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Finally!

I decided to take a break from sewing in December since the holiday decorations were making my already bad sewing space even worse. Unfortunately, it took a while for me to get around to sewing again, even though we took the decorations and tree down before the end of the year.

As a lot of you know, one of the best ways to get back to sewing is to work on something you’re either really excited about starting, or work on something really simple and quick. Since I don’t have the fabric I need for other projects yet, I decided to whip up a quick accessory.

You might remember the first muff cover I made. It really doesn’t go with too many outfits. I wanted something more neutral.

The great thing is I still had plenty of leftover black satin, so I used that for the base. I almost went to buy some lace and ribbon to decorate it, but decided to just go with what I already had. I am trying not to spend on projects unless I have to.

It was a fun and quick project. And I’ll be honest — I wish I had more excuses to dress up and use a muff for non-costuming as well. They are so cute and fun. Not to mention cozy!

Click the link below to read more about it and see a couple more photos (scroll down to the bottom since the new cover is added below the first/burgundy cover):

Sorry I’ve not been posting very much. I’ll admit, I’ve been feeling very out of it and haven’t had much to post about. I’m also feeling slightly lazy with updating the blog.

Since my work space is taken over by holiday decorations, I’ve realized I’m just not going to get much sewing done until they’re put away. Instead, I’m focusing on organizing and planning next year’s sewing and events. I’m hoping the break helps, and so far it seems to be working by making me excited about some of those projects.

I’ve been seeing costumers posting about what they made the past year. I must admit, seeing these amazing garments and long lists made me feel like I didn’t do anything in 2012. I feel behind on so many things and have a lot of in-progress projects gathering dust. I almost didn’t bother to make a list, because I thought it would not only make me feel sad, but also make me nervous about next year’s to do list.

I decided to give it a try anyway, and discovered I was pleasantly surprised. (although I will admit, my blogging laziness has made me not so keen on posting links or photos of every project, so please forgive me for not doing that to help illustrate the list.)

You see, ever since I started having trouble and discovered I had fibromyalgia, I can no longer work for long hours a day on sewing. Funny enough, I miss staying up until 2 in the morning sewing and trying to finish up a project, deadline or not. My slow progress then was mainly centered around tight budgets and trying to figure out what I was doing by testing on scraps and repinning things over and over to make sure I understood what I was doing. Now, I’ve added pain and fatigue to the list. So despite the fact I felt I had been sewing a lot, I didn’t remember finishing very much.

While I do agree, looking at my list, that I didn’t finish many *completed* outfits, I finished more articles than I originally remembered! I may have even missed a few small things, but these are what I could find from 2012:

• My yellow rose jacket, to go with the green petticoat over pockethoops.
• A muff form, and a cover that matches my burgundy bustle gown.
• A gray bodice, with a matching gray bustle skirt, and a plaid bustle skirt that can be worn with it.
• Narrow-sleeved shift.
• A false rump.
• Two petticoats to be worn over a false rump.
• The big project for the year, the chemise a la reine, and the hat with three plumes.
• Three reticules/work bags, one plaid, one black, and one white stiff-bottomed bag that I ended up re-doing.
• A gray waistcoat for my husband, new cravat and ruffle for his shirt, and a bagwig bourse for his hair.
• I also started on his breeches, and got a little over halfway done before stopping.

That’s really not so bad, all things considered. Sure, a lot of things were little accessories, but it’s nice to have accessories and they were fun to make.

I also attended fun events. A tea party where we all wore hats. I rode a train in costume. I attended my first stay-at-a-hotel costume retreat. We had our annual Georgian picnic. I’m sure I may have forgotten a few things. It was just nice to hang out with friends and make some fun memories while wearing things we worked hard to make.

So I guess making these lists really does help. At least, I’m just glad it did turn out I had finished enough things to make me feel like I really was sewing! I might really have been annoyed with myself if that list had been a lot shorter! 😉

I’m looking forward to what 2013 will bring, and what new things I’ll make and see.

Happy New Year, and Best Wishes!

I’m trying to get caught up with a few things this week, so I figured now would be a good time to work on the costume section here.

I didn’t make a new outfit for the picnic, but I did work on some accessories.

First, I updated the False Rump. You can see the page here.

