Final Thoughts on 2013 - No New Fabric and Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenges

I've learned a lot in the past year about costuming, blogging, and deadlines.  I successfully abstained from purchasing fabric for a full twelve months! ...And I less-than-successfully followed the Historical Sew Fortnightly year-long challenge.

 

Looking ahead, I have a clearer idea of what types of costuming goals I should set for myself and how to go about achieving them.

I decided not to join the 2014 HSF, mainly because I think this type of sew-along is not really for me.  I loved it for the first half of the year, but then the challenges stopped fitting so nicely with my own schedule (haphazard as it may have been) of planned costumes and events.  And then I moved.  Twice.  Not surprisingly, it all went downhill from there.  Out of the total 26 challenges, I completed only 9.  So rather than once again set myself up for failure, I'm going to concentrate instead on the Accessorizing Head to Toe and the 18th c. Court Ensembles challenges that I had already signed up for, as well as running my own Year of Foundations sew-along.

  

This is not to say that the Historical Sew Fortnightly was a total disaster for me!

What I loved about it:

• The creative ways in which each challenge theme could be interpreted
• Seeing everyone's finished projects and getting inspired
• The collaborative community of costumers from around the world

What I would do differently next time:

• Get organized and plan out my year of costuming in advance
• Break up large projects into smaller pieces that can be achieved in two weeks
• Research my planned garments more thoroughly

As for the self-imposed No New Fabric challenge, I would call it a rousing success!  It worked well for me mainly because I already had such a large stash of fabric to begin with.  :p  I kept it up by avoiding fabric stores and by putting off any projects that called for fabric I did not own until this year.  Which brings me to this year's goals!

Year of Foundations

This will be my primary focus in the coming year.  I've already posted about my specific plans concerning the YOF, so I won't go into detail here.  Briefly, I am planning two full sets of historical undergarments - 18th Century and Victorian.  This means I need to buy a substantial amount of linen for shifts and chemises, and I've already purchased coutil for stays and corsets.  For petticoats and skirt supports, I will be using old sheets from my current stash.

Menswear

This is the main category of costuming that I have been putting off until I could buy fabric again.  I want to start making Regency men's clothing so that Brian the Engineer can come with me to future RSV events.  I currently have nothing in my stash that is appropriate for this endeavor, especially now that I've been working at Colonial Williamsburg for nine months and have learned to appreciate natural fibers even more than I already did.  This means more linen for shirts, and some nice wools and heavier linens in dark, muted colors for trousers or frock coats.  Fortunately, I have several fabrics in my stash suitable for waistcoats.

18th Century gowns

I already have the fabric for several gowns which I had planned to make last year but never started because I never finished my stays!  This will be rectified shortly, thanks to the YOF.

Regency gowns

According to the RSV schedule of events, I have a Valentine's social, a tea, a luncheon, a picnic, an ice cream tasting, a nature walk, and at least one ball to plan for in the coming year!  I clearly need to add to my meager wardrobe of two day dresses, one sheer ballgown, two bonnets, one spencer, and two reticules.  I have plans (and fabric) for at least two bodiced petticoats, and I want to make two more sheer gowns to wear over them.  I have already done some pre-shopping on fabric for those sheer gowns, and they're going to gorgeous!  :D

Now of course I don't want to start buying fabric like crazy just because I can, so I came up with a couple of new rules for myself:

When new fabric is purchased, it must be used within a month, or I have to donate it to the bargain fabric table at work.  

This should prevent me from returning to my old habit of buying fabric because "it's such a good deal!" or "it's so pretty!" or "I might need it someday!"  

For the purposes of this rule, "used" will mean something has been cut out from said fabric.  This will keep me from waffling about what I want to make from a particular fabric, and will also get me to be more productive rather than just accumulating yardage.  Cutting out is my least favorite part of sewing, so once that's over with I am much more likely to finish a project.  It's not fool-proof though, so my second rule is:

When I start a new project, I have another month to finish it.  

So this means that the beautiful blue velveteen I bought last week at that very bargain table must be cut for a Regency bodice by no later than February 8, and sewn together by March 8.  

However, I can still buy large amounts of fabric that is useful for multiple projects, like muslin or coutil, and I don't have to use it ALL in a month.  I have to cut out at least one thing, but the rest can be stored until it's needed.  And if a project is one that takes more than a month, it's ok as long as I'm working on it continuously.  I'm just not allowed to cut something out and then abandon it, as I've done so many times in the past.

So, onward!  I have fabric to buy!  :D  

HSF Challenge #1 - Finally Complete!

Way back in January when I first planned out my year of costuming goals, I decided to make an 1813-era apron-front gown for the first challenge of the Historical Sew Fortnightly.  I got it halfway done!  Then it lay abandoned for nearly five months...

I finally finished it in time for the Victory Ball on June 22.

Regency Slippers From Modern Ballet Flats

When I left off with my slippers, they were stripped of their casing and drawstring and dyed a pale blue, and I had just received my ribbons in the mail.  Now for the fun part!  I gathered up all my materials and got ready to paint.

