A tailor to become - A dressmaker to be

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T22:21:00.002+01:00

Hello my dears!

Yes, I'm still alive ;)
As I had told you before my new job has taken up most of my time for the last (nearly) couple of months. And will probably do for another month or so.
But all is well so far (besides suffering from the last twitches of a nasty cold) and my new coworkers are really nice. So the 12-14-hour-days are not too bad *lol*
We're off for the holidays and will return to work on Tuesday.
So I wish you all a merry merry Christmas as well. I hope you can spend it with your loved ones, just as I can, and have a great time.

On another note I surprisingly found out that my Foundations Revealed article was published early. What a nice present :)
If you're a member, you can read it here
If you're not a member yet, the Christmas offers are still available. Save up to half of the price.

Have a great time and see ya soon

P.S If you want to see where I work right now, watch these videos:
click 1 (this is from before the opening)
click 2
click 3
My doing is included in the Romanian Brass Band members' costumes, some parts of the witches costume, the firedancer's costume, the Bandoneon player's costume, the juggler's costume, also I made 4 new silver fullbody leotards for the dancers of "Iceprincess"
click 4
click 5
(I looove the moment the star opens its fan -it's such an "ooooh" moment ^^ and when the White Queen and the dragon start to open their wings it is still giving me chills everytime I watch it ^^)

Victorian Corsets

2011-10-30T23:52:00.000+01:00

Hello again and Happy Halloween!

I know it's been 6 weeks already since my last post, but a lot has happened in my life, so I didn't get to do much. In the last weeks I have mostly been working on the corset for my Foundations Revealed article which is scheduled for January.

On Tuesday I will start in my new job and it won't leave me much time to sew outside of work. So there probably won't be any new stuff here for some time.
But before I go on my blog-hiatus, I wanted to show you the two 1880s Semibust Corsets I made some time ago. For more details please see my previous posts about them. As both corsets are made of the same pattern you can very well note how the kind of boning and construction can affect the fit and shape.

First we've got the single layer corset with external bone casings and flat steels throughout:

I was positively surprised how the cording helped holding the flatsteel in shape at the bust. Other than that, the bones keep a quite smooth line in the waist. The corset was not broken in when the pictures were taken. It would probably mold better to the shape with longer wear. Yet it felt quite comfortable already.

Then we've got the double layer corset with internal bone casings and flatsteels at the central front and back and spiral steels through the rest.

You can see that the spiral steels are molding better to the body, giving me a nice hourglass shape. Yet at the bust the bones seem to stay straighter than the flatsteels in the other corset. Again this corset is comfortable as well.

I can't really decide which one I like better. Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages. I haven't tested them over a longer wearing time, so I can't tell which one is more comfortable in the end.

Which style do you like better?

Tell me what you think and how you have been.
I hope to see you soon. Take care.

How to get a big girl in shape...

2011-09-14T19:56:00.002+02:00

So here it is, the promised post.
It'll be mainly a "show-off" post. So beware ^^

Three weekends ago my dear friend Claudi was visiting and we took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the black and red silk corset I had made for her last year.
So without much more ado, here are the pics:

The flat steel bones in this corset are really rigid, so it's hard to completely break the corset in. Still I'm quite happy with the overall shape.

And while her being here I took the opportunity to photograph another plussize corset I made to her measurements. That has been the "secret" corset I had mentioned in one of my previous posts. I couldn't tell more about it at that point, as I wanted it to be a surprise for her.

When I made my pink-black underbust corset, she had told me that she really liked the design. So I made her a plussize version of it.

I'm quite happy with the overall shape, it fit her without a previous fitting. The only thing I don't like that I again got those nasty side front wrinkles. Even though I added a bone within the big front side space. I need to find out how to alter the pattern to get this right.
But it was really fun to play with all the bone casings on the bigger surface. This is working really well for plus sizes. Please excuse the muffin top here, but this is due to the short back height. I don't think I could really avoid it. It already occures on small sizes.

Okay, so if you want any further information on the corsets or have some advice to the problems mentioned, feel free to comment. Also critique is always very welcome.

Thanks for watching, see ya soon...

I might be biased a bit...

2011-09-14T11:09:00.001+02:00

Hi again!

Argh, time flies too fast, way too fast. Is it already almost a month since my last post? Not good, so not good.
At the rate the time flies by in a couple weeks we'll have Christmas *lol*

Anyway, I'm here to show you some corset progress.

Basically I only cut, filed and tipped the bones, put them in the in the channels, closed the top and bottom and attached the bias. It is again handfinished on the inside, which was really hard to do, as the needle was pretty difficult to push through the cotton twill. This resulted in quite some finger ouch, so I had to postpone the continuation of the embroidery of the underbust for a bit. I want to take it up again in the next days.

So first the double layer corset:
This has a mix of flat steels (at the center front and back) and spiral steels (throughout the rest), both 7mm wide. It also lacks a front modesty panel for a change. It was easier to cut this way.

Second the single layer corset:
This has 7mm flat steel boning throughout. I was really surprised that it curves so well over the bust already. I hope it will adjust to the hips just as well. Here we have my standard front modesty panel again and on the inside you can see the waisttape.

As you can see, the bottom area is more pressed flat due to the flat steels.
Also you can see that the color of the bias binding is very close to the shade of the cotton twill. I guess this time I got the dyeing better with only using one bag of black tea and leaving the bias in for a few seconds. I hope dyeing the lace will work just like that. I have to wait for my corsetry supply order though, as I only have a too short piece of white lace left. Also I still need to punch in the grommets.

But I also want to show you just how light the single layer corset is.

I really like how the boning and cording and even the waisttape sticks out against the light.

But I did do some embroidery already, here is the current state:

If you take a close look, you'll see the desired design of the embroidery. The round shapes will later hold ribbon embroidered roses (If it'll work out as I want to).

The boning for this corset is also finished as is the colour of the biastape, that will be off white at the top and red at the bottom.

Okay, that's it so far. I will make another post later today. So stay tuned.

Corset ³

2011-08-19T01:33:00.000+02:00

Hello again!

So here it is, the promised corsetry post.

You might remember that in my post about the victorian underwear I mentioned to make more versions of the 1880s corset. One version being single layer with external cording and boning channels, the other being a double layer with both elements internal.
So a few weeks ago I started on them, plus another sample from my underbust pattern.
As they would be all made of the same off white coloured cotton twill, I cut them all together on one weekend.
While also working on renewing my offline portfolio I started sewing the pieces the other weekend. It took me the whole saturday afternoon and evening to get the external cording done for the single layer corset. I also sewed the boning channels, but that was not the time consuming part.
Yet I must say a big thank you to Jo from bridges on the body. Her awesome WIP of the 1880s corset probably saved me twice this time of trial and error as well as headaches.
So thanks a lot, Jo!
I basically stuck to her method by using a double, folded piece to place the first cord in and the proceed from there.

With a zipper foot sew next to the cord and keep the fabric tight to it. Repeat 7 more times to get 8 Cords in total. Then cut the lower part off and fold the other under to place the last cord in this fold.

Do this again on the remaining three corded panels.

The boning channels sewn to tubes.

The next day I pressed the channels and started joining the pieces. I did the corded panels first to get over with them *lol*

The remaining panels followed right after (it's amazing how quick the pieces of a single layer corset with 10 panels is sewn together^^). Note that the seam allowances go to the "fashion" side.
Then the seams were pressed, topstitched and the seam allowances graded.

Next the boning channels were put over the seams. By Sunday evening I had all the casings on. Also I didn't baste them, but only pinned them in place. Worked fairly well.

Monday night after work I put the busk in and sewed the front and back facings in place.

Unfortunately my new machine seems to have a problem with the thread tension everytime when I do the busk. Changing the needle and upper thread tension didn't help much. I guess for corsetry I will go back to my good old workhorse machine ^^. And only use this for decoration and maybe topstitching, as is is really neat here.
However this was the result:

These pictures were taken on Wednesday morning. In the meantime I had already started joining the panels for the underbust corset, the lining had been done Tuesday night, including topstitching, the shell was done Wednesday morning.

On Thursday night I attached the boning channel tape to the lining, so this corset was ready for boning and painting. For this I had already done a little colour tester.

It turned out a bit too pinkish for my liking, so I decided to get another orangey-er shade of red and mix them.

Last Saturday I started with the double layer corset. Again I did the cording first.
For this sample I decided to sew the channels first and then pull the cord through it.
This worked way faster than the external cording, as I could mark the channel lines on the backing piece and just follow them. (Still this doesn't mean that I didn't have to unpick a few rows and redo them ;P)

Although the corded effect isn't as strong as with the external piece it's still better than I had expected.
As you can see I cut off the seam allowances of the cording back pieces. I took this advice from Jo again to reduce bulk at the seams. The best idea ever. Even with just the backing layer and no cord it would have been too thick at the seams. So I only had one layer per panel and was able to joing the pieces pretty normal.

By Saturday night I had all four halves of the corset assembled.

The seams were pressed Sunday morning, the lining layer topstiched and the waistband attached. Then the busk was put in (again with tension issues, but this time I remembered to baste around the busk right away so unpicking and redoing the seam was no big problem), the back seam turned and the boning channels sewn.
So Sunday early evening I had the third corset ready for boning.

Those cups look huge for my small form *lol*

Tuesday morning (you might have noticed that we arrived in this week already ^^) I got my dolly a nice plastic dress and pinned the underbust shell on it. On Friday I had gotten the other shade of red, so I could start painting.

The first layer of red still wet.
In the evening I put on another layer.

I let it dry thoroughly and took it off this morning (well it actually was already yesterday, but we count it today as I haven't slept yet^^). Laying it flat the front has a nice colour effect from the wrinkles it had on the dolly.

Cool, huh?

I'm not sure about the final design for the embroidery. I need to try a few samples first anyway as I haven't done ribbon embroidery before.
Over the course of the last weekend and Monday I also finished my portfolio and only made a cover for the album yesterday and this morning (it had been too late yesterday to get out my loud serger, so I sewed it today).
Oh and I also *finally* started stitching together the mockup for the 1880s day bodice *yay* A quick throw over to check the very raw general fit looked quite well. At least it's not toooo big or small. ;)

Okay, that's it. Thanks for reading.
Comments, critique and advice are as always very welcome.
Goodnight, see you soon

Blue linen dress

2011-08-17T00:24:00.001+02:00

Hi @ all!

Again it took me so long to post here... I know, I know, I always promise to post more often, but somehow I never find the time to actually do it.

Anyway, today I want to show you the result of my little excourse into medieval inspired clothing.
The girlfriend of a friend asked me to make her a dress to wear at a medieval music festival in September. Though she didn't want a historical accurate dress, but something still appropriate to not feel out of place.

So we agreed on a design and I went to work. This is the final result:
A sweet atlanticblue linen dress with a long hood and a pointed hem, both trimmed with dark cream colored embroidered lacetrim. The front is closed with lacing in a matching color and handstitched eyelets.

We actually had planned on making machine eyelets, but just before I got to do the eyelets on the dress my machine kind of quit on me... It still sews, but it mashes up the decor stitches... something with the feed seems to be out of order, also there's a shuffling sound when sewing. Probably something inside shifted when it hit a bad spot on a corset recently... However the eyelets would have looked like curls, so we had the choice between handmade eyelets or metal ones. She decided on the handstitched ones, which I myself think was the right decision as they match the overall design the best.

My machine will go into repair soon, as I only got it in March/April there's warranty on it still. Good thing, that I still have my other two machines here ^^.

Speaking of corsetry, there will be another post within the next days. I haven't been lazy lately, but worked on three corsets in the last two weeks or so (time flies by too fast, I can't keep track). You can watch the progess in the list on the right as always.

Okay that's it for today, thanks for reading, see you soon.

Fabric Sale

2011-07-20T22:03:00.000+02:00

Hello dears,

as my fabric pile is still too high, I need to get rid of some of my beloved fabrics. I have been running this fabric-sale thread for a while now, but I thought I'd try and promote it here a bit, too ;)
My babies really deserve a good home.

So if your eye catches something, don't hesitate to tell me. Contact me via comment here, email (BlackGlitter (at) gmx (dot) de), PM over at Natron&Soda, or via LJ (comment or PM). If you don't speak German- no problem, just tell me what you're interested in and we'll sort it out ;)
Shipping only within Europe though.

Thanks for reading

I don't think we will become friends...

2011-07-18T23:01:00.001+02:00

Hello my dear readers,

already another three weeks have passed since my last post... I hope my lack of action here doesn't bother you. I'm sorry for that anyway ;)

I haven't done overly much postworthy either.
The linen dress for my friend's girlfriend was fitted once and the alterations made. The missing pieces are almost all cut (only the facings are still to be done) and the hood attached. So it's now ready for the second fitting. As far as it looked during the first fitting, a third one hopefully won't be neccessary. So I hope to complete the dress within the next few weeks, depending on when we can have the fitting.

Otherwise I have made another corset sample. You remember the "Flesh Digger" corset?
As mentioned there I altered the pattern and started a new try. And I can pronounce that it fits so much better. There's still some slight digging in the back, but nowhere as much as before. I guess bending the flatsteels a bit more and some breaking in will help with that matter even more.
However with this sample I also used a decor technique I usually try to avoid, because I haven't been very lucky with it so far... piping.
And as the headline says, I'm still not overly happy with it... I need to improve my working ways with it, it seems. I'll show you pictures, so you can see what I'm talking about.

You see the fit is much besser... I've got some waist *lol*
But you can also see that the satin in quite wrinkly. I know that satin is kinda destined to wrinkle, but usually the thicker bridal satin behaves quite well (for satin anyways) when also interfaced with fusible cotton woven interfacing (I love that word ^^), short G710 (that's the black one). It did with the flesh digger, they both use the very same black bridal satin. Maybe flatlining it to the coutil there also made the difference, the cotton bunting I used here for flatlining is obviously too soft, it already shifted suspiciously when sewing the interfaced satin onto it.
But I guess part of it is also caused by the piping set in between the panel seams. I joined the pieces here by going by the seam allowance instead of stitch lines. It was quite difficult to set the piping at the right distance from the edge, as the ribbon of the piping was narrower than my seam allowance.
So next time I will probably go back to mark the stitch lines when using this ready made piping (and I had ordered 6 packs in different colors -well I ordered 4 and 2 bias ribbons, but they sent all as piping- in good hope of a friendship between me and the piping... -.-'). Also I had to try a few different presser feet to find the right one for joining the pieces with the piping inbetween. The open toe foot proved to be the best for that task.
Also the piping can be sewn on quite well with my concealed zipper foot (which I don't use for invisible zippers anymore^^), the cord passes right through the groove.
So I learned a lot of new things, besides that piping won't be my best friend anytime soon.
Also it kinda caused the corset to be about 1cm too big in the waist, a problem I have had before (about three or four years ago and there even more than just 1cm) and why I had gone back to sewing by stitchline after doing it by seam allowance (which is faster to cut and pin, but also less exact). When measuring the panels, it seemed that while attaching the piping I didn't always perfectly hit the seam line, so there the millimeters added. I could solve this problem by taking away a few millimeters at the CB when turning the edges there and sewing on the waistband very tight.
I know 1cm doesn't seem much and with a regular garment I wouldn't bother much, but in corsetry 1cm is like a whole world *lol*

Oh and I learned that I'm so not a fan of busk-less corsets. I really don't understand people who don't like busks. Sure they are not the easiest thing to sew in and add to the budget, but how the hell do you get in and out of your corsets?
I already used a longer lace (6m) in this, after getting stuck with my regular one (4.5 or 5m). Still I can hardly get in and out without disclocating my shoulders and wrench my back.
Also those many meters of lace will bundle up when fully laced and I don't know where to put that mass of lace then.
Do you fiddle the lace through the eyelets while you have the corset on already or how do you do it? Please enlighten me ;)

Still I have to admit that I like the closed front look in combination with the piping (one reason why I decided to try no busk, the other reasons were budget + the insecurity about how the piping would turn out) and I have a few more closed front designs planned, so I'd be very thankful if someone could help me with the dressing issue.

Okay, I guess that's is all I've got to say about this corset. If you have any questions or want to know more details, feel free to ask :) Also tell me what you think. I need more construtive critique, please.

Right now I'm working on another underbust corset. I can't tell anything about it yet as it is meant as a surprise. But know, that I'm not lazying around ^^

Thanks for reading, have a great time

WGT 2011- take 2

2011-06-28T22:53:00.002+02:00

Hello my friends!

