it's like the eye of a duck

I'm sitting on a pile of patterns and no fabric to make them out of, BUT I am blessed with a roll of muslin and plenty of scrap fabric. So I figure, why not fit these now so they're ready to go when I find the perfect fabric.

My vague aim is one a weekend; my first one is a Vogue vintage reissue dress, because for all my love of menswear, I'm at an age where I think these sharp vintagey/"wiggle" dresses look sophisticated rather than like a little girl playing dress-up, so dammit, I want some.

With it's tab and drape detail I fully expected this one to be tricker than it was. Turns out that the pleated drape is tacked on - the front bodice is made of asymmetric pieces, but both have a dart in the expected place. Cue the full bust adjustment (and I know I've linked to this 20 times before, but I love this sewing trick just so very, very much).

I filled in the spread with tape and the resulting muslin is so stiff that I can't decide whether it fits or not yet, so I'm going to recut with changes included and see if it's what I like or not.

Once I get the top working I'm going to see if I can draft out the darts on the skirt pieces and cut top and bottom as one piece - I'm not keen to have a horizontal seam and belt around my non-existent waist.

We shall see.

It got off to a rocky-ish start, but it's a fine little con :)

The rocky: driving in traffic in 90F weather with no A/C. Also, my calf seized from freezing on the brake too long and the "ping" took the rest of the weekend to work itself out up my right side - not pleasant.

But, the good:

Good people! Dress U is small (only 35 people, but, hey, it's only their 2nd year) so it was easy to keep track of names and faces. I got to hang with danabren and co., and conversation flowed easily and hilariously. I was surprised but pleased at the number of people who came from way out of town - New Orleans and SF were represented along with much of the mid Atlantic.

The classes: many were Victorian-oriented, which isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I find that I can find something unusual and interesting in almost any costume-related presentation, and this was no different. The class on presentation at the Edwardian court was a nice slice of social history, in which I learned to curtsey in a train. And speaking of trains, I attended a class on dust ruffles which illuminated just how one kept one's dress train clean during the 19th century.

Possibly the one most immediately useful were tips and tricks on how to get decent costume photos. Simply changing the angle and lighting can make a huge difference, even with a smart phone. Need to employ this new knowledge SOON.

The events: I enjoyed that there wasn't the pressure of a competition or masquerade, but plenty of events to dress for: formal dinner, mad tea party, tiara and jampagne (which unfortunately I couldn't stick around for). It inspired me to pull out the stops, bring my gear and make an effort! I couldn't hold a candle to most of the people there - these folks are disciplined and far more talented than I, and it was a joy to just look...

I am also starting to see the appeal of tiaras, though I imagine it would take some doing to find one that will stay in short hair.

My wardrobe: not as cumbersome as expected; I got most of it into a single large Tupperware bin, 1 hat box, and a couple of hangers. I restricted myself to two changes a day for convenience, with a fairly even split between women's (mock Fortuny, front lacing kirtle, Regency ball gown) and men's (tux and top hat, doublet and venetians, militaryesque vest and bicorne) throughout the weekend.

danabren was kind enough to help me get into my Regency outfit and I was pleased that it still fit after ~3 years. Even with shift, stays, and petticoat underneath it was still surprisingly cool, and I DID finish the accessories to go with (picture forthcoming).

Give my muscle twinge it was convenient that I spent most of the first day in stays of one sort or another, as they helped support my back (as an aside, they also make doing push-ups easier. But I digress).

Also of note: much as I love historic women's clothing, I am too severe looking to meet the ideals of most historic periods' ideals of female beauty, but damn, can I rock the menswear! (It's also easier to dress myself).

My only regret is that there wasn't more conversation. The first night was an absinthe-fueled gabfest of getting to know you and wild costume adventures, but by Saturday many of us were tired. In a way it was for the best - I needed to spend some time flat on my back.

Will definitely consider doing this one again, for the chat aspects at the very least!

Given that this was a 3 day weekend and next weekend is Dress U, I decided to use the time filling in some gaps in my costume wardrobe, specifically accessories for my as yet unworn white Regency gown.

I was partially successful in my efforts.

I needed headwear - in almost every historical period women covered their head with something, and to hide my anachronistic hair. My initial plan was to create one "casual", one dressy, out of sari fabric I picked up last weekend. This worked out partially.

