All Hail Caffeine, the magic elixir
Nov. 20th, 2007 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerSleep Score Since November 2:
Nights I've gotten 6 hrs + sleep = 5-ish
Nights I've gotten 4- hrs of sleep = definitely more than 4
Average sleep, 4 hrs.
I'm am so freaking fired up to do projects.
Goal: New duds for the Boar Hunt on Dec 8.
Milestone: get them mostly ready to test drive at Gryphon shindig on 11/17.
The driving force for finishing the white petticoat was so I could have new duds for the Boar Hunt. I've shrunk out of everything I own. I can't find any of the venerable stuff I made 15 years ago. And I'm a wee bit too modest to dress in the Emperor's new clothes. And I had this brocade I was going to turn into table clothes, but then I envisioned it as a ropa... and the rest was fueled by my muse and caffeine.
Since Nov 2,
+I finished my white silk Florentine petticoat (1560's).
+I made a new linen chemise.
+I made a new linen partlet w/ standing collar.
+I made an Italian ropa (full length coat).
Boring details
Florentine Petticoat
I finished my white silk petti coat (Florentine, 1560-ish). This project arises from my sewing binge one night in Redding while on my way to Oregon. (http://thread-walker.livejournal.com/94277.html). I came to a screeching halt when my brain (which is constantly in puzzle-solving mode) questioned my decision to make a corset and started to suggest that a full petticoat would be better. (http://thread-walker.livejournal.com/105483.html) So I switched gears and stashed the corset somewhere. Now I essentially have a fitted bodice with full length sleeves and attached skirt. It has dual side-back laced openings (which makes a ton of sense now that I've been noodling around with it). The sleeves are banded in gold trim (a la the portraits) and the bodice and skirt have bands of trim down the center front. I added a removable insert to the center front of the bodice based on reading Moda d' Firenze, but it's beyond me to explain how I did that in a post. Seeing is believing. If you're truly curious, ask me at the Boar Hunt or 12th Night and I'll gladly show you. I love the silhouette and (IMHO) I nailed what I was aiming for.
The petticoat works as the "reinforcing/support" layer and is not meant to be worn without something over it. I should feel "under-dressed" when I'm running around in it w/o my coat; as if I were wearing just a camisole or bra and no top. (I don't feel naughty because I'm still a 20th c gal on the inside, but that's what I keep reminding myself the period perspective probably was so that I don't forget who I'm emulating.)
Then last Friday night around midnight I took the skirt off and made a new skirt. I color matched the expensive silk bodice/sleeves to some cheap polyester so I could go to the Gryphon shindig and upcoming Boar Hunt w/o worrying about grass stains or clumsy friends w/ food. The color match was so good, it's not obvious that it's a different fabric until you get very very close. (yay). The silk skirt will be reattached for 12th Night.
Italian Ropa
In Janet Arnold's books and in Roy Strong's English Icon, there are pictures of loose ropas and sleek ropas. The sleek, quasi-fitted ropas are described as Italian ropas. In the beginning chapters of Moda is So-and-so of Austria who is wearing a sleek ropa. So my ropa was modeled after those. The body of the garment took less than 6 hrs to pattern, drape, cut, line and assemble. The garment is brocade lined in a light weight chocolate brown silk twill and it is self-lined. The edges were all serged before assembly. The sleeves, on the other hand, easily took 12+ hrs.
This is officially my favorite "hanging out at the tourney in style" coat. I need to do some hand finishing on the insides - I want to baste the seams to the garment because it affects how it drapes, but that's more of a fussy "OCD" detail than some sort of "must have in order to wear it".
Linen bits I like the new partlet. It has a standing collar and I wired it. I started to do some gold work on the collar lining which can be basted over the current collar later, but now I think I'll just make a second partlet for the gold work. I'll have my plain partlet and my "bling" partlet. Can't have too many partlets, afterall.
Dickens Faire... The beloved spouse really really wants to go to Dickens Faire and is all set up for clothes. I am not. None of my Victorian corsets fit. (I have at least 3 that I can find). :-P And I can't find any of my dresses despite forays into the depths of the garage. Besides which, they were all 1880s w/ bustle and Dickens should be earlier. Which means... drum roll.. new corset, new hoop, new clothes...
The half of my brain that's fueled by my muse jumps up and cheers. "Yay! Let's sew!!"
The half of my brain that wants more sleep says "Wait! That's a lot of sewing and patterning and and and there isn't enough time even cutting out gym time, family time and all the other life-stuff I do daily... when do we sleep?"
To which excited brain says, "Nonsense! I can whip this out. No sleep deprivation, no gym deprivation, no kid deprivation, I promise."