So as promised my parents brougth their WGT pictures along when they visited last weekend.
I won't say much again... just let me warn you that my Dad has a tendency to cut off the feet of the photographed people. But we're making progress and slowly getting away from pictures with tiny persons and a lot of background ;)

He even managed a great picture of me with the steam engine at the railway station.

I made a close-up for those who were interested in the hat on my head ^^

Okay and now on with the other pictures

and a few impressions from the Natron&Soda-CT

And last another picture of the lovely Mywiel and me. My parents liked it that we were so "non-black" *g*

So just as last time: If you want a bigger version of a picture or want it removed from here, please contact me via Email, Comment or PM over at N&S.

Thanks for watching, have a great time

WGT 2011 - the N&S CT

2011-06-13T18:22:00.007+02:00

Good afternoon my dears,

so Saturday was the "big day" for wearing my grey Natural Form outfit to the Natron & Soda community meeting at the 20th Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig. I had been really looking forward to it, as I wasn't able to go last year (because of the exam). I was really excited to finally meet some users in real life and see some of them again (e.g. the local users and Kleine Frau). Of course I was also very excited to see all the great and gorgeous outfits everyone made (and also those of many other festival visitors).

Friday night I quickly added a green ribbon to my carpet bag as this is a distinctive feature to recognize community users. I have one on my other bag, but I didn't want to rip it off there, so a new, better one it had to be.

You see my username is quite complicated to write (but people also recognize it this way... "Oh right, the one I can't spell..." *lol*) and even more to speak (well actually it's simply spoken "Keelin"), so you get why it shrank down to just "Cao" over the years. ;)

However Saturday morning I got up at 6 a.m. (I ordered waking service ala Mommy^^), put on the chemise and did my hair first. I didn't know how long it would really take me, so I thought doing it at first would be the best, as I can easily rush with the breakfast or take it to the train ;). But it went well and after a good 30 minutes the hair was done. After breakfast and getting on the rest of the outfit (surpringly the hat kept fixed on the first try *yay*) I was off to the train around 8:15a.m. The few people I met on my 6 minutes footwalk to the trainstation stared at me a bit bewildered. Most looked curious or even in awe but some looked just "WTF??" Ah well, not that I had expected any differently.
The trainride itself was rather uneventful, got a few looks, but nothing more.

In Leipzig I met with my parents then and we took the chance to get a pic of me with this old steam engine.

I tried to get a better view of my outfit for you, I have to wait for other pictures to pop up and the ones my parents took and hopefully get some with a better quality. If anyone finds a better pic, please tell me :).

We had just left the railway area when the first guy already asked to take a pic of me... that was quick. ^^
So as the CT was only in the afternoon, we walked a bit through the city. I also accidentally came across Natron & Soda themselves sitting in a coffee shop (?) having a relaxed morning. What an honour to finally meet them in person. They btw recognized me by the green ribbon (yes, it really works);D.

So we strolled through the streets, admiring the people, taking pictures and getting photographed in return. I already lost count then.
Unfortunately not all pictures endep up clear enough, so here are the ones that got good.

I caught a N&S member (Antoinette Nightmare) without knowing ;)

As there still was some time until the CT, I decided that I'd give it a try and go to a museum where a lecture /special tour was offered on historical fashion and stuff. Snowlady and her friends had the same idea, so we met up there.

I really love her outfit.

So we made tour through the general exhibition (I even got a ticket for free, although I had no festival bracelet *wohoo*), but we didn't get onto the special tour. There were soooooo many people and they could only take 50 at one time. They offered to make a second tour about 1.5 hours later, but that would have been too late for us. While waiting for the tour I took some more nice outfit pictures.

So we (Snowlady, Blaue Aster and myself) made our way back towards the park where the CT would be. On our way we were again photographed a lot.
When we arrived at the park already a few other users were there. I will just show pictures of the CT without many words, but be sure we all had a lot of fun.

Kleine Frau, me and Annelie von Uebel

so gorgeous costumes *.*

I just looooove this dress, so awesome ♥ (this is the lovely Mywiel, like just stepped out of a Tissot-painting)

one of the best uses of DITTE I have ever seen ;), beautiful

While chatting we spoke about the advantages of hoop skirts... freedom of the legs, always enough space around you and hiding non-matching footwear, which Antoinette Nightmare proved right there and then ;)

cute

And I got a nice picture of the community founders. Thank you for your great work, ladies!

Soda & Natron

Btw. goths are really funny people... far away from moping around depressed... our favourite weapon?

Rainbow bubbles!

Oh and there was a duck hunt

I guess you have seen in a few pictures that there were a lot of photographers around. As the N&S CT is a regular "event" at the WGT by now, they know where to find us ^^ Paparazzi-alarm.
And of course where the paparazzi are, the (internet)-TV isn't far.
A few of us got interviewed.

The little girl was soooo cute, she just plopped down in the grass and looked at us. Everytime her mother pulled her up and wanted her to go, she just made a few steps and plopped down again. Adorable. Only the interview guy seemed to scare her.
Here you can see the video (I pop up around 2:20-2:50 for a few seconds)

On my way back to the train station I again got photographed quite a few times...if anyone finds a pic, please tell me.
Also the goth-juniors were interviewed while their mothers laughed their asses off

That's all pictures from the WGT and CT, I only need to show you one more... my petticoat after a day in in Leipzig... I have no idea how to get this clean again... any advice?

So if anyone wants a bigger version of pictures or wants their pictures to be taken down, just comment, email or PN me.

Thanks for watching, see you soon..

A proper Lady doesn't talk about this...

2011-05-30T23:54:00.002+02:00

Hello fans ;)

I'm right back again, this time with victorian underwear (again somehow).
During the last weeks and last weekend I made an underwear corset and a set of another chemise and drawers (called unmentionables, as you wouldn't speak about it openly- which might be the cause why I'm still wondering how they tended to/managed certain "natural business" back then...-.-')

Thinking about the possible weather/temperature at Whitsun, I decided that I needed a more lightweight, comfortable "summer corset". There's no way I will be wearing the *wool* corset under the *wool* jacket and *wool* skirt... in June!
So a simple underwear corset was in order. I chose a medium weight cotton twill as fabric for both layers (to not make the mistake of getting rubbing bones again), which is not as sturdy as coutil, but it has a nice structure and is sturdy enough to hold my small form. Also I thought that the minimal stretch is working towards comfort.

I had been thinking alot about how to construct it... single layer, double layer, what kind of bone casings, cording or not, embroidery or not, etc etc.
Also I had two patterns to choose from: the Truly Victorian 110 corset, which I would have needed to shorten abit at the top to get it back to semibust or a semibust corset pattern based on the late 1880s corset from Norah Waugh's "Corsets and Crinolines", mixed with a bit of the "black with yellow flossing" corset (1890-1900) from Jill Salen's book "Corsets". The latter was neccessary as the C&C corset uses a spoon busk, while the other has a straight busk, just like I was going to use. So I adjusted the front panels a bit.
Both corset patterns had some cording at the bust and I thought a lot time about doing it, too and even made a few testers with different cords, but then decided against it. I will do it on another corset, that's for sure, but I will need to change the construction and pattern a bit for it first...

So as my new shiny sewing machine has some nice flowery decor stitches, I decided that I would "embroider" the boning channels at the seams with them, using a glossy silk thread.

Thinking about how the bones would be put in later, I had to "embroider" the panels already before topstitching, to keep them open for the bones. So I atteched the boning channel tape to the panels, as they shouldn't show on the outside, joinded the pieces, pressed and "embroidered" next to the seamlines. Then added the waist tape, put in the busk and pinned the two layers together at the seams. Only then I could topstitch the fashion layer to build the bone casings along the seams. I'm really happy it stayed also neat on the inside, even without basting the seams first.
After that, I cut the bones, put them in, and closed the top and bottom. Then I had to tea-dye the cotton bias tape and corset lace to match the off white color of the twill. Depending on the light, the color of the bias tape is very close to the twill color, maybe a bit darker (after having it in the tea only for like 5 seconds), but still lighter than a cream colored tape.

Gah, I'm rambling again..here are the pictures:

Isn't that an awesome shape? And it's really comfortable. Back then they really knew how to shape corsets to be worn all day.

On my adjustable dress form. I set it to the smallest size possible and the corset doesn't fit perfect (dolly is not squishable), but fairly well to give a nice victorian look combined with the other garments.

Also here are some detail shots:

So in conclusion, I'm very happy with this corset. It has it's flaws but it is much better than my last one. There's still some digging in the back, but I bent the CB-bones over the edge of the table outwards a bit and it feels much better. Next time I will try and add a little room to the CB edge, so it won't be straight but going outwards abit from the waist down. That's what you would do with regular body blocks to accomodate a hollow back.
Also next time I will try less bones... this one has really many (like in C&C) and a different placement of the internal channels, as some interfered a bit with the seam lines and the boning channels there. And of course I will try the cording.
The only other thing that I'm abit unhappy about is that the, so far awesomely even, feed of my machine messed up a bit and dragged some of the flowers really long. I don't know how this happened, but it did quite a few times... I didn't pull or push the fabric, just guided it. I need to figure this out, too, as the testers went well.

Okay, I said enough about the corset, so I will cut the other garments shorter... there's not so much to tell about them anyway.
Chemise and Drawers are both made from two old bedsheets from my grandma and I tried to keep her initials in. The patterns are from "Fashions of the Gilded Age Vol.1" both.
For the drawers I used the rest of the lace from the other undergarments, for the chemise some bobbinlace I had bought also years ago already and never used so far (I'm really bad in using/cutting up nice stuff ^^, I keep and keep it for a really good/big project and never dare to use it - stupid I know). Add some dark red poly-ribbon and you're ready to go.

This chemise has a smaller sleeve and narrow shoulders, still there's much fabric bunching under my arms when the drawstring is pulled tight. I need to cut the armcycle lower next time I think... or I need to fix the gathers in front and back and keep the shoulders/sleeve portion straight. Any advice on that matter?

Then the drawers, I made a set of pictures with the chemise tucked in and one without the chemise.

The kneeband sits just above the knee now, it actually should sit below. I'm not sure about letting the tucks out again to lengthen it or leave it this short. It's not uncomfortable to wear like this as the kneeband can't drift upwards when moving or sitting down.
The hem is done with a scalloped machine stitch and the excess fabric cut off (what a task, to cut out those tiny curves^^)
Oh and in case you didn't notice, the drawers are open ones.
What I really like about them is that you don't have to worry about your ass looking big... it will no matter what *lol*, but you can hide it and just blame the drawers *muahaha*

Okay, so if you want to know anymore details, just ask. Also tell me how you like my "Unmentionables", constructive critique is welcome as well.

Thanks for reading, see you soon.

Stripey intermezzo

2011-05-29T23:02:00.001+02:00

Hello my dears!

I'm sorry I have been mia so much again here recently, I just didn't get around to work on the pictures and post them here. Still I haven't been lazy these last 4 weeks.

Three weekends ago I decided to make a little "side project". The hat was done so far, I had to wait for the wigblock (I still do btw...argh) and my sister's birthday was ahead.

Some while ago she had asked me to make her a striped jacket like the one Rihanna wore in her "What's my name" video.
While she had visited in February, I already had ordered the fabric, so all I needed to do was making a pattern.

At first I wanted to draft it entirely myself, but then decided against it as I wasn't in the mood to draft a two piece sleeve with my pattern system. This is really annoying ^^. So thanks to Mommy, I now own two "old" (something early 2000ish) issues of Burda for petite sizes (sisterli and I run rather short, while Mommy needs the tall sizes -.-). She had sent them some weeks ago, when she went through her stack of magazines and sorted out what she wanted to keep and what to throw or give away. Thinking that I have the best use for short size patterns she send me three mags.

I looked through them and luckily found a blazer pattern that had a cut on standing collar and two piece sleeve. So I traced this and altered it to the desired shape and proportions.

The construction was rather simple, as the striped twill was sturdy enough to not needing any interfacings. Also there are no fancy details like pockets or a lapel collar, you know, stuff that isn't difficult but takes a lot of time ^^. The lining is made of left over fabric of Mommy's wedding dress (don't worry I didn't cut up the dress, the fabric is still left from when she made it... so it's older than me)

So the whole thing was done between Friday night (pattern making) and Sunday afternoon.
And this is what I got then:

Except from the basic torso shape and the sleeve there's not much left of the original blazer pattern. The waist was shortened in the back and sides, the front edge shaped in this huge "lapel". When sewing it up and trying it on inbetween I needed to make a few alterations. The shoulder was way too wide and the sleeve cap too high. So I put it on the dolly and pinned it the right way, cut the excess off and sewed it in again. Also I had to reshape the back bottom edge a bit as it sloped downwards at the center back... I made it straight, cut a new facing and adjusted the lining.
But I also learned something new: With the cut on standing collar there is a dart following the line of the colloar downwards to where usually the lapels turn. I had made such a dart before but different. The instructions of Burda said to sew the whole thing, dart-collar-dart, in one go. I was a bit sceptical if this would work, but with a little clipping of seam allowances it worked very well... Awesome, I will keep that in mind.

I'm really happy with the result and the best thing is- it fit's *yay*. I was afraid that it might not fit her, as she has a rather broad back an much more chest than I've got.

Still Burda won't be my most favourite pattern companion I'm afraid. I haven't made overly bad experiences so far, but there are always things that confuse me and make me doubting the fit. Here it was the arm cycle. The front was really hollow and rounded while the back was rather flat and making a wide back. The shape was kind of reverse to what I'm used to from my pattern system, where the back arm cycle is bigger and more rounded than the front cycle. When trying it on at the end it felt pretty tight around the back when moving my arms forward. So I was afraid that it might be too tight for sisterli's broader back.
Also I had to think alot about what size to trace... Usually Burda (the pattern in magazines, not the ones to buy extra) runs rather big, so I traced two sizes smaller than the size chart told me and added a bit width in the center back and at the sides right under the arms, to meet my sister's chest measurement better and leave enough ease.

I'm really glad that sisterli likes it and it fits, I hope to get a pic of her wearing it soon. So far it had been too cold up there in Finland...maybe when she moves to Spain in August she'll be able to wear it *lol*

Okay that was my little "stripey intermezzo". Stay tuned for something unmentionable victorian soon.

Off with the head... erm hat, I mean

2011-05-04T22:02:00.002+02:00

Hey guys!

Here I am again and I can announce that the hat is done (well except for a hat elastic which will be attached after I'm more sure about how I will wear my hair).
I spent the last days decorating it, staring Sunday with shaping and curling the ostrich feathers, pleating the 1" wide red satin ribbon with my ruffler (yes I used the machine here, I hope you can forgive me ^^) and draping and pinning the flowers in place. Oh and I also changed the shape again, with both sides going down now, giving it a bonnet like shape.

Front, back, left side, right side.
I wasn't sure about this design, so I asked Snowlady and KleineFrau for their opinion and they both said there were too many feathers on it.
Hmpf and here I spent half the day shaping them and making them looking nice and fluffy, what a shame.
I de-feathered the hat anyway which looked like this:

I tried a version with the grey feathers and one without. Snowlady agreed that the one with grey feathers looks better. So my design was done *yay*
So on Monday night I started with sewing the ribbon together in the back, fixing the feathers to each other by sewing them and securing the threads with some glue. It's the only spot on the hat where I used glue!!

Tuesday morning I continued sewing on the flowers and green stuff. I attached everything only to the ribbon, so I can take it of at once and redecorate the hat if I wish.
Halfway though:

And done:

Tuesday night I sewed on the last two flowers and secured the ribbon bows in the back. Also I fixed the ribbon to the hat with a few stitches at four points to keep it in place.
I'm pretty happy with the result, now I only need to make some proper hair to go with it *lol*
I also ordered a wig stand, so I hope I can show you better pics of the hat soon and with a closer "on the head" feeling ^^ Until it arrives the milk pot has to do.
How do you like the hat??

Oh and before I forget it, I wanna show you the carpet bag. I made it on Saturday afternoon and evening.

I even found two matching buttons in my statsh. I got them from a family friend back home, who had me going through her sewing stuff some time ago and take what I needed, cool huh?
I'm really happy that the bag handles match so great in colour. It's always hard to tell when you're ordering online. I put two flatsteel bones in the top to keep the edges straight. Ordering a real bag frame would have taken too long and cost too much (one in the right size was only available in the US - yikes, shipping costs).

