuits from Modest Swimwear Solutions - which means I'll make two leggings and two tops out of different fabric. That's the nice thing about this pattern; you can mix and match when you feel like it. I would like to make a dark blue and black and reddish one (I have not got fabric, but I've seen this all over, so it don't matter), and probably some dark blue leggings, and whatever else I choose to use, I'll ask Gina about. She gets to dress me up, too. :-)
A few to several simple skirts - sheer and calico, I hope, and maybe some more dressy ones for church (just to draw a line between everyday clothing and 'good'/Sunday clothing)
A few to several shirts - made of calico and maybe sheer fabric, one or so nicer than the others for church (again, to draw a line)
Slips and camisoles and petticoats (orrr half-slips, whatever they're called nowadays) - made with muslin, as simple as I can make them.
Dresses - maybe. I'm planning on making one for HP, so there will almost definitely (if I DO it) be one dress, and if that's really easy, and I feel adventurous, I'll hopefully ask Mummy if I can make another.

So, that's the idea. It IS overwhelming, and also isn't. The mainnnn problem is, if I don't have material, I can't do it. If I do have material, all I have to worry about is room to cut it out. Once the things are cut out, I think I can whip them up, and as I work on them, it'll get easier.

Now, I've got to ask Mummy if we can run off and buy *MORE* muslin! Already have tons for historical clothing. *grin*

More thoughts

Gina can wear whatever earrings she wants to, now. That's very 'exciting' for me, because I get to make her some, if I have the ingredients.

I have been planning my little HP dress out quite articulately, in a way. I believe it's going to be a little of a 'good' dress. Then, I can play around with it more and have fun.

My idea is give it a little of a V-neck, and make it some sort of an interesting collar. I have plenty of ideas for collars, but I need to quick get hard on one or this may not get done. I don't HAVE to make a collar, but I want to. My only problem is, whenever I think of the dress, I see something 1930's-ish, and I want it to have some distinctively modern properties, or at least distinctly not-1930's or '40's. The skirt will probably help in that way; it's going to be full, and either pleated or gathered into the waistband. I haven't ever pleated a skirt, and if I do it, I'm going to have to do a little math and measuring first, I think.

I want to make the waistband a little adventurous. I think I'll take some of the dress fabric and twist it around, and stitch it 'invisibly' in places, to give it a sort of wrapped and twisted look. I want it to be approximately 1 1/2" wide.

The fabric I'm going to use is toooootally not working along. I mean, I have no idea what to use. I Want to use a thin, lightish wool, but I think I'll regret it in the middle of July. Sooo, I think I'm going to hit for something made of linen or cotton, unless I find a well-breathing, wonderful wool something somewhere that's light enough and breathes well enough. Which I doubt will happen, unless I decide I might as well use a sheer.

I don't want to use sheer. If I use a sheer fabric, I have to make some kind of slip to wear underneath, or else I have to make a lining... which I believe I haven't got time to go after, unless I get it done faster than I think I will.

I may choose to use a calico, but since it is a little bit see-through in some respects, I will probably want to use something a little more... opaque? I don't knowww. I'll have to go scout around at a store and feel some fabric, and then I can decide.

I'm going to plan out some other things for it, too, likely. I may embroider it a little, or do some silly kind of decorating to give an interesting effect. If I want to, I could make some odd thing to put in my hair (I've been planning some sort of a band for ages, just haven't made it yet), and I might run after some hair combs and learn to use them. Hair combs have got to be dreadfully wizard-y, right? :P

I'll also figure out some necklace to wear. Probably something fire-coloured. I have amber, carnelian and garnet beads to use... and some other things. Time to go WILD! :-D

'Totally!'

Lest you think I have lost my mind once again, well, I have lost my mind once again. :-) Somehow, that doesn't fit. Anyway, the subject doesn't have anything to do with this post, to the best of my knowledge.

No, I haven't made anything since the last post, that I know of. I'm attempting to design clothes for going to the sixth Harry Potter movie, but it's not coming along quickly. I may just try to make a base pattern for everyday clothes one day and then I can fool with it and invent something that matches the non-Muggle world. :-) I will also try to design a cloak.

Besides that, I suppose I've gone off and lost all my past imaginativeness. What I mean is that my brain has forgotten about what I did before some day like Saturday or so, and I have gone on... vacation. Except it's really not much of a vacation. I forgot that I could play Für Elise, and I somehow forgot about 1860's things, and my mind went on complete backorder (that's what I call it...) and forgot what I used to do. Not that I did much even then. Now, I'm trying to figure out what on earth happened, and trying to figure out what to do- whether I should not stress myself and not do anything, or whether I should risk the stressing and force myself to draw, or to write, or something. I don't think I should force myself to do anything, in any case, so absolutely nothing may happen for awhile. In any case, I've got to get scooting on wizardly clothes if I really am going to dress up for the opening night... as it's in less than a month, I believe. I hope beyond hope that it's later... because I haven't had enough time to plan.