Apparently I can't be kid-deprived if I tried. It appears that to them hanging w/ mom in her shed is like hiding out in the fort. Between Dark Wing Duck and Strawberry Shortcake DVDs, kid-sized lawn chairs (for them), and juice to sip, they were happy campers. There was barely room for me and my fashionista told me that my "big butt was getting in the way" of the TV. If I wasn't clearly in charge, I suspect they would have tried to throw me out of my workshop so that the clack of the sewing machine wouldn't disturb their video experience. (roll eyes)
And I haven't been gym deprived. I headed out at almost 10 pm last night (spouse got home at 9:30) and I got home from gym close to midnight. I thought I'd pass out, but I was all fired up to make a little progress in the shed. Unfortunately, I never got tired. I forced myself to quit at 3:30 am and eventually crawled into bed at 4 am after folding some laundry.
But I think I'm being sleep deprived. Except I'm not tired; I'm fired up. Zip-zip-pop-zing... See me fly around at top speed. It's not just the caffeine, I think it's my super-healthy eating. I'm not eating much sugar and my carbs are mostly high fiber, so my body isn't loaded down with crap and I'm not having sugar spikes or crashes. I will cop to a persistent headache, but it's not excruciating and it's not preventing me from being productive.
New Corset 1.0: I duct-taped myself (a tricky procedure that would have been easier if my elbows could have swivelled backwards) and got a first mock-up that I was hoping would be the real thing. I didn't like it. I hated it. So I attacked it with shears and did a second mock up.
New Corset 2.0: Yay! success.
I was going to just make it functional, but my muse started whispering that corsets should be treated like fine art, not disposable chunks of reinforced fabric. I hate my muse. I love my muse. Ugh. It is not white. I fingered some white silk at the fabric store, but I think I'm temporarily sick of white silk since finishing the Italian petticoat. I latched onto a dark taffeta that looks blue in yellow light and purple in white light. Feel the art... see the art... sew the art...
I'm experimenting with hemp in the channels, but using steel stays in CF and CB. And the piecing and construction went really well. yay!
Dickens Sewing: Kids. Not sure if the kids are going, but got some Halloween costume patterns I can modify for them - happy that I don't have to create new patterns. What's my time worth? It's priceless if I don't have any. I'm really annoyed at the lack of costume stuff for boys. Boys are always getting short-changed in this stuff. Grrr... I let the kids pick fabric. I think I can cut the patterns out and have one done Thursday before dinner. yay!
More madness later.
Nights I've gotten 6 hrs + sleep = 5-ish
Nights I've gotten 4- hrs of sleep = definitely more than 4
Average sleep, 4 hrs.
I'm am so freaking fired up to do projects.
Goal: New duds for the Boar Hunt on Dec 8.
Milestone: get them mostly ready to test drive at Gryphon shindig on 11/17.
The driving force for finishing the white petticoat was so I could have new duds for the Boar Hunt. I've shrunk out of everything I own. I can't find any of the venerable stuff I made 15 years ago. And I'm a wee bit too modest to dress in the Emperor's new clothes. And I had this brocade I was going to turn into table clothes, but then I envisioned it as a ropa... and the rest was fueled by my muse and caffeine.
Since Nov 2,
+I finished my white silk Florentine petticoat (1560's).
+I made a new linen chemise.
+I made a new linen partlet w/ standing collar.
+I made an Italian ropa (full length coat).
Boring details
Florentine Petticoat
I finished my white silk petti coat (Florentine, 1560-ish). This project arises from my sewing binge one night in Redding while on my way to Oregon. (http://thread-walker.livejournal.com/94277.html). I came to a screeching halt when my brain (which is constantly in puzzle-solving mode) questioned my decision to make a corset and started to suggest that a full petticoat would be better. (http://thread-walker.livejournal.com/105483.html) So I switched gears and stashed the corset somewhere. Now I essentially have a fitted bodice with full length sleeves and attached skirt. It has dual side-back laced openings (which makes a ton of sense now that I've been noodling around with it). The sleeves are banded in gold trim (a la the portraits) and the bodice and skirt have bands of trim down the center front. I added a removable insert to the center front of the bodice based on reading Moda d' Firenze, but it's beyond me to explain how I did that in a post. Seeing is believing. If you're truly curious, ask me at the Boar Hunt or 12th Night and I'll gladly show you. I love the silhouette and (IMHO) I nailed what I was aiming for.
The petticoat works as the "reinforcing/support" layer and is not meant to be worn without something over it. I should feel "under-dressed" when I'm running around in it w/o my coat; as if I were wearing just a camisole or bra and no top. (I don't feel naughty because I'm still a 20th c gal on the inside, but that's what I keep reminding myself the period perspective probably was so that I don't forget who I'm emulating.)
Then last Friday night around midnight I took the skirt off and made a new skirt. I color matched the expensive silk bodice/sleeves to some cheap polyester so I could go to the Gryphon shindig and upcoming Boar Hunt w/o worrying about grass stains or clumsy friends w/ food. The color match was so good, it's not obvious that it's a different fabric until you get very very close. (yay). The silk skirt will be reattached for 12th Night.