Okay, that's it for tonight. I'm not sure what I will be working on next... there are quite a few things on my table that want/need to be made... but for some I need to wait for supplies to arrive first. Decisions, decisions...

Thanks for reading, see ya soon

Looks like it's going to be a hat...

2011-04-28T00:20:00.000+02:00

Hello my friends,

so much time has passed already since my last post. Bad me... I hope you had some nice Easter-holidays.
I had hoped to post this way earlier, but I never got around to do it. I even put the pictures on my USB-stick and took them home with me over the weekend, hoping that I'd find a moment to post from there, but sadly it didn't work out.
However, I always try to update my progress list on the right, so you can notice that I'm not lazying around.
I'm working on a few things at the moment, the hat, the shorts for my mom's uncle and a carpet bag. I decided that I need one to take with me to the Wave Gotik Treffen at Whitsun, as not much fits into my embroidered handbag. So I ordered the fabric and leather handles last Monday and got to cut the pieces already on Friday. I had made the pattern the weekend before. Tonight I started sewing the fashion layer after working on the shorts.
The hat had been put on pause as I had to wait for some more decoration items, which arrived on Saturday.
But I will come to this again at the end of this post. Now I wanna show you some more in-progress pictures of the hat, which still is entirely handsewn.
Last time we stopped with the top being covered and then pinned to the crown. Looked like this:

After that I stitched it together:

Details of the stitching:

Next I covered the brim, first the lining, which turned over the wire and edge and then put the fashion layer on top and stitched it to the lining.

Looked like this (top and side view):

To cover the edge I found some nice braid in my huge stock that has a grey and a black edge, perfect matching for this hat, don't you think? I fixed the braid with three stitches through each loop on both sides, so it would lay smooth.

Next I sewed around the inner wire through all layers and cut the seamallowance (top and bottom):

Then I pinned and joined the lining pieces:

A grossgrain ribbon was added to the inside of the brim:

Then the cown pinned and sewn to the brim (quite fiddly, when it shall be invisible):

Before the lining was added I tried the hat on and decided that a layer of felt wouldn't hurt. Additionally I put another layer in the side regions. Then I fixed the lining to the felt.

Last I sewed the grossgrain ribbon to the lining, to give it a clean finish.

Also I decided on the shape of the brim. I was really conflicted about having the sides up and front and back down or the other way round. In the end I have one side up and one down *lol*

So the basic hat is done and now all it needs is some nice decoration. I had already bought some matching red satin ribbon and three bags with little flowery stuff. I tried putting them on the hat for a test, but as research showed that it is nearly impossible to put too much decoration on a victorian hat, I went to get some more flowers and satin ribbon. This time in red and black and wider than the other, as well as some tulle ribbon to stiffen the ribbon if neccessary. Also I discovered that I would have to pluck an ostrich, as victorian hats seem to have half of the feathers of one bird on them. This is what I had to wait for to arrive. Fortunately I had quickly found an online source which offers really great ostrich stuff for little money. Quick and affordable shipping included. Ordered on Monday night as well and arrived, as mentioned above, on Saturday noon.
So I'll probably spend part of the weekend decorating the hat. I'm afraid I won't keep my "as little as possible glue" vow. I don't think I would get all pieces in the right place and order if I sewed them on... so I guess it will be a more sticky task ;)
Also I need to figure out how to fix the hat on my head. Hatpins won't work alone, so I will probably have to add an elastic that will go under my hair then. Maybe I'll also add a red ribbon that ties in the nape of my neck under the hair with a big bow... not sure yet.
Do you have any other ideas about how to fix the hat?

Okay, that's it for now, stay tuned for more.
Thanks for reading

The sewing machine test -or- sewing a "flesh digger"

2011-04-10T23:47:00.001+02:00

Hello my dears,

I hope you had a good week and an even better weekend.

So as mentioned in my last post, I made a new corset to test my new sewing machine.
Well I can say that I'm very pleased with her. The even feed is awesome. I really need to try this out with decorating on a corset. For now I have only used the straight stitch for the corset (well that's what you actually only need for it^^).
Also I like that I can change the needle position to left and right at a 0.5mm interval. So I can switch from left to right always at the very same amount. Great for topstitching.
I think she's owned her place in my (already too small) home. I'm also looking for an extension table. There is one at the website of the machine company, but my model isn't listed in the description. So I asked them if it would fit, too and wait for their answer (which will hopefully come tomorrow). I really hope it will fit, because the table would be in my bugdet and come so handy for corsetry.

However, this post actually is about the corset, so on with the WIP:

Beforehand I need to say that this time I tried a new (well new for me) method and constructed it as a single layer corset. So there is no extra lining. Only the front and back pieces have a facing (I cut on fold where possible).

Cut all pattern pieces from coutil twice (except for the pieces cut on fold)

All pattern pieces cut out, the central back panels are cut on fold as well as the left central front piece with the included modesty panel

Lay the coutil panels on satin to estimate the area that will be needed. Cut matching interfacing, interface satin.

Cut around the coutil panels

As you see I cut the satin a bit larger than the coutil at the seams (not on top and bottom!). This is neccessary for rollpinning the satin later. This is important to have the fashion layer lying smoothly on the boday later.

Rollpin all panels, they will curve slightly.

Flatline the satin to the coutil, keeping the rolled width in.

You might wonder about why I habe two fabric layers, but said it was single layer. Well, the term means the constructing method. After flatlining both fabrics are treated as one layer.

Mark the hooks of the busk on the right front pieces and sew the seam between the marks. Lockstitch properly.

Join all remaining panels so you get two halves of the corset.

Press all seams properly.

Here I got to try out my new shiny selfmade tailor's ham. It's not very big, still it took me more than 3 hours to stuff it completely with wood bedding I got from the pet section at the drug store^^.

Topstitch the front modesty panel

Topstitch all seams (yay for the even feed)

Pin and baste on the waist tape

Set the busk in

Pin on the boning channel tape

Sew boning channels in place from the right side

Mark top and bottom edge

Lengthen, cut and tip all bones ( I only took a pic of the flatsteels, the spirals were already in)

Insert all bones and sew the top and bottom closed

Cut back the seam allowance

Add the bias binding

from the inside

close up of the handfinished binding inside

Set in the grommets

The inside again

The lacing panel and it again (as it usually does with satin and taffetas etc.) pulled threads. You can see the lines running between the grommets.

Add the lace, a label and you're done *yay*

on Isolde, my dress form

on me... oh look, it's a flesh digger
Well, the corset turned out not as good as I had hoped. It's rather uncomfortable, the boning and busk rub on my ribs at the top front, but I guess that's an issue with this construction method as the seams are becoming quite bulky. Next time I will definitely put a layer between my body and the boning channels, so back to the two layer construction or at least put the boning channels on the outside... Also I learned that the heavy duty busk doesn't work for underbust corset with a higher front edge. The smaller straight busk feels much better. So either with the wide busk I have to cut the front a bit lower (straight) or only use it with higher corsets.
We can also see it's too small at the top, there I need to add quite a bit width. Even more than I took away after the mockup fitting (I really wonder how this could be so big then and now it's way too small -.-). I never had such a bad case of muffin top. I might also cut the corset higher in the back to cup this "discarded squish" better.
The waist could be smaller, too. It's really weird, as I used my usual 2" reduction... still it doesn't curve very nicely.
The back bottom gives me a nightmare, too. It's really hard to adjust a corset so it won't dig into the overly soft flesh of my upper butt. It always digs, it's annoying.
And to add to the confusion I need to add width there rather than take it away, even if it looks too wide there with the smaller lacing gap.
I laced it a bit differently later, trying to achieve an evener lacing gap, hoping it would tell me where to add width or take it away. Now I will try and add back at the front side seam and the other lower back seams a bit.
I guess I will need to adjust the lacing gap every time after lacing, pulling back the width to the bottom as this is always tightened already when I pull the lacing at the waist. "Redirecting" the space, so to say.

Ah well... lesson learned... at least the corset fulfilled it's purpose - testing the sewing machine and trying out the single layer construction with boning channel tape (which is great btw).

Okay, that's it for today, news of the hat will follow soon.
Have a geat week.

There's a bug going 'round...

2011-04-04T21:41:00.002+02:00

...and it's bringing sewing machines to new homes.

Hi again!

I bet you didn't expect me so soon already, did you? ;)
Don't worry, this will only be a short post.

So, on my blog list I detected quite an inflationary increase of new sewing machines. There seems to be a spring bug going 'round as it also has gotten me.
Last week I ordered a new sewing machine, and it's the most expensive one I got so far.
I have never been overly fond of computerzied sewing machines as they tend to die faster than the old sturdy mechanical ones, also I mainly only used the regular stitches and stuff most sewing machines have anyway. Still they have a few features you never want to live without once you got to know them... like the automatic buttonholes (I have 11 of them on this machine), 7mm stitch width, machine eyelet (wohoo... perfect for non-period correct stays and stuff, that is supposed to *look* period correct at 3m distance ^^), needle position setting and a few nice decor stitches.
Additionally this machine has a strong stitch and an awesomely even feed (as far as I have tested it). The lockstitch function is a bit weird, I probably won't use it for regular stitching, only to finish the decor stitches and stuff. The backward stitch goes awfully slow, which gives you a nice control of stitching, but it is a bit too slow for my taste... I need to get used to it.
What I really like with the needle position setting is: put fabric under foot, push button,*beep* needle goes down, sew, needle stays in the fabric when you stop, push the button at the end of the seam, *beep* needle goes up, lift foot, take fabric out, cut threads off. Awsome, no need for a handwheel. :D Only the beeping becomes annoying when you sew short seams *lol* An automatic thread cutter would have been cool ^^, maybe next time *muahaha*
But enough of just words, I know you want pictures ;)

My new baby... and it's green ^^
A good thing is, my other presser feet fit on this machine, too, although it came with really many feet. More than the regular ones, it even has a gathering foot (now I have two^^). Even my ruffler fits, although the screw to fasten the presser feet is very small. I might get one with a bigger head to screw on the ruffler to keep it on secure.

A few stitch samples I made to test out the machine on different fabrics: jersey, coutil, cotton canvas, interfaced bridal satin, viscose lining (ruffler test). I also tested sewing millinery wire on buckram, works fine. As well as sewing over jeans, I took a piece I had cut off from a pair of customer jeans at work last week (thick material) and folded it like the hem of a pair of jeans, the machine went through it so smooth, even feed, regular stitches. A dream.
To make an "ultimate" test, I started sewing a corset (I mean this is what the machine must sew here^^), but more about this later.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment.

Never leave the house without a hat...

2011-04-04T00:42:00.001+02:00

...this has been an advice to all proper women for centuries.
So I should go along, right? At least when wearing an 1880s outfit ;)

My dears,

I'm so very sorry I haven't posted here for such a long time, but I haven't done much in the last weeks. While finishing up the trousers for my Mom's uncle I fell ill for a good two weeks. After that I had to catch up on a few things, but now I'm hopefully back with some new projects.

Last weekend I (more or less out of the blue) decided to get started on my 1880s wool flannel hat. I need it for the Wave Gotik Treffen at Whitsun. (Well depending on what I will wear in the end which is depending on the weather.)
However I need this hat, sooner or later, it was planned anyways.
Some time ago I had already ordered some buckram and millinery wire, so I could get started quite fast.
I had a pattern here already, but I altered it a bit. I made it a bit larger, so it would come lower on my head, but now I'm afraid I largened it too much. I've got so see when all layers are joined. I have bought some felt already to put inside if it should be too wide (I'm prepared for all situations *lol*)
But back to where I started:

I cut the pattern pieces (top, crown and brim) from buckram first and marked all lines where wire would be attachted.

Then I cut the fashion fabric and lining pieces. The brim lining is the same black polyester I used for the underskirt of the faintailskirt (so it would match) and the inner lining will be the same as I used for my tailor's exam (again to match there, as I plan on wearing the jacket with the fantailskirt).

Also I decided to make this hat entirely by hand, so no sewing machine and (if possible) no glue.
So I sewed on the millinery wire by hand, it took some time, but went smooth otherwise.

After that I started covering the pieces. Starting with the top.

As you can see, I have run a basting thread/draw string around the edge of the fashion fabric. This really helps when you want to get fabric around a round edge no matter what garment or accessoiry you're making. It even helps with hemming round skirts. The surplus width will be distributed evenly around the whole edge.

By now I have also the crown covered and pinned to the top to be sewn together. I need to take a picture of it...
Yesterday I went to the city and got some decoration for the hat... grossgrain ribbon, satin ribbon (the same colour I used for the corset, only wider) and some flowers. Can you imagine how hard it is to find not too big or too small sized flowers that look at least a little bit like the ones in my embroidery? I went through all craft stores and home decor departments... in the end I found them in one of the "1-Euro-Stores"... didn't surprise me though ^^.

Okay, that's it for today. More will come soon, I promise ;)
See ya

Competition Entries online!

2011-02-21T22:05:00.000+01:00

Hi @ all!

So I haven't done much postworthy during the last couple of weeks, so you can only see what I'm doing on my progress list in the right sidebar. At the moment I'm back working on the second batch of trousers for my mom's uncle.

Still today I can give you a lot of awesome things to look at and ooh and aah about:
The entries for the DPP costume competition over at YWU/FR are online. 53 entries in total and all are so great. I really can't decide which one I like best in each category and I've only got one week to vote my favourites.
Only members of the sites are allowed to vote though, still feel free to look at all entries and comment on them or the respective dress diaries. Click below to get to the main competition entry page.

DPP entry page

In the left sidebar you can see a new page link named "DPP". This is my "official" entry page, so have a look at it and tell me how you like it.

Okay, that's it for today, see ya soon.

I got an award yay

2011-02-06T18:49:00.001+01:00

Hello my dear followers!

So this will be a bilingual post in English and German.
Reason is: I got tagged! Ich wurde getaggt (gibts dafür auch nen deutsches Wort? Vielleicht ausgewählt?)
The lovely Snowlady rewarded me with the "Liebster Blog" /"Most Fave Blog" award. Thank you so much, dear. I won't tag you again, but be sure that you are one of my most fave blogs. *hugs*
Die liebe Snowlady hat mir den "Liebster Blog" Award verliehen. Vielen, vielen Dank, meine Liebe. Ich werd dir den Award nicht nochmal verleihen, aber sei versichert, dass du einen meiner liebsten Blogs hast. *knuddl*

So here's the award/ Hier ist der Award:

It's lovely, isn't it?/ Ist er nicht toll? :D

Now on to the instructions / Weiter mit der Anleitung:

You got tagged and want to participate?
Create a blog post, where you post the "Liebster Blog"/"Most-fave-Blog" picture and include the instructions (that's what you're reading right now). Also you should link to the blog of the person who tagged you. Inform them in a comment at their blog that you accept the award and leave the link to your award post.
Then you get to chose 3-5 of your favourite blogs who you want to give the award. Link them in your award post. Inform their owners via comment that they got tagged and link to your award post where the instructions are mentioned.
Dear bloggers: Aim of this campaign is to make mainly unknown but great blogs more public. So please don't tag blogs that already have 3000 followers, but talented beginners and people who have been blogging for a while but remained rather unknown so far.

Du bist getaggt worden & möchtest teilnehmen?
Erstelle einen Post, indem du das Liebster-Blog-Bild postest & die Anleitung reinkopierst (= der Text den du gerade liest). Außerdem solltest du zum Blog der Person verlinken, die dir den Award verliehen hat & sie per Kommentar in ihrem Blog informieren, dass du den Award annimmst & ihr den Link deines Award Posts da lassen. Danach überlegst du dir 3- 5 Lieblingsblogs, die du ebenfalls in deinem Post verlinkst & die Besitzer jeweils per Kommentar - Funktion informierst, dass sie getaggt wurden und hier ebenfalls den Link des Posts angibst, in dem die Erklärung steht. Liebe BloggerInnen: Das Ziel, dieser Aktion ist, dass wir unbekannte, gute Blogs an's Licht bringen, deswegen würde ich euch bitten keine Blogs zu posten, die ohnehin schon 3000 Leser haben, sondern talentierte Anfänger & Leute, die zwar schon ne Weile bloggen, aber immer noch nicht so bekannt sind.

