Fan front bodice successfully fanned.

I keep thinking about a similar project I did years ago, when i was trying to up my skill. Mock up after mock up. Took me months. This dress will be a 3 weekend project, more or less.

The center front panels are rectangles, gaged down into pleats that are then stitched in place. The fabric is completely loose from the top of the pleats to the shoulder.

Early 1850's for anyone interested, from The Cut of Women's Clothes by Norah Waugh.

#sewing #HistoricalCostuming

Every now and the I am just blown away by how much trust and confidence my kid's school has in her.

My kid's dyslexia and neurodiversity school is hiring a new head of school, a big deal. A tricky job, managing the financial/fundraising side of this kind of place while keeping to the mission of helping kids ill-served in traditional school environments.

She's on the student interview committee.

I can't get over $50 fast fashion hoop skirts. Ready made side hoops. Bustles.

When I started historical costuming some 20 years ago, hoop skirts had bridal industry mark ups. Similar quality, but 3x as expensive before inflation.

People would sew holahoops into a hem as a cheap alternative.

Modern hoops are still ugly as sin (cove shaped, rather than the harder to achieve bell shape) but can be had overnight from Amazon. Or bought for parts, an undervaluing of the labor to produce them.

Just so weird how fast fashion even has its claws in such a weird nitch hobby.

Was bored while waiting for kiddo at Girl Scouts, so I started planning for my next evening gown for the Art Deco Preservation Ball. April I think?

Had a design I loved, but I couldn't find the right tone on tone fabrics. Being a bit gun shy after my last color matching debacle I've decided to go simple instead, with a black silk crepe and silver beaded accents.

I have picked this design not because it speaks to me as a seamstress, but because it will drive my husband insane.

Letting myself get distracted by a novelty wool print (!!!) that had gotten buried on my sewing table.

Bat wing sleeves for sure to take advantage of the heavy border print, caught up in pleats at the center front.

But the skirt? Narrow detail or fat?

If it helps, this is something I want to wear to work, for a rather corporate job.

#sewing

My sister is an incredible musician, and posts weekly duets with her hubby. Think I'll start sharing her work here, if folks don't mind.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/a4sb8KXWDBc?is=BCUKW_L8qX5UTLWx

One of my favorite things about Mastodon is that I can run out of feed.

Updates are not a bottomless pit of algorithms keeping me engaged. On a quiet Sunday morning I can literally run out of new posts to read, if I keep my follows to a sane level.

Like finishing the newspaper back in the day. A signal that it is time to start my day.

RE: https://sfba.social/@sewblue/117377884828716429

And if anyone knows which European museum owns this gown, I would be grateful.

Reverse image led me back to unattributed Pinterest. The search engine from the water mark was not designed for research, returning no results less complex than "black dress" yet limiting the number of objects returned.

#museum #museums #HistoricalCostuming

Out with the last project, in with the new. This, but creepier.

A Victorian mourning gown for Halloween, for kiddo. Early mourning, so dull black and not this pretty moire silk. Complete with a heavily veiled bonnet, obscuring her face and the form of her head.

Done right with dull, dark dark fabrics, people will low key freak out when seeing her out of the corner of their eye. A human void without a face.

#sewing #HistoricalCostuming

RE: https://mastodon.social/@MineralCup/117357184660651840

Graphite vs quartz?! How will I even begin to make that choice?

Ugh, almost got scammed.

Pretending to be bank fraud. They were careful, no huge red flags until the next guy. The next guy asked me to create a test zelle payment.

I told him politely we will not be creating a test Zelle payment and he told me to fuck off and hung up.

My finished pelisse!

It's amazing to wear. The heavy trim moves and ripples the skirt in ways I didn't expect. It is very intimidating as well, thanks to the military vibes.

The center front facings were surprisingly difficult. I had to snip the piping, then pull the fluff out out of each bit piping enough so it would lay flat. That is 136 piping ends to manage. I then had to make sure the facing had enough tension on piping to keep it flat.

The decoration removed over an inch of length from the skirt.

Qibbles - I screwed up the lining hem so I wasn't able to get the hem details done. I decided against the center front piping as I wanted to show off the that crisp front edge. And of course the color match.

I don't want to see another piece of piping for a looooong time.

#sewing #HistoricalCostuming

The back of the skirt is attached! Woohoo!

Nyx, the pin thief, can't resist it either.

I settled on 3/4 inch deep pleats, overlapping the previous by 1/4 inch. Give a nice bit of spring and the narrow look I was going for. The period design was incredibly forgiving.

The next phase will require fitting the bodice front with the bust darts. And hopefully hemming, or at least cutting to length.

#sewing #HistoricalCostuming #CatsOfMastodon

I caught the pin thief red handed.

#CatsOfMastodon #Sewing

Such a good helper!

#sewing #CatsOfMastodon

Well, I did. I deleted my last corporate social media off my phone. Reddit in my case, after watching it slowly move toward outrage and propaganda, eyeball trapping rather than enjoyment.

Mastadon is now my main social media.

Gaaaa. I just paid slightly more to select my seat on a flight and now they are trying to charge me another $50+ a pop to select my seats.

Even cutting the trim to size is taking foooooooreeeeever.

Played around with my camera settings to (hopefully) better show the actual color match between the piping and fabric.

These are some of the fanciest sleeve ever I've made.

They are a mix of machine and hand sewn.

#sewing #HistoricalCostuming

She's doing it!

I have successfully trained a cat!

She is hopping on hoping for treats, but I am no longer having to coax her.

#CatsOfMastodon #BlackCat