Shake It Like A Poleroid Picture!

Huzzah for photographs! I sadly, am still missing my camera cord, but I finally sat down at the family PC which has a drive for my memory card to upload the pictures. (I love pictures. I had 1008 pictures total on my memory card!) So here is the visual update finally to go with the last post!

Kat's dress so far!

Meanwhile, Kathryn has been hand stitching the black piping she acquired to the raw edge of her lower sleeves. Once that is done we'll move on to making the elastic casing on the the lowest sleeve and stitching the two sleeves together. Once that's done, apart from her hood and hems, Kat's dress is pretty much done! And then we can move on to trims! :)

All the skirts are complet

My costume is also on the brink of completion. I attached the skirts to the bodice the other night and began draping the pink sashes. I also threw in the invisible zipper last night. So far it looks amazing, but I've yet to get the zipper to go up when the dress is on my body. And even when it's not on me, it still is very difficult to zip because of all the sash layers being in one place. Hopefully it will work better when someone other then my father is trying to zip it though. And if not, I'm not 100% thrilled with how the pink sashes are sitting anyway so I may revisit that to solve both problems at once. And I may put two small side darts in the bodice depending on where this thing ends up sitting on me. Other then those tweaks, I just need to make the part if the dark pink sash that dangles down and the rosette for the back and hem up the lowest skirt and this thing in DONE. :)

As far as the coat goes, I decided that even with the new job I couldn't justify spending 80$ for the pink wool. However, I did find some perfectly colored heavy weave for 3.99 a yard that will behave like the wool would have. I'm just going to throw a fleece layer on the top body pieces in between the fabric and the lining to make it warm for Halloween. I'm really excited about this and am currently brainstorming the best way to get the black embroidery on the collar and cuffs so that it's still accurate without a machine that embroiders. (And I *do not* have the time to hand embroider it).

Bella jacket!

In other costume news, the Gods of Costuming blessed me with a very fruitful shopping trip the other day. I found at Salvation Army a shirt that's perfect for Jack's costume. So if anyone wants to run around and drown with me, the option is open. I just saw it on a rack and decided it was too perfect to pass up. :) Georgia wanted to hit up Nordstrom Rack as well where I bumped into the B.B. Dakota jacket the costume designers of Twilight used for Bella in the movie. It was about 50% cheaper then when I found it online last winter so I picked that up as well. Not that I ever really want to do a Twilight costume again, but on the off chance I do it's there. Plus it's rather warm and cozy on the inside so I've taken to wearing it in my everyday wardrobe.

That's all for today. I have to grab some lunch before work this afternoon.
Cheers,

Thera

Dress is almost done!!

With the hoop and bum roll

Kat's sleeve trim!

Undies!

"I wish I knew some sewing spells"

Textual Update

Hello friends!

I'm dreadfully sorry for the lack of recent posts on here. Kat and I have been quite busy but I seem to have misplaced my camera cord. I have lots of wonderful pictures of our progress that I have not been able to upload, and as a result I've been putting off updating here. What's the use of a costume blog after all if you can't see what we're doing! At any rate, this is the abbreviated version of our progress since my last post.

Kathryn's costume is still flying along! We gathered up the waist band of the underskirt and have begun toying with the idea of hoop skirts. I happen to already own one that I made for the aforementioned (last sewing update) Elizabethan costume I did. Kat's skirts are so beautiful and full and the hoop really accentuates them. We also started putting together the under sleeves. We discovered some beautiful little lace at Jo Ann's this afternoon that Kat hand stitched along the cuff of the undermost sleeve (the white bit). She also created the slits in in the middle sleeve and hand stitched down the facings that we fondly refer to as the vaginas (seriously they look very inappropriate...). She was also busy this afternoon cutting out all the layers that will become her French Hood! We went to Jo Anns to get the fleece for this and happened upon a 2 dollar simplicity pattern sale! Kat picked up a number of patterns for various future endeavors and I grabbed two that will serve as good guides for Roses' pink coat if I end up doing that. (Things on that are looking up! I just got a new job -huzzah!- and found some gorgeous salmon wool at Sew Low. Only trouble is I don't think they have the 6 yards I would need...so we'll see.)

As for Rose, I've finished the bodice for now. Kat and Mum helped me fit the over layer over my under layer and corset and I stitched them together by machine. I had intended to do it by hand but it came out very neat and a hell of a lot faster. Im very happy with how the two purple sashes came out. So now I've moved on to the 4 skirt layers. I cut out all the front pieces and then discovered I ran out of the pink and darker lavender. So I ran back to Sew Low to grab another yard of each to cut out the backs. This afternoon I finished all the raw edges, sewed the 4 sets of side seams and based all the skirts together at the top. Tomorrow I plan to attach them to the bodice and see what the hem situation will be. I feel like mine could be done very very soon. Oh and I also have to mess with the invisible zipper up the back.