Well now only my fave blogs are missing. Jetzt fehlen nur noch meine liebsten Blogs.
I tag the following blogs. Ich verleihe den Award an folgende Blogs weiter:
1. Bridges on the Body
2. Awesomosis
3. Die Kleine Frau
4. Moment-Zauber

It's been hard to chose my fave blogs, as many blogs on my blogroll already got the award, sometimes even several times. So I wanted to tag blogs, that haven't gotten the award yet.
Ich hab mich mit der Auswahl meiner liebsten Blogs schwer getan, denn viele Blogs von meiner Liste haben den Award schon bekommen, teilweise sogar mehrmals. Deshalb wollte ich den Award an Blogs weitergeben, die ihn noch nicht bekommen haben.

Okay that's it, but I've got a question for my German readers.
So das wärs, aber ich hab noch eine Frage an meine deutschen Leser:
Stört es euch stark, dass ich den Blog auf Englisch schreibe? Ist mein Englisch für euch verständlich oder würdet ihr es lieber auf deutsch lesen? Schreibt mir eure Meinung, egal ob auf deutsch oder englisch.

Chemise done

2011-01-24T22:42:00.001+01:00

Hello dears,

another weekend has passed and another garment is finished:
An 1880's chemise.
I took the pattern from "Fashions of the Gilded Age Vol.1" and surprise, surprise I didn't make any alterations in the measurements this time. I only shortened the body and sleeves afterwards by sewing in tucks as trimming.
I struggled in finding a fabric in my statsh that was big enough... unbelievable how much fabric a chemise swallows. But in the end the 2m of white cotton bunting did it, although I had to add a seam down the central back.
Also I had some difficulties in sewing in the sleeves, as they are shaped differently from modern ones... I had done all seams so far only using the overlock machine, so I had to open the side seams a bit again to make the sleeves fit and set them in using the normal sewing machine. And I had to do it in two steps: a) sew the straight part under the arm and then b) cut the seamallowance of the armhole to sew the rest of the sleeve. But it worked... still I will do a chemise with a simpler (or no) sleeve next time ;)
For trimming I used (next to four tucks at the bottom and the sleeves) the same lace as I had used für the petticoat. I decorated the cleavage, hem and sleeve hem. Also through the lace at the cleavage and the bottom I threaded a dark red satin ribbon.
Okay enough words... here's the pic:

Now I've got about a meter (from a 10m roll) of the lace left... should be just enough for the hem of the drawers.
I hope you like it (feel free to click one of those little boxes below ;) )
Thanks for watching, see you soon.

Fantail Skirt done

2011-01-16T18:49:00.003+01:00

Hello my fellow followers,

Just a quick update post today.
I finished the Fantail Skirt just about half an hour ago, so I thought I quickly share the images with you.

The gathering in the front turned out even better than in my sketch ^^ I'm very happy with it.
The whole skirt including the underskirt/lining is really heavy, but it definitely needs the stiff, heavy base to fall nice. It's been a good decision to make it this way and not just the wool skirt alone.
Already during the week I cut and overlocked the pieces. So I could start sewing yesterday. I joined the panels, sew the darts, attached the drawstring and somehow got the 50cm folded down to 7cm for each back panel. It took me a few tries and combinations though ;).
Then I got a bit crazy and decided to handsew the hem ô.O. The good 3.5m were done in about 2 hours while watching TV *lol*
Today I joined the two skirts and attached the waistband, it's also handfinished on the inside.
At last I put the skirt on the dolly and pinned the gathers in place. I call it the pineapple look.
What do you think about it? Like it or not?

Okay, that's it for today. Thanks for watching, see you next time.

Pin, Pleat, Press, Pin, Pleat, Press,...

2011-01-11T00:29:00.005+01:00

Hey folks!

So another weekend has passed and yet again I have something to show you.
I've started with the fantail skirt, again alot of calculations. I decided to mix the patterns from the "Fashions of the Gilded Age Vol1." and the TV 225. The latter I actually just sketched from pictures shown in a WIP quite some time ago.
This is what I want the skirt to look like in the end (on the left you can se the pic form the book)

And this is how I mixed the patterns

I added darts to the front and side gore to a) have it better fitting at the upper hips and b) take out some width from the waist already. Otherwise I would have had to get the remaining 60cm (as indicated by the drawing) in 3cm of the waistband... nearly impossible. So now I only need to get them into 7cm band *lol*. Also I decided to only make it 50cm wide. Snowlady was so kind to measure the back piece from the TV pattern for comparision.
Next I changed the box pleat in the back to a gore (like with the TV pattern) and removed the train (our streets are too dirty for that ^^). Also you can see a little sketch for the skirt lining/foundation. This is what I actually made over the weekend. I wanted to make it first before the top layer, to measure how long the skirt can be in the back to just touch the ground.

Saturday I cut the pieces (I made the back panels 10cm narrower), serged them and joined the upper part as well as the flounce pieces... they were 5 full breadths of fabric, meaning 1,50m wide... so the flounce has a total length of 7,50m *ugh*

Sunday I started with hemming the flounce- always do that before pleating or gathering or you'll go nuts ;)

Then I went into the pleating marathon. Pin, pleat, press, pin, pleat, press... a good 80 times... *ugh* took me about two hours to get the 7,5m down to 2,5m...

At least the progress was very well noticable *lol*
Next was fixing the pleats and joining the upper part with the flounce

Now after the pleats were tamed, the skirt was gathered onto the waistband (the back panels shouldn't have been a cm wider, the 40cm was the maximum to be gathered down to 7cm).
The waistband is only a plain cottontape, rather makeshift, just to hold the gathers in place and to pin it on the dolly. I will probably simply sew it into the real waistband with the whole lining skirt.
So to make long words short, here the pictures of the finished lining:

As a sidenote: both fabics are black, only the upper one is cotton, the lower one is polyester. It amazes me everytime how many shades of a "non-color" there are ^^

Okay that's it for this week.
Stay tuned for more and tell me what you think ;)

Long time no see ;)

2011-01-04T00:50:00.002+01:00

It's already been last year *lol*

Hello my dears,

I wish you a very Happy New Year! may all your wishes and dreams for 2011 come true and may all days be full of sunshine and glitter :)

So I used the longer weekend to make up the underskirt I had mentioned in my last post. I tried to not hink about it too much and just do it... but yeah, I still think I thought about it too much... I show you what I mean:

The pattern is from "Fashions of the Gilded Age Vol.1" -not that difficult to beginn with... I checked the measurements to see how it would fit and decided to take a few centimeters from each panel as the waist would have hardly fit into the waistband with my size. I need to remember next time to check the hip measurement after drawing the 1:1 version, as a "medium" size in victorian terms, doesn't mean "medium" in 2011 terms. Well, the final skirt is a bit tight around the hips, when I pull the drawstring in the back tight. So maybe better make the waist dartlike smaller... above the hips to fit into the waistband then...
Ah well, lesson learned, and actually it's great to know that the patterns seem to fit my size quite well...
But back to topic...my overworking brain... so while the pattern is rather simple to follow I had to think abit about how to make the flounce...

This were my detailed notes... spent way too much time thinking and planning about it.... but in the end it proved well, as it fit very well with my fabric. Not much left of it, now ^^

So I chose the lace and cut our the pieces. I had actually planned to make a more detailed work-in-progress, but the next pictures I took then, were these:

It turned out not as full as in the sketch, I guess also the fabric is too soft. Maybe for the future I'll add more width towards the bottom of the back piece, so the drawstring can gather more material.
But it makes a nice underskirt nonetheless. Only I notice just now that I sewed in a nasty fold when attaching the flounce, I need to fix it tomorrow (or better later today ^^)

All in all it was a nice two-day-shortcut project. I need to do stuff like that more often and not spend weeks or longer on one thing...

Ah well, I gotta go to bed.
Have a great day, see ya soon ;)

"delicious and unbelievable unfetishly feminine..."

2010-12-30T01:10:00.002+01:00

...were the words of my dear friend Snowlady when I showed her the (btw. again bad) pictures of my grey wool corset.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's finished.
Finally.
Last Thursday, with my mind already half on my weekend at my parents' and half on setting the grommets in the corset, it occured my (while brushing my teeth^^) that I had comepletely forgotten about the back modesty panel. So I quickly hauled out the sewing machine again and attached the binding on it, too. Good thing I had the triangle-corner of wool from cutting the bias tape left, and it made perfect bias strips for the modesty panel.
That's what happens when you bury important things under a pile of paper pattern pieces, fabric and embroidery stuff *lol*

However this left me with the grommets to do after a very relaxing weekend with my parents. I hope you had some nice Holidays, too?

So yesterday I put in the grommets and the lace today. I went with plain black corset lace tipped with silver aglets for now. Maybe I can find some grey lace later to replace it.
But enough talking, on with the pictures (I know you wanna see them ^^)

It fits well and quite comfortable, still the bust looks a bit weird. I'm not sure if maybe giving a bit more room at the top edge will make a smoother silhouette. The cups are nice, but I might set the bustline a tad higher the next time, as there's a little bit of space under the sidebust left and dragging the shaping higher might help.
But I really like the general shaping and the positions of the seams. Also the hip gore is really cool and provides a nice hipspring.
Next time I wanna try to work with boning channel tape as I got some ugly puckering from the clipped seam allowances when I pushed in the bones... also the wool was quite tricky to press in this case. I guess it's time I make myself a nice tailors ham. The sleeve board just doesn't do it for things like corsets anymore ^^

Ah well, next I wanna make an 1880s underskirt to wear under the planned fantailskirt, which will be done afterwards. We'll see how it'll work out ;)

Okay, that's it for today
I already wish you a Happy New Year, have a great time celebrating!

I can see an end... & Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T23:07:00.002+01:00

Hello my fellow readers!

Another three weeks have passed already and the world is in full blow Christmas mood.
So before I will give you a little update on my corsetry work, I want to wish you all a

Merry, merry Christmas!

I hope you'll have a great and peaceful holiday season with your beloved ones.

May Santa be good to you, too ;)

Okay, now up to the small update...
The winter trousers for my Mom's uncle are all shipped and fit (according to him) very well *yay*.
So after being done with them I went on with the grey woolcorset.
I did the top flossing and attached the bias binding.

flossing with the binding pinned on the inside

with attached binding from the outside

and from the inside

So now all it needs are the grommets and the lacing. Unfortunately I haven't found a matching cord/ribbon yet. All the grey stuff I found was usually too light to match the wool. If anyone has an advice on where to look for a lace, please don't hesitate.

I'm afraid that's already all for now.
So enjoy the Holidays and I'll see you next week (hopefully).

I'm alive and working

2010-12-01T22:31:00.002+01:00

Hello my dear readers,

I'm very sorry for not posting here for so long. I hope you didn't worry and if you paid a litte attention to the sideboard's work in progress list, you could see an update evey now and then.

So in the meantime I did a little progress with the grey wool corset. I pushed in all the bones and also started on the flossing.
First I made a little sampler with different flossing designs. a) to try out how the embroidery floss would go through the coutil and b) to decide which design would match the whole corsetry design best.

I then decided for the last one, as the narrow threads matched the embroidery best.
So I got started with the inner ends of the bones at the hip gore and then went on with the lower edge flossing. The upper edge will come next as soon as I find time again.

In the meantime I have been working on the pants for my Mom's uncle. No.1 is already shipped and according to the uncle it fits like a glove *yay* He said he didn't get them off after trying them on until bedtime *lol*
No.2 I finished last Sunday after cutting it and No.3 on Saturday evening. No.3 is in progress. The sideseams are done and I hope to finish up next week.
This weekend my parents will visit, so I won't be able to do anything till Tuesday.
But instead I will hopefully get a new desk with more working space under my bed. *wohoo*

Okay, so far with this little update.
Thanks for your patience, I hope to update more often again...
Stay tuned for more.

Number one done...

2010-10-23T23:21:00.005+02:00

Hello my dear friends,

you might have already read it in the progress-list on the right, that I'm done with the pink black underbust corset.

Last weekend I finished the boning channels of the grey wool corset, defined the upper and lower edge on both corsets, measured, cut and tipped the bonesfor both , pushed them into the pink-black one, sewed the edges closed, trimmed of the excess fabric and set on bias the binding (handfinished on the inside), during the week I put in the grommets and the lacing.
But let pictures speak:

wool corset with defined edges

pink-black underbust with defined edges

bones for both corsets (a few are already in the underbust)

underbust with closed edges

excess trimmed off

bias pinned on

sewing on bias

handfinishing bias on the inside

widening the holes with an awl

pushing the grommet in

adding some fray check

putting the washer on it

prrrrreeessssssss

grommet from the outside

finished from the outside

from the inside

Today I took a few pictures on the dress form... unfortunately the quality is rather low :(

Also those stupid wrinkles are annoying me, I can't tell yet how to get rid of them the next time... sewing on the boning channels on a hipspring that strong is really hard and it probably caused the wrinkling... clipping and trimming the seamallowance didn't help at all... also the bone placing in general serves the wrinkling...darn.
Any suggestions on what to make better next time or how to allter the pattern?

Also I took some really crappy pictures of me wearing the corset:

I'm not sure if it's just because the corset isn't broken in yet, but there's some slight gapping at the side seam. I hope it will lay smooth once the flatsteels in the back are molded to my shape a bit and lacing gets easier. Also it feels as if the bones are digging a bit in at the top and bottom, but that may also because the bones are still too stiff and my flesh is too soft ^^
The wrinkling is also there :(
But I really like the feeling how the spiral bones in the front mold around my ribs and dig into the waist a bit to give some more hourglass feeling. It feels nice :)

Okay, tell me what you think.
Thanks for watching, see you next time.

Each millimeter counts...

2010-10-10T22:42:00.003+02:00

Hey my friends!

Sorry, it took me so long, but I didn't make such a great progress over the last couple of weeks and I haven't been in blogging mood, as I had to ramble every night about my current intern in the shop and her weird mind...
Anyway I'm back now and I brought a few pictures as well.
In my last post I mentioned that I had started to handbaste the layers of the grey wool corset together. This task then filled my free time for almost a week. Not because I'm so slow, but because I didn't find so much time in the mornings to do it.

After that was done I went back to the pink-black underbust corset and pinned the boning channels on. Pushing the pins through the satin coutil channel, the crepe satin and another layer coutil is not nice for your fingers, let me tell you ^^. But I guess that's my own fault, as I'm using the steel pins without glass head.
When I then started sewing the channels on it turned out more difficult that I had thought. Finding a presser foot where I could manage to get the distance to the channel edge right and regular took alot of trying and unpicking. And even with the right foot and a guide bar it is not as easy as it always looks to get a straight, clean stitchingline. Especially on curvy seams.
So after a felt 1000 meters of unpicked seams I finally got done with the external channels yesterday and attached the lining. Today I pressed those last joining seams and stitched the remaining boning channels at the CF and CB.
The result:

and although it's nowhere near perfect (I really need a better machine that feeds evener), I dare showing you a close-up:

The next step would be to measure, cut and tip the bones, but I will do this in one go with the bones for the grey corset as a hurting hand once is enough ^^.

So I switched to the grey thread and started sewing the inner lines for the bone casings on the wool corset. Turns out here my adjustable zipper foot workes quite well with the distance. On the coutil channels it always slipped off, that stupid thing *lol*

So I have to see, if I can get the channels done before my Mom's uncle will drop by with his pants order. I don't know how many he wants and how they are exactly made, so I can't tell yet how long it will be keeping me busy. Also I hope to fit some time in this week to sew my wool jacket at work. I don't wanna take it home with me to prevent the dust bunnies, I have enough here already and have to clean in the shop anyway ;).

Okay that's it for this time
Have a great new week

Little by little

2010-09-27T21:54:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!
Not much progress last week again.
I sewed the satin coutil strips to channels. I used a width of about 1/2 inch (12.5mm) as I need almost 9mm to fit the 7/7.5mm bones inside and need another 1-1.5mm per side tp sew the channels on the corset. So 9mm+3mm is 12mm.
Then I pressed the boning channel seamallowance open on the middle of the back after trimming it to about 2mm.
Now I have 22 nice satin coutil boning channels to put on the pink crepe satin.

Saturday night I shortened a couple of pants for myself as I wasn't in the mood for corsetry. But then I decided out of boredom to pin the layers of the wool corset together along the seamlines.
This morning I started handbasting them together.

