Regency Short Stays, finished.

I recently finished my short stays and I am pretty pleased! This is the first time I've only done an entire hand sewn garment. GO ME!

Pattern: It is a self drafted pattern based off of the Sense and Sensibility "Regency Underthings"
Fabrics: I have no clue what the outside fabric is, but it is like canvas. The binding is the same "canvas-y" fabric. They are lined with muslin.
Other Materials: 14 Zip-ties for boning, hand quilting thread
Time: Patterning, 20 min. Fitting the gussets, 2 1/2 hours. Sewing, MANY MANY HOURS. Binding, 6 hours.
Stitches: Mainly saddle stitches, except the binding.
Cost: $2 mystery fabric + $1 muslin + $1.50 thread + $2 zip ties= $6.50 total.

Here's some more pics and then I'll talk more about it.

Sorry again.

What I like:
It is amazingly comfortable. It is quite effective. It was a relatively fast project (if done by sewing machine). It was relatively easy, being my first run with gussets. It has a pretty back. Some of my stitches turned out fabulous, after I got the hang of it.
What I'm okay with:
It's an odd color of creme. There's some puckeryness around/on the gussets. Ironing took a while to navigate the zip-ties/bones.

What I would do different:
I would have used 3 layers of fabric, to prevent the puckery. Used a fabric that I could identify. I would have made it a little smaller. Make sure that the front was even (it goes slightly downhill on the right side).

What I'm going to do: 
I plan to do some flossing on the stays in a light blue or just a white, but I'm still not sure how accurate that would be?

Some pretty stitches

Thanks for reading!

What to choose?

So, I'm kind-of in limbo for the tea. We still have not set up a date for the Jane Austen Tea Party but I want to figure out which dress I'm going to choose? Here are are the possible ventures:

Danish gown from a Danish Museum :)

 This dress is absolutely gorgeous. I would love to make it eventually but I'm not sure if I want it to be my first Regency gown or something more "normal"?

screencap from www.janeausten.info

I really like Marianne's dresses... ugh, decisions decisions...

Regency Short Stays, in progress

A few of my friends and I have decided to have a Regency era Tea Party where we will all make our own outfits and wear them during the tea. On Monday I started on my ensemble, and this is how far I've gotten:

Sorry for the explicit nature of this picture.

I based them off of this picture on Flickr. They are completely hand-stitched, with muslin lining and zip-ties for boning. Pretty good for 3 days of work. I've yet to sew the straps, button holes and binding but I do plan on getting that done this weekend. I was also thinking about adding light blue flossing to make it a little prettier, but not sure how accurate that would be.

My initial goal was to get by with little-to-no boning, and thought that maybe cording would be better, but I found that without the boning it was far to flimsy. The diagonal bones under the bust really make a difference in the shape and support.

This was also my first run when it comes to gussets. They're actually not that hard! I was so surprised after finishing them. The hardest and longest part was the fitting to get the right shape.

I also decided to add some stability to the back of the stays to make it feel better and I think it adds a little more visual interest as well.

So about the flossing/embroidery, does anyone know when it start appearing on corsets/stays?

Boba Fett Amigurumi

Hello all, I wanted to let you know that I am finally finished with Boba Fett. He is quite adorable, if I do say so myself, and wanted to share the pictures with you!

Boba's going to pop a cap.

Boba being headless, like his father before him.

MAN POSE

FREEZE.

Hellooo ladies, look at your man, now back to me...

And that, my friends, is my Boba Fett. Now, he's going to be more gadgety in the coming weeks (i'm going to add the jet-pack, arm blasters and a gun holster). Also, I'm going to officially write up the pattern to sell, so if you're interested, stay tuned.

Boba Fett in the Works

In just a couple of days I will be finishing up one of my coolest creations yet. Boba Fett is his name, and awesome is his game. harharhar. Anywho, I've been working on him for a long time now; writing up the pattern as I'm going along. So here's what I have done so far!

The head is almost done, and his chestplate is not sewn on yet

The limbless Fett

And my most favorite part:

Jetpack.

The jetpack is a total of 17 pieces and took 3 full 8 hour days to make. But, it's pretty awesome.

I hope to finish in 2-3 days, Wish me luck!

A New Dress Form

In an earlier post, I showed my Duct-Tape dress form I made of myself. The duct tape motif just isn't my style, so 2 days ago I decided I was going to cover it.

First I drew where I wanted the Seams to be

Then I patterned out the pieces

I got a little ambitious, and added a decorative stitch to all my seams :)

My sewing machine has a bunch of pretty stitches. So I decorated my dress form. Unfortunately it took FOREVER and had I skipped it, the project would've been done in a day. Sigh, my ambitious self couldn't help it. The extra stitching added a bunch of time and headache, but..... It's pretty stitching!

Sprayed with Adhesive and covered in batting

I used old quilt batting for the kushiness under the cover. I figured it would be much smoother than just polyester stuffing. Smooth? Yes. My size? No. :( 

Finally I covered it

There she is.