I hate to use modern patterns. Which means, I don't want to use one for making this outfit... but I might have to. I don't know... because I'm not very productive with ideas, and I'm terribly picky about things. If I made myself a base pattern, then I'd be doing dropped armscyes and the whole rigmarole. However, I have this silly, lovely idea that just POSSIBLY I could do without the silly ease-stitching in modern sleeves and forget about it forEVER and EVER and EVER!!! I might try it. If I use natural fabrics, I won'd need to do ease-stitching, likely. I'll have to modify the sleeve, but it would be lovely to drop that... it's the thing I don't like about making sleeves.

So much for thinking I wouldn't say anything artsy today. :-) I certainly have. I'm not doing much, but I'm hopefully trying to plan a storm. I think I'll try to set up a cutting area, or figure out a place in the house, and then I'll try to make some skirts. If I get happy about that, I might make the base pattern for shirts and dresses... and if I get happy about that, I might make some shirts and dresses. :-)

There are some things to note about my everyday clothing (I don't like to call it modern because it's obviously not going to be any bit modern at all)... I probably will have to gather all of the waists, which I won't mind. I mean, I can't have any darts, or it'll look immature-ish. So, all of it will be, in some way, gathered. I like things to fit at my waist (I have pretty much nothing that does, heh heh), and I want things to be at my natural waist, so that I can breathe better, and because it looks much nicer than the modern waist. :-o

Hummm. I was inspired by a few random things here and there for my everyday clothes. For one thing, the clothes from the 1910's have inspired me, because they are quite simple and easily changed for all sorts of purposes (of course, lots of historical styles are... not like modern clothes!). Also, I will probably try to use some techniques from the 1940's for some modern clothes, although I'm not sure whether what I want to use is exactly restricted to the 1940's. I just think of the 1940's when I think of them. Pleating in a skirt, to gather fulness, over the hips... not too tight, or it'll pull, but tight enough to give a sort of tailored look. Yayz. I'll probably try to get some 1940's patterns to use for a few things, too, and start a little more historical clothing that I can wear every day, if I want to.

I have said a lot, though not all I want to say.

I wanted to post pictures of my drawings at the beginning (I finally remember), but that would make this post crazily long, so I'm not going to do that now. I might do it another time... the only thing is, my thoughts on those pictures will make a loooong post. I'm long-posty. :P

God sie mid eow!

The name left again!

So, I'm pretty much feeling like a zombie. I have the feeling that eventually, when I can't even run on my mechanical habits (of speech, walking, etc.), I might get better in one big leap. I just feel like it'll be that way. But I don't know when it will be.

I am almost finished with my first chemise; I am hemming it and it needs its neck on... and the buttons, too. I need to get it some buttons.

I feel as though I'd like to hurry up on my historical sewing as much as I can, or the summer will pass with only a few creations. I am waiting for a pattern and some items to be ordered and come here, but other than that, I could be making my drawers pattern and finishing my chemises, and starting my corded petticoat.

So, I don't know that I have pretty much anything to say. Exams are creeping up on me, so I'm studying, and summer is slowly coming along, too. I suppose it already feels like summer. I don't want it to get summerier, because then it gets dryer and warmer and the trees fade away.

Photographs...

So, I haven't been on computers since Thursday. I feel bright and educated! Not really. The time I haven't been on seems very un-full of things happening. All I really did was sew and think and go to JoAnn's once. I also went on walks, I realise. I should do one now, but I feel as though I must get something done. I feel very pointless right now. It's beautiful outside, but I just feel pointless!

I read some of Charles Dickens over the weekend, too. Not much. Of both Bleak House and Great Expectations. It's a good thing. ;)

Now, for the pictures! I got some more sewing done today and before, but I'm not going to go to get the photos on here. Just to say: I finished tucking the second chemise front, so I'm done with all that. I also started sewing the sleeves and back-of-chemise-#2 on. Looks rather spiffy. Sewing on the bias is just WEIRD, too. It feels so strange. And on the last seam I did, the needle was being bad, or else the fabric.

This is the fabric I'm going to use for my blanket. The white-looking (it's really off-white dark ivoryish; natural colour of bamboo and cotton fiber mixed) stuff is the batting, which, when the blanket's done, you oughtn't to see. ;)
Probably paua or abalone shell buttons. I got them from JoAnn's for my chemises (however, I REALLY don't think I should use them. I just adored them, and got them, even though I don't know if they're really correct to the 1860's), and the packages for the buttons there don't almost ever have real descriptions. All this one said is 'genuine shell'.
My grandmother gave me this (among other needles) back in about September last year when I was starting to sew more. It says '1857' somewhere in there, and I REALLY wonder if this is possibly from that year. It probably isn't, but... I can't help but wiiish. One thing that hurries my hope, so to speak, is that the print and all looks like something from 'roundabout 1850, or later. I want to find out, and I'm sure I'll try. I suppose it kind of makes sense that I haven't used any of the needles yet. :P They look so fine (but I haven't a picture of them).
White squill. Took this in the yard; some of you have probably seen it already. ;)
And this was the master squill-picture I took! It's so nice that the sun was shining just on the squill; it makes a nice effect. It was in sunsetting-time.
Another nice picture; I landed the camera near the ground to take it. It's the Mousie-eye view. ;) And it is in our yard, so those houses aren't this one. The white one straight ahead has architecture somewhat like it, I suppose, though. A lot of the houses around here have hugely similar design.
The front of the first chemise. Tucked. Isn't it perty? The pattern is... three tucks, three shorter tucks, five shorter tucks, on both sides, from the middle successively, if you get it. You probably can tell. ;)
Nother pic. I was 'wearing' it. I just laid it across my front, though, really. :P

--

You must be happy now. ;) Good-bye!

