The Puppy from heDoubleL*

*Or: why this is a photoless blog.

About 6 months ago we adopted an adorable puppy. Since then, she has destroyed thousands of dollars in ipod, phone, and computer cables, not to mention clothes, shoes, fabric, woodburners, furniture and just about anything else she can get her grubby little paws on. The cable connecting my printer and my computer was one of the more recent casualties, rendering my photo memory card temporarily useless.

And if you only knew what goodies are locked on that photo card!!

After the Christmas rush, when the kiddies were tucked away nicely at school again, I kinda taught myself to drape (!). Yup, I just threw some muslin on the form and pinched away. (Imagine photos here). It started with a great article in Threads (photo) that illustrated a pretty straightforward way to pinch out a top. I'm still tweaking the bodice, which has been revised about 5 times. I decided to drape the skirt directly in my fabric. Ooops I lied, I have a stored photo of the fabric here:

Some things I've discovered in this process.

1- It's really hard to drape on a duct tape dressform (if you're like me and left your duct tape form unpadded and uncovered). You can't pin to the form itself, and the fabric is slippery against the surface of the tape and shifts crazily. I had a real problem keeping fabric edges parallel to the floor, and I'd finish pinching out darts and seams on the back just to turn it around and realize the center front line had been drinking heavily.

2- The thing I had most trouble with was the armhole, mostly because it's not clearly defined on my form. I winged it with my french curve a few times before I stopped being lazy and looked up some sleeve fitting techniques. I'm hoping this is my last revision.

3- It's a good thing sharpies come in so many colors. (photo). I used sharpies to mark my seam lines and could keep track of which line was current because I used a different color sharpie for each revised fitting.

4- At regular intervals throughout the process I really had to resist throwing in the towel (and still do). This is tedious stuff. And let's face it folks, we all know that no matter what kind of look we want, we can find a pattern to fit it- or at least come close enough that we can work with it. Why was I going through all this trouble to drape a sleeveless, ballet neckline, princess seamed bodice when I knew for a fact I could just dig into my pattern stash and find exactly what I wanted? I don't know. But now that I've invested all this time and effort and about 20 yards of muslin I'm hooked.

So hopefully my completion of this gown will coincide with a trip to Best Buy, and I'll be able to share my first draped project with you! Don't hold your breath though, because I've been in bed for three days with the flu. I'm thinking end of month, so I can get busy on something scandalous for valentine's day ;)

The best just got better!

sorry there's a big ol' packing sticker in the middle, but I often favor laziness efficiency and figured I didn't need to dig the box out and turn it.

I found this cover your ears, j bigayss box o' polyfill when I was cleaning out the sewing room today. Oh yes. I could lose a small moon/space station in that room amongst the clutter. I immediately thought of The Slapdash Sewist's recent post on dressforms. This fiberfill is what I used to fill both of my forms *you can check the forms out over there on the righthand column under Things I Do*.

I had a coupon for a bigbox craft store and was grasping at straws for what to fill my form with. I grabbed this box, figuring it was about twice as big as my torso, so I could afford to mess up. It ended up being really good stuff to use, very easy to fit into cracks and crevices. Funny thing about this fiberfill is that it expands. We're talking 3rd trimester expansion. Put it this way, after I filled the first dressform, there was so much polyfill oozing out that I couldn't close the box again! I filled 2 dressforms out of this box, and could easily do 5 more - which is absolutely not going to happen. I've got scars from the last one. I'm hanging up the duct tape and getting a professional form. someday. (all suggestions on that subject are welcome :).

So what's a girl to do with a here it is again bigayss box o' polyfill? Say it together, folks!

Give it away!

I'm figuring I can just package it up somehow and ship it out to whomever might be wanting some for the cost of shipping. It weighs almost nothing, so you do the math. Just drop me an email. I'm sure somebody out there is working on a neck donut right about now!

Here is the muslin for that Burda skirt. OMG I need to start running. I had to add an inch to my usual waistband length. Hurry up, warm weather!

