shebit, posts by tag: sewing - LiveJournal

Fun weekend. And quite busy.

Went into town on saturday afternoon to get a haircut. I'd been toying with the idea of having a bit of a change and getting a fringe, and I'm glad I went through with it. It's a short fringe, very retro, and everyone thinks it looks quite cute. The hairdresser even stopped cutting to say that she was really glad I'd opted for a fringe, because she thought it really suited me.

I then popped into my favourite fabric shop, as I was passing, to see if they had anything suitable for my proposed new Maelstrom kit. I discovered thay have a whole upstairs room which I never realised was there, in which they had pure silk satins in some lovely colours (for £8.50/m), but there is also a fabulously soft silk/cotton mix which I rather like.

I also discovered upstairs in the shop a few designer leftover bolts, including some Armani suiting and an absolutely gorgeous Hugo Boss striped cotton - shot burgundy with stripes of gold and some pinkish tones. It was so pretty (and reasonably priced)that I couldn't resist buying enough for a skirt (and an invisible zip). I also bought enough calico to make a toile for my Maelstrom costume so that I know how much silk I'll need.

It was a friend's birthday, so we went out to Lola-Lo with her on saturday night. It's a Hawai'ian-themed club, and therefore had many rum-based cocktails, which were half price until 10pm, so we filled the table with half price cocktails just before ten and those lasted us until we left around midnight. Mmm, many rums.

We then gave the birthday girl her present on sunday night, in the form of a sushi making evening at Moshi Moshi - and special even put on as part of the 'Brighton Food and Drink Festival'. We were slightly concerned that they'd be both stingy and disorganised, and that we've have a a chatic evening and very little to eat (having paid rather a lot for our places at the event). Turns out our fears were unfounded.

The sushi lesson was good - we knew how to make maki, having done it several times at home, but we also learned the proper techniques for tamaki handrolls, gunkan and nigiri. We also learned lots of interesting bits of trivia, like the origins of sushi (raw fish was pressed onto vinegared rice as a means of preserving it) and how to prepare mackerel (never eat it raw, as it contains nasty bacteria - marinate it with salt and then vinegar to kill off the nasties).

We'd been drinking plenty sake while making the sushi - unlimited sake, beer and tea was included in the price. Also, once the class was over, and we were already reasonably full from our self-made treats, we were told we could help ourselves to anything from the conveyor belt. And more sake.

Needless to say, I ate too much sushi and drank too much sake. I feel a little blurgh today. Delicate stomach is delicate.

All in all, a very fun weekend.

Ok, this is what I plan to make in the next few months:

• New summer weight Chinese hanfu robes for Maelstrom - current kit is polyester satin and is ridiculously warm in the summer, so I plan to make a new set in silk and/or cotton. moose_biscuit also wants a new summer outfit, but I think she wants to do it herself, so I shouldn't be needed.
  
• First attempt at a justaucorps/pirate coat - I have a miniature pattern which I need to scale up and then fit to my tricky proportions. The first try will probably be imperfect and therefore suitable only for random larp kit, but I will eventually make a nicer one for a planned poncy character.
  
• Regency short stays x 2 - moose_biscuit's should be relatively easy, I think, but manufacturing a period bra to support my ample assets will be more challenging.
  
• Late Regency gowns x2 made from sarees - a dress I saw at the Medieval Fair put the thought in my head that sarees imported from East India would have been perfect posh cloth for regency ladies, so I plan to make us each one for the next 'Masquerades & Massacres' event, whenever that is.
  
• Leather corset armour - for Odyssey and any other time that I might need some armour, as I have none.

The second event of M&M was brilliant fun.

I got our four dresses made, with final alterations made about half an hour before we were due to leave - good thing I made moose_biscuit try the evening dress on before we left, or we'd only have discovered that Lady Fitzwilliam couldn't raise her arms once we got there!

The dresses looked very pretty and got lots of complements. I might even get a commission to make one for another player for next event (have to figure out a fair price). Needless to say, next time I plan to allow myself more than two weeks for four dresses!