Floating on a cloud...

...not exactly. ;) It is quite nice nowadays. I feel a little bit jumpier, in the spirit. I just wish you all would continue praying as hard for me, or harder, because I still feel as lost as ever. Ahh, well.

The chemises (you hear too much about them, don't you?) are quite, well, closer to finished, since I last posted. I have finished one front of a chemise. It looks quite brilliant. There are twenty-two tucks on it, I believe, eleven on each side. Sadly, one side is wider in its tuckiness than the other. It looks odd. But it isn't bad. It won't worry up anything. It's very minute. ;)

It also uppifies me that the ladies on the Sewing Academy say that my chemise is very nice (two said so, so far, but I am guessing it's fine).

The cottownood tree was (and I believe still is) lit up perty nice today. Wish we lived in the country, and could see the horizon, and burn piles of wood on the lawn. Or rather, the fields. ;) I don't believe in lawns in the country. Wouldn't you think that, instead of lawns, there would be fields and fields of beautiful, rolling, long grass, even near the house? Who wants a carefully cut and tended crop of grass in front of their house? It completely murders the idea of a pretty rural lifestyle. Except, I don't believe in that, either. I just want to live like I need to make my own living, make a home, raise a family. That's my way. ;)

I'm such a goof. I put the labels for the post in before I finished writing this post... and, well, among it is wind. So, the wind was lovely today, and we got some rain (I don't know if I already said), and it has been quite amazingly lovely, with a tad of thunder, today.

Let me see. On Saturday, Mummy, Gina and I went to JoAnn's and got lots of stuff. I got some fabric for a blanket. I already had one part of it before, from Mill End Textiles, which is a lovely, cute sheep-fabric with a blue background. Very nice. It's going to be the border of the blanket. I also got a 50-50% cotton-bamboo batting because the 'cotton' batting was really 20% polyester and 80% cotton, and I hate polyester. Not to mention, it breatheth not as well as natural fibers. Therefore, we ended up with cotton-bamboo. And it's incredibly soft. And looks lovely and natural. Then, I got some dark blue flowersy fabric, and some dark blue flannel to go on the back. I have a picture somewheres, but I can't post it yet. ;) I'll try to show y'alls it sometime. It's rather lovely. I was also thinking that when it was finished, I could randomly embroider sheep on the flowered calico part of it (which is on the top of the blanket, bordered by the sheep calico), when I felt like it. So it will be a very sheepy blanket (so lovely!) And, considering, I might even embroider the flannel side of it when I feel like it. Who knows what it'll look like in twenty years! Just imagine!

Another thing I got was a lovely windowpane sheer fabric, white. I will make myself a corded sheer sunbonnet out of it as soon as I can get a pattern made. I got a yard, wish I got four, but there was less than two yards on it, I believe. I wish we got to get the whole bolt, but we didn't, ahh, well. I didn't want to make mum get more than she thought she should, even though I KNOW I could find something to use it for (undersleeves, another sunbonnet, who knows?). Evil little Rettling hath many ideas. ;)

So, that's about it. I will try to post pictures soon, but it's hard to do it. REALLY hard. I just can't do it on every computer, so I never get it done. Grrrr. >:-|

You've heard what I'm up to, now fear me! My birthday's in about twelve days (hurrah!), so I'm going to be, well, ancienter than I am now. Of course, I'm ancienter as the seconds slip by, so this doesn't really make sense, does it? (Heh heh. Randomnity!) Also, Bryan and Vicki are going to pop up on the 16th, stay till the 18th, and boyyy we've got to DO things! It shall be interesting. We've never had people really sleep over at our house before, AND our house is a dreaded mess. ;) (But, we got the dining room table finally cleaned off, and Gina's sewing on it. Heh heh.)

*edit* I forgot to say, the gadget things at the side of the screen are messed up. I can't fix 'em on this computer for some dumb reason of its own (possibly related, I think, to the Gmail-not-working thing). Awful. As well, on Sunday, I got to do my hair in a new way. My mum did a flip on it (and remarked about how much more thick my hair is now than it was, well, the last time she did it, which was probably half of my life ago, really) after I twisted the sides so that they would keep the bangs in, then I braided down the back and I still, well, haven't redone it because I'm too lazy. Another thing I did on Saturday somewhat non-officially is not washed my hair with shampoo... the reason of which is complicated and I will state later. It's really quite brilliant; my hair isn't greasy yet after four days. WH00T!

Frankly Updates

Ah, such a boring name.

Well, the sun popped out today. I'm feeling a little more jumpish. I got rather down on Saturday.