HSF Stripes Challenge - Regency Ballgown

When I left off with this project, I had two bodices for my two dresses, and the blue one had sleeves.  Now I have two completed dresses, even to the hand-sewn buttonholes!  It's amazing how much I got done in a day - and I do mean a 24-hour day.  I didn't sleep Friday night.  :p  I finished my ensemble for the ball at 8:00 Saturday morning, went to work from 10:00-4:30, ran home for a quick dinner and catnap, left for Lansing, MI at 5:45 and arrived at the ball at 7:02, after a quick change in my car.  But more on the ball later.  First, the dress(es)!

The skirts are just pinned in place to get a feel for length.

Regency Madness

I found out yesterday that there is to be a Regency ball only an hour away from where I live, and the day after my birthday!  Having absolutely nothing remotely acceptable to wear and barely a month in which to fix that, I got started right away.  First I tore my well-ordered (haha) bedroom apart in order to determine if I had any amount of suitable fabric to make a ballgown.  I came up with the following:

3 yds light blue cotton, 2 yds white cotton voile, 1 yd white striped cotton voile, 3 yds eyelet trim, 1 yd blue velvet ribbon

I then logged onto Pinterest and went on a Regency pinning frenzy, which I carried on again this morning when I woke with the realization that I would need a bonnet.  Also shoes, but I have that covered.  I may cannibalize a modern jacket in order to make a passable spencer.  We'll see how ambitious I get.  Remember I can't buy any fabric!

Edit:

And it'll be perfectly timed for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Stripes challenge, too!

...And A Muff Cover

As promised, here is my newly-completed muff cover:

Once again I followed Koshka-the-Cat's tutorial, with some minor changes.

A Pocket And A Petticoat

I have finished two more costuming projects!  I'm on a roll for this month.  :)  First is my embroidered pocket:

I finally learned how to do French Knots!  

And second (although actually finished first :p) is my new brick-red petticoat:

Pay no attention to my messy room - or the cat.  

My HSF UFO: The CAC

I could have chosen any number of half-started ventures for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Un-Finished Object Challenge, as I have several such projects lying around.  I went with the Curtain-Along cloak, which had been sitting folded in a box for months.

This photo makes me feel rich.  :)  

I already had the outer cloak cut out and sewn together, but for the sake of tidiness I had folded it up and put it back in the plastic pouch that the curtain panel originally came in.  In the meantime I gathered more fabric.  The red wool in the top left corner of the box is now the cloak lining, and the black and red velvets on the bottom will be made into a couple of muffs eventually.  I like to organize my fabric by project in these nice flat boxes I get from work.  Up until Saturday, this was as far as I had gotten on the cloak.

An 1813 Apron-Front Gown

I am woefully behind on the first project in the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge, but I can at least post pictures of my progress so far.  The challenge was to make something that would have been worn  during a year ending in 13.  I chose 1813, since I already had plans to make a Felicity-inspired muslin dress with a high waist and three rows of tucks around the bottom of the skirt:

Felicity is an American Girl colonial doll.  

A Completely Hand-Sewn Pocket

I know I haven't been updating lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on costumes!  I just haven't had time to blog about them recently.  I am having a lot of fun with my latest project, though, and I wanted to get in a quick post about it.

This is my new Historical Sew Fortnightly Embellish project.  I still haven't decided how I want to embroider the yellow shawl, and I need to figure that out before I go buy gobs of embroidery floss.  However, I do have a small stash of lots of random colors, and I also need to learn some embroidery stitches and techniques before I tackle such an extensive project.  What better way to hone my skills and use up miscellaneous colors of floss than to make a sampler?  I already had the perfect candidate for such a job:

An 18th Century pocket!  Shown here nearly completed. 

How Shall I Embroider My Yellow Shawl?

Edit - I originally unknowingly used a slur in this blog post, and I have since removed it. Over Thanksgiving I went back to Iowa to visit my parents, who were in the process of moving to a new house after almost 30 years.  Not surprisingly, I came back with many long-forgotten treasures from my childhood, and random fabric sources.  One such treasure was this 18 x 90" strip of yellow cotton:

I used this piece of fabric as a shawl, and it became a vital part of my dress-up wardrobe when I wanted to play "G******" with my younger sisters.  (The Hunchback of Notre Dame came out when I was 11, and I was fascinated by Esmerelda.)  It was never hemmed, just had a short fringe from where it had been torn along the grain to create the rectangle.

I have decided to incorporate this unassuming yellow shawl into my grown-up costume wardrobe, as well.  First it needs to be washed, as in the intervening years it has developed a few stains and acquired several black animal hairs - both from my old dog, Chewie, and my current cat, Jazz.

Maybe I shouldn't let her use a box of fabrics as a bed...

To prepare the fabric for washing, I have hemmed it by hand to prevent further fraying of the edges.  This has given me a chance to hone my hand-sewing skills, and I also think it gives a nicer edge than machine-sewing.

This photo - without flash - shows the truest color. 

Next I plan to hone my embroidery skills!  I want to make this shawl my Embellish project for the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge.  The deadline for this project is February 25, and I wanted to get a head start since embroidery is very time-consuming.  But first I need to decide what color(s) to embroider!

I was originally thinking a floral pattern similar to this, in red and green:

But now I'm leaning more towards all black embroidery for a more dramatic effect.  Maybe some leafy vines like this:

My plan is to focus the majority of the design along both short ends, with a smaller border running along one long edge.  I'm thinking it'll look something like this when I'm finished:

What do you think, oh blogosphere?  What color(s) and design should I choose?  Leave me a comment with your suggestions!