There were lots of new characters, and though some of the characters we'd befriended at the first event were absent we still had plenty of people to talk to.

In real life I'd get annoyed with men standing every time I do very quickly, but in a Regency setting it's a lovely bit of gentlemanly behaviour (though my character, Rebecca, was a little embarrassed to have such fine gents standing for her when she's only (technically) a servant). Though my lowly rank was recognised when I was put on the bottom table for dinner, with the foreigners for company: Poles, Americans and an Irishman, all of them Catholic.

The poor Commodore is still pining over Lady Fitzwilliam, who rejected his marriage proposal last time, but she's now decided to try to set him up with someone else - because that's what Regency ladies do.

Even if you know it's someone in a costume, catching a glimpse of a Xenomorph lurking in the bushes is a little creepy. At least they were on my side, though: sunday morning saw the few characters who hadn't left taking part in an Indian linear, where several of us were in saris and played NPC Kali cultists. I got to murderize a brand new player character!

There were sadly no attacks to fend off during the main part of the game, so my meek and not at all heavily armed maid didn't get to delivver any smackdowns, but we've been assured that there will be more fighting at the next event.

There was a nice moment of dawning realisation when we decided to play charades that we'd only be able to use titles published before 1822 (the year we were playing). There was a lot of miming of Shakespeare, a bit of Jane Austin and a healthy dose of Classics and opera. Another parlour game we played to while away the hours was 'I'm Thinking of a Thing', which is daft but quite addictive.

We also played an interminal game of Cubb, in which the priest reffing refused to remove any blocks from play, so it would likely have gone on forever if Prince Ernest (George III's brother, also known as flannelcat in some very fine whiskers) hadn't thrown the game and let the ladies win. Eventually.

So, pretty dresses (and shiny uniforms on the officers), a bit of danger, discussions about firearms and dragons (both of which my 'maid' knew far too much about), a royal wedding, parlour games, taking turns around the gardens escorted by dashing gentlemen, disapproving of the scandalous behaviour of some young ladies and answering back in a rather un-maid-like but completely IC manner: all in a day's work for a Regency international maid of mystery.

Oh, and a Polish Hussar might have taken a liking to Rebecca, but he's totally unsuitable. I mean, come on, he's a catholic!

Mmmm, gloves!

I wouldn't normally get excited about gloves, but these are particularly lovely, and bought for just 25% of their proper price.

I visited Monsoon on monday to see if there was anything good in their sale (I am adicted to Monsoon's sales). I came home with some nice new jeans and some smart wide leg brown linen trousers, both half price, and with the gloves.

They a dark grey wool and angora, over the elbow and have fake nacreous buttons all the way up the sides, from wrist to elbow. So pretty, and so very much going to be my character's winter gloves at the next Masquerades and Massacres event. And, because they had two little splits in one seam, which it just took me all of fifteen minutes with a needle and thread to repair, they were reduced from £16 to just £4.

Did I mention that they're very very pretty? And wonderfully warm.

Mmmm, button-encrusted gloves.

So, costumes.

There was much sewing for the last two nights, and moose_biscuit and I got two Regency(ish) dresses made in just two evenings. They employ the same basic (very basic) pattern, but with different detailing - MB is the posh lady, so hers has a lovely gathered/pleated low v-neckline at the back and side slits which show off the petticotes below, and is belted with gold-embellished cord, while mine, as befits a lady's maid in her mistress's cast-offs, has a simple high back with a box pleat, is sown most of the way to the hem (I've given a few inches to make it easier to run in) and is belted with a choice of two ribbons (satin in the same colour as the dress or a contrasting slightly metallic one, so I can have a bit of variety over the course of the weekend).

Our dresses are full of boobies, as is fitting for Regency ladies.

MB also has a fab military style jacket (slightly more Victorian than Regency, but the game is set in 1821 so she can get away with it) and I have the spencer coat/pelisse from the suit I made last year. Also, MB has a lovely multicoloured (all pinks and purples, to match her lavender dress) paisley wrap/shawl, and yesterday I picked up a pretty one in olive green with Indian designs in the exact burgundy of my dress (eastern design cues were becoming very popular in that age of Empire, so the paisley and other Indian patterns are very Regency).