My chemises are rather slow-in-going right now, but the first half of the first chemise is pinned to the fabric, so I miiight get it cut out sometime soon. :P Once the fabric begins to diminish, I'll get more up about it, because there's a big, neat pile of white muslin on the end of the makeshift cutting table. :) It's really just a round folding table with the cardboard covered-with-measurements foldable cutting board thingy. It's hanging off both ends, too... I just hate it that I haven't got a nice big table or something to cut on. It's so much more useful, even if you have to racing all around the room to get to other ends!

The planning for a corset is progressing. I went out and asked about various patterns for different mid-19th century underthings and tossed the idea of getting the pattern for chemises from Past Patterns #708, then I got a bit of info on different types of corsets, and which I should use. There are two types, the gusseted, which has gussets over the curves of the body... cuts in the fabric which are expanded and have pieces of fabric sewn in (the gussets look vaguely triangular when they're done), and then there's the gored type which has gores all over to make the shape of the corset. The gored one is by far much simpler, but I really prefer the gusseted type for gobs of reasons. It started way back when I first became familiar with gussets in anything, though really and primarily corsets. I don't know why I was attracted to the making-of-them (which is a little more 'complicated' than gored corsets); it may be my oddball want of more hard stuff.

Anyways, there are other advantages for me, in my opinion, to make a gusseted corset. A lot of it has to do with the shape the corset would give, the support, the comfort and... way of how it works that I believe I'd like better for wearing, and probably more. Of course, this is all too weird for normal 21st century people...?

I'm probably going to go first with Simplicity's #2890. I have always had a dislike of Simplicity, but it seems since it's cheap, and the ladies on the SA say it's accurate, I could go with it. Anyways, it was designed by one of the ladies on the board, whom I know is dedicated to accuracy. :) If you're interested (at all... I think it's just fun to scoot around on her site), this is her store site... she has a lot of ready-made clothing on there.

Mostly the reason why I think it would be plenty fine to go with the Simplicity is because we can get it DIRT cheap around here at JoAnn's. Just wait for one of those $1 or $2 sales at the stores (generally they just happen on you all-of-a-sudden), and get it. That's sort of the way we got some patterns recently. It's just... foolproof. :P If it doesn't work, it won't be much of a waste because that pattern is so cheap, and I can learn from it: if I have to get Past Patterns' one, or Laughing Moon's, well, I'll just have to really mean it, and I'll be ok with it. :) I don't like to get pricier things without a reason.


The reason I just suddenly decided (because I did) was because one of the ladies on the board (SA... I'm so used to calling it 'the board' now) encouraged me to really encouragingly. So I think I'll just go head-over-heels into it, and maybe I'll make some progress. I'm getting into the habit of making progress. It's hard to start sewing historical clothing JUST like that, because sewing last year (back in September) was stressing me out SO much because, well, I was under a lot of stress to get it done, and we had lots of problems with the skirt and shirt I made, and so I had a big, long rest from sewing. I am almost over it, but I still fear I'll go into huge lapses of stress again. Hopefully not. Frankly, if I do it myself it tends to be ok, because I don't have to worry about blaming other people for things. :P I get to blame myself, cleanly. And I did wondrously on my skirt, the calico one... arrrg, I need to crop one of those pictures and post it here. Then y'alls can see the gorgeousness of my plans.


You may have guessed, I'm kind of happyish right now. Joyful. The temperature went up today, instead of hanging in the 40's with rain and all, and so that's nice, and it helped. Then, this morning, I got totally inspired about 1860's work dresses again, so now I'm trying to find out how many ways I can decorate my work dress without going overboard. Oh, and I'm figuring out where to get a good, round, largish-handled whittling knife. I love the idea of going at whittling and stuff, and practising to perfection, so to speak. I want to try to make a Noah's Ark sometime soon. Lots of little pairs of animals, and a nice ark to put them all in. It's one of the most creative ideas I can think of now for a child's plaything; I've been into it ever since I reread On the Banks of Plumb Creek some time ago. And then, recently, it was recalled when I was reading one of Mrs. Clark's articles on elizabethstewartclark.com. Joy! I also want to make needle-cases and little boxes and randomly carve some things, and make my legendary Javelin. He's not exactly a javelin, but he is THE Javelin, all right. And I want to make him. A nice, strong, taller-than-me stick of wood, thick enough to be whittled down to a still-thick size, and be a good stick for lots of things.

Yay for whimsical ideas! You all should get your own, really. I mean, don't get downed by life! Just DO things. It's tons of fun.

A possibility to you, my readers

Well, it's not only your possibility. It's really mine, but it will probably effect you, too.

I am thinking about privatizing my blog, so that only invited people can be on. That way, I can post personal photos without worrying about the fact that it's public. I may not do it for a long, looong time, but I want to know what y'all think. So post away in greatness.

~Rettesums

Continuation of the Previous Rather Long Post

I have returned to the world of blogging to finish my latest post. You will zap when you see this, I suppose... as in, this post will probably be as long or longer than the previous post. Oi, joy to ye!

(Sidenote: Math is over. Over for the day! No more math! Yay! I will be using David Quine's curriculum. Yes, I'm changing again. But who cares? Hahaha.)


