Updates!!!

I know that the entire month of October came and went without a single post, and for that I apologize!  I did the NaBloWriMo challenge over at The Modest Peacock, but have not taken the time to do a blog challenge with this blog yet.  I should look into that.

Sarah McCabe of The Aspiring Sub-creator won my peacock fairy giveaway.  Show her some blog love!

Here's more of what's been going on:
The new library is opening tomorrow!!! :D  There is going to be an auction to help continue to raise funds for the new facilities, and I donated these items for it:

1 "Gretchen" elephant

1 "Hope" elephant

1 "Peggy" elephant

1 "Hope" Breast Cancer Awareness fairy (Goes with the pink ribbon Elephant)

A cloth doll very much like this one, but with a different dress.
It was paired with the book "Ox Cart Man" by Donald Hall

I also made a 4 inch high Little Red Riding Hood. (Like the fairies, but with no wings.)  I was in a bit of a creative rush to get her finished, so I didn't get any photos.  I'll see if I can get one tomorrow before she is auctioned off.

There has been more happening, but that's all I have time to update on at the moment.  I'm headed off to hear a beautiful friend of mine sing in an opera at KSU!  I will get some more thoughts (and photos) together and hopefully post again here before the weekend is out.  Take care, my loves!

Proud (and Pretty!) as a Peacock!

Many of my Lucy Jane friends know that I also author a blog called "The Modest Peacock".

As it has just recently hit both 50+ followers AND 15,000 pageviews (both things I watch like a hawk and do a happy dance over whenever they increase), I've decided to offer up a Felt Fairy doll for a giveaway to a lucky reader.

So this afternoon after church, I sat meself down to the craft table and made this peacock themed beauty:

She stands 4" high and is completely hand worked, down to the small embroidered peacock feather on her tunic.

For a chance to win her, head on over to The Modest Peacock and click on the link in the right sidebar.  Best of luck!

I know it's been a while!

This... Is NOT what I have been doing! 

You know how you are busy all day, every day and things still somehow seem to slip through the cracks and not get done?  Yep, that's been happening a lot here at Lucy Jane, because there has been an inordinate amount of general stuff going on.  But a lot of it has been good stuff and I hope to be able to catch up soon and tell you all about it.  (And hopefully not neglect this blog like that again!)

In the next 2 weeks, I hope to get completely updated with new posts about all of the things that have been going on.  I'll post new elephants that have been made, new costumes, past events like the Hydrangea Festival, and future plans. :)

Thanks for your support and patience!  It will be well worth the wait!

Love,
Lucy Jane

A Ballgown for Taylor P., Part 5- FINISHED!

It's complete!  It's ready for her to wear Saturday night!
I won't even go into technical stuff here, I'll just jump right to the photos.

Because I know that's what you want to see. ;)

[Bear in mind that these photos were taken at night, so the light isn't perfect.  I'll be doing a full photo shoot with her in it hopefully on Thursday.  If not, I will at least take it outside to get shots of it in natural light.]

A Ballgown for Taylor P., Part 4

I was going to have another day dress post, but I had some major issues with it so I put it aside until my blood pressure came back down and worked on the ballgown instead.

The ballgown skirt has been easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.  The bodice has been a nightmare.

First, the skirt:

Remember how last time I had the two huge panels of satins laid out across the floor with the Emerald green (E) over the Mint green (M)?  Remember how I pinned them across the top and it ate all of my flower pins?  Well I basted them together so that I could get my pins back.  Then I gathered it.  Yes, all of it.  Here it is, gathered, and put on Her Ladyship without a waistband.  Holy crap, all that fabric was HEAVY!

Ignore the sewing machine cord, please.  Couldn't find an extension cord anywhere.

I got a waistband on it and pinned it down for hand sewing on the inside later.

Next I sewed the E green braided trim onto the ruffled organza trim and then sewed those pieces in three places, at the front and on the two side seams (which, when gathered, ended up about halfway between the front and the actual side of the gown.)

I hemmed up the E overskirt and then pulled up the E into the trim to create a ripple effect:

This was hand stitched into place.

After that, I took some similar organza trim and made "fans" to accent the pulled up sections.  Each "fan" was topped with an organza flower with pearl cluster centers.  These were also hand stitched onto the skirt.

The skirt just needs the M underskirt hemmed up to walking length, and the waistband whipstitched into place and a closure on it and it will be finished.  I put it aside to see about the day dress but ultimately decided that the day dress will get my attention all day Saturday.

So that's when I tackled the ballgown bodice.

I'm modifying the pattern to fit my design, and that presented some... challenges.  I called in the reserves (awesome seamstress Aunt!) to help me through some of the parts that had me stumped, and together we conquered it.  I'll spare you the gory details, but for a few hours it was ugly.  Seams being ripped out and done over again.  Pins everywhere.  But we finally got it tamed.

I finally got all the right pieces in all the right places.

No, you aren't seeing double.  That's the bodice and the lining.

And the bodice and lining were matched up to be sewn together as one piece.

The skirt isn't the only part of this monster that kept nomming all of my flower pins!

