Reaching Out

So the entire day I was:
1) in a bra
2) wearing a rough pair of silk shorts I made a few days ago
3) sewing
and the only things I ate were a bowl of instant noodles, some fried minced meat that's been in my fridge too long, cheesecake and cereal.

The vest is thus done! I've finished drafting the skirt, and I'll cut that out tomorrow. I'm also going to go get a bit more material for some pleating at the back, as part of the "party in the back" concept. I would also like more ribbon, to insert into the waistband and tie at the back, and hide the zipper.

For reference: first mockup, second mockup, outer lining from this afternoon before I switched the collars up.

The material is a silk charmeuse, which cost.... a lot. Because I am stupid and I really wanted a light material for this weekend which is supposed to be super hot.

Aaaaaaanyway.

Loot today:

- red, pink and blue thread
- Microtex needles and 70-pt universal needles
- Fat quarters of a very cute music-themed print
- 3m black lace trim
- 5m black ribbon trim
- 3m RAINBOW VOMIT LACE TRIM

Things I would like to get:
- craft box for my burgeoning button collection
- craft box for my burgeoning trim collection
- craft box for my burgeoning pattern collection
- craft box for my burgeoning notions collection
- more pins
- more colours of thread
- a spool holder
- drafting paper
- bra balls
- craft tables
- ALL THE THINGS

Finished projects so far:
- hemming dress for biyuti
- skirt for Nisi
- one bra (another green + ivory, playing with lace placement)

Immediate projects:
- few more bras (red + pink, white + red, gray + white, and something with the rainbow-vomit trim) (gotta get some practice in before taking the vertical seam bra class)
- pinstripe set (halter-neck bodice/vest + skirt with longer back) (need drafting paper, Wilma says she's got patterns for me to trace but she'll probably take forever to find 'em) (ideally I'll get this done before Steam on Queen)

So in my anxiety to not miss the start of class today, I kind of left the house around like 7.30? And moseyed to MacDonald's to get some McMuffins and then catch a bus up to Ottawa St. I got to the shop at 8.20am -_- ( Cut for pictures )

In conversation with various other people, it turns out, there're bra makers all over North America who are graduates of their professional course (where they teach you how to do fittings and measure). Good idea, because it keeps them in business, but the course is $3700. If you can swing that, it's a job that pays for itself pretty easily I think. Wish I'd heard about this earlier... would've given me something to do over the last half a damn year I had nothing to do. If I decide I never want to have anything to do with academia, this might be a good option.

Also, husbands have totally taken that course to learn how to sew bras for their wives. So there's an option. That's a pretty sexy thing.

Anyways. Hope you like the pictures!

So, after the failed skirt, Wilma told me that I was Doing Things Wrong, basically, making the seams too small, when Simplicity patterns call for a 5/8" seam, and I was giving 3/8" seams. And all that extra fabric adds up!

( More pictures! )

I've been going to bed exceedingly late, and today instead of taking an afternoon nap, I opted for a long walk. Left the house around 5-ish, sent off mail, walked along King and James and back and to Dundurn and down to the Bruce Trail. By the time I got back it was 8-ish. Pretty solid walk.

Needed to get out too, because I've been spending whole days working on my sewing. Er. I should upload the pictures I've taken! Anyway, I spent a whole day putting together a bodice by myself, and made a lot of mistakes along the way. That comes of over-confidence, I guess. Just finished the grommets on it. The first one I made lacked boning, and it's also a very synthetic material so it's actually coming apart a bit at the bust seams. I'm putting some trim on it to see if I can save it.

I'm also making a very fancy tote bag! It has many pockets which I'm going to hold against me, and on the other side there is a parasol holder. But I have many plans for it which I'm not sure how to bring to fruition so Wilma is coming over tomorrow and she'll help me figure it out. I was initially using a pattern but the instructions are fucking awful.

My bra-making class is this weekend! Eeeeee, I'm excited about the possibilities!

Darn! My new skirt is coming along great but I thought I cut the waistline pieces too small last night to fit the main skirt, so rather than take in the seams even more I cut longer waistline pieces. Now I think the skirt may end up a bit too loose? It's hard to tell, what with all the pins poking into me. I might take in the back seam a bit more.

It's gonna be so sweet though. The kind of skirt my mom would've wanted me to wear when I was like, 12. Haha. And it has POCKETS!

Wilma and I went on a fabric tour today at Ottawa St, where we browsed to see what shops have what kinds of fabrics at which prices. We also popped into a bra-making shop and got information on classes. (They offer classes on making various kinds of bras, corsets, swimwear, and even professional bra-making courses.)

