Keeping My Head Above Water

Ackkk!  I'm behind on posting because things are moving so fast in the studio!  I'm sorry I don't have anything to offer in the way of a K post.  Not many sewing related whatevers start with the letter K.  I wish I had better content this week, but every waking minute is being spent with needle and thread in hand and good music blasting on my iPod.

In the public eye, I like to be as Regency period as possible.  At home in the studio, I'm something of a walking anachronism.  On SO many levels! :}

In conclusion, all I have for you today is a photo of a recent commission.  Enjoy! (And I will work on better posts for the remainder of the A-Z!)

Janome, I Love What I Do...

It's pronounced "Juh-no-me".  (Get it now?  Janome?  You-know-me... Oh, never mind! ;))

Two wonderful people in my life worked at the same time to teach me how to sew.  I was around 22 years old, in college for a vocation that was rendered obsolete the same year. (Long story.)  My friend Marilyn was the one who promised me that I could in fact turn a massive pile of pink crepe-back satin into a Victorian ballgown, despite the pattern being 8 sizes too large and me being illiterate in the realm of pattern reading.  My Gran was a bit more hands on approach and passed her 1960s Pink Singer Merritt down to me, along with an assortment of tools to use.  Dressmaker's chalk.  Several seam rippers (they like to disappear off the table for some reason).  Straight pins.  All kinds of things.  But mostly the Singer.

I spent the next decade in sewing bliss.  Until the day 18 months ago that the Merritt just wouldn't work anymore.  I took it in for regular maintenance and everything, but still, after 40 years of service it gave up and wouldn't repair for anything.  Even if the shop could have repaired it, it would have been a major overhaul and cost well over the price of a new machine.  So I started looking around.

At first I thought I would go with another Singer.  The Merritt had been so good to me.  However, as I shopped around I discovered that the new Singers are... well... "They don't make things like they used to".  (That's the nicest way I can think of to put it!)

When I explained my dilemma to the fine employees of our local sew-n-vac shop, they had just the answer.  After a brief tutorial and an autograph, I was 258% sure that THIS is THE one that will last me forever. It has a metal inside body, housed in heavy duty plastic casing. This puppy and I are going to go a loooooooong way together. I am now the proud owner of this baby:

It has features I haven't even had time to try yet!  I plan on studying the manual more this summer between the Hydrangea Festival and September Saturdays.  I'd love to work some fancy top-stitching on some of my upcoming costumes!  For now, it really does a great job.  The bobbin system is brainlessly easy.  Which is good, when my brain is elsewhere and I'm trying to thread the machine!  I'm able to turn out a good number of Funky Friends soft toys in a reasonable time frame and I absolutely couldn't be a seamstress without my Janome! :)

Iceberg Ahead!!

Well, as they sometimes do, things kind of piled up at work and I haven't been able to make the Titanic 100th Anniversary dresses that I had wanted to have finished this month.  I'll still do them this year, so they will fall into the centennial ... I don't think "celebration" is the right word.  In fact, I'm not sure what it says about me in general that I'm constructing a reproduction costume to draw attention to an event where hundreds of people lost their lives in a horrific way.  :: shrug ::  (This coming from a person who, for 12 years, regularly attended Civil War reenactments to watch people shoot blanks at each other and who has plans to return to those events sometime in the future.)  Any excuse to sew fashions from other eras, I guess.  It is what it is.

Anyway, touch of the macabre aside, here is the pattern I'll be using to make the dresses:

Simplicity 8399

I'm actually not a huge fan of the tea gown on the right.  I mean, it's pretty, but I'm not sure how the style would look on me.  I do love the high waist of both, though.  I think it's interesting that I'm sitting here, 100 years after the year these designs were in vogue, admiring them for their similarity to fashions 100 years before then.  The empire waists and the cap sleeves of the one on the left are very inspired by Regency fashion circa 1812.  Hmm.  Probably why I like that one so much.

I do plan on making one that's pretty close to those colors and look.  I did enjoy the 1999 film, after all (even if I still can't reconcile that there was obviously plenty of room for both of them on her "raft".  We won't even go down that road...) and I love making pieces as close to the film wardrobe as possible.  But I also have a gray-blue satin that will go under an off-white lace that I think will be very pretty.

Those come after the 2 Regency pieces for the festival, which come after the sewing for the booth is done.  It's going to be a busy 4 weeks!!!  Hope I don't encounter any more "icebergs" of derailments and distractions that sink the ship of productivity I'm in.  Exactly like the Titanic, that baby isn't equipped with adequate life boats or flotation devices either!

Hydrangea Festival Progress

 I have had an extremely productive day.  So much so, that I'm having to retro-post this because all of a sudden, I looked up and it was 1:20 AM.  On Wednesday morning. (Time doesn't mean much to me when I'm in The Creative Zone.) Here is a tiny glimpse of what I was working on:

Things are progressing for the festival.  Not as fast as I would like.  I need to pick up the pace.  But I have amazing music playing as I work, and that helps keep things moving along smoothly.  There is nothing like a good, epic soundtrack mix to get you in that zone. :)

I'm going to grab a little sleep and then get back to the work table.  I can't have anything to blog about here if I don't get it done and photos made of it first!

Gorgeous!!!

Drooool.  DroolDroolDroolDroolDrool....

Dresses like this make me sooooo happy! :)

Fairyland

I know this is cheating just a little, but I have to post the Fairy post I was going to do today on Monday because of the family stuff we're doing for Easter weekend.  I just got in from a Christian Music Rock concert that was utterly amazing and I am falling on my face, I am so tired.

So thanks for hanging in and being patient.  Real life, though awesome, gets in the way of Lucy Jane stuff sometimes.  I promise everything will be back to normal and posted correctly on Monday afternoon.  Lots of Fairy goodness on the way. :)

Night!

Eyelet Setter, How I love Thee

Due to a lot of things going on this Easter weekend, this is going to be a short post.  But completely true.

Five years ago, I wanted to close the back of a Civil War era ballgown with laces rather than hooks and eyes.  I didn't want to hand stitch all of those little eyelets, so I decided to use metal grommets.  When I went to Joann's to get them, instead of the little hammer and setter tap system thingie (give me a break, I'm exhausted and it's late) I found THIS:

Squishy the handle and there's the eyelet, all ready to go.  I heart you, Dritz company.  I heart you, too, Joann's for having it in stock and on sale for 40% off.  Best less than $20 I ever spent on sewing equipment.  EVER.  Here are some photos:

I'm going to bed.  So tired.  I promise better posts next week!!