For the sake of modesty during the day, MB has a pretty lace scarf/collar/thingy which covers her shoulders and decolotage, and I have the same but in plain cream chifon.

Footwear will be pumps/ballet slippers - brown leather for me, and shiny silver satiny or black leather for MB, depending on the circumstances (day/night, whist/being chased by aliens)

Bugger, just relised I haven't got a fan to match my outfit - MB is taking my old black one with pink detail, but my Maelstrom one won't go with my outfit. I'll have to run to the Chinese shop to find a suitably-coloured one. For accessories, I'll have long black lace gloves (for the evening) and a black velvet reticule (rescued from the stuff still in my old room at my parents') while MB has a black and gold brocade purse with (I think) white gloves and perhaps my gorgeous embroidered kid skin evening gloves (which would be very fitting, but I think she's worried about damaging them).

No parasols, so if the weather stays like this we'll just have to stick to the shade.

We will be vereh vereh pritty.

Shana Tovah!

and also:

Happy birthday zevemiel!!

I managed to get my suit made in time for Rosh Hashana (finished at about 11pm monday night, to wear on tuesday), and got lots of compliments on it, including being asked where I bought it. Considering it was my first attempt at making (non-costume) clothes since school, and by far my most ambitious sewing project ever, I'd call that a success.

I was so paranoid about the skirt being too small that I overcompensated and manged to make it too big, so I need to take it in, which is a shame because it means marring it with more seams, but it's about three inches too big, so it really does need adjusting.

The jacket needs a couple of hooks and eyes added to make it sit properly when fastened, but otherwise it's worked pretty well.

Having made a suit from scratch (to my own pattern), knocking up a few new skirts should be a doddle, especially if I don't want them lined (though even lining them isn't scary any more).

Yesterday was pleasant. I had intended to walk to shul, but it was raining and horrible so I jumped on a bus and managed to be there really early - when I arrived at about 9.30 there were only three women there.

The service was nice enough, though it always makes me homesick for my community back home - every community has a different style, different tunes etc. Still, I'll be with my parents at Kingston next week for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur, so at least I'll be at my shul for the prettiest (if somberest) service of the year.

It's odd: I consider Brighton home now, and have gone to Hove shul for Rosh Hashana for the past four years (I think), know a handful of the younger congregation and have dinner with the rabbi once every few weeks, but I still very much consider Kingston to be my jewish community. I know everyone there, I've been part of it since I was four, went to sunday school there. Hove Synagogue is just somewhere I go when it's not practical to go 'home'.

Anyway, after the service I walked to the rabbi's place and had a nice lunch (and drank l'chaim over some single malt). I discovered that it's incredibly tiring to spend an afternoon with four under-fives. They never stop. When the cat's being a little psycho I can throw him out, but apparently you can't do that to a two year old.

There were the rabbi's three kids (and there's another six weeks away - by the end of the year they'll have four children under five and they're only around my age!) and the son of one of the guests, who's a week older than the rabbi's youngest. And a little baby psycho. He beats up girls. And bites. Though us grown ups¹ did all end up in fits of giggles when we had to warn the other kids "Careful, it bites! Run away!"

I finally said my goodbyes at about 5.30 because the others all had plans for the evening. I got home at about 6pm, discovered a cat sleeping in my bed² and collapsed. I don't think I moved for the rest of the evening other than to eat something and tidy away the sewing stuff - the lounge looks less like a sweatshop than it has for the past week, with fabric scraps everywhere and pins strewn about.


¹ When I say 'grown ups' I mean those over five years of age. The management would like to point out that the individual widely known as SheBit, despite what her identification documents might say, is not a grown up.

