Wrong Tree
I think I have been asking the wrong questions regarding my hobbies. This whole time I have been concerned with which ones I enjoy most, and trying to carve out time for those from the rest of my schedule. That question really has no answer. I think I need to start asking what I want to accomplish with them, not individually but as a whole. What do I want to do with myself? My hobbies are all things that make me less dependent on others, except fencing. Knitting, sewing, baking, and gardening are all activities that produce (or can produce) necessary objects: clothing and food. Writing is a bit trickier, but it does provide me with entertainment. Fencing dose give me focus when it comes to fitness, which I cannot manage on my own. Exercise for the sake of exercise is not really my thing. Looking at my hobbies in that light, I am not doing too badly. This last month has demanded a lot of work in the "garden", so I have had less time to spend on writing, knitting, and sewing. Things in the garden are about to slow down now that most everything is planted, so I will have more time to focus on writing for the rest of the month. All we have is time, and as long as I am using mine in at least one way that I enjoy, I will try not to feel too frustrated (why no, my script is not going very well!). This is also going to have to change how I look at sewing plans, come to think of it. Last week, I actually had to purchase a pair of pants because I put off making them for too long and had a pair die on me. I needed a pair for work more quickly than I would be able to make them, so off to the mall I went. In the future, I need to look at sewing the way I do baking: plan ahead and make time, and make sure the ingredients are on-hand early. Er, materials. Whatever. Meaning, I need to go buy some black pant fabric sooner rather than later, so i can replace my black pin-stripe pants before they fall apart. Working this out has made me feel better about the whole situation. Hurray for early-morning epiphanies before tea! Also, garden pictures!  Chives and potential carrots  Giant Italian Parsley  Spinach This is what is out so far. I have my pepper plant still inside for at least another two weeks, depending on weather, and the basil is too tiny to think about going outside yet.
With my head cut off
Posted by Elizabeth on 04-03-2010 at 10:28 am When did I become such a busy person? Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons (when I'm not working) are fencing practice, Wednesdays are write-ins, and there is usually a movie night sometime during the week. Last night was the Script Frenzy kick-off, and we have another write-in for that on Saturday afternoon/evening now. In about half an hour, we're going to get haircuts, then it is off to the mall or grocery store, haven't decided which yet. This Sunday I'm apparently attending a bar-b-que hosted by one of Husband's friends/coworkers, and next Saturday is given over entirely to our once-monthly D&D game. In between all that, I have been trying to write, bake, garden, knit, sew, and spin.
I hate to say it, but I think I am going to have to start giving up on hobbies. Spinning is the one I am least infatuated with (I like it, don't get me wrong, but it won't ever be an all-consuming passion), so I think after I finish the fiber I am spinning now, that one is done. Sewing is on hold for a bit. I need clothing a bit more quickly than I am able to make it, so I am actually going to buy some this weekend. Just a pair of pants, but I had a pair die this week and it is leaving a gaping hole in my wardrobe. My closet is not particularly full, so when something dies it needs to be replaced.
Baking at the moment is largely limited to quick breads and muffins, anyway. Experiments will wait until after April (and the Script). I think do I need to defrost that pumpkin puree this week for breakfast muffins and something to take to the gaming group.
I am only knitting on one thing right now. Shocking, I know, but I only have two things on the needles at all, and one is the Sock Yarn Blanket, a v-e-r-y long-term project. The other is a pair of socks for the Husband, which might as well be called a long-term project. I am about halfway through the foot on the second sock (toe-up, so I have the heel and cuff yet to go). After that, I think I will start on my mother's birthday/Christmas present (depends on when it gets done, her birthday is early November). I have to find the right kind of lace weight for it, though.
That is what is going on, and that is probably enough of a ramble for a Saturday morning. The script is going relatively well; I have not really done anything yet today but I am caught up for yesterday. Today will be mostly outlines and character notes, which will actually end up in the final game. I think that means I can count it for my page count.
Mary Shelley: Petticoat Picture
This is just a quick note to say that I finished the petticoat last night, after we turned off Passed the Door of Darkness (which was terrible) but before we started Orphan (which was interesting, and gave me bad dreams). I give you proof. This was taken first thing this morning, so forgive the hair and the looking half-asleep. I managed to get the bodice and sleeve pieces cut out last night as well, so all I have left is the skirt and putting the whole thing together. Now, back to sewing!
