The Vampire Seamstress Returns (and some reviews)

I only get any sewing done when the sun (and son) is down.

Summer's officially here and it definitely feels like it. It's so bright and skin meltingly hot that doing anything, even moving, is difficult. These days, I limit my sewing when it gets dark and a little cooler. It's also a little more quiet with both boys (my little brother and my son) asleep and not curiously rifling through my scissors and pins (!!!) I'm so glad my dad gave me a nice lighting set up so I don't have any trouble seeing tiny details and mishandling sharp objects. Thanks, Dad!

The wedding gown is progressing slowly but surely. Cutting the silk and tulle was the hard part but sandwiching the fabric between pattern paper was the solution that worked perfectly. I pinned the heck out of each selvage on the bottom paper and pinned the pattern pieces (uncut) on top. I also used very fine glass-headed pins to minimize those scary looking puckers that look a bit like stocking runs. I still can't believe my pieces aren't distorted. I stay-stitched every single piece just in case.

I also got a lot of help from the classes I took at Craftsy.

Sewing With Silk with Linda Lee

Sewing with Silks with Linda Lee tackled things like types of thread, stitch width, the best way to cut fabric, stitch lengths and seam finishes for silk. If you've ever doubted yourself while working with slippery fabric (not just silk) this is the perfect class to guide you and hold your hand while you go through the process step by step. The instructor is so pleasant and has a soothing voice and demeanor. I can listen to her all day. There is a paper pattern that comes with the class and it's a lovely bonus.

Sew Retro: The Perfect Bombshell Dress with Gretchen Hirsch

Sew Retro: The Perfect Bombshell Dress with Gretchen Hirsch was the first Craftsy class I ever took and it was the start of my Craftsy online class addiction. Gertie's teaching style is so easy and friendly, it's like you're having a craft date with a close friend. She has so many sewing tips gained from her own experience in making dresses. I love the little tricks she has like reinforcing the vee of a sweetheart neckline and adding a waist-stay. Those techniques alone make the class worth taking.  There's a downloadable pattern included and it's definitely a dress I'd wear.

The Couture Dress with Susan Khalje

The Couture Dress with Susan Khalje is the ultimate class to take if you're serious about construction techniques. This class will teach you how to be meticulous with your garments. Shortcuts are all well and good but she taught me joy in your own handiwork and that silk organza is something that you should never do without.  This class comes with a paper pattern of a very wearable and customizable dress. 

I cannot recommend these classes enough! The information you will get from each class is invaluable.   I'm only naming the three classes I had to watch and re-watch to help me with the wedding dress that I'm working on, but I also signed up for other sewing classes that are just as informative as well as entertaining.  They have free classes so you can try those and see if you like it. 

So while the sun is out, I will stay away from the light and take my long skirts and long sleeved blouses and put them in storage. Later at dusk, the real work begins.

Gah, July!

Gah. where do I begin? I promised myself to blog at least TWICE a month and where did that get me? I have no other excuse other than I have been, as Americans would call it, "crazy busy." 


Let's see, I made more of those striped Maxi dresses for friends: 

Then I attempted to make a skirt with a bunch of cotton scarves that I got on sale:

I kinda wasn't feeling it, so I shelved the project for another day. Do you know why? Because my wonderful  mother distracted me with this:

She got me 4.5 meters of this staggeringly beautiful blue grey embroidered Indian silk. I want to do a tunic with it, nothing complicated with so many darts and tucks that I have to distort the beautiful embroidery on this fabric. I am, however, doing some more beading on it and it's so much fun. I'm using gold metal beads (not metallic beads, real metal beads. I'm so happy I found some.)


While I was beading, I also decided to make a wearable muslin of the tunic I want to make out of the Indian silk. I made it and my mother loved it so much, she claimed it. >D I will take in the sides a little bit and maybe add darts (maybe) at the back for the next version. My mom was happy with the first one, I'm not complaining. 

Self-drafted, 100% cotton.

Most of all, my time has been taken up by this little boy: 

I wake up to this everyday and I love it. 

Quick Update!

Summer is really here and the heat is depressing me, so I decided to make something summery without resorting to floral prints and bright colors. I got bored last night and made this dress:

Black and white striped stretch and a wide wide black garter. The total time it took to make this dress is about three hours. That includes drafting, cutting and sewing. It's so easy! I'm kinda thinking about making it a downloadable pattern. What do you think?

Downton Progress!

Last weekend and my Monday and Tuesday have been busy busy busy! I cut the bodice fabrics for the 1910s Tea Gown, basted, crazily decided to do the whole thing by hand (just needle and thread, no machines)and all this happened while I rewatched Downton Abbey and American Horror story.

Baste baste baste!

I'm especially proud of the sleeves. I overcasted the side of the bodice by hand.

A closer look at the lace. The solid black fabric is the Italian Satin I bought on the whim with no clear idea what to do with it. So glad I finally found a use for it.

Then tomorrow, I'm going to be marking and cutting all those skirts and overskirts.


The next part of my progress is this:

My husband and I on our wedding day, April 15, 2005

I bought the dress from David's Bridal. It was on a sale rack with the other bridesmaid gowns, the last piece of that style and wonderfully marked down. It was the only champagne colored, historically inspired and slim dress in the whole jumble of stark white strapless voluminous A-lines. It had an overskirt, yo. Then I tried it on and it fit PERFECTLY. 


While the silhouette of the dress was gorgeous, it lacked in embellishment. So off I went to Joanns and Hobby Lobby to find beads that matched the sparse beading that was already on the dress. I only had two weeks to embellish my wedding dress. (