² Chad seems to have developed an obsession lately with sleeping in my bed. He hasn't slept in Moose Biscuit's in weeks, and if I've gone to bed with my door shut he'll scratch at it and mew pathetically until I let him in. He does make a nice foot warmer, though, and is entirely adorable when sleepy (he was less adorable on monday when I was trying to get my jacket finished and he was suffering from ADHD). Yesterday I woke with my legs apart and a kitty between my knees (a situation which always compels me to recreate the trash compactor scene from Star Wars - "Oh my God, they're screaming!") and this morning I woke with my ankles crossed and the Chad curled up in the little nook between my feet. He is made of adorable.

The sewing project continues.

I've made the main body of the jacket and cut the lining. I've also cut the panels for the skirt, and bought a zip, so I reckon if I knuckle down and chain myself to the sewing machine I might get the entire skirt made tonight.

Every person I've told that I'm making a suit has looked at me like I'm slightly mad. This may well be true, but it's going ok so far.

So last night I started on the mockup of the jacket I'm making. I cut my pattern, tacked it all together and tried it on. It worked, but needed adjustments (shortening in the shoulders and across the back). I took it off, pinned the adjustments by pure judgement... and somehow got them dead on.

So, I've now copied the adjusted fabric pieces back onto paper and have my working pattern!

What I can't decide is what style skirt would go best with it (it's meant to be a suit, see).

The lazy part of me likes the thought that a wraparound wouldn't require a zip, and that if the flap flips up it'll reveal the funky lining (my cloth is a tweed with a faint teal stripe through it, so I'm lining the suit in teal satin, which will show on the collar facings of the jacket.

But the jacket will have a pleat at the back, so I'm tempted to echo that with a pleat in the back of the skirt (would that be OTT?)

Or I could just go for a simple (or panelled) A-line.

I can't decide!

For reference, the jacket is based on a Spencer jacket, but I'm making it fall to below the waist by adding a drape hanging from the empire line, with a box pleat in the back and the hem coming down in a curve (like a morning suit jacket).

So, clothes and costume people, what style skirt would best suit my... suit?

I just fell in love with a dress.

I decided that I was allowed to try on a pretty dress that I don't need on my birthday, and it was utterly gorgeous, but sadly a little too small.

It was so perfect though that I might try to draw what I can remember of it and try to get one of you seamstresses out there to make a pattern for me (or even make the thing, as my sewing is slightly iffy). I would of course pay for this service.

The dress is rather 1950s, in dark red taffetta (I adore red taffetta) with white embroidered polka dots. It's a wraparound but with a very flared a-line skirt with a few sewn down pleats on the bum and under the two front patch pockets. Oh, and it has a stand up half collar and slightly puffed short sleaves (with a button).

I'm sure my description doesn't do it justice, but it was wonderfully flattering on my three-hourglass figure - showing off my bust and relatively small waist and hiding my hips and bum under the flare of the skirt.

Want.

Cannot has.

Woe.

*goes to try to draw it from memory*

Just to be clear:

SheBit + Bright Ideas^tm = madness

My latest Bright Idea? I'm going to try to make a Spencer jacket. And, just to add to the madness, I'm not buying a pattern, I'm just replicating one I saw online - how hard can it be to enlarge a drawn pattern about forty times?

Boredom at work this morning meant that a short time was spent building a paper model of the jacket, to check that the pattern works. The model's actually rather cute - suitable for a six inch Bennett sister who's really into natural fibres. And by natural fibres I mean printer paper.

So, I'm going to have a go at drawing up the pattern full size to see how much cloth it'll need, then next week hopefully I'll get enough calico from the shop around the corner to build a toile, with which to tweak the pattern and get the fit just right.

This page gives a detailed, illustrated step by step on putting the jacket together, including a bit on adding a skirt to turn it into a longer, drapey jacket. If the first one works out I can see myself making a few with a variety of lengths, colars, sleeves and details.

So, seamstresses out there, how mad is this Bright Idea of mine?

Also, if the first works, if I could find frogging braid and dome buttons I would so make a Regency military detailed one - because apparently the design was originally for men (including the Earl of Spencer, who gave the style his name), so military styled early examples were quite common. And how good would a riffle green, black braided, silver buttoned Spencer jacket look?