Yesterday I didn't do any sewing stuff, the weather was too bad ^^. So I cleaned out some drawers of my side board and went to the open day of the Semper Opera later in the afternoon. The weather was still bad and I didn't want to stand in the line in the rain to get into the Opera itself. So I only went to the costume shop and it was sooo amazing. They had many pretty costumes on display, although that was just a fraction of the real amount of gorgeous costumes. I got to see under a few tutus and get to know their construction a bit better. One day I will make a tutu, too *lol* I'm still looking for a book to teach me, if anyone as a suggestion please don't hesitate!
I also talked to one seamstress there and the whole shop is soooo huge, so many sewing machines, so many cutting tables, so many.... you get it ;)

Okay, that's it for today.
Have a great week

Little progress

2010-09-20T22:02:00.002+02:00

Hello my lovely readers!

I know I have been mia this last week, but not much happened on the corsetry front so far.
Last week I used the cleared table to take a pattern from my fave jeans. They have become really thin in the seating area, beyond repair, so I took it apart and drafted the pattern around the pieces. Then, after a good 5 years of use I threw the pieces into the garbage bin. :´( I only kept the back pockets and one front pocket facing as fabric sample.
Yesterday afternoon (after sleeping in after a nice night out clubbing with my current intern) I got out the sewing machine again.
I stitched down the seam allowances of the pink black corset, joined the lining pieces and cut 22 strips of satin coutil. This morning I sewed them up to form boning channels.

Otherwise I'm almost through the first volume of "Fashions of the Gilded Age" and I'm starting to understand some ways of those draperies *lol* It's really its own science *g*

Okay, that's it for today
See ya soon

Cao - 86 points...

2010-09-12T00:42:00.001+02:00

Hello @ all!

So this was me yesterday after the apprenticeship diploma ceremony:

Do I look like a happy graduate or do I look like a happy graduate? ;)

I do look like a happy graduate, because I am =)
I made a great 86 points in my exam, and thinking about all the flaws it had, it's really good.
It's a "good" result and proves that my work is just as good as from a "real" trained dressmaker. I even had more points than at least two of the other examinees. *woot*
Now I just need to convince the rest of the world that my skills are quite equal to the others'.
At least I got many compliments on my embroidery again and also on my bag. On our way to the ceremony place people looked at me like I was an alien *lol*

Most of the other girls were there, too and few of them also wore their exam outfits.

But maybe I should give you a chronilogical overview of the day...
So in the morning I went to the hair salon to get my hair pinned up. I brought my hair piece, but the hair dresser thought my hair was enough, also as I didn't wanted it to become too huge. So she curled my hair and pinned it up.

Unfortunately my hair is really heavy so the curls hung out quite fast. I guess I'd need a ton of special hair products to keep it curled, not so good for my head...
Anyway I liked the hairdo and it was appropriate for the event.

When I got home an hour later, my parents had arrived and Mom was making the "mysterious" lunch. It was what I had suspected... our all time family favourite... (s)mashed potatoes and chopped kidneys.
I know that many (or better most)of you will think that's urgh, blech, eek or yuk, but I can assure you that it tastes really good the way my Mom makes it. I can be really picky on food and my sister was even more when she was younger, and even she likes it ;)
I'd never eat it made by someone else or in a restaurant... only made by Mom where I know that much work, care and love was involved to make it soooo good *nammnamm*

However after lunch we got slowly ready and went into the city. We arrived there quite early, so the ladies told me to sign my registration and then we could go again and come back at quarter to 3.
We went to the nearby mall and did a little windowshopping to waste some time.

The ceremony itself was okay. Of course there were a lot of speeches, some good, some not so much. Even the headmistress of the town held a little speech and honoured the best graduate of the year, which seems to be a tradition. They then also had some weird comedian who was not very comical... they could have saved the money and time for him...
In the "official" part on stage only the best graduates were honored and given presents and stuff.
After that we were told to go a floor down and meet at the tables labeled with our craft where we would get our diplomas.
We met up there and all got our diplomas from the head of the examination board.

I only got this very bad picture. I had to brighten it alot to make you see something more, still it's really blurry. (Well I must have gotten my own crappy photographing skills from somewhere^^)
We all got an USB stick as present and a rose.

We left shortly after, as we wanted to go to the mall on the outer rim of the town (the one with IKEA ^^).
We shot a couple pics in front of the fontain near my house.
Here's one just of my outfit without the diploma:

Okay that's it.
Write to you soon, have a nice Sunday!

Think pink

2010-09-09T22:45:00.002+02:00

Hello my dear readers!

I'm very happy to see that I've got some more followers. Thanks for adding me and enjoy my blog :)

Tomorow afternoon is the apprenticeship diploma event and I'm really excited about what will go on there.
I hope there will be some of the other exam girls, too. I'd love to see them again.
Still I hope it won't take too long to give out the diplomas, I want to go shopping with my parents afterwards *lol*

So in the last days I worked a bit more on the pink-black underbust corset. I joined the fashion layer pieces and then had some trouble with the busk. I had to redo the outside seam as the panels came out a bit asymmetriacal. But then the seam was quite uneven and the thread tension somewhat lose. So I had to unpick the seam once more and this morning I set it again using a Microtex needle and a slightly higher upper thread tension. It worked much better, but I still had to correct the seam between the busk panel and the next to adjust the panel widths. It's still not perfect, but it's really hard to catch that half mm that's missing.

I also pinned the waisttape in place, which I will fix when sewing down the seamallowances to keep them in place before adding the external bone casings.

Well tonight I cleared my working table, or better I had to, as we will need the space when my parents are coming tomorrow and my Mom will bring some mysterious lunch... That's the downside of having only a studio apartment with one big table.
They are intending to arrive somewhen tomorrow morning, probably while I'm at the hair salon to get my hair pinned up. I bought a smaller butterfly clip for my hair piece yesterday evening and attached it to the hair. It looks much better now, and the new clip is only half as big and high as the original. So they won't need to cover it with a huge bulk of hair *lol*. Also I got some wax beads which I glued onto a plain hairclip today and I put some single beads on the head of some hairpins to be added into the coiffure.
This reminds me that I have to print out some hairstyle pictures for the hair dresser as we couldn't have a rehearsal pinning.

Okay that's it for today, I wish you a happy weekend already.

Layer by layer

2010-09-07T00:12:00.003+02:00

Hello my friends!

So Sunday I again spent working on my corsets. I joined all panels of the wool corset and assembled the layers.
At first I sewed all wool panels on the busk piece, but then I thought that it might be easier to handle under my machine (as I don't have a flat surface right arund it like on the babies with table) if I join all remaining pieces and put them on the busk panel all together then.
The hipgusset was surprisingly easy to sew in. With the help of some great instructions from Foundations Revealed and a lot of flair everything went smooth.

gusset set in

back view

the remaining seam closed

all pieces joined and the fashion layer complete

So this morning I attached the coutil layers to their busk panels and then fixed the waisttape on the outside of the layer (which will be hidden by a loose lining later) where it won't interfere while sewing the boning channels.

Next I will continue with the pink-black underbust as I have the black thread still in the machine.
Stay tuned :)

It always starts...

2010-09-04T22:41:00.004+02:00

...with a busk.

Hey my fellow readers!

Just a little update on my work.
This afternoon I set in the busk in both corsets and attached the waisttape while fixing the busk pieces.
Unfortunately the Satin Coutil is fraying easily when poked with an awl to push the studs through. I thought it'd be stronger :( But a bit Fray Check limited the damage a good deal. Still I'm a bit disappointed and fear punching in the grommets later.
Anyway here are pictures (I know you want them ^^)

It took me 2.5 hours as I had to think about how to assemble the different layers and where best to put the waisttape. You'd think it was easier when you have only two layers *lol*
Tomorrow I want to join all pices for the layers, we'll se how far I can get.

Other than that I have been studying the Gilded Age books some more. So many nice things and I want to make them all *lol* Well, not really all, but enough for a lifetime ^^.
Also I have been looking through some pics of dresses I have saved on my HD over the time and there again I so sooo many great things I'd like to make. Nice combinations and such.
Now I'd love to also make an overskirt for the fantailskirt, but I don't think I have enough fabric for that if I want to make a day bodice, a hat and a modern godet skirt already. So now I need to find a matching fabric. I need to go through my stash... it's not like I don't have any fabric here... to be honest it's over 230m of fabric, so there'll better be something suitable.
Please someone give me a 48-hour-day. So many things to do, sooo little time and space.

Btw. I discovered that most of the skirts in the book are fitting my size quite perfect *wohoo* The bodices are bigger around the bust, but oh well, I hadn't expected anything else ;) Good thing I'm trained in pattern making, it makes many things much easier.

Oh, and I went to my hairdresser today to make an appointment for Friday morning. I wanna get a victorian styled coiffure, something similar to what I had for the 2007 fashion show...

Maybe not all that big, but close... I already got my hair piece out of its braided state. It's hanging around here now, looks funny. I'm thinking about taking it off the big butterfly hairclip and rather sewing it onto a comb... what do you think?

Okay that's it for today
Have a great Sunday

A little progress

2010-09-02T00:21:00.005+02:00

Hello my friends!

So as the bag is finished, I progressed a bit with the corsets on my list.
You've already seen a sketch of the wool flanell corset, but I haven't shown you one of the pink-black underbust corset yet.
Here we go:

The fashion fabric is dark pink crepe satin with black satin coutil. I wanted to use the crepe satin for a corset since I moved out from home and that's how long the fabric had been sitting in my stash. It's overdue to make it now.
The corset will feature external bone casings - a first for me.
I'm not sure I can fit as much casings onto the front part as shown in the sketch, but I'll try my best.

I had cut the pieces already a while ago, while also cutting the panels for the wool flanell corset.

In the last days I managed to flatline the crepe satin onto the cotton coutil strength layer and this morning I cut a couple satin coutil strips to try out the needed width for the external bone casings.

flatlining

casing samples

Other than that I've been studying the Fashions of the Gilded Age books on Sunday and every morning during breakfast... so interesting...

Okay that's it so far
See ya soon and thanks for reading

The bag is finished!

2010-08-28T23:59:00.012+02:00

Hello my fellow readers!

So today I can proudly annouce that I'm done with the bag *yay*
Yesterday the embroidery thread and closures finally arrived, so I could finish stitching the leaves this morning before work and sew the bag this afternoon and evening.

the finished embroidery on the bustpart of the corset

embroidery close up

the bag closures and chain

So first of all, I pressed the embroidered pieces to smooth them out again.

Then I retraced the faded pattern lines using white soap (this is very good on soft fabrics like wool)

When the sun came out I tried to get another pic of the embroidered bag in sunlight, still the colors don't come out like in reality.

Next I trued the stitching lines, as they tend to shift a bit during embroidery.

After that I simply followed the instructions that came with the closure:

Cut 2 pieces of each shell and lining

stitch the shell pieces together, leaving the area of the closure open

do the same with the lining

trim the seam allowance and also clip the SA of the shell, press, turn and press the shell again

stuff the turned shell into the lining bag and close the remaining piece, leave a bit open for turning

trim, turn, press, pin and close the turning opening with slipstitches

lay the open bag onto the closure and sew it on by hand and when you're done and clipped on the chain you get this ^^

Oh and the second part of "Fashions of the Gilded Age" arrived yesterday, too and when I flipped though it I discovered some instructions to the bag that was my inspiration for this one... awesome *lol*
Those books are so great. I think I will make the fantailskirt from them, with a few alterations and a square necked day bodice, like the one on the title of Vol. 2 (I so fell in love with this dress).


Unfortunately this is the biggest pic I could find source: www.longago.com

I need to read the parts about hat making and trimming, which reminds me that I yet have to order some buckram and millinery wire for my hat.
Ah, so many great things to make and soooo little time...

I'm off to bed. Have a good night

Some more embroidery and waiting

2010-08-25T22:50:00.003+02:00

Hey guys!

It's almost been a week since my last post and as I mentioned last time, I didn't get anything done at the weekend. But on Monday and today's morning I did a bit more embroidering. The first bust flower of the corset is done and I started on the second. I maybe will do the blossom tomorrow, but I have to wait with the leaves as I ran out of the green embroidery thread.
I had ordered it at our wholesaler but because there had been a problem with a former bill the delivery was delayed. I hope the stuff will arrive within the next days, so I can finish the bag over the weekend.
If not I'll get mad *lol*
At least I discovered that the department store does have the bag closures and chain. They were hidden on a rack where I usually never step by ^^, but when I went there at Saturday with my mom, I found them. So worst case I could buy them there and some embroidery thread at the crafts store or notions shop. Still I hope the items will arrive from the wholesaler soon... it will save quite some money (it's getting a bit tight at the moment), especially as I just saw that my book dealer marked my ordered book (Fashions of the Gilded Age Part 2) as shipped... so it should arrive within the next days, too and with it the invoice ^^ As usual things like this come all at once.
Ah well, it will work out somehow. Cross your fingers that I won't have to track down the wholesaler guys and slap them *lol*

Oh and here a progress pic of the embroidery from this morning.

Thanks for reading, have a good night

More embroidery... and a new layout

2010-08-19T22:50:00.004+02:00

Hey my friends!

I've been a bit busy this morning and embroidered the second hipgore. I even took pictures to show you ;)

You can see they are not super symmetrical, but as I can't transfer the motiv very exact because of the flanell I have to live with it... it matches the exam model *lol*

And as I promised last time, I took a few more pictures of the bag embroidery in day light. I slightly photoshopped the pics to get a better view on the different color shades.

I still couldn't catch the very true colors, but it's as close as I can get. And now you can see that the inner part of the blossoms is a darker color.

I put the first bust embroidery in the hoop, but I don't think I will start on it this weekend. I better take it out of the hoop then to avoid stretching...

I also ordered the bag closure and chain yesterday. I hope they will arrive early next week or if I'm lucky even on Saturday. In addition to both items I ordered a smaller closure to make a little purse that will hopefully fit inside the bag *lol* I could put another of the red blossoms framed by a couple leaves or so on it...
Seems like I can't stop embroidering... good thing I ordered two packages of green embroidery thread. One the same color as I have now and one a tad lighter, which will hopefully match the lighter green of the other thread brand I used for my exam. I was really happy when I rather accidentally found the Mouline thread color chard in the back of my notions folder. Saved some money this way *lol*

Okay and as you probably recognized already, I changed my layout a bit. Now the post space is wider and more pics fit next to each other. I also added some more red touches, but tried to still match my background image.
Tell me how you like it!

Have a great weekend already

Bag embroidery done

2010-08-17T00:13:00.002+02:00

Hey you!

It's me again (already).
I have been a good and busy girl yesterday and finished the bag embroidery just like I had planned on.
My background entertainment this time was a bit less sophisticated than on Saturday. I watched music videos, Fairy tailes and half a dozen episodes (at least) of Avatar- The Last Airbender on TV. It was nice though *lol*

Okay so here's the result ( I yet need to press it):

As you can see I mixed the color shades a bit more. At first it happened rather accidentally when I used the wrong thread, but I thought it could look more "lively" with more shades.
So I made a few ligher blossoms and leaves. Also the lightest green thread is used up now, so I rather had to use the next darker shade. The pic again doesn't show the full effect of the colors. I'll try to take another pic in daylight, but I can't promise it'll be much better.

Anyway this morning I embroidered the first hipgore for the corset. Took me a good hour. The second one is fixed in the hoop already waiting to be done.
I have to see if the lighter green for the leaves will be enough for the bust flowers or if I have to get a new package of the thread. (Good to know that the notions store on the way to work carries the Madeira threads.) The leaves and flowers eat up quite much thread. The lighter red and green of the Anchor thread are up and away already... damn that was fast *lol*

Okay, thanks for reading
See ya soon

Stitch by stitch

2010-08-15T00:43:00.004+02:00

Hello fans ;)

so as mentioned in my last post I started working the next pieces for my little wool flanell collection.
I selected a pattern and cut out the pieces for the corset. Therefore I fused the wool to an untreated cotton canvas using Vliesofix (similar to Wonder under, if I'm not mistaken). I had been a bit unsure if it would work out, but so far I didn't get any bubbles and such.
I didn't use the pattern I mentioned last time as it wasn't fitting for the planned embroidery. So I now use another 1880s overbust pattern.
The desired look for the corset:

I hope it'll turn out like this in the end *lol*

So I cut all pieces except for the ones that will be embroidered. I need some fabric around to fix the embroidery hoop.
A picture of the pieces with the transfered motivs:

While they are lieing here waiting to be stitched, I started on the bag. I went to a flea market last Sunday, but didn't find a closure, too. So now I will order the closure and the handle chain. As it looks now I'll probably be also able to go over our whole saler *wohoo*
The local shops don't carry it, I only found the chain at the department store.
Anyway as I'm getting the Prym closure I used the pattern they have online to define the size and shape of the bag.
Inspired by this bag of 1879:

I designed the embroidery matching the flowers on the exam model and corset

transferred it onto the fused fabric (it fit perfectly on the left overs from the exam with the corset pieces)

and started embroidering on Wednedsay morning. In the 2.5 hours on Wednesday and Thursday I got so far:

This afternoon and evening I got quite a bit more done while watching "The Other Boleyn Girl" twice ^^. I'm over the half mark now.