I am so enamored of the green that I decided my test run would be on the red, using Lynn McMaster's directions for creating a wrapped turban (alas, site is down, this link is Google's cache).

Um, no.

Wrapping a turban turns out to be too much like doing hair - managing a long strip of fabric is difficult when I can't see what I'm doing. I couldn't wrap it even once that tucked in everything as I liked, so creating a sewn together version wasn't possible either. I like the idea, so maybe I'll try it again when I have more time/patience/help, but on to plan B.

The cap turban/beret (scroll down). It's not my favorite look because to my modern eyes it looks excessively fluffy and chef hat-ty, but it was blessedly easy to make. I used the same pattern I used back in '04 for Think Pink (damn, has it been that long?) and lined it with plain muslin.

Ideally I'd be able to get a wonderful ostrich feather plume as trim, but I can't find any from my usual sources and my creativity is maxed out enough that I'm not coming up with any other ideas.

I used another 3 yards to make a matching shawl, which still leaves me with plenty left over to make a Miyake tunic I've been sitting on for awhile.

The punch line: I may not even be able to wear the gown unless I can find someone to help me dress. This is one of my grievances with historical clothing: it's damn near impossible to dress oneself, which offends my modern sense of sartorial autonomy. But, I do have a back up outfit and if not next weekend I've got the accessories now.

Surprise travel this past weekend gave me the chance to do some reading.

I was able to read all of When the Girls Came Out to Play during my round trip flight, not just because I had time because it was good. I'd told a Costume Society acquaintance about my embryonic fencing gear research and she recommended it as a "dry academic" background read, so I was expecting a slog. But no, it's quality non-fiction and turned out to be exactly the book I needed that I didn't know existed.

( geeking )

So I realize rather stunningly that this research may lead to something other than noodling on my desktop and in my LJ :P

It is cutting into sewing time though. I doubt I'll have anything new for Dress U, and guess who is taking forever and a day to put the sleeves on D.'s scholar's robe?

Time management, I can not haz.

Follow up on the bias cut top experiment, which would have gone faster had I not been so lazy:

( Photo )

New stuff: first time out with both silk charmeuse and rolled hems.

Results: I CAN cut silk charmeuse and have it stay where I put it while doing so, using a cutting board and extremely sharp rotary cutter. I never did figure out how to guarantee that it was laid out on grain though. Short of plucking a tiny thread which would have made the whole thing run I had to guess, and I think I was off a bit.

Rolled hems: These take time and very fine thread (I used polyester embroidery), which is what used up most of the time as it's hard on the eyes and hands to make tiny stitches invisible to the outside.

Flaws: Armhole facing was too narrow to stay put so it's anchored down with tiny threads that don't show TOO much on the outside. Also, the hem wasn't quite even despite my best efforts so I decided to go with it and make it asymmetrical. It's long enough to tuck in if I ever want it to look "normal".

Triumphs: I do not know how I survived without the full bust adjustment!! This top neither gaps at the armholes or puckers across the bust. SUCCESS!!

So it is wearable, though I'll probably always wear it under something to hide the armhole finish wonkiness.

I finally finished the militaryesque vest, not with a bang, but with a whimper - as in, "Thank [$deity] it's done!" Photos forthcoming.

I'm currently working steadily on D.'s robe. It's my first foray into silk twill, and I'm surprised at how "crawly" it is, given that the weave is dense and the fabric fairly thick (for a silk). The nearest thing to it that I've worked with is good-quality microfiber, but this is softer - a joy to handle :)

Which is good because even though I was careful a number of the pieces are slightly off the cross grain, which makes the hems uneven. I just spent 2 days with a T-square to even out the hems on the pockets alone and I predict the hem is going to be....an adventure :P I'm fortunate that I chose such a loose-fitting garment as my first go with this fabric!

Other: if I'm going to fence div II at Nationals I need to "level up"! To these ends I've started practicing point control with a weighted blade (tape a round dumbell plate to the guard) and plan to do similar with footwork, wearing a weighted backpack. I'm also going to start doing the occasional Wednesday at club, which is more crowded with scarier people.

I've been non-communicative (surprise!) and reclusive lately. Not winter weather ('cos we've not really had any) but just a lot of small things constantly going on.

In addition to my usual going and doing, I've made a dent in the pile 'o books, though "pile" is a misnomer as I'm still so enthralled at having thousands of pages in one slim volume that almost everything has been on my Kindle. Mike Carey's Felix Castor series = unputdownable, and I highly recommend it to Dresden Files fans who are itching for something new.