I'm prepping the leather for tracing as soon as I can see my cutting table again. cleaning. right. that's what I was doing.

:)

Sacrifices to the Gods

The sewing gods, that is.

At one point during the Hairy Vest construction, I struggled with pinning the hood properly where it met the neck opening. Finally!!! I got it just right- and pinned my fingertip in the fur sandwich, too. And not just that fleshy outer skin, either. After a split second's contemplation, I just ripped that sucker right off - praying in the meantime that I could escape the fabric before the blood appeared. I chuckled as I blotted, remembering my side-seam scars from making Beth. I wonder what other crazy sacrifices people have made out there in the sewing gods' domain... Apparently the sewing gods are a bit bloodthirsty.












And needle-thirsty. I broke about 5 needles during the hairy vest. At one point my machine grinded to a halt and I had to use pliers to break the needle and extricate my fabric. Much praying during that episode. Things got a bit... hairy.













This is the official fur-working tool of the trade: And as is my wont, I got S I C K right before Christmas. This was on the heels of the kids being sick the week before. Loosely translated, this means 36 hours of pure unadulterated sewing time were completely lost. And that means I finished the handwork on the Hairy Vest in a side room after the Christmas feast while the others exchanged their gifts, and my sister received it with one measly snap basted on about two minutes before she left for home. It also means that The Tie (s) will now be making nice father's day presents. *note to self: Start gifts before December next year.

And Beth is splitting seams again after her nip and tuck. Time to bust out the masking tape and the running shoes. Jeez- Beth, me, Oprah... it's like an epidemic.

I hope everyone is enjoying xmas recovery as much as I am in my NEW JEEP!!!!!! woohoo :) And guess what Karen? It's got cargo space!!!- so we don't need to debate leaving a passenger at Jomar in order to fit the bags :)

Peace and Light to all :)
see you next year!

Little extras

I found this nifty tutorial sheet when I dug into my new french curve ruler:

Is this standard with all rulers? What a golden nugget of info! I feel like this is the kind of little extra that just brightens my day :) This is the Project Runway edition 4 in 1 ruler that BigBox sells- regular $19.99, black Friday price: $7.99.

And perhaps you'll recall the PR lined jacket un-contestant? I added a little extra buttonage.

(notice that little guy in the corner of the pic? He's waiting for me to turn my back so he can run to my sewing machine and play with dangerous things...)

I'm showing on Lizzie, because Beth is currently having a little extra stress on the side seams- much like her real life counterpart.

I'm going to cover the whole thing in masking tape. It doesn't give like the duct tape. She's already expanded like an inch and a half everywhere.

Speaking of PR contests, I was thinking that my wardrobe could use a little extra oompf in the coordinates department. I also notice that there is an "endless combinations" contest running right now, and there's nothing like a PR contest to get that little extra motivation.

So to do all this sewing, and get all these presents done, all I need is a little extra time :)

And when I awoke

... this is what I did:

I taught a Summer Dog some Winter tricks.

Simplicity 3750

This looks sneakily like the end result of the upside-down sweater post over at the slapdash sewist. Purely coincidence, but it's nice to know I can use this pattern to reincarnate some thrift shop finds.

I crocheted a cute hat. I am basically creating crochet patterns from scratch these days because every pattern I find lately is way off for me. WAY. And I was so hopeful after those stockings...

I finally started on the ladybird muslin :) I can't wait to silk paint the final version :) This gorgeous print was my very first fabric purchase in NYC, from my trip with Karen. I've got plans for this baby.

And let's all give a warm welcome to Beth the dominatrix dressform:

Again, purely coincidence.

Check out how awesome she looks compared to good ol' Lizzie.

As my husband said, "Oh, yeah. Beth is the hottie." I'm just hoping the girl can fit a pair of pants and a swimsuit. I'm also geeked that her boobies didn't fall :) Well worth the blood spilt during removal. That's right folks. Let's just say I have side seams now.