Let us see. I ended with something. And, randomly for your information, I've been editing the lastest post periodically when I think of it to make it a little more readable and sensible. Compacting links, bolding things, etc. I hope it will be more readable sometime. I might even edit it later, so you can get through it. Who knows- the truth is, it's rather useful the way it is, because it says a lot of what I've wanted to say latetly to Those Whom I Know. Now, let's go on.


My goal for clothing is to get a sensibly sensible wardrobe by some time. I hope to work my head off this summer; to try to get as much historical clothing done as possible. I have no idea how much I'm capable of- once I get used to it, probably quite a bit. I will probably also try to make random small and big accessories on the way. One idea I have is to sometime make a large clotheschest with my brothers or something to store clothing in for both reenacting and just 'round the house- depends if we can get it down the stairs easily and use it to go to events, though. Heh heh heh. I'm planning ahead too far. *tries to quit* I just want to make a wardrobe with all the numbers of things and things that my different roles would use, and then some perhaps fancier items (like more fashionable things) here and there, for the fun of it. I don't know whether I'll be portraying someone dreadfully rich; I don't want to, so lots of fashion items would be hopefully not eeeeverywhere in my wardrobe. :)

Continuing...

Winter wool dress- I mean to make a nice, not-too-fancy winter dress sometime this summer or fall, for colder weather (of course). The truth is, I'm very attracted by a lot of wool dresses I've seen in old photographs of varying types, probably all of them varying just by sleeve and trim differences. But I've been mostly attracted by one picture cuuuurrently (although there are lots of different types of dresses... and... it's hard to choose! 'Just make 'em all!'). Here is the dress I is likin'. My uneducated, but somewhat knowledgeable (as in, I know a little bit about...) guess is that it's a mourning dress. I don't really know what makes a mourning ensemble, but she has a dark collar, and you don't see that often. I believe I heard once it's used for mourning, but I can't remember. Anyways, I love the trim on her sleeve... it looks rather organized and all. I don't know, but if I made this dress, I may use a little more trimming, possibly on the bodice, but I don't know. I'd try to make it of a dark-coloured wool- navy blue, burgundy or something. Those colours look well enough on me, so I'm going to aim for that. It would be a very neat, pretty sort of dress, hopfully, but not at all hugely fancy.

I have other ideas, of course, but these are the ones I really feel like doing this year. I don't know how many I can do, or whether I'll get half done, or whether I'll even do them all at all this year (I could do others, if I think they'd be more worth-it)... but I really like the idea of making these. Along the way, though, I'll probably make myself a paletot (either summer or winter or both, who knows...), which is like a coat, or IS a coat. Frankly, I don't know if there's a difference between 'paletot' and 'coat'. Something about paletot makes me think it has to do with covering. Mweh heh. My etymological self is kicking in.

Well, for now, my Picasa web album on this stuff is here. More may be added over time- I just added a few things. If you have the time, read the captions about the images... they may tell a little more about the stuff.


So, I just want to have feedback- do you guys think I'm dreadful insane? And you can ask questions. I reeeally want questions. I just need to get used to having questions asked of me, because at some point I'm really going to get bullet-holed by them! :D

And, I wonder, are any of you at all interested? I just wish I had another pal of the people I know now. I don't think there are a lot of you who are interested in real crazy, get-it-right sewing stuff for ancient years way back.

Bla, I'm ranting. Good-bye.

Sommmething more!

I have my pictures uploaded, but I may not post them here, in the public, for reasons that many could probably figure out.

So.

Those of you who know me, you can blabber about it and you'll probably be able to see them. They are posted on ISLAS. So there. >:)


One site that has been helpful for me in lots of ways for historical clothing is this. The site's mistress is one of the Sewing Academy ladies... so, that's her affiliation, to the best of my knowledge. :P

The reason I brought this up is because I want to show you photos she's gathered or owns that she's got on her site of some dresses I'd like to reproduce this summer, hopefully, when I'm done with my underclothing. One thing you all may not fully understand is that I'm seeking very hard to do everything correctly, as far as I can. There are some things that we modern historical sewists can't do, like using whalebone for boning corsets, and maybe a few other things. I don't know too much yet, so I won't go farther into detail. :P

I don't want to ever use polyester. One thing is because I very much dislike it, and others are because it's plastic and is very hot on me, because it doesn't breathe. Also, it can melt near fire, and when you're re-enacting and cooking at a fire, and you accidentally whip your skirt in the fire, it could melt away from life, and possibly harm you.

I suppose that all of you people think I'm really odd and quirky, or else that I'll end up with the costumey stuff that some people wear for halloween events. But I'm more looking for remaking the clothes they actually wore in the 1800's and around. Gina thinks it's kind of crazy, but cool, because public-schoolers don't do it. :P Well, they may, but the STEREOTYPE of a public-schooler doesn't. Stereotypes, however, are very unreliable.