 To finish, I sewn all but the right side seam and I ended up whipstitching. Boy was that hard! I was constantly tugging at the fabric to make sure it was as snug as possible, but it ended up alright afterall

 YAY!!!! I'm happy that I now have a  working/useful dress form. There are, however, some things I would have done differently in hindsight;
 1) I should have used a more heavy duty fabric
 2) A slightly thinner batting would have been perfect.
3) The neck would be better in general
4) For the open parts (the armholes and neck opening) I would have instead of sewing the circles OVER the princess seam cover, I should have placed them under. It would have been a much prettier look.
5)The dress form is a size too big. I don't know how I could possibly fix it other than being extremely thin when you tape yourself.

Overall I'm happy that I got it done (on a whim even!)  I also had my first real run-thru with Princess Seams. (yay me). Of the whole project,  my favorite part was and is the redwork. It made me happy.

Now, after all my hard work, I have to name her. I have no clue. I was thinking perhaps Betsy or something along those lines? What do you think suits her?

The Alexander Tone Definites Tour Georgia, 2010

This is ATD

I don't know why I have never mentioned this before? Silly Amber... but I have been a part of a choir program for my highschool for 5 years. It is a year round, audition based, after school program that performs all genres of music, from Jr high level music to college music, we do it all. We call ourselves the Alexander Tone Definites. I started my sophomore as just an Alto, but when Ken (the director) found out I had been playing piano for 7 years, he put me to work accompanying the group. I have been accompanying for 5, was the student director my senior year, and for the past 2 years (now going on year number 3!) I have been the Assistant Director.

Every year we fund-raise the heck out of everything and go on a trip as our big finale, with little to no charge (b/c we fundraised it all!). Our "tours", as we call them, have taken us to Canada, NYC, Indianapolis, Charleston SC, and Wash. DC. Some cool things we've done is workshopped and sang with the Cast of RENT, had a Concert with Cantus, and Sang the National Anthem for different kinds of sports events (to name a few NBA Indiana Pacers game, Minor league soccer games, a Lake Erie Monsters game, etc).

This year was special though. Our tour took us to Atlanta, Georgia to sing the National Anthem at an Major League Baseball, Atlanta Braves game!!! It was a really awesome experience.

The students really enjoyed it. I was proud of them too. :)

Other than the Braves game, we went to Asheville, North Carolina to see the Biltmore Estate. It was the most magnificent piece of architecture I've ever seen. It was so much more impressive than any cathedral I've been in, and any mansion you see on TV. If you ever have a chance, GO SEE IT. And be sure to take a tour to the basement, cuz that was the coolest part. The kids really seemed to be interested in it too.

Side View of Biltmore, with my chaperone group, and Mom (in the red)

We also went to the MLK Jr Historical Site... and where, we took a jump shot:

We went to the Museum of Coca Cola

 We also went to the Oatland Wildlife Reserve, on a Savannah GA Ghost walk... AND.... a DOLPHIN CRUISE.

yep, that's a real dolphin.

Apart from just being tourists, we did sing a bit. We sang at 2 nursing homes while we were down there. At the first one, their piano bench was wayyyy too low for my 5'2'' self to be able to reach the keys effectively... So, in their Southern Hospitality, they kindly found me 8 phone books to sit on :)

8 phonebooks.

At the top, the first pic you see in this post, we're performing at a 3 story living community/nursing home. It was quite impressive. We also sang for the Captain and First Mate of the Dolphin Tour-boat.

performing, on a boat.

Singing to the Cap'n

We had a really great trip and we're looking forward to next year!

Alexander Tone Definites, 2009-2010

Finished Batik Project

Woo! The final boiling process is done, and now I can submit my Batik for a grade. I'm not completely happy with how it turned out, but it's my first one so I guess I shouldn't be so picky. (if you've not seen the first part of this process and want to, click here )

While is was boiling, I was happy because the color was still dark

It ended up much lighter than I expected

I was hoping for a really rich, dark navy tone. I added peacock blue and a lot of black to the normal blue dyes, and it somehow ended up this light color. :(

The lines are far from perfect

 But I'm really pleased with the brushstrokes and the scarf part. woo!

Civil War Day 2010

Every year my 8th Grade teacher hosts a Civil War day for her students and I have been part of the festivities for the last 4 years. I normally teach on what life was like for those at home during the 1860's while some reenacting friends/classmates of mine teach on the battlefront aspect.We've had the local newspapers interview us before, but this year I finally got some pictures of us in action!

Matt and Dylan

Matt and Dylan talking to the students about loading the gun

The "Reenactment"

The "Charge"

 My portion starts out with some facts about how people lived and whatnot, then I got to the fun part, which was dressing the girls up in the outfits. I dressed the volunteer with all the layers and let them wear the skirt I made a while back. They seemed to really enjoy it.

There's a petticoat after this, but is no picture of it   D:

The Whole Get-up

It's a really fun thing to do, and I hope to do it for many years to come. I just need to get more hoops, skirts and corsets so I can have an army of 1860's gals. YAY