Mary Shelley: Petticoat Progress
I have admitted to myself that I might not get the whole outfit done in time for Halloween. The fact that I continue to try means that I am still crazy. The petticoat is mostly done. I have to sew in one more tuck, and then I think it will be finished except for the closure at the back. I need a skirt hook to finish it, which will be acquired this afternoon. I could have sworn I still had a few laying around, but I guess not. The rest of the petticoat, though, might be better called "Ode to my notions stash". I used: - double-fold bias tape that was originally intended for the wedding corset as boning casings
- single-fold bias tape from a corset I made in high school for a draw-string channel
- Thin, grey ribbon I purchased to wear in my hair at Junior Prom for a drawstring
- Inch-wide, off-white, grosgrain ribbon from who-knows-what for the waistband
The only thing that I actually have had to purchase for the entire project, besides the fabric and the pattern, is the skirt hooks mentioned above and a spool of lilac thread. I even found some lilac bias tape that I stole from my mother in high school, who had it for who-knows-how-long before that, which I intend to use for trim around the bottom of the dress, if I have enough. The buttons for the back of the dress are left from an Elizabethan gown I made. This? This is why I never get rid of leftover trim or notions. I probably saved myself about $20, if not more. With any luck, I will have the petticoat done tonight and can move onto the dress tomorrow. I have given myself permission to just follow the pattern as much as possible, allowing for alterations to the bodice. It is just barely possible that I can squeak this in before Halloween night. Even though the only place I have to wear it is to the NaNoWriMo kick-off party, which starts at 11:00 that night.
Not So Bad
I am somewhat recovered.
It helps that I have found a job that I have a reasonable chance of getting (we'll see how that goes), and that NaNo is about to start (signed up this morning). Typing is oddly easy on my hands, for all that most people with CTS got it from typing, and this means I can be fairly well occupied for the next two months without further damage.
Still, though. I want to get the Mary Shelley costume done by Halloween. If that's the only thing I'm doing, it probably won't be that bad...
You would think...
You would think that I would not have had a problem getting pattern pieces cut out for one garment over the course of three days. Really. However, and this is going to turn into a bit of a rant here, I did not make that deadline. Why? Several reasons, mostly concerned with a general health crash. I am really, really tired of not being able to get things done because my body decides it does not want to function properly anymore. In the last ten days, the only intensive hand things I have done have been to knit for about two hours on Friday night, and cut out three pattern pieces out of the lining fabric on Sunday. That is it. But my hand still keeps not working. It aches, or the muscles decide to not cooperate in the middle of something (usually when I'm holding something that needs to not be dropped), or the tendons or something pop across the bones in my hand, which really hurts. The big issue this morning was trying to plug in my hair dryer. Last night, it was drying the lid to our stockpot. So, I have not cut the pieces out. I did spend about an hour in the bath tub, and I finished reading two mystery/thriller books. But nothing, you know, productive. I am tired of this. Also, the reason I can write this at 9:10 in the morning is that I had to call into work today. Warning: TMI Ahead I spent most of the morning in the bathroom dry-heaving, and the only thing I have been able to keep down thus far has been three crackers and a glass of orange juice. Saturday I was sick, too, and we ended up having to leave my husband's Taekwondo belt testing immediately after he finished so I could not vomit all over the classroom. TMI is done now. I have been feeling well for the last couple of weeks, and the only thing I can really point to is stress. I'm worried about money. I'm worried that I spent the last two years of my life getting nothing done, and that it doesn't look like this is going to change any time soon. I am tired of spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere. The childhood fantasies of haring off into the middle of nowhere and living like a hermit (yes, I read a lot of books along the lines of My Side of the Mountain and Hatchet while I was growing up) sounds more appealing every day. Don't worry. I'll get over this. It will take a while, but once things are more on an even keel, and I have steady employment and my hand stops aching, I will feel much better and get back to your regularly-scheduled, sporadic updates about crafty things. Also, today is the first day to sign up for National Novel Writing Month. If only they would get the new site up.