Italian Ropa
In Janet Arnold's books and in Roy Strong's English Icon, there are pictures of loose ropas and sleek ropas. The sleek, quasi-fitted ropas are described as Italian ropas. In the beginning chapters of Moda is So-and-so of Austria who is wearing a sleek ropa. So my ropa was modeled after those. The body of the garment took less than 6 hrs to pattern, drape, cut, line and assemble. The garment is brocade lined in a light weight chocolate brown silk twill and it is self-lined. The edges were all serged before assembly. The sleeves, on the other hand, easily took 12+ hrs.
This is officially my favorite "hanging out at the tourney in style" coat. I need to do some hand finishing on the insides - I want to baste the seams to the garment because it affects how it drapes, but that's more of a fussy "OCD" detail than some sort of "must have in order to wear it".
Linen bits I like the new partlet. It has a standing collar and I wired it. I started to do some gold work on the collar lining which can be basted over the current collar later, but now I think I'll just make a second partlet for the gold work. I'll have my plain partlet and my "bling" partlet. Can't have too many partlets, afterall.
Dickens Faire... The beloved spouse really really wants to go to Dickens Faire and is all set up for clothes. I am not. None of my Victorian corsets fit. (I have at least 3 that I can find). :-P And I can't find any of my dresses despite forays into the depths of the garage. Besides which, they were all 1880s w/ bustle and Dickens should be earlier. Which means... drum roll.. new corset, new hoop, new clothes...
The half of my brain that's fueled by my muse jumps up and cheers. "Yay! Let's sew!!"
The half of my brain that wants more sleep says "Wait! That's a lot of sewing and patterning and and and there isn't enough time even cutting out gym time, family time and all the other life-stuff I do daily... when do we sleep?"
To which excited brain says, "Nonsense! I can whip this out. No sleep deprivation, no gym deprivation, no kid deprivation, I promise."
Apparently I can't be kid-deprived if I tried. It appears that to them hanging w/ mom in her shed is like hiding out in the fort. Between Dark Wing Duck and Strawberry Shortcake DVDs, kid-sized lawn chairs (for them), and juice to sip, they were happy campers. There was barely room for me and my fashionista told me that my "big butt was getting in the way" of the TV. If I wasn't clearly in charge, I suspect they would have tried to throw me out of my workshop so that the clack of the sewing machine wouldn't disturb their video experience. (roll eyes)
And I haven't been gym deprived. I headed out at almost 10 pm last night (spouse got home at 9:30) and I got home from gym close to midnight. I thought I'd pass out, but I was all fired up to make a little progress in the shed. Unfortunately, I never got tired. I forced myself to quit at 3:30 am and eventually crawled into bed at 4 am after folding some laundry.
But I think I'm being sleep deprived. Except I'm not tired; I'm fired up. Zip-zip-pop-zing... See me fly around at top speed. It's not just the caffeine, I think it's my super-healthy eating. I'm not eating much sugar and my carbs are mostly high fiber, so my body isn't loaded down with crap and I'm not having sugar spikes or crashes. I will cop to a persistent headache, but it's not excruciating and it's not preventing me from being productive.
New Corset 1.0: I duct-taped myself (a tricky procedure that would have been easier if my elbows could have swivelled backwards) and got a first mock-up that I was hoping would be the real thing. I didn't like it. I hated it. So I attacked it with shears and did a second mock up.
New Corset 2.0: Yay! success.
I was going to just make it functional, but my muse started whispering that corsets should be treated like fine art, not disposable chunks of reinforced fabric. I hate my muse. I love my muse. Ugh. It is not white. I fingered some white silk at the fabric store, but I think I'm temporarily sick of white silk since finishing the Italian petticoat. I latched onto a dark taffeta that looks blue in yellow light and purple in white light. Feel the art... see the art... sew the art...
I'm experimenting with hemp in the channels, but using steel stays in CF and CB. And the piecing and construction went really well. yay!
Dickens Sewing: Kids. Not sure if the kids are going, but got some Halloween costume patterns I can modify for them - happy that I don't have to create new patterns. What's my time worth? It's priceless if I don't have any. I'm really annoyed at the lack of costume stuff for boys. Boys are always getting short-changed in this stuff. Grrr... I let the kids pick fabric. I think I can cut the patterns out and have one done Thursday before dinner. yay!
More madness later.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 08:26 pm (UTC)Hope you get some sleep before you end up crashing from being so fired up!
no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 09:01 pm (UTC)We're going to the Dickens Faire, but we're not dressing up.
I can help out with fitting and sewing when we get together, if you'd like.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 10:23 pm (UTC)I was going to recruit you to help me with the fit. I'm working like mad to get the corset done so I can take advantage of your visit.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-20 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-21 02:19 am (UTC)That said, Himself and I will be in street clothes so don't fret. Next year I might have time to make something.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-21 05:52 pm (UTC)No fancy schmancy Victorian clothes for me this year either. *sob*
no subject
Date: 2007-11-21 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-21 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-21 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-21 04:31 am (UTC)