If I'm a good and busy girl tomorrow (or better today as I see it's past midnight already again) I hope to get it done. So I can continue with the corset pieces next week.
Next weekend is the town festival again and my parents will stop by, so I most likely won't get much sewing and crafting done then. Better work a bit ahead. ;)

Okay, I should go to bed now. I really shound get rid of my very bad habit of going to bed so late... it's not healthy... any advice on finding discipline and motivation for that?

Have a nice Sunday

Picturetime

2010-08-02T22:56:00.004+02:00

Hello my fellow readers

Not much happened so far, but I managed to take some proper pictures of the exam model as well as the test piece on Sunday and I thought I'd show you.

So without many further words- here are the pics:

Edit: I just realized I totally missed to show you the pics where I'm wearing it...

and of the test piece:

I tried my best to get the colors of the emroidery as right as possible. They're really hard to photograph as the thread also shines and blinds my camera somehow... But this is as close as possible.

Also not much happened on the corsetry front, I fitted a third mock-up and this will probably be the pattern for a corset made of the wool flanell of the exam model.
Last week I finally got the rest of the fabric from the local store, a very crazy story, but it turned out well in the end and I got a 20% discount on the bolt *wohoo* So now I got 6,25m wool flanell in mid grey waiting to be turned into something great *lol*
My plans so far consist a long fantail skirt like popular in the Natural Form era, but I most likely will only cut it floor length without a train. I want to wear it and not clean the streets while doing so ^^.
Then as a proper lady *hihi* I of course need a hat and a bag.
At the moment I'm in search for a bag closure. I want one of these snap closures you can find in wallets and purses sometimes. I just found out that Prym has some in their program. I'm gonna have a look at the local notion dealers if they maybe carry them. I'm not sure when we're going to order again at our wholesaler (we just did last week), so ordering just the bag items would be just as expensive as ordering them online somewhere else because of the shipping costs... And I'd like to have the bag done by September 10th, to wear it to the apprenticeship diploma event...
Otherwise I'm not sure what to make from the rest of the fabric... a ball toille or an evening bodice or another day bodice... or a plain, more modern godet skirt...
Decisions, decisions... any suggestions or recommendations?

Okay that's it for today I think...
Have a good night and a great day

Still alive

2010-07-24T00:13:00.002+02:00

Hello my fellow readers!

I'm very sorry about being so mia here, but there isn't much postworthy going on at the moment.
I need to take some pictures of the exam model to show you.
Also I'm waiting for the fabric store lady to call. I went back there a couple weeks ago to get more of the wool flanell. I want to make a few other items, like a mini collection.
So I told her I wanted the wool flanell and she was all "I can't sell you winter fabric right now" at first. I explained that I had bought it in March when it had been also already down in her storage (so it maybe was right in the front of the stable). She told me that she would need to look for it and I should give her a couple days and leave the swatch I had taken with me with her for indentifying. I did as asked, but when I went back 2 days later she told me that she couldn't find it and that maybe it was traded to the other shop in Munich. She told me to look for the article number on my receipt from March and tell her, so she could look it up in the computer to see if there was fabric left, how much and where.
I went back there last Monday with the number and accordingly to the computer file there are 6.5m left and in our store. The lady was really confused as she couldn't find in anywhere. I told her that it was no rush and that she should call me when she found it. I'm still waiting as mentioned... I guess I'll drop by next week again and remind her ^^

Otherwise I'm back to corsetry land. I made two patterns (the TV110 and a modified version of it) and fitted two mockups last weekend. One mockup of a pattern I made before the exam is due for fitting this weekend (hopefully). Also I stitched up a petticoat for my underbust skirt and went to remove the binding of two corsets of my "1st generation". They fell nowhere near "real" corsets, but they look too nice, to just slaughter them out for the steel. I add a new binding to one and am almost done with unpicking the inside seam of the other corset's binding and finishing it by hand then. It looks so much better. So although these corsets won't be worn as corsets, they'll serve as design samples.
But I do plan to slaughter out at least two of my older corsets to reuse the busk and steel boning. One corset will be remade with a better fitted pattern and the same fashion fabric. I've got enough left for another corset.

So yeah, I keep myself busy ;)

Okay that's it for now.

Have a great weekend

Passed!!!

2010-07-02T23:15:00.001+02:00

Hello friends!

I'm at my parents' for my Mom's birthday party at the weekend, so I just wanted to drop a quick note here.

Today we got the results of our exams and I passed *yay* as well as all other examinees.
We didn't get to know how good (or bad) we passed, only that we did.

The board members only critisized a few spots in the short meeting we had and they really liked my embroidery.
Also it seemed that a misunderstanding caused this mass of embroidery. They somehow missed that the embroidery would cover the whole collar (although it was very well to see in my drawing), and since I made the design smaller to fit on the page (which I noted underneath, also I had marked the central back, which makes clear that there'll be two halves), they thought the decoration element would be too small, also the little sample I included seemed to confuse them, too. I thought it was obvious that it was just a demonstration of the stitches and colours I intended to use.
However it looks better with the cuffs embroidered, too and I would have originally also done it, if there hadn't been the time issue.
But oh well. I managed to do the whole thing and made them happy with it ;) (And who doesn't like getting compliments? ^^)

We will get the apprenticeship diploma on September 10th at an official celebration event. For now we only got a certificate stating we passed the exam. It also states that we should immediately show it to our bosses to be registered to the new (higer) wage level. Maybe I should try this with my boss, too *lol* But I doubt I'd get paid even a cent more :/ (and I also don't think my new "making me look smart" glasses - which I will get next week- will help with this matter).

Anyway, this weekend is for celebration and I'm gonna show off at the b-day party tomorrow *lol* Fortunately my Grandpa's house is just next to the party place, so I can change quickly and do a mini fashion show ;) (if it wasn't that hot outside I would have worn the suit, but so rather not^^)

Next week I want to treat myself a bit by getting some more of the wool flanell to make a long skirt matching the jacket.

Okay... the quick note has become quite long I see ;)
So I'm off now, gotta get up tomorrow quite early.

Have a great weekend

Done... over and out

2010-06-30T21:31:00.001+02:00

*wohoooo*

I'm done with the exam!! Thank God.
Now I can sleep longer than 5 am again *yay*

I'm so glad it's over, although I must admit I also had a bit fun doing it. I should work that straight through more often, although maybe not 5 days in a row. But now and then it could be cool *lol* And you really get something done, as you see...
A two piece lady's skirt suit including 8 hours embroidery in less than 40 hours working time.
I made it (accordingly to my timeplan results this afternoon) with 110 minutes to spare, although I hung the suit away only like 45 minutes before the official end... But I actually don't really care where those other 65 minutes have gone besides being used in a couple of potty breaks...
However I did get everything done in time and, if I may say so, I did a quite good job. I'm pleased with the outcome although of course there are a few spots that could have been better... as always. But as you have only limited time you'll have to live with imperfectness. And one has to keep in mind that we all are only humans and nobody is perfect (even one of the teachers said that one day during the exam to calm us a bit).

So after the embroidery went so well yesterday (I even did one cuff motiv in less than 90 minutes yesterday morning and surprised myself ^^) today I had to deal with a pulling lining in the front of the jacket. What a sh*t. I had to open one dart, let fabric out, sew it smaller towards the hem and attach it to the hemfacing again... by hand because I had to hold it tight so it wouldn't slip away again...You now see where the old dart stitch line was, but at least the lining isn't pulling anymore. I told the examination board about this in the interview and also that I had to make the whole pattern drafting by myself and tried to get the hem part in place already (and was very successful in the back with it).
At least the one board lady said my jacket was very nice :) I hope it'll show in the exam result. On Friday we get note if we passed or failed, but not the grade yet. :/
Otherwise I rocked the other examinees with my embroidery, they called me crazy to do an 8 hour embroidery, but I told them it hadn't been my idea to do the cuffs, too. Most of the others did welting as decoration, seems it is one fave deco of the board's head... *duh*
Anyway I'm happy that I got so many compliments on it and one girl (she's so cute^^) said I should get an A just because of the bad ass embroidery *woot*
I don't think I will, but still.
And I don't think I will fail either... I mean I did meet all requirements and finished both pieces in time... And my seams are straight and one can very well wear it without feeling ashamed. They rather not dare letting me fail...

So this afternoon I packed all my stuff and hauled it back home in a sauna like heat... I basically dropped it on my table and haven't found the motivation to pack it away etc. yet... I'll deal with it tomorrow after sleeping till 9 at least *muahaha*

What else to tell? Oh, I need a new sleeve board. I can't put mine up stable anymore and if I remember correctly I heard it falling down at one point yesterday. But oh well, a new one doesn't cost a fortune.

Okay, that's it I think.

Have a good night everyone and a great late week ;)

2 days done... 3 to go

2010-06-26T23:23:00.001+02:00

Hello my fellow readers!

So the panic subsided a little bit, although I still got enough adrenalin flowing through my body (But I guess that's good as it keeps me awake and alert during the day and now I can sleep again).

The night before the exam I hardly slept and when I dozed of the first time I dreamed pure shit ^^ (about the exam completely failing and the other examinees being total b*tches -- the typical fears of an unknown situation *g*).
Anyway, so far the exam is going quite well and I'm even a bit ahead of my timeplan. It's been a good thing to take my own machines, today I even took my iron and sleeve board with me, because the irons there are pure crap. I tried to get one steam ironing station on there, but failed pretty hard, so I took a simple steam iron, but it behaved not well and was all sticky on the interfacing. Also the seamallowances didn't really staye flat... so my precious pink iron it had to be with the genius 150g steam shot *lol*
The air function of the ironing board is just a sad excuse but better than nothing at all. (Like I said I was spoiled in fashion school ^^)
But the general space is not as bad as I was afraid it would be. It's not big, but okay. It would have been worse while cutting if the others had to cut their lining, too.
But appearently they were told to cut it already before the exam, while I was told to only do it in the exam... nice, huh? Took me about 90 minutes extra to cut it... along with my small pieces and their interfacing.
I still managed to get it done faster than I had thought (yay for rotary cutters) so I'm not mad or pissed. Yet I feel somewhat treated unfair by this.
Luckily the other girls agree on the unfairness and if I should run out of time in the end I'd go to the teachers and try to get an extra hour or so... we'll see, so far I'm good in time, so I'll leave it be for the moment.

However the other girls are pretty nice, which is good.
But as the exam goes on I feel like they work completely different than I do. It's really weird. Maybe it just seems like it does, but maybe it is really so... I guess my approach on sewing is more industrial. I only hope in the end the difference won't be overly noticable in the look of the pieces. (I'm aware that my pressing skills are not the best, but I hope otherwise there won't be a big difference.)

Anyway, the skirt is fully done and I'm one step closer to pass the exam. Monday I'll proceed with the welt pockets *ugh*, sleeves and other stuff of the jacket and if everything goes well I may even get the first motiv embroidered.

Okay, I'm going to bed now, getting up at 5 am is so not my thing ^^ Yesterday I lay in bed at 9:30 pm, I can't remember the last time I went to sleep that early...

Have a nice Sunday and stay tuned for more updates.

Waaaaahhh panic

2010-06-23T22:25:00.002+02:00

Hey you!

Wow, I just can't believe how fast time flew by. It's only one day until the exam starts and I get really nervous now.
I can't help the feeling of having forgotten something important. (I guess one always has this feeling.)

Anyway, I should tell you what I did the last week. And I owe you notchies *yay*

So I got out everything I needed, including my piece list and started labeling and notching like crazy.
In the end I got two nice mountains of notchies, one from the notching itself and one from cutting out holes to hang up the pieces.

So here I got the mass of pattern pieces hanging under my bed in all their glory *lol*

I only hope the examination board will approve everything. Somehow I'm afraid that I could disqualified because I did something wrong... it's stupid as I had asked about quite many things and they told me just to do it like I learned it, but still...you know?

Also last week I mentioned some embroidery testing, it actually was just to find the best looking way to make the stem stitch. I found a finnish instruction from my student exchange 6 years ago and it showed the stitching much better than my other books (I really don't know why I seem to learn needle crafts better in a foreign language *lol*)
But here is my sample piece... very unspectacular

Sunday I made some weltpocket samples. Well I only made the welts and left out the pocket bags (I haven't got to practise them ^^), I also stitched around the button holes for another sample piece.
Btw. my old machine now purrs like a kitten after being at the shop. It runs sooo smooth *woot*.

I should be fine now in the exam, if my timeplan works out like in theory, I should also be able to do a couple more on Sunday, as I won't start with them before Monday.
Same goes for the button holes, I made four yesterday. It's mocking me that I will probably will be the slowest buttonhole sewer among the examinees, but oh well. As long as they are buttonholes to button up the jacket, they (hopefully) won't let me fail. I just don't have the time and nerves to do 100 more button holes for practise.

You can actually see some progress from the right to the left. I hope they will work good in the exam, but I only need to worry about them next week ;)

Today I did some more embroidery. Time looks good with it. So I hope in the exam I'll also be fine and without bigger complications.

I really can't say how glad I am to have purchased the very small embroidery hoop. It lays much better in my hand than the big ones, although I have to change it's position more often, but the stitching works better.

Tonight I filled out the time list and in theory I've got about two hours to spare (but there are no extra potty breaks etc. included yet). So I shouldn't be afraid that I won't be able to manage it in time.
Another thing that has me nervous is the interview which is part of the exam (counts 20%). I have no clue what they could be asking me. On one hand it makes me feel better as I can go into it without giving it too much thoughts and just answer what comes to my mind. On the other hand, it makes me nervous that I will totally screw up with it.

Gah... it's making my itchy *lol*
I only have to make sure to not forget anything. I will order a cab for Friday morning after I'm done with this entry. I better to it tonight, so they have time to eventually call me back for questions or so...
The idea came from my mom (I'd never thought of that myself ^^) and she is right, it'll be much more relaxed to go there by cab than tram/bus and I can also take my serger with me ( I hope the cabdriver will be so nice to help me carry my machines). The extra money won't have me starving *lol* I saved so much by not having to go south for the exam that the cab should be no real luxury in this case.
Oh, I just remembered that I also need to get a week ticket for the tram tomorrow. *adds to list*

Okay, I guess that's all for today. I'm not sure if I will post tomorrow... probably not. I'll see you latest after the exam, I mean, I got to tell you how it went and all ;)

Okay so cross your fingers for me, but not think of me - I get hiccups then ^^

Have a great time

Taming the cardboard...

2010-06-16T00:34:00.002+02:00

Hello my fellow readers!

Just a little update on my progress.
As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the weekend dealing with huge card board sheets and plastic foil.
Against my plan last week, I finished the embroidery stencils first. I had gotten quite far until Saturday after work, so I decided to cut out the few missing pieces and get it done before putting the cutting mats away and getting out the cardboard.
But I'll better let pictures speak for my actions ;)

embroidery stencils

The card boards: Grey is for the fashion fabric and red for the lining... just like their respective fabric colors, so I can't mix them up ^^

These sheets are 100x70cm big (they almost cover my table).

I missed to take a pic of the sheet for the interfacing (blue), I was too fast on starting cutting the pieces out. Also I had to go and get another blue sheet as three pieces didn't fit on the first one. (But I only got a smaller sheet of 50x70cm^^) I then also got a green sheet to make some stitching stencils. The cuff pattern was too big to fit on the A4 sheets I have at home, so I had to get a bigger one.

So today I finished cutting the pieces out and got these mountains of cardboard pattern pieces

On the right edge of the pic you can also see the weights I made from 12 glass tealight holders and modelling compound. As they were too light for my taste, I simply glued two together to get 6 weights in total and they work fine so far (they better will do in the exam, too *lol*)

So tomorrow I have to label and notch the pieces. I even got a pattern notcher specially for this task. It wasn't exactly cheap, but I know it'll be worth it. Maybe I can win the "Miss Pretty Pattern Pieces" award then or so *muahaha* I'm really curious how the patterns of the other examinees will look.