This will probably be a long post, but I'm going to mention a lot of things I have in my head about this new interest. It started somewhere in the late summer last year (2008, for your information...). Back then, I didn't think I'd really do it, nor that I could. I thought the people who did do it were somehow genii, behind the reaching of any of the vulgar people (I'm using the sense of vulgar as 'common'). But, they are the 'vulgar' people! But vulgar doesn't sound nice in English. Rather, they're just normal, interesting people like all of you people. And, as I learned more and more (rather steadily, by the day), I got more and more interested, and my ambition grew into a great big viiiine, entangling the idea and choking the life out of it... no, that's not right. Hehe. I think I have muses, too, that like my sentences, and change them.

I think you get the idea.

Then, when I was... still fourteen years old.... (forget it.) Some weeks ago, ElisabethD of Scholars Online, whom I had finally emailed, rather shakily (as in, bashfully), suggested that get two of Mrs. Clark (www.elizabethstewartclark.com)'s books, 'Practical Prinkery' and 'Dressmaker's Guide to Fit and Fashion'. Of course, I told Mummy about it (she knew about me emailing Elisabeth all the time, and was trying to encourage me to get it done- :P -but I was so stubborn for so long), and she ordered them... and when they came, I found out she also ordered Mrs. Clark's other book (and only other book... unless I just don't know about any more, which I don't), which is 'Skirting the Issue'. As it may suggest, 'tis about making skirts and petticoats and such. Happy book. I was superbly glad, and still am. I'm still bouncy about it. And hyper. And exceedingly grateful.

With those books, I found out (...am still finding out) that historical clothing from around 1860 was even easier than I thought before. Hehehe. And also, learning more about it made it easier to me- that's what it's always like for things, whether I practise with them or not.

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that my interest in this isn't an obsession. It's gone beyond obsession-level, although I still get pretty excited about the things I learn every day. Who couldn't? It's like a child, finding out how to spell 'ignoramous'. Believe me, this is all more of a lifestyle to me... as in, I feel like it's the way I would rather live. I don't like many modern things; they confuse me and I just don't understand them or connect with them (like you ought! Being connected to a computer would be painful!). I like the old ways, and I hope I can run my household in the future that way. For some reason, I see it all as much more simple and easy, and dreadfully fascinating and stuff. It touches on how I like work. Living that way IS work, but I think it's fun work. Living in the city doesn't help much!

Sooo. By now, I'm hoping to by a good deal of white muslin to use for making my first drawers and chemises, and possibly make a mock-up for a corset, depending on how wildly ambitious I get once I have twelve or fifteen yards of muslin. :P (I don't know how much mum will get, but I believe she knows that I'm committed to doing it, so that I'll actually try to use the muslin. Truth to tell, I feel a little pressured and responsible, more than I'd like to, because she is really trying to depend on me for getting these done... :/) I totally understand why a lot of the other sewists on the SA say that it's good I'm going to start from the skin out: you learn the sewing techniques well, so that when you get to the outer garments, you're made firm and hard and can tackle them like a black-garmented ninja. That was pretty random, eh?

Is that enough intro? I think so.

I don't know if I've said already, but there are quite a few garments I hope to get done sometime in the centre of this year. I will try to pave a list in an order quite like the order I hope to execute them in. Hehehe. Another thing to note is that the clothing I'm making is all teen clothing. I'm not one of the girls who wants to appear older than she is. Teens had the advantage of having open necklines (though not immodest, in my opinion), which were cooler on warmer days. They also wore a higher skirt length than adult women; a bit above the ankle, which was also cooler. And there are other things they could take advantage of, and so, I shall make the most of my teen years and I hope to burst off REAL hard and go at an amazing speed, so I can get as much done by the time I'm eighteen as I can. We'll see where I'm at then! The other reason I'm doing this is because of accuracy; I don't want to portray my age wrong. Only if I'm made to portray a person who would have worn long skirts will I do it, etc. But those instances may never happen in my younger teen years, and if they do, they will be very rare. :)

Here it is:
Work dress- cotton plaid, gathered-to-fit, jewel neck, tucks in skirt for growth and decoration (I don't know if I'm REALLY going to do this... I'm pretty ambitious about all the stitches, so I think I may- it's a big likelihood, as I'm so insanely crazy), smallish bishop sleeves
Good-ish day dress (the goodness of which will be decided more by the helpful ladies of the SA than by myself, probably)- this is my [old... title has the newer version of the sketch, both are helpful] sketch, though it hath been updated, though not scanned yet. I hope to scan tomorrow; it's too late now. Brown calico (from Originals by Kay, I believe I've posted it before, I won't fetch it now, as it is late), half-high neck, yoked bodice (with a slight drop in the middle), possibly pleats instead of plain gathering for the front. Possible sleeve caps (I edited the picture with myn Evil Eraser and took 'em out, though; they look sort of funky, I think), very full bishop sleeves, perhaps three sets of tucks, three tucks each, in the skirt. Oh, I almost forgot completely! Ruching on the sleeves and bodice, probably, of the self-fabric. This is my inspiration.
Summer dress- this one may go next, or else I'll make another simple day dress, for practise. This all depends on 'how I feel'. I think I should work on one as soon as I can, however, because summer dresses are nice in summer! Some sort of a cotton lawn (plaid, print, stripe?), not sure about sleeves; possibly short sleeves (I need to research ca. 1860 short sleeves to find out which type, though), tucks in the skirt (looks positively delightful in a sheer!), half-high or whatever you call it... the more wide neck (I can't believe I forgot. Don't killll me! It's just one of those stupid moments when I forget everything), gathered-to-fit bodice... that's pretty much all.
Party dress, or ball gown, or (if possible) both at the same time- this and this portray what I want quite well. I'm not sure about the material yet. Of the first two, I only have vague guesses, or not-so-vague, but certainly not verified ones, the second is quite obviously silk taffeta. My choices would be either a sheer fabric of some sort, probably lawn, or else a plaid or plain-coloured taffeta. Only, if it were taffeta, I'd want a dark colour, so it will probably end up being lawn. The second picture probably almost fully sums up what I'd like, except I'd have tiny changes.

