Simple things sometimes take longer than they should

I was just making a simple tunic for Halloween.  Simple black cotton with lace on the sleeves.  It should have only taken me about an hour.  Should being the operative word in that sentence.  Here's what happened.

1.  Wrapped fabric 1 1/2 times around my chest and cut.
2.  Measured my upper arm circumference and added 1.  Cut two pieces of that width.
3.  Folded the tunic part in half then in half again.  Folded the sleeve pieces in half and lined them all up at the non-folded edge with the upper corners all lined up.
4.  Cut out a triangle on the lined up corner measuring 1/2 my upper arm circumference plus 1.  Go through all layers.

5.  Sew up the one seam on the larger piece, long wise.
6.  Sew up the seam on the sleeve pieces, long wise.
7.  Here is the tricky part.  Sew the upper cut line of the sleeve to the upper cut part of the tunic (where you cut out the triangles).  If I can figure out how to, I will post drawings.  It makes sense if you see it done.
      Here is where I ran into trouble.  The first sleeve went on no problem.  The second one went on INSIDE
OUT twice!   Grrrr.  After having cut it off twice I pinned the bloody thing on, then sewed it up.
8.  Roll over the neckline, this will include the top of the sleeves, and put in an elastic.
9.  Hem if you have to.  I left it long and used the selvage edge as a hem.
10.Cut and hem the sleeves.
11.Hand sew lace onto the sleeve.

OK, so first thing is that it's my fault for not pinning the stupid sleeves on in the first place.  Second thing is sewing black lace on black fabric is eye burning.  Now I know why old time seamstresses went blind doing that.

I also kind of steampunked up an old felt hat I had hanging around from the '80s.  I found some black net with red Jolly Rogers on it.  I bought some fabric rose buds (black, green/black, yellow/black, orange/black).  I also used an old brooch I had.

1.  Wrap net around the hat and gather in front and back with a few stitches.  I left enough for a veil for Halloween, I'll pull it up for Faire.
2.  Fasten brooch on front.
3.  Remove flowers from the stems and poke holes in the base.  Run wire through holes and fasten around back train.

So, for about $17.00 in materials and a few things around the house I have new stuff for Halloween (and garb for next season LOL)

I'll post pictures of me in full rig from Halloween.  Here are pictures of my hat.

Bathroom Curtains

I have gotten a little de-railed on my corded petticoat.

I made bathroom curtains from a little over a yard of material I found in a discount bin at Ben Franklin's Craft Store.

Hopefully I'll get to the petticoat tomorrow.

Corded Petticoat

After talking to several much more experienced seamstresses than me, I have decided to make a corded petticoat. It will keep the proper shape of the Irish dress but give it a little shape at the bottom. I am using sisal clothsline rope and cotton muslin for the skirt. I will use binding tape for channels instead of sewing the channels from the skirt.

Basically what I'm doing is modifying the hoop skirt that I made but didn't use because it didn't look right. I'm going to put a few more channels in the bottom and thread the rope through.

So there's the next project. Oh, and thinking about it, I'm going to make a braided cord girdle for it. I'm going to make the cord with my lucet, in greeen, yellow and maybe beige. Then I'm going to braid them together. Sounds like fun.

Stay tuned.

How the Irish Dress performed

I went to King Richard's Faire on Saturday. I wore the Irish Dress with the yellow chemise. I was very happy with it's trial run at faire. I do need to do a few things.

1. Find a way to shape the skirts better. Maybe a bum roll and something to stiffen the hem.

2. Find something better for a belt or girdle. I used my tapestry belt and it was OK, but I'm looking for a chain gridle.

3. Make a matching hat. I'm planning a muffin hat.

4. Get my needle book or belt chateline done.

Those were my only tweeks. Here I am in full fig.

My Irish Dress is complete

I finished! I made very simple sleeves. Just rectangles hemmed up with trim sewn on at both ends and the middle. I have to say that I am very proud of this project. It has given me the confidence to tackle more difficult projects.

Here it is, with detail of the sleeves.

Use up Leftover fabric day

I had some leftover fabric from the butter yellow chemise and the grass green Irish dress, so I decided to make a yellow sleeveless pullover and a pair of green pajama pants so I could wear the colors together away from faire.

Used the same basic pattern as the terry cloth robe, just put a square neck on it and sewed the seam up the side. Sewed up the arm holes without any sleeve. The pants are just sewn up the side seam, sew a channel for the waistband, then cut up the middle (I used a pair of pants that I love for the rise measurement) and sewed it up. Hemmed them and put in a pocket. I absolutely love pockets.

Easy...and a great way to use up the leftover fabric and get new cloths.

Just a few Miscellaneous things

Today was learn how to clean your machine day.

Having worked with some very linty material, I thought it was time to clean out my machine. I own a Singer Simple. I took apart the bobbin case, there was plenty of stuff in there, lint and a few stray pieces of thread. That was probably what was causing my bobbin thread to clump up on me. Took off the face plate and cleaned out that stuff too.

Awhile ago I bought a Rolled Hem foot. I learned how to use it today by using a scrap piece of muslin and made myself a handkerchief. The foot is a bit fussy to use so I have to say I won't really use it except for veils, handkerchiefs and maybe linen (table cloths and stuff).

I also used up the rest of that terry cloth I bought. As I thought, I got 2 facecloths and 2 hand towels out of it. I may go back up to JoAnn's and get some white. I need a few white hand towels and it seems cheaper to buy the fabric and hem it up.

I want to finish up the sleeves to my Irish dress. Once that is done the next project is my Beloveds Pirate Vest.