Next: the bodice will be adjusted at the shoulders; the trim will be sewn together and then on.  The sleeves will go in.  The eyelets will be set in the back.  Laces will go through the eyelets and it will be done!

A Day Dress For Taylor P., Part 2

It's been a busy day today, working away on Taylor P.'s day dress.  I'm jumping right back in tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., so this post will just be a quick one with some pics from today.  If all goes well, I will have the final dress finished tomorrow night and photos up ASAP. :)

But today:

I got the bodice and the bodice lining cut out and each sewn together (sides, back and front.  Not lining and outside sewn to each other yet).  I'm going to widen the neck line a little bit, and mess with the armscyes some, to give Taylor a little more freedom of movement.  The front is not finished out yet; it will have a contrasting inch wide piece at the closure and come to a point.

I had the sleeves all cut out and ready to be ironed and then... the power went out.  A dead tree fell across some power lines around a mile from our house, so we had no electricity for around 2 hours.

So, I took the skirt outside to the swing and did the hand work on it.  Two large flat clasps at the waistband, and 3 medium size hook and eyes to keep the back slit closed.

That's it for my quick update.  I'll have LOTS more tomorrow afternoon/evening! :)

A Day Dress For Taylor P., Part 1

I've made a lot of progress on Taylor P.'s day dress here in the last few days.  I cut out the panels and sewed them together.  Then I pleated all those masses of fabric (180 inches of it) into a mere 38 inches.

Half of the pleats pinned in.

Pleats from the inside.  Marked every inch so I don't lose my place. :)

All the pleats finally sewn in!

Her Ladyship models the skirt that only needs a waistband and hem to be complete!

Close-up of skirt (sans waistband).

I decided to close it with a ribbon tie, rather than hooks and eyes or a button closure.

Tomorrow I'll finish up the waistband, hem it up at the bottom and add the trim!

My New Helper

I apologize for neglecting to post any new entries lately, but it hasn’t been for lack of accomplishments.  I’ve been at the sewing machine, at reenactments, refereeing my children and remodeling a bedroom.  Oh, and preparing for a huge craft fair that’s in exactly a month and I’m not quite ready yet!

I’m working hard to finish Taylor P.’s day dress, ballgown, unders, and haversack in time for Resaca.  Some days it seems like I can’t get anything done at all, then other days I am sewing like a madwoman and my family knows I am IN THE ZONE! :)

As simple as it may seem to take her measurements, cut the pattern, and sew it together, it’s not always a piece of cake.  With her in north GA and me in West GA, meeting up for fittings was proving to be inconvenient, time consuming, and expensive.

So I brought in a little help:

This is Her Ladyship, the Duchess of Fitsright.

I was picking up some supplies at Joann’s when I found the dress-forms on sale for $100.00 off!  So I brought Her Ladyship home and already I can see a difference in getting the fabric to do what I want it to do and KNOWING, rather than guessing, that it’s going to fit Taylor correctly.

So. Much. Better!

Matching Set of Unders for Taylor P.

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to post, but I've been extremely busy.
There are only 25ish days left that I have to get Taylor P.'s 19th century wardrobe completely finished in.
Here is a quick update on her underpinnings:

I finished out the raw edges of her chemise, so that's done.

Then I got to work and made a pair of pantaloons with matching trim.

And here is the set together:

So overall, we're making progress.

I'm headed out to visit a friend in Florida for a few days next week (Spring Break!), but the sewing- particularly the ballgown taming- will re-commence when I return.

A Ballgown for Taylor P., Part 3

Yesterday, Taylor came over to see me while I was working on her ballgown.   The bodice is determined to be a challenge, but I am equally (or more) determined to conquer it!  But before I did any more to the bodice, I want to finish the skirt.  So here is the progress update on that:

I cut the emerald green satin into panels, the same way as the mint green had been done. (Happy St. Patrick's day, by the way!)  Both sets of panels were sewn end to end along the short sides until I had one long emerald (E) green and one long mint (M) green piece.  I had to move into another room for the next step: I laid down the M, put the E over top of it and pinned along the top.  End to end, it spans 5 yards!

Anyone have a football field or gymnasium I can borrow for a second??

I'm using flat flower head straight pins to hold it.  My friend Deidre got me hooked on these things a few years ago and I love them!  I ran into a problem though- all those yards of fabric used up ALL of my flat pins!  ALL of them!!!  

Mass o' fabric ate my pins!!!

And I need more pins to hold places in some other pieces!  What to do?  That's right!  We took a break and went to Hobby Lobby for more M thread and MORE PINS!  (And KFC, cause it was suppertime and we were hungry!)

A now full pin cushion, and peace was restored to the sewing universe.

So today, I'll be basting the two long panels together at the top, creating a waistband, gathering the skirt to fit the waistband, hemming the skirt, sewing the back seam, drawing up the overskirt with the ribbon trim, and finishing it all out. Whew!  I'd better get busy!  

After I had put all of my new flat flower pins into the pin cushion, I turned it around and found that Taylor had left me this:

Who wouldn't love to work with this cute thing looking on?? :)

It completely made my night and I will use all of the other pins in the cushion before I mess up my cool Pin Cushion Happy Face. :o)