Mary Shelley: Fabric
Fabric has been purchased! Is this the most period print in the world? No. Is this the closest one I could find in the fabric store (that wouldn't make me look like a tomato)? Yes. I did want a print rather than a solid color, and it's not like anyone besides me will notice that it is a bit off (except for maybe one or two people at the NaNo kick-off). I also picked up a medium-weight twill for the lining on the bodiced petticoat. The petticoat pattern, speaking of which, is done as well. I thought I was going to be able to get through this without major alterations, right? Ha! For the petticoat I used the lines from View A (the more formal, lower-cut dress) and then dropped everything another inch for the sake of versatility, except I wanted the back edge to meet and not overlap and I needed to add about two inches to the front. For the dress itself, I need to add another two inches to the front, and add enough fabric to the back of View B (the day- or house-dress) to allow for an overlap for buttons. Since that is mostly simple stuff, I think I won't re-draw all the pattern pieces and will instead just try (again, ha!) to remember to cut it that way. I also think I will end up adding some more width to the skirt in the back, and a waistband. It would be much easier to just follow the pattern, but I think this will work out better and I still have time for this sort of thing. My goal for the week is getting the petticoat pieces cut out. The bodice pieces are cut already, but the lining and the skirt are not. By preference, I would like to have the petticoat done entirely, but that might or might not happen. Also, I'm job-hunting again. Sigh.
Mary Shelley: Mock-up
Posted by Elizabeth on 09-25-2009 at 12:00 pm I did indeed meet my goal for Sunday. No pictures of this one, because wow would that be slightly inappropriate. One layer of muslin does not hide much.
I ended up going with the pattern view B, because it looked like that would fit me better. The finished garment measurements were just about the right size for me, so I did not add anything to the front as per the instructions for the bodiced petticoat. For the real thing I may well, but this was just to see if the pattern fit.
The mock-up was cut out of plain muslin, and sewn up in one layer, boned with cable ties inserted into the darts with no channels. I added a band to the bottom that was my underbust measurement exactly, and based the pleats on that. They extended up about four inches into the bodice, and took about four to six inches out of each side of the front panel.
There are only two issues that need correcting: the farthest dart from the middle needs to be moved a bit farther out, or else I need to add a fourth dart on the side for a bit more support in that area, and I am going to add about 1" to the bottom of all the pieces. All of the rest of the pieces fit very well indeed, and the drawstring in the neckline makes a huge difference in how the whole thing fits. That should, of course, be obvious, but I did not realize it would make that big a difference until I actually put it in. After that, the whole bodice fit better than my modern underwear, and I'm considering switching for everything.
The next step is purchasing dress fabric, and checking to see if I have enough sturdy fabric in the stash for lining the boned bodice. I hope to get this done tomorrow afternoon, so I can make use of my fabulous stack of JoAnn coupons.
Mary Shelley: The Pattern
I know I mentioned months ago that I was planning on going as Mary Shelley for Halloween this year. Well, I sort of blew that off for a while. There were other things to do, like make a wedding dress, like work, like moving. Then I turned around and OMG it's only six weeks until the due date. Six weeks today exactly. I realized this last week, actually, but there was not much I could do about it until this week. I did read some pattern reviews, and decided against purchasing the Mode Bagatelle set. "Why?" I can hear you asking. "It's the most comprehensive set around!" Well, yes. It is. Unfortunately, regardless of what pattern I get, I am likely going to have to alter the bust and I have heard that the Mode Bagatelle set tends to not work well for larger busts regardless of the addition for up to a 26DD. Yesterday, I was at Hobby Lobby anyway getting new needle tips for a sweater (which will be discussed later) and I saw that their Simplicity patterns were on sale for $0.99. Simplicity 4055, based on the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice (IMDB link), is not too bad for a starting point. Since I have to alter things anyway, I grabbed it. I will be making, appropriately enough, something of a FrankenDress. I like the bodice from view A, but the sleeves (sort of) from view B, and I am skipping the shortened skirt altogether. Also, I am probably skipping the full corset for this outfit. I might make one later, if I find somewhere besides Halloween parties to wear Regency clothing. For now, however, I plan to cobble together a boned, bodiced petticoat from these instructions. Step one, however, is making a mock-up of the bodice to see just how much fabric I have to add to the front. That is the plan for tonight and tomorrow.
Finished
Even though I was still working on the dress yesterday until noon, even though the original officiant came down with Swine Flu, even though one of the wedding party members hit a deer on the way there, and even though the Father of the Bride's truck broke down on Friday and he wasn't able to make the rehearsal...
They got married. They win.
(I lose because I got no good photos of the whole thing. I'll post a dress picture as soon as I get one.)
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