Anyway I try and save all "notchies" and show you the mountain in a few days latest ;)

And I need to remember to check the pieces with my pattern list while labeling them, to make sure I really got all pieces.

Okay, I'm off to bed, gotta notch in the morning *lol*

Have a good night and a great day

Hurry Kids, we've got no time...

2010-06-12T00:15:00.002+02:00

Hey guys!

I know it's been a couple of weeks already since my last post, but there wasn't actually much to tell. Also I only got three new pics for you.

The other weekend I made another mock-up of the jacket body. I had dragged down the bust dart to 2cm below the actual bust point. I also gave some more ease into the upper part of the waist darts in order to further eliminate these stupid wrinkles. It did help a bit... the wrinkles are not as deep as they were before (like predicted they are quite half as big now), still not eliminated completely. I hope that I can iron them away in the wool fabric.
You don't see much difference to the last pictures, but I'll show you anyway ;)

During the week I continued drawing the missing pattern pieces and also made an attempt to cut a stencil for the cuff embroidery out of PP foil. Unfortunately the foil was quite thick so the cutter had a hard time to get through and the pieces didn't come out a nice as hoped.
Nonetheless I tested it and made an embroidery sample last Sunday morning. Also to test how the new design would work. It will indeed save me some time in the exam which is great.
Here's the sample (I still need to iron over it)

It's really hard to catch the true colors of it.

I used better embroidery thread this time, and the colors are quite close to the ones I'm gonna use in the exam. It's a different brand though, but I think they should behave similar. I'm gonna test some more in the remaining two weeks.
OMG, only two weeks left. At this time in two weeks I'm already done with day 1 and looking at the time I better be in bed then as I have to catch the tram at 6 am the Saturday morning (exam day 2).

Anyway this week I finished on the pattern pieces and cut a new cuff embroidery stencil out of thinner foil. It worked much better, but I need to test it still and see if the cut outs are big enough for my chalk pen. I also started on cutting out the collar embroidery stencil.
This weekend will be spend with transferring the pattern pieces onto card board. I hope to get it done until Sunday evening. It's kind of the biggest step of exam prepatations, as it means I'm quite ready for the exam. As soon as I'm then done with the last foil stencil I'm ready to go. The rest is practising and then of course cutting the main pieces of the jacket and skirt and interfacing and marking them in the days right before the exam.

I also managed to get some more information about the work room the exam will be done in. My ex-intern made a contact to an internal examinee from the theater she was at for probational work (she got the apprenticeship btw *woot*).
I called the girl this evening and asked her about the machines and such. Unfortunately she told me that they had only been in these rooms once or twice at the beginning of their education, so she couldn't remember everything well. But this also means that the other examinees don't have a big advantage in handling the machines there.
She also told me that there were two (quite small) rooms, one for cutting and pressing, one for sewing. Also the ironing boards are two standard and two with air function *yay*. (Now I hope those two also have a steam compressor- sorry I got spoiled in fashion school^^).
There are two sergers and we will be around 10 examinees *phew, could have been worse*, also she will bring her own serger, so we're down to nine people sharing the other two at least ^^ (I'd bring my own, too, but already hauling my sewing machine there and all the other stuff in the tram and bus will be horrible enough). However I think it'll be managable this way.
I also managed to finally get a hold of the teacher lady again to tell me where the sewing rooms are and their number. *lol*

Okay, I guess that's it so far. I need to go to bed, I almost fell asleep twice while writing this.

Have a great weekend

Mock-up, oh mock me not!

2010-05-29T22:05:00.005+02:00

Hello Fans ;)

Something new from the mock-up front.
I made another one testing the new length of the jacket. (I hope this will be the last mock-up, though.)
Btw. may I present you a perfect example of optimized management of resources?

This are the left overs from the last mock up ^^

Okay, to make it short: I made the mock-up, put it on and... well...

I need to add back what I took from the hips in the basic pattern (I guess last time I took the width away with the darts and seams, so I need it at the side seam again), the waist sits where it's supposed to be *yay* and the length in general is good. I only need to smooth out the bottom line a bit - taking about 1,5cm away from the front at the second dart and add 1,5cm in the back at the side/mid panel seam.

Now of course there has to be a catch... as always.
Today it's the area at the top of the front darts.
You might remember that I shortened the darts in the test model, because they ended too high for my liking (and my design), so I shortened them by 4,5 and 4 cm. You also might remember me mentioning those wrinkles I got above the darts then, where I thought it was because of too little pressing.
Well what can I say? They're back! Yipieh! *insert irony here*

stupid little things (and yes I'm wearing cherry pink glitter nail polish^^)

So actually I shouldn't be surprised that those wrinkles are there as they are caused by the excessive width left from the shortening, still I don't want them there! *narf*

So now I'm not sure how to properly solve this problem...

My thoughts so far were to drag down the bust dart in the basic pattern, while it's still lying in the shoulder, to the lowered waist dart point. So when I fold out the bust dart and open the waist darts, the width around the bust point disappears and with that the wrinkles.

Not the worst and most difficult solution. But yet I've got one concern with it: When I eliminate the width, there will also be about 1cm missing over the whole chest circumference then. Can I just add this back at the side seam??

Gah, always me and my complicated problems *lol*

But it would be too simple to do everything the easy way *muahaha* Although now I think I've got enough challenge for this model ^^.

Okay, that's it. If you got a solution for my problem, please drop me a line.

Have a good Sunday

Oh nooo!!! argh

2010-05-28T00:17:00.006+02:00

Hello my dears!

Just a quick update-post.

So I spent the last three days drafting the new jacket pattern (including the lower waist). As there wasn't much on TV tonight and I see that time is running (only 4 weeks to go!!! - that devious ticker^^) and I've probably got some other appointments coming, too, I decided to get ahead a bit and finish drafting, tracing the pieces through and cutting them out.
So far everything went well and I can start on making another mock-up this weekend.
As it wasn't too late when I was done, I decided on giving the cuff drafting a go. So I happily drew the new seam and hem allowance as well as enough turn of cloth on my pattern when I noticed that my pattern looks very different from the example in the book my intern had given me last week. (That's where I saw this way of drafting the first time).
The whole hemline curving looked somewhat reversed. So out of curiosity I got my sleeve pieces out and layed them out like the book suggested and there the catastrophy started...
I had layed the pieces together on the wrong seam!! So the whole draft was twisted. (Now I btw. know why there are those wrinkles in the sleeve when it's hanging down.) I really don't know how this happened and the cuff doesn't look so bad on the sleeve, so that's probably why I didn't notice earlier.
Anyway so now I had to draft a completely new cuff. *argh*
I did and got a very different shape, which means that I also had to change the embroidery design to match the new shape. *sigh*
But this also gave me the opportunity to make the design a bit smaller and leave out a couple leaves, meaning I will probably save a few minutes for embroidering in the exam... could sum up to about half an hour, which is gooood ^^

For your better understanding here are two pics:

I tried to get the same angle at the underarm seam (the right line), so you could see how different the shape is (look at the reversed curved lower line).
The first pic is the old version, the second the new one. I tried to take over the flower design at first but when I had drawn it in, I wasn't too happy with the angle (it spread quite wide over the whole area and would wound too much to the front of the arm)), so I decided to change it.

Tell me what you think about, does the new embroidery fit or should I stick to the old one and fit it in somehow? Does it look weird with the two leaves missing?

Okay that's it for now, I gotta go to bed.

Have a great time and sleep well

I'm done wohoo ...Yet there's still so much to do...

2010-05-23T18:46:00.002+02:00

Hello my fellow readers!

So I can proudly announce that I am done with my test model *wohoo*
Yesterday I added the buttons and buttonholes and pressed the whole thing once more (still the hem is looing a bit weird).

The buttons I had actually bought for the winter coat I made last year, but then had found better ones. So these buttons were bought to be black, but somehow they melt into this brownish colour that fits very well to the fashion fabric. I could have used smaller buttons also, but they are almost as big as the "real" buttons for the exam, so I took them.

"Buttonholing" took me longer than I had thought/intended, meaning that I need to practise that also before the exam.
Still when I checked my time list later it looked quite good. If everything goes somewhat smooth and nothing really bad happens I should be fine in the exam. Also it looks like I will be able to split the embroidery session on two days. This will hopefully be better for my head.
So in theory everything is great *lol*

But before I can go into the exam and prove my theory right, there are quite some things to be done and changes made.
I need to:
- lower the waistline in my jacket pattern, make it new if neccessary and time allows
- change the front piece, so the facing will be cut on fold (means: glueing them together at the front edge, so two pieces become one), do the same with the front hem facings -> this is neccessary to reduce the big bulk I got when all facings were added and then turned, so instead of crossing seams I will then only have the one at the hem
- make the front flaps smaller 1,5cm will be enough (now I had 2cm)
- cut the hem facing higher towards the central back seam, so the lining can be attached smoother (it gave me a little fit with the test model, so now I aim for a square angle, or at least close to square^^)
- make the hem allowance of the skirt lining as small as possible to prevent wrinkling because of the godets
- make the side seam a little bit longer over the hips, maybe even lower the front and back a bit (the fabric surely will shrink a bit while being interfaced)
- try to make the pocket bags a tad bigger then, to have a tissue fitting inside^^
- draft a new outer cuff, getting a bigger facing for inside the sleeve then and cut down the lining, so showing of the lining will be almost impossible then
- not to forget adding all needed turn of cloth additions *very important*
- check all seam lengths, mark positions etc.
- make all card board pattern pieces including marks, seam allowance and what not
- practice: weltpockets, embroidering, button holes

right before the exam:
- iron fashion and lining fabric with hot steam to prevent too much shrinking
- cut all allowed pieces from fashion fabric and interfacing
- interface and mark all pieces
- lay out the remaining pieces on all fabrics and interfacing, take pics to learn how to lay out the pieces (saves time in the exam)
- fill out the required time and documentary lists for the exam
- make copies of all documents needed for the exam
- pack all needed items, clean and oil sewing machine

You see that's quite a list, but not all points will take much time and many can be done in one session.

Today I already altered my basic pattern and lengthened the part above the waist by 1,5cm. I made a mock up to comfirm the fit and now the waist sits where it is supposed to be.

I also pinned the hip area as it usually ends a bit too wide in the upper part. So I flatened out the hips and added 0,5cm at the side seam at the bottom. (you see there it is quite tight).
Don't get irritated by the width around the waist, it's a jacket (although tight), so a little ease is needed.
I'm happy that I seem to have gotten the right amount of length, as there's no bunching and horizontal wrinkling in the back.

So for the exam pattern this means, that I will cut the pieces open at the waist line, squeeze 1,5cm paper inbetween and smooth out the lines. Everything else should work still.

Okay that's it for the moment.
I'm laying down a bit as I'm just getting a migraine *ugh*
Thanks for reading, have a great time

You can (almost) wear it...

2010-05-21T21:19:00.009+02:00

Hello @ all!

It's me again with a little update on the progress of my test model.
So as the title already promises I'm almost done *wohoo*Today after work I handhemmed the skirt, so now all I have to do is the buttonholes and buttons on the jacket.But let's got back to where I stopped last time...
As I mentioned I had finished the skirt except for the hem, with the new ruffles attached it looked already really nice

The zipper looks weird at the left side, but it's only on the dolly, the hem is pinned here

Then I continued with the jacket- took care of those wrinkles in the back, set the waist 1cm lower at the side seam and attached the new sleeves. They're still a little tight around the upper arm, but much better than the other ones. I guess in jackets this tight you can't get wide sleeves without using puffed sleeves^^

The shoulder pads are pinned in place also

Next thing to do was getting the welt pockets in, I haven't done them since I'm out of fashion school, so I guess I need to practise them again a bit ;)
One got quite alright, the other a bit less, but I can wear the jacket still (not that anyone will come this close to look at them *g*)

right pocket, left pocket, inside (pocket bag - tiny but a tissue for my hayfever fits inside^^)

The next pictures show the jacket after quite a few more steps:
- the shoulderpads are sewn in place, before some wool padding for the top shaping was added
- the collar was assembled and sewn into the neckline
- the cuffs were sewn on and turned- the lining and facings were attached
- everything was thoroughly pressed

And some close ups of the embroidery on the model

Things done after the "shooting":
- the lining was losely fixed around the sleeves/armhole
- the sleeve lining was fixed near the hem, to prevent showing
- the hem facings were fixed to the body at the seam allowance
- the last opening of the lining was handsewn closed

- the skirt hem was hand sewn

Things to be done:
- 5 tailored (handsewn) buttonholes
- 5 buttons (which I need to find still^^)

So yeah, I'm good in my time plan, leaving me enough time for the remaining preparations and excercises, without getting too stressed.

Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend

I see flowers bloom...

2010-05-14T20:52:00.011+02:00

Hey you!

As promised pictures will follow.
First the pics from the weekend and this early week:

the very sad excuse of ruffles I mentioned Wednesday/Thursday night

laying out the pattern pieces to check the fabric left for new ruffles

the new ruffle patterns

the sassy red lining - isn't it gorgeous?
(but a nightmare to work with...)

the new ruffles, nice frilly and fluffy... very victorian ^^

So yesterday I really spent the whole day embroidering the collar and cuffs... it took me around 9 hours... I was rewarded with a nice migraine today for it *gnah*

The cuff embroidery transfered with an artist's chalk pen (I remembered to have this left from fashion school and it's not as hard as the white pencil and nail whitener pencil and not as soft as the white kajal)

about two hours later - the first cuff is done
The second cuff was just like the first, only with a mirrored motiv

the first half of the collar embroidery ready to get started

about two and a half hours later - done

another (excact) two hours later - the collar is also done *yay*

Yesterday's "daywork" on full display

it's nowhere near perfect and quite asymmetrical, but I still like it... it looks like real handwork

What I learned:
- I need to practise embroidering (this was my first embroidered "picture" using this technique at all and I can't remember of having done such a big embroidery before)
- I need to get cleaner and evener stitches
- I need to develop some kind of "system" for the elements of the motiv, so they'll become more symmetrical
- I need to get faster...much faster (I really shouldn't need more than 7-8 hours in the end)
- I need to use quality thread (For this test piece I used some old embroidery thread from my granny that always tended to troddle open and mock me ^^)
- if possible split embroidering in the exam on two days
- me fingers ouch ( I need to get a finger protector for my left middle finger to avoid stitching into the skin when I push up the fabric)
- the day after: me head ouch
and last but not least
- I really enjoyed embroidering =) as long as I'm not under time pressure and can stop anytime I want I will do it again and maybe also test new stitches and techniques

Okay I need to rest my head a little (and now my neighbours just start to drill in their walls *argh*)
Thanks for watching, comments and critique are as always very welcome.

Have a nice weekend

It's going on...

2010-05-13T00:30:00.004+02:00

Hey @ all!

Just a little update on my test model... pictures will follow over the weekend I hope.

So as I already wrote in my last post, I planned on getting the skirt done last weekend. It would have worked, if the ruffles had behaved like I had wanted them to... but they didn't and I ended up with a really sad excuse of ruffles.
So Saturday night I thought about leaving it like that and just go on as planned but after sleeping it over one night, I decided to give it another try if the fabric would allow. So I spend the whole Sunday morning and noon with tracing through all missing pattern pieces and cutting the fashion fabric, so I'd see if there was enough for new ruffles. And it worked *yay*
I even have some fabric to spare... now I also can be sure that my 3m will be enough for the exam.
However I then undid the old ruffles - picking the serging was a nightmare- and did the new version. This time I also decided to line them instead of doing a rolled hem on them. This just didn't work out as nicely as I had hoped, but the now very sassy red lining will be a nice feature.
Also the new version turned out so much better... nice frilly, fluffy ruffles... now we're talking victorian again *lol*

So this change of plan left me with the lining etc to do these last three days. But it was alright, it doesn't really matter what I get done first, it's not like I wasted time.
So now the skirt is almost done, I only need to handsew the hem.
I also made the final design for the embroidery on collar and cuffs and made a stencil for both just this evening. Cutting those little pieces out took forever and was really tiring for my hands and head.
I'll have to try out what method will work best to get the lines on the fabric then, for this piece I guess I'll try "powdering" means dusting chalk powder over it and rub it a little into the slits of the stencil, then trace the lines with a white pencil if neccessary. I tried using a white kajal pencil, but it's too soft and creamy... maybe the nail whitener pencil is harder... I need to test it.
Any advice on this matter is highly appreciated. Using carbon paper just doesn't work at all...
So everything is ready for my embroidering day tomorrow. I'm happy that I can stick to my plan with this. I really really hope that I somehow manage to get the embroidery done in six hours max, as I shouldn't spend more time on it in the exam, too... 40 hours for the whole thing isn't that much.
I hope my (now) ex-intern can get some information out of the other trainee from the theatre about how many examinees we will be and how many machines we have to share.