Next, I wanted a new hat. Here is the page about it.

Finally, I took apart a purse I made in time for this past summer’s DFWCG retreat. I finally have a version I’m happy enough with. Here is the page for that item.

I felt a little rushed today, and it didn’t help that our modem kept cutting my connection off. I need to get to a few other things, but I definitely wanted to update at least a few of the costume pages I’m behind updating or getting online!

Finally, I’ll leave you with a pretty photo my husband edited for me. I’m sure those of you who have seen it already are tired of it, but I figured I’d at least post it here.

It reminds me of a hand-tinted antique photo of an Edwardian actress. How fun!

Christopher is really having fun with editing things. It makes me want to take more photos so he can keep practicing! 😉

Back in the 80’s, I was visiting one of my aunts and saw this crazy machine thing in her sewing room. I couldn’t figure out why a machine would need multiple spools.

It was the first serger I ever saw. A Singer Ultralock 14u64a.

Several years ago, that very serger arrived at my house as a gift from my mom. I didn’t use it tons, but I discovered I really liked having it around.

I still use it here and there, even with some of my historical clothing. If I don’t have time to hand sew seams to keep them from unraveling, the serger is there to finish the job quickly.

I use it on a lot of around-the-house jobs as well. Old shirts and scraps of fabric are turned into cleaning cloths. I go over the cut ends of purchased fabric before I toss it into the washer and dryer to clean and pre-shrink it.

I intended to start using more of the features and maybe even work on some modern clothing (I’m one of those distracted sorts who would rather spend money on fabric and accessories for costumes, and clear out closet space of regular clothing to make room for said costumes heheh).

Unfortunately, my serger stopped working in the middle of a quick project.

I could probably take the machine in for a really good cleaning and to see if any parts need to be replaced, but by the time that was done I could have purchased a brand new machine.

At first I was very annoyed at the thought of spending money on something I didn’t know I would need right now. Afterall, I still need to purchase my husband’s shoes and some more fabric for his costume.

And then I started getting excited about it.

I found a serger that was affordable enough, and yes. Brand new. Why not? Both of my machines have been gifts, so this is my first time picking something out. And it was kind of fun!

Fortunately for me, my birthday is coming up and I visited my mother-in-law over the weekend. She knew I needed to replace my serger, so she gave me cash as a gift to help with buying a new serger. Yay!

The new serger should arrive on my birthday! I can’t wait to play with it!

I’m currently taking it easy with sewing.

The fabric I was serging was a ruffle overlay. I wanted to see if I could add a little more oomph to my false rump without damaging the actual form. The best and quickest way I could think of was to make a ruffle overlay. If I didn’t like it, I could just remove the stitches tacking it down. I’m not concerned with it showing serged edges or not. I’m just testing it out to see what I think for future versions.

I was also working on my husband’s breeches, but I think I’m going to take a break on those.

With everything going on — needing to replace my serger, my birthday (my husband wants to buy me an expensive gift), needing to buy his shoes, scrambling to work on garments and purchase other accessories and fabrics… I realized I was pushing it and feeling a little miserable.

I had wanted him to finally attend an event, especially the picnic in November, in costume. The problem is, I was running out of time and most likely he would have been missing his jacket. He didn’t really want to wear the costume unless the entire outfit was finished.

It just makes sense to not push it.

And now I’m wondering if I should bother finishing these breeches. You see, I originally was going to use a costume pattern as a quick and easy fix to crank out the breeches. I purchased a little thicker fabric because I knew the costume-y breeches might potentially bug Christopher. I should have known better, because as I suspected I ended up hating the pattern and pulling out a book showing more historical construction.

I didn’t want to purchase better fabric, so I used the heavier/thicker stuff. Big mistake. It’s very difficult to gather the fabric, and doing some of the hand sewing has proven to be almost painful. I’m at a point where I’m so close to finishing it, but it just keeps getting more and more annoying.

So now I need to decide: Do I go ahead and attempt to finish these (they would be fine for cold-weather or muddy locations), or do I just toss them in storage and start all over with better fabric?

I’ll figure it out, but for now I’m just going to relax and finish up a few of my costume accessories.

There will be other events. Hopefully I’ll work some of the bugs out of the design and do a little better job next time!