We headed to Value Village, and it turns out there is a huge enough desi population locally that Value Village gets some secondhand sari material. After that, we went to Len's Mills Store, which is a warehouse outlet, so things are somewhat cheaper there.

I bought these: a dress pattern, a skirt pattern (with pockets!), and I can't find the other two, but they are a vest, and what looks like a blouse based on the Nehru jacket.

I really ought to finish the tulip skirt first!

I also bought a couple of really fantastic finds: a baby pink blouse with lace all across the front, and a maroon pleated skirt, so many pleats, I cannot fathom it. And they go together really well too. Might take that to my shoot on Monday. (Among the Value Village buys is the remnant of a baby pink fabric. Wilma thinks there's too little there for me to do anything with it, but I beg to differ.)

I'm almost done the split skirt, which, as it turns out, are a giant pair of pants! With pleats to cleverly disguise it as a skirt! Wilma decided it was far enough for me to start putting the pieces together, and that is what I did! ( pictures under the cut )

The project goes apace. I've done a bit of ironing down the pleats, and I had some issues with the buttonhole function of my machine! OK, I've had many issues with the buttonhole function. It's like I get it right only every five tries.

Wilma came in the morning again and we ironed down the pleats of the skirt, and then I got to practice a bit on the machine with curvy lines, which is hard. There's something about my machine... it's not weight-receptive, so I have to push really hard to get it going, then loosen up. Wilma compares it to the clutch of a manual. This increases my dislike for it.

We couldn't seem to figure out what we were doing wrong with the buttonhole function, so Wilma called up the lady I bought it from, who offered to just show us, if we brought in the machine. And turns out, we'd just forgotten a lever behind the threader! Duh. But it was good because otherwise we would have forgotten lunch, so we stopped by Pizza Hut.

Kept on working right until 4pm, with me figuring out the buttonholes, and Wilma brought along some of her own sewing to do. After that, we headed up to the mounting, and in order, hit up Talize, Fabricland, and Value Village. (You know you're talking to Canadian steampunks when they mention Value Village).

I got a haul!

First, I got two fabrics. They are shiny. One is green, with silver shiny, and the other is champagne with gold flowers. On the flip side it is also very shiny. I think the gold one will be cool with black chiffon obscuring the gold, but I haven't really decided yet. It's only good for a short skirt though, which is kind of all I really want. And then add pockets, but we haven't gotten to that yet. In fact, my current project is pretty filled with all sorts of not-simple things, so, I'm learning a lot through it.

I also have an iron! It is very old, but working. I hope I do not spoil it so soon. I don't have an ironing board, though. I'll get one eventually. I found a skirt I liked but I've put on too much weight. Oh well.

At the next stop, Fabricland, there was a sale! All Simplicity patterns were $2.20. SO, for steampunk purposes, I got this, this, this, this, and this. I'm not crazy about the idea that the last one one is somehow more "authentic" (it all looks exoticizing to me!) but I like that giant skirt a lot. I'm not sure I'll use all the designs at all, but at least I got them.

And just to keep me busy over the weekend since I'm not going to be doing anything after I finish the buttonholes on the skirt, I got this, to cut out of my new fabric, as homework. It's a plain elastic waist skirt, and I like the tulip-looking one, so I thought I'd give that a shot.

I also got myself a brass thimble, which is pretty much the most steampunk-looking thimble I have ever seen, and I couldn't help getting it. Also, a lot of buttons. A shit-ton of buttons. I mean, 4-packets-for-99-cents sorts of buttons. Also, a tomato.

So, I have a lot of buttonholes to make, about nine more. The buttons will be some sprockets I bought a while back, and to jazz it up a bit, I'm sewing some amethyst beads onto them, so they hold. The beads used to be part of a bracelet I wore constantly but the elastic hated my guts.

The bad thing, though (besides the buttonhole frustration) is that going to secondhand stores makes my allergies act up.

Nonetheless, I have things to do and someone to supervise, so it's better than mulling over unemployment.

- Edited a steampunk Shakespeare story today! I think it's going to need a bit more work, but oh well.

- Read a really neat story, "The Widow And the Princess of the Dwende" at Rocket Kapre tonight. Liked it a great deal.

- Interviewing moniquill and yiduigie for my steampunk POC series at Silver Goggles! Feeling pretty good about it.

- Made cookies tonight, with no eggs, and no white sugar! I used this recipe, and discovered I am missing my measuring cups -_-;; I lost a bunch of cutlery during the move, and just neglected to buy back stuff. Fortunately I found a thing which approximated a cup. I think I used too much baking powder though... the cookies were a bit too crumbly. They're good though! I feel very proud of myself. I've never made eggless cookies before. I must try this again sometime.