Okay, I'm going to bed now. I need to have working eyes and hands tomorrow ;)
Cross your fingers my hot water is running again... it had some problems this evening after there were some repairings done in the morning... It wouldn't be a good thing to have no warm water with a holiday ahead...*ugh*

Good night and have a nice time

You can see something...

2010-05-05T22:36:00.006+02:00

Hello my fellow readers!

It's time for another update on my progress.

So last Thursday and Friday I cut out all needed pieces for a first fitting, including their interfacing and used the free weekend *yay for May Bank holiday* to sew everything together.

pieces laid out on the woolfabric

The fabric is a wool mix with a bit stretch in dark brown with red pinstripes. I got it some years ago from the Hugo Boss fabric outlet. I always planned on using it for either business wear or something late victorian... now it's both in one... sorta *lol*

Saturday I got all pieces together, so I could start the Sunday with ironing all seams and have a first fitting. (I actually had wanted to get some more done, but after a spontanaeious clubbing session Friday night I only got up around 11am ^^)

First fitting impressions:
Please excuse the bad pictures. I had to take them without flash because of the mirror and brighten them alot.

skirt

it's fitting quite well and I only took out a centimeter at the very top of the waistband

jacket (without sleeves first)

I already pinned the alterations on my left side

the right side without alterations

the back

You can see the general fit is alright, but I had to shorten the darts in the front as they were ending right on top of the bust. Also there was too much width at the second dart from the waist to the hem. Also the back down the waist was quite wide, so I took out the prior added width in the central back seam as well as about one centimeter at the hem of each seam and 6mm at the waist per seam

The alterations are done here. It still looks a bit weird around the bust, but after ironing a couple times over it again, it's much better now. I had also taken a centimeter away from the side seam waist down, but after the dart was sewn I added it back.

This second fitting of the jacket was also the first time I recognized that the waist of the jacket is quite high... too high. I also noticed that, when I wore it with the skirt, the hemline hardly covers the joining seam of skirt and waistband (even including the 1cm seam allowance). But I had drafted a 3cm coverage (without seam allowance). Even pulling the skirt a little higher didn't help much.
Yet I decided to wait for the sleeves until I made a final conclusion about this.

So Monday morning I got the sleeves sewn in and fitted again, the shoulder pads are also pinned in place.

Again the general fit is alright, but it's a little tight around the upper arm, so I'm gonna make a new pattern for it and arrange the width better. I also will cut the armhole a little bit lower at the side seam (1cm) for more comfort. And maaaybe add a little length at the underarm seam for more free moving of the arm.

And a full pic using the timer on my cam.

Three side view on the dummy ( I need to take care of those stupid wrinkles in the back before going on, I already changed in the paper pattern)

So yesterday and today morning I put on the jacket again and came to the conclusion that I need to lower the waistline... it's about 1,5cm too high for my natural waist.
I really don't know how this could happen, as my basic pattern was well fitted by my sewing teacher about four years ago. And I'm not growing anymore (I checked tonight, same 1,62m as back then^^).
I compared the side seam length with the measurements I took for my corsetry patternblock late last year and they also indicate that my waistline has to be lowered by 1,5-2cm in my pattern.
Maybe gravity pulled my pelvis bones down *lol*

However I'm gonna make the lining pieces etc. matching for the test model first, so I can complete it. I only make a new sleeve if the fabric allows.
I lowered the waist by a centimeter in the model pattern already, but if I've got enough time left before the exam I'm gonna draft a new jacket pattern with the right waistline and make another mock-up from muslin. Just the fashion layer to confirm the fit and then transfer the right pattern pieces onto the cardboard for the exam.

I hope to get the test model done by Whitsun latest, this should leave me enough time for the new jacket pattern.
Also I hope to get the skirt finished this weekend. I only have to draft one additional piece for the lining as the others are just the same as the fashion fabric, except for the hem allowance.
I'm gonna draft all additional pieces tomorrow morning, so I can cut them on Saturday after work.

Next week I want to trace through all additional pieces for the jacket and make up the final design for the embroidery for the collar and cuffs.
As it's Ascension Day next Thursday and I'm free from work I want to use the whole day for embroidering. I hope the time will be enough... it has to be, as I shouldn't need more time in the exam, too.

If everything goes as planned (somewhat at least) I should be able to complete the model within the 10 remaining days till Whitsun...

Okay so, now you know what happened so far and what's the plan for the next weeks.
Thanks for reading, comments and critique are very welcome.
Have a great time and see you soon

Starting out...

2010-04-27T23:18:00.010+02:00

Hello @ all!

I'm sorry it took me so long again, but there also wasn't much to tell.

Anyway, last Monday I got my portfolio back and everything has been approved so far.
Only the decor embroidery is too less for the board's taste, so now I have to add some more embroidery on the cuffs of my model.
Speaking of model: Now that it has been approved I can show you what I want to do for my exam:

It's a late victorian inspired two piece lady's suit.
The jacket is shaped like a cuirass bodice of the late 1870s, but I had to keep some things a bit more modern, like the shoulder area and the weltpockets. But the seams and darts are like in the original bodice.
The skirt is knee covering and fitting around the waist and hips and flaring out to the hem with small godets. The waistband is bodice like close fitting and in the central back there are three ruffles as a modern interpretion of the victorian bustle skirt. Underneath I want to hide the required open slit, so it won't be really visible.
The stand-up collar is to be embroidered with a flower pattern as will the cuffs be now, too.
I will make up the design for it when I have the final shape of the cuffs later.

The weekend prior I already had traced through my basic jacket and skirt patterns, so I could get started on drafting the model patterns last week. I don't have pictures of it, as you won't see much of the pencil lines on the brown paper anyway.
However I have pics of the pattern pieces I traced through and cut out for the jacket and skirt.

It's only the main pieces so far as I wanna cut them and sew them together to check the fit in a test model (a high quality mock-up^^) and eventually correct the pieces before drafting all the smaller pieces like collar, cuffs, pockets etc. and the lining pieces.

I hope to get started on cutting tomorrow. I have the fabric already out of my stock(I want to only use fabrics from my enormous stash and only buy additional things like interfacing new), but I need to iron it again before laying the pattern out and cut... this will take a bit time ^^
I hope to have gotten most of this basic test model done by the end of the weekend, so I can draft the smaller pieces next week.

Okay, that's it for today. See you soon (I hope).
Enjoy your time =)

Official

2010-04-03T22:12:00.003+02:00

Hi you! (whoever is reading this)

Just a little update note...

Today the official invitation to the tailor's exam arrived. It's getting serious now *lol*
I also got the exact times for the exam... June 25th, 26th and 28th-30th. Starting at 7am (*ugh*) and ending ca. 4pm.
I really had hoped for 8am for starting... 7 is way to early ^^ I probably will have to get up at 5.30 or so... maybe even earlier... *urgh*
But oh well... it's just five days. I'll survive and hopefully do a good job though. I'll know at July 2nd how I did...
So now I'll have to wait another two weeks until I get my portfolio back and can start on the model...
But I guess I'm gonna draw through my basic patterns already and get some card board for the final pattern pieces in this time...
Experience shows that time will run faster than expected later *lol* And important things will come all at once. So prepare what you can.^^

Okay, that's it.
I wish you all a Happy Easter and a great time

Waiting...

2010-03-27T22:19:00.007+01:00

Hello my dear readers,

so I finished my exam portfolio last weekend (it worked out faster than I had thought in the end) and gave it in to be approved on Wednesday.
The teacher-lady who is also part of the examination board had a quick look over it to make sure everything needed is in and I just had to sign my last page as I had to give in a disclaimer, too and I hadn't known about it. But I had made some kind of disclaimer and contact info on my last page stating that I made the drawings and everything my self and that decoration elements of others remain in their property and I only used them for decoration without making any financial profit from the usage.
She accepted the text and just told me to sign the page.

There also was another portfolio already and she showed me the disclaimer from there. Anyway, the glimpse I could catch of this portfolio showed me that this examinee had a totally different approach to the design than I. Which is good... I think *lol*

However, now all I can do is wait. The portfolio will be back at April 16th. But as I can't go to the vocational school at this day, I told the teacher that I will pick it up the next Monday and she'll give it to the school secretary then.
Cross your fingers that everything is fine and will be approved.

So in the meantime I have a bit time to work on a corset commision for a dear friend of mine. I really hope to get it off the table in the next few weeks. It really took us long enough, but I'm quite sure it'll go faster now. Today I build in the front closure busk and joined all lining pieces. Tomorrow I'm gonna sew all fashion/strength layer pieces together and at least start on adding the boning channels next to the seams.

Okay, I think that's it so far for tonight. I'm gonna go to bed soon, as they are stealing an hour this night *ugh*

Have a great time

The journey so far...

2010-03-20T20:24:00.005+01:00

Hello my fellow readers!

I'm sorry it took me some time to make this post, but I have been busy with the exam's portfolio during these last weeks. But now I'm quite ahead and this leaves me having some time this evening to care for my little blog.

As I had promised I'm gonna tell you how far I've come on my way to the tailor's exam until now.

I already started contacting the local chamber of crafts in late 2007. At this time I was looking for a job after having graduated and not getting a chance anywhere without the tailor degree that I asked if I could do the exam as an external examinee. Back then they told my that I would need to work at least one more year in a tailoring or such before being approved to do the exam.

The problem they had was that they didn't know much about the designer training, as this kind of college isn't provided in the area. They sort of believed we just learned to draw clothing but not also make (as in sew) it.

So while I was looking for a tailoring or such to take me (even as an intern) I got the pattern making job in this underwear company in the area and the whole thing was off the table for more than a year.

Last spring I made another attempt to get them to approve me to do the exam, the twist was, that I didn't want to do the written exam again, as I already passed it when doing my designer's exams and even got a certificate about it. They were still very hesitant about it and I also contacted the chamber of crafts in the district of my old fashion school to maybe do the exam there if there wasn't any chance to do it here. They immediately allowed me to take part in the exam this summer and saved a space for me, too.
I showed the lady from the chamber here the letter from the other chamber and asked again, if there wasn't any way to let me do the exam. We had a personal meeting then and I wisely took my portfolio with me.
When we came to the topic of my sewing skills I showed her our exam's suit and the other stuff I made back in fashion school and the ladys reaction was "Oh, so you really learned to sew there..."
Uhm -.-... what the heck did I try to tell her for more than one year?

Anyway she told me that although she would have to ckeck with the examination board still, there was a quite good chance to let me do the exam without the written part and that I should apply for this year's exam. At this time I was also just getting the job in the costume shop and the chamber lady insisted that I still need to work in some kind of tailoring or sewing business.

Well, I then started working in the costume shop and everything was quiet for some time. In late fall, early winter last year I started contacting the chambers again (and also my former sewing teacher from fashion school) to get more information about how the exam would take part and when. I also started filling out the application form for being approved as an external examinee which was to be sent in until February 1st.
When I had called the other chamber they told me to call back in early 2010. So nothing new *hmpf*.
I sent in the application for approval and waited. In the meantime I got some more information from the other chamber, that my place was still available and that I would probably do the exam with the other designer graduates in spring (wow, that would be soon).

Okay, so the real story starts now...
About five weeks ago I suddenly had a letter from the local chamber in my mailbox, where they sent me information forms for the exam. As it was only a couple weeks after the application deadline and I hadn't gotten an approval yet I was confused. Also because the letter stated that I had gotten pre information in late January (how, as I only sent my application in late January) and that there had been a mistake which was now taken care of and this forms were the new valid ones and I should detroy the others.

Being confused to no end I went to the chamber the next morning to ask the lady who sent the letter what it all is about. She told me that there was no reason for me to worry and that it was some standard letter to all examinees and that I was in her list, too. So this meant I was most likely approved to do the exam.
For all further information I should contact a lady from the responsible vocational school in town, also to get everything with dates and all my questions regarding the exam answered.

So I called this teacher the next Monday and made an appointment right that Wednesday when she has to free periods. She offered me to also come somewhen later, but I wanted to know everything as soon as possible.

Which was a good thing of me to do... a very good thing.
Because... the design portfolio each examinee has to give in before the actuall exam is already due on March 29th.
So this left me with less than five weeks to find a design, make the portfolio (styled matching the design) and get already all neccessary material (fabric, notions, ...). Especially the last part was difficult, it's hard to find the perfect fabrics in just a couple weeks or so...
I had my vacation scheduled in this time, too, but I had the entrepreneur class to attend then.

However I managed to find the designs quite fast and also made up my mind about the portfolio styling.
I want to make a late victorian inspired skirt suit and style the portfolio like a vintage fashion magazine. I got the needed materials for that the first day of my vacation after the class. The next day I spent the afternoon getting all designs down on paper for the first time. Wednesday and Thursday I again went looking for fabric. Again, as I had been doing a quick look right after I had gotten the dead line and I also had ordered some fabric samples from a couple online stores. I found a nice wool fabric in a local designer fabric store and had it saved for me for a week as I planned to go to another store in another city the last Monday (when having a full day free, and yes we're getting to the very present right now). I didn't find nice fabric in said store, so I only got the lining and a couple pairs of shoulder pads as well as the emboridery thread for he required decorating element and went to get the wool fabric and buttons from the local store right this day. The other stuff and notions I ordered at our shop's whole saler and they arrived today *yay*

In the meantime I finally had gotten an official letter stating my approval for the exam, but only after I asked for it again while being at the chamber for my class anyway. Everything else I did before was being done without being completely sure about the approval.
And as it was said that with the approval I'd get a money order to pay the working fees for the application I wouldn't even have the thing yet, as I'm still waiting for the money order (they stated it was sent later in the approval).
So I'm not really sure how they would have handled it, if there hadn't been this mistake in the exam forms.
I wouldn't have known about my approval yet and about the deadline for the portfolio... leaving me with 8 days from today...
Quite impossible to manage creating the portfolio in less than a week.

Also my former teacher emailed me back that I would rather do the exam with the tailor examinees there in summer, too instead of the April designer exam. But after I got the approval here I cancelled my place there as the exam was now quite the same, around the same time, I had started with the portfolio here and I could now put the money I would have spent on travelling and staying there for the exam time on the fabric :D.

So in the last days I completed all drawings and designs for the portfolio. I put them together this morning and early afternoon (after work) and went to the copy shop to get it all printed on sepia colored paper. After this I treated the pages' edges with black tea and my blow dryer to have them looking even older.

Tomorrow I want to do an embroidery sample to put in the portfolio as well and cut the fabric swatches to glue them in. Then I just need to take a pic of my buttons, print it out, glue it in and color the emboidery design drawing. Then I should be done *wohoo*
I hope to give it to the teacher lady next Wednesday in her free periods. I know that it is about 5 days early, but I'm glad when it is off my table... because I know I'd start worrying about if it is good enough having it lying around here after being finished...

I'm still curious when the money order will arrive as I can take that day as the actual date when I would have gotten the approval... wanna take bets if it is before the due date of the porfolio or after?

Okay so this is the story about my journey to the tailor's exam so far.
I maybe post public pictures of my portfolio after the design has been approved after April 16th.
Stay tuned ;)

Thanks for reading

Hello and welcome

2010-03-07T23:18:00.004+01:00

Hi,

well I guess I should say "Welcome" first.
This is my new (and very first) blog and this is quite exciting ;).
Anyway, as the profile says this will be all about my way to the tailor's exam this summer. I hope this blog will help me to keep my motivation high and maybe I'll find some followers who like what I ramble^^.
In my next posts I will tell you more about me, my work, and my way so far. I'll also give you an update on what has been going on with the exam to this point (a quite confusing story).
In the end we all will hopefully see a result that will let me pass the exam, become a tailor and go on my way into fashion, costumes and corsetry. (More about this soon.)
If everything works well, this blog will also be a Dress Diary as I'm thinking about taking part in a costuming competition. Stay tuned for updates.

Okay, that's it for the first post. I'm going to bed now, I've got an entrepreneur class to attend in the morning.
Have a good time.