Thats all for now because I'm falling asleep and this is boring without pictures.
Night folks!
Cheers,
Thera

Ohmygod Shoes!

When I got home from school today a present was waiting for me on my door step! The MOSTBEAUTIFULSHOESEVER:

I ordered these shoes from an online store called "Vintique" to go with my Titanic dress only last Sunday and they arrived today! They aren't like the shoes Roes actually wears with the dress I am making. Those shoes looked more like character shoes with a strap around the ankle. However she does wear these shoes (even though you never see them) in the last scene of the movie. You know when she dies as the "old lady warm in her bed" and goes to Titanic Heaven. And I really couldn't pass them up as they were only 25 dollars! Supposedly they were that cheap because there are "slight imperfections" however they're so slight I can't tell. So now I'm totally in love with them. If I ever get married (which is not likely at all) I'll use them for that as well. :)

Cheers!
A very happy Thera

Back to School Blogging

Hola amigos,

School is back in session as of this morning so I'm blogging today from the lovely Salem State University and I'm not updating in the wee hours of the morning for once!

stitching away into the night

Back in our sewing world, Kathryn and I have once again been making so not so slow or invisible headway. In fact things are ploughing right along so much that I hope to have the time (and funds) to make Rose's pink wool coat to go with my dress. Though no matter the time left over, funds will probably be the deterring factor if that doesn't happen. Last Monday we found ourselves once again at Sew Low in Cambridge where Kat picked up the fabric for the lower sleeves, under sleeves, and under skirt backing. The lower sleeves we have matching the front panel of the underskirt which is the pretty gold and beige stripe. For the under sleeves we found some lovely silky white fabric. It's soft and will drape beautifully. For mine, I got the two pink fabrics for my two outer sashes. So, for now, it looks like Kat and I have all the fabric we need to complete our costumes! (Minus a bit of fleece for Kat's french hood). This is very exciting. :)

Cartridge pleating on the skirt

We got Kat's underskirt cut out and she stitched all the panels together. It's rather wide but will look lovely once it's all gathered up into the waistband. She also ran a 1/2 inch wide running stitch through the gingham check on the balck over skirt (three rows 1/2 inch apart on each side of the center back seam) to create the cartridge pleats. And I have to say as a side note, especially sitting here in the cafeteria of Salem State, I am so greatful to my professors here and education is a beautiful thing. Summer of 2008 I made an Elizabethan costume that used the same technique for cartridge pleating. And it took me a million years to get them all stitched down onto the waist band. Last semester at school, we did a production of Great Expectations where all the women were costumed in 1840s clothing and I helped stitch down the cartridge pleats on some of the skirts. The other night, sitting down with Kat's skirt I was pretty sure I'd be settled down on the couch stitching for a while but low and behold it only took half an hour at most to do both sides, top and bottom of each pleat. I knew I was learning a lot in the costume shop but it's nice to see it out in practice in daily life. So thanks Jane, Linda, and Molly! :) So side note aside, Kathryn's black dress is done but for a hem, the center back seam, and tacking the sleeves up! I want to fit it on her with her stays and the back all laced up to make sure the center back seam overlaps correctly before we sew it however.

The purple sashes are cut and draped, the pink ones just held on for effect.

As for mine, I'm still working on the bodice. I got the under bodice cut and sewn in the pretty off white fabric. I happened to have some interfacing left over from my corset so I was able to get that done in an evening without having to run to Jo Ann's. Yay! I fit it over my corset and I think I'm going to add two darts in the front. I also, heart pounding, cut out one of the pale lavender skirt layers and with the left over fabric, began draping the lighter purple sash. So far Im pretty pleased with the results! I cut and draped the darker purple sash as well. With somene's help I'm going to fit the bodice once more and pin the sheer outer bodice to where it needs to be in the front. Then I can take out the basting stitches in the back where the zipper will eventually be and make both bodices one piece. Then I can really get cracking on the skirts (all 4 of them).

That's all for now! Have to run to class.
Cheers!
Thera

Trying to get the effect of what the layers of chiffon will look like

Skirt's on!

Kat's underskirt

Now really, what does this look like to you??

This is what happens when we sew until 3am

Making my bodice!