And last, but certainly not least:

I swear I watched all of season 1 in one sitting. I am now teaching myself how to drape. Darn netflix.

Yeah, I missed you, too :)

They say it's your Birthday

It's my birthday, too! And I got a BWOF subscription :) woohoo for a man who can take a hint!

I was having fitting woes, and so I spent my morning performing surgery on the dressform:

if you look to the right in the above picture, you'll see a sneak of the brocade for the bodice on my wedding guest outfit.

I slashed out strategic areas around the midsection and cinched it to the proper measurement with a belt. I then used twine to tie tightly around and keep the shape, and covered it all with more duct tape- I couldn't find the leftover white, bummer.
And when it was all done, I put my bodice muslin on and pinched away.


I actually jumped up and down and sang "It's working! It's working!". I felt like Jodi Foster at the end of Contact: I had no idea. I was so awe-inspired by the ease of working on the form that I decided, what the heck, I'll just re-draft the back of the bodice and make it princess seams.

stockings- so close... so close...

A Tale of Two Dresses

I finally had a flash about Milly's Cup today. The problem had been slim pickins as far as fabric selection - I needed 12 yards total !! I wanted a nice muslin - why bother sewing it if not to wear it? But, do the math and you'll understand why I was looking for a super red tag. In a sudden grasp of the obvious I realized I could get away with doing the dress tea length for the muslin, thus eliminating about 5 yards of fabric. Another "oh!" when I realized I could also wear this muslin to my cousin's wedding, which a little birdie tells me is right around the corner (HLF you'd better call me!).

I packed up the little man and headed back to BigName, and... (imagine Handel's Halleluiah Chorus in background here) not only were they friendly today, but I found some fabric! It's not quite what I intend to use on the final version (silk chiffon and double georgette) but it's kind of exotic in a sherberty way. The print is poly chiffon and the lining poly habutai. Funny thing is that the lining is the exact color of edupraz's version of this dress! I didn't realize it until I came home and looked up the review :) weird- this dress wants to be a Buddhist. It also evidently wants to be tea length. So here's the start of Milly's Muslin:

And here's the dressform- I've still to work up a base...

I have discussed it with my sweetie-pie-husband-who-will-be-doing-all-the-work, and we are going to make another dressform. This one ended up being too big in the proportions around the waist, and the bust fell on it. I'll keep this one around because it will get use, but I'm going to try the next duct tape form with the wiring inside and see if it keeps f0rm better. As it is, this one is actually hanging from the ceiling overhead and just steadied on a disassembled music stand with pvc.

With all the duct tape, the people at Home Depot are going to start to wonder about me and my husband :)

The Quest for the Cup Begins

I set out with a list of things to do today, and I'm pleasantly surprised by my sort-of progress :) I checked the local BigName for redtag fabrics to use on my 1030 muslin. I managed to find some poly chiffon and 1 (!) bolt of poly georgette- no double georgette. Of course, I have no idea what that means, so I'm off to find a fabric book tomorrow. I left empty handed. I'm thinking I might want to substitute the georgette lining for something more substantial.

And my absolutely wonderful incredibly awesome breathtakingly handsome manly intelligent husband helped me finally get started on my dressform tonight!!!! I wore the black turtleneck and nylon/lycra skirt from the plastermold fiasco- both fit snug to the body, and then he wrapped away for two hours with a white duct tape I found at Home Depot- it's near the paints in case you too find yourself wandering around for 30 minutes marvelling at how many different aisle categories duct tape could fit under, and yet still remain elusive. I read somewhere on Threads site that you should use 3 layers of tape. I think we have at least 30. Needless to say, we cut it off, hung it up and then went - "oh, I guess I need other stuff for it too." So tomorrow I'm back to Home Depot to get some hardware to mount the form, which I fear is bigger in places than I was prepared for.

I stocked up on watercolor paper and am eager to get outside and find more inspiration.