For online reading let me direct you towards Neptune's Fool. It's the travel blog of a friend of mine who is about to run away to sea aboard a tall ship for a year. Though boats are not my thing and I will miss her much, I wish I had the sheer nerve and tenacity to boldly live a dream, and look forward to reading more of her exploits.

sealwhiskers is pointing me towards Anno 1790, a Swedish crime drama set in the 18th century that isn't on my local PBS (yet?) but might be on yours. I love me some history and I've never read much about Sweden's so there's not only the story and costumes but the new to look forward to.

I'm also editing down a few hours of fencing footage into bout-sized clips. Once I stop cringing at my mistakes and marveling at how closely I resemble a beer can on legs, I actually get some useful feedback from it in terms of form (good or bad), what works, and some sense of my mental bell curve (do well at beginning, stupid in middle, some recovery at end. Sometimes).

Aaaand I'm still working on the never-ending vest - hand sewing of any kind makes the most "instant gratification" of projects not so instant :P I'd like to finish it sometime this year month so I can work on. ..something else. A robe for D. or a 1910s Downton Abbey dress, or accessories for the Regency (hell, get the Regency photographed) or....

Speaking of D., a lot of the hard work he's done over the past few months is paying off all at once, but he's worked himself into a cold and is spending recupe time watching all the movies in the Marvel 'verse (Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, etc.). So I've been watching movies too.

Back to laundry/editing...

Just looked at the ol' LJ and doG, it's been awhile since I updated:

Christmas prep moves along. I am *mostly* done with gift selection. I kept meaning to add more to the "tree" but given that we're traveling next Wednesday I've resigned myself to further decoration just not happening. I WILL be celebrating with chocolate chip cookies this weekend.

Cats are doing much better. Spice was finishing up her medicine over T.giving and the pet sitter got scratched a couple of times :( Both are frisky because of the colder weather. Which works out, because the pet sitter also got them used to getting a treat of canned food every morning :P

I did finally finish cutting the vest out of the fashion fabric, but have been distracted by an ongoing intriguing stacks of books (sidebar: Goodreads is fantastic for keeping track of my reading, and doesn't have a puny 100 book limit like LibraryThing). I could share the saga of my extravagant wine spill on my copy of Moda a Firenze II(!! thank the publisher for slick paper, or it would be in much worse shape than it is).

Got D. "Hogfather" as an early Christmas present and we watched last night (see: yesterday's writer's block). We're planning on seeing the new Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy if I can pull D. away from Star Wars: The Old Republic long enough (I am a video game widow, at least temporarily. Which is fine with me as D. has been a fencing widower at least 3 times a week for years now :P).

Speaking of which: my improvement is slow, but does continue. I managed to have a good day at a big regional competition a couple of weeks ago despite having an asthma attack (or problem - I could breathe, just not well. Sidebar: dry air is definitely a trigger), and got some video at club this week per the gently insistent advice of my coach. I've also decided that instead of letting video back up I need to figure out how to burn it to disc. To that end I'm downloading video editing freeware. Hopefully in the new year I can make good on giving discs to my fencing buddies who get filmed along with me.

And I'll have time to do this because I have to use up excess leave before the end of the year, which gives me just over 2 weeks away from work, with travel bookended by free days on both sides - huzzah!

This whole Palmer/Pletsch fitting thing has reminded me yet again that bodies aren't perfect and off the rack doesn't (and probably can't) accommodate every deviation from the (fictional) "norm". I've not done a body map yet, but it's kind of a relief to know that someone has come up with a plan that acknowledges and addresses uneven shoulders, long torsos, short legs, and the like. As Already Pretty so succinctly puts it, it's not you, it's the clothes.

I don't know what the solution is. Not everyone can make their own clothes and I certainly don't make all of mine. I'm trying to resign myself to the fact that nothing I purchase is going to fit perfectly and so not get bent out of shape about it. Tailoring is an option, if you can do it yourself or have a good dry cleaner - evidently this is the trick celebs use to look effortlessly fabulous - yes, they even have t shirts fitted(!) So they're not perfect either - they just have better resources than us ordinary mortals :P

At the end of the day, I guess aim for best fit and keep it clean and in good repair. After all there's more to life than clothes.