In the beginning, there were mistakes

Hello reader! (heh.)

Money money moooonnneeeeyyyyyy

My main concern as of late has been the amount of money I've been spending to work on this project. I'm a sucker for a beautiful brocade, and there are few things that can wrench me away from the linen and lace section in J-Fabs.

That being the case, I decided to do a little research into how to spend as little money as possible while getting the best products for my needs. My first stop was J-Fabs for some on sale lace and two versions of my apparent new best friend - the bias tape maker. Good. Lord. Do you have any idea how expensive lace by the yard for trim is?! It's embarrassing! So when I read on this website that there are ways around spending a gazillion dollars to make sure I can show off my creations without shame, I nearly wept with joy.

I noticed her little quip about how expensive J-Fabs is, so I decided to check online to see if there were any sewing/fabric places nearby. I'll have to do some comparative shopping, of course, but according to the dog wrangler in Two Gents, there is a wholesale fabric and trim place not too terribly far from here. It'll probably be a good thing I'm not getting any more tattoos!

Found one place, looks promising, but I cannot tell from their website if they allow over the counter sales! As in, in person. They show a picture of the building, but they also say something about a $200 minimum on all orders! I suppose I can trek out to find out in person, as it's only a 20 minute drive (thank you, google maps!).

Trials and tribulations with a victorian corset

My very first corset... phew. After a mock up of interesting proportions (I didn't exactly know how to use a pattern before, uh, that very moment), my second attempt with some hearty duck cotton proved to be amazing. I'll publish some pictures of Daphne in the corset (size 6 sewing, the little wench...) at a later time.

My main problem was figuring out exactly how to put the whole thing together, and how to put it together without having to rip it apart 6 billion times. I still haven't exactly mastered that bit, but no big deal. I was using this deep forest green (beauutiful color), and it proved to be a beautiful end product, but in the construction part, it was a pain and a half. The chalk would rub off, the marker would fade when I walked away to get a drink of water, or I would just not be paying attention! I learned the hard way that you should mark everything with multiple means, and that you should never EVER use the width 1 on a Baby Lock sewing machine if there is even the slightest possibility that you might have to rip out a seam. Let me put it this way... I had a strained back and sore eyes after an incident with width 1 and the starting seams of the corset. Ugh.

I purchased precut spring steel pieces for the aforementioned corset, so the insertion of those didn't take too long... except they weren't cut to the right lengths. Argh! After lots of replacing and muttering, I had them all put in at a suitable fashion. Then I proceeded to break two needles on steel trying to sew shut the corset with double wide black bias tape. Bias tape, I learned, is a pain in the butt and WAY overpriced. Thus came my purchase which I ranted about above.

After putting together the pieces as per the instructions, I did the grommet thing (hence forth, I shall use button holes and reinforce them!) and used the 5 yards long lacing (think shoe lace, in black) to bind my little sister (very little, 105 lbs, 5'9) into my lovely corset. See photos later.

Money money mooonnneeeyyy

I'm searching for a gathering foot that is compatible with my Design Pro (BL22). Best bet? Babylock's website! I found the foot I need, now all I have to do is... find a store that will sell it to me? Oh Babylock... why do you begrudge me?! The Gathering Foot (ESG-DS) is a sturdy little foot that will make some of my gathering nightmares go away. Granted, pleating and according pulling three stay-stitches is more period, but for certain parts of the upcoming chemise, a gathering foot will be primo-extreme-o.

Ooo... a "Chem -E-Zay!"

Linen.

Oh yes, I said linen. The quintessential fabric for showing the incredible need for stay-stitching. Set my Baby on width 4 and away I go after cutting on the fold many more pieces that I anticipated. Feeding the fabric through at a snails pace seemed to be the only way NOT to ruin my lovely unbleached linen.

Since only undergarments will be made with a pattern during this project (I must be insane), this will be the second to last for my Victorian outfit. Reconstructing History is a pretty great place to find some awesome patterns for undergarments!

After putting together the yoke for the garment, I dealt with the pain in the butt of gathering fabric with two gathering stitches. I think from now on, I'll always use three! I figured out rather slowly, blind as I am, that it's best to pull the bobbin thread to gather. Fortunetely, it turned out very pretty, and all that remains now is to hem the pretty little garment and strap Daphne into it for final fittings!

Goodbyes

Well, that's all for today. I'm off to maintain my grades in my other classes! Today we watch Brokeback Mountain in my Love and Sexuality class. I'm not very pleased on that issue, as I love the two main actors and am not in the mood to see them.. uh... well... you know. Sadness prevails, so I'll start sketching instead of watching :)

Love ya!