HOWEVER, I need to go to bed. Good-bye. Enjoy this ultra-long post. I think it was not worthless, as I needed to say something like this to y'all who don't really understand why I am always talking about old clothing.

And, when I'm done tackling my own clothing, I want to try making clothing for children, and other stuff. Whoopeee. Children's clothing is brilliant.

Heheheheheeeee. Double-post. You ask, ...where?

HEHEHEHEHEHEHE.

Evil double post in one day. This was the only reason I posted. HAHAHA. I'm SO evil.

I just realised how malignant I am. I am so happy. I am evilly, randomly PM-ing other people on ISLAS! Only one currently, but I PLAN ON MURDERING MOREEEE!!!! Muahahahahaha!

Why do I post this here, you ask? Well. I ... LOVE SUBJUNCTIVES!

No, that's not why. I'm not even sure what that was coming from, I know that I do love subjunctives, but it was quite random.

The truth is, one of my great projects these days is randomnity.

You ask, why?

Well, I answer, because it IS. It's excessively fun to make and maintain. I certainly have worked it well over Andre's soul. He is hugely insanified. Because I am so evil and revengeful upon him, that's why. Yes, I am.

Let me see. Randomness, a.k.a. randomnity, is a product of my Character. It is one of the talents that God gave me, I sort of think. Except, if anyone is insane enough, he probably can be insane, too. I don't know what the point of this is, but I think that it makes some sense. Bear with me in my insane spurt of randomness.

Now, I may be PMed by those who certainly are and probably used to be complete strangers. However, they will not be for long. MUAHAHAAHAAA! My evilness shall not allow it. Absolutely not.

But I am also a gentle, kind, carressing sort of person.

You ask, how?

Well... I just got a great idea for a poem! Well, how... because I just am. I'm afraid my randomnity isn't exactly evil, but I see it as... a work against others such as Andre! *evil laugh*


So, the product of this random double-post is, this blog will hereafter be for creations of the nature of my creativity; therefore, I shall probably post writings as well as non-writings and pictures. You see, my life is completely random, and the creation of a random blog is my VERY GREATEST achievement.

...actually, it's totally not. God can define my greatest achievement. I don't know what it is. It may be something I can't remember.

Hahaha. Randomnity! Yay!

So, goodnight. I have written my head insanely off. Now I must go.

Back from the Alive

Well, I sewed all last week, O so boringly. :P

I didn't finish the muslin shirt, but I did finish the skirt. I bound it in a dark blue calico that had green vines of almost the same green as my skirt, I believe. It's very nice, and much longer than I thought it could possibly be. It's all flowy and all, so it's very nice.

I don't really have a lot of pictures; Noah took only a few, at the church we went to yesterday eveningish for an Easter service and dinner. It was a beautiful old church, probably started way back in the 1800's sometime. But the congregation we joined for it aren't the regular goers- it's really a liberal church, but they let 'us' use the building. I suppose we're kind of helping this congregation start, our family, but I don't know exactly what we're doing. I wasn't the one gonig to all the queer organizational meetings, anyways!

*screams because is using 'so' too much* I got to wear the skirt... the reason I didn't get to finish the shirt was because I sewed one sleeve in inside out, and when I found out, it was about 10-o'clock Saturday night, and I was NOT willing to resew the sleeve in. I don't like to sew sleeves, even though it's not really hard, after you've done six... and sewed two of the six in backwards (but it was ok-ish)...

When Noah is able to, he'll probably put his ol' pictures up somewhere to be accessed. I was playing the great, big grand piano when he took the pictures. It was a very nice piano, except for the pedals. They were rather not rightly pressurable, in some sort of a way. :P

Well, I'm going to try to make my chemises and drawers son, once my mum and I get a gazillion yards of muslin. We want to first find out who has it cheapest, though. I might also try to drape my corset. I feel like pushing getting it done now, because I think I'm actually capable of getting it done sooner. Once I finished the skirt, I feel a little bit more get-it-done-like, and I think I may actually be able to handle the hard fittingness of a corset, really. I just need serious help from Gina and mummy. But I don't care! I will DO IT!

>:)

What you're to get from this is that I'm kind of up-to-things. I just want a break from machine-sewing... this week was enough machine for me.

And, by the way, which is something I don't know how I should really phrase to the general public of my friends; corsets aren't as bad as everyone things they are. Trust me. :) There are lots of corset myths out there, and they're actually very comfortable, apparently, and very necessary for correct interpretation of a lot of times in the past. The vanity of women and all, I believe, is what made them draw the strings tighter, and all of that to do with particular times' fashions. It's all kind of confusing, and I haven't worn a corset yet, but I've heard and read about them, and I'm pretty sure. What makes a corset uncomfortable, really, is if it's fit badly, or if it's not made to fit the person who's wearing it.

And then, there are probably exceptions, like confusing little things here and there that have to do with particular instances.

So, good-day! I suppose that's not as brief as it could be... I'm made for long blogposts. I'll try to post pictures of my skirt soon, and you ISLASers will probably see possibly more, full pictures on the forum sometime.

What this place is, and what I'm down to...

(...down is so much more descriptive, because it makes me see the semblance of a person down among a great heap of things, cross-legged and writing busily on a thing, with a candle nearby and a strange, dark roundabouts which would be all the other weird things the semblance of a person does...)

So, I wish I had some pictures to post.

This will be my crafty blog. Currently, it's under serious construction, as can be seen by the randomnity with which it is in essence... if that makes sense.

This is the fabric I bought for my circle skirt (arr, I'm going to kill Jo-ann's site... at least when I put 'stonehill green' in the search bar, it gets up the print as the first print. It's got tannish, green shades and yellow in it, fyi), and I would like to use this is what I want to bind the hem with. I'm not sure about binding it with calico now, but I really want to... so the skirt looks a little more exciting and colour-y. I want to use it for Easter day, and afterwards, since by then (I hope) it will be made.

I am also going to try to make a muslin shirt (unbleached) and a camisole out of the same muslin... I'm just a little bit creeped out that I actually did buy a whole yard of 120-inch-wide muslin. Which means I have to zig-zag-stitch up a whole 240 inches of fabric before I can shrink it and all. :o I really should just get it over with and cut out the fabric. :P

And I have lots of ideas! I want to make a gypsy outfit over time; really fancy-decorated and all, and weird. I'm still trying to find out how I'll make the skirt. I'm debating whether I'll just flare the skirt, or use the Mediaeval way of making a skirt wider and flaredish. (Eek, Gina's creaking... awfully...)

I also have other ideas. Many. My list of things to make for the future is:

For re-enacting and historicalness, ca. 1860:
2-3 pairs of drawers
2-3 chemises (both these two firstish... probably a pair of drawers and then a chemise, a pair of drawers and then another chemise, etc., depending)
corset (might need some serious fitting help with someone else in RL... I'll have to find out if Gina will sacrifice her time to help me.)
fool with a toile or more on Gina, to get used to toile-handling...
petticoats, hoopy-cages of some sort, and other skirt support things
an apron or more, bibbed and unbibbed (I'm planning to do these when I feel like it, maybe even before I've made my drawers and chemises, so I can do some gauging and practise more hand-stitchery)
sunbonnets (I want to experiment with different types, but it all depends on how much time I have)
random things in between everything... and I'll probably be knitting stockings in my 'spare time', and crocheting a shawl, maybe, once I figure out how...
jewel-necked, bishop-sleeved work dress out of plaid cotton, with tucks in the skirt (mostly for 'growth', apostrophized because I may not be growing any more)
a dress, like that. I'm planning to make it out of this calico (you can tell that I'm going crazy with the links... if I can't with pictures, well, I'll go other-technical!)
And probably some random calico dresses, wool dresses, paletots, capes and summer dresses. :-) That's all I have definitely planned out. It may look insane, but I'm guaranteed to go at it kind of carefully, in my own way. I can go overboard, but I feel the necessity to get hard at work on historical sewing, because I'm not going to be in my teens much longer!

As well as all that, I want to work on a patchwork quilt about the time. It will consist of random bits of fabric, probably just reproduction calico. I have only two prints right now that would be suitable for it (one is the fabric for my circle skirt, and if I get the pink calico, that will probably be in the quilt, as well, and then I have a foot of blue calico I got from Jo-ann's something around four years ago that would suit the purpose, imho), and possibly not just those. :) I mean to ask other historical sewers about it, or research it myself, and make sure. I would like to make the quilt like this because I want to use it while re-enacting. And I like old prints more than modern ones, anyway.

...all of that quilt by hand, too. :P I should have said that. I'm not yet daunted by that, but once I start, we'll see! It may take years to finish, depending on how miserable I feel in the weeks ahead. It will be my miserable-time quilt, probably. To make me feel brighter and all.

I also plan to do some other crazy things, like making myself modern clothes, from the same pattern as the circle skirt and the pattern I'm making the shirt and camisole out of. I'll probably also make other things, like dresses and other sorts of skirts, from different patterns (all of them modified, for your information... harhar), and make some patterns for myself with a toile. I plan to have lots of fun, though slowly.

Just pray I won't be too tired and confused to get these things done. I need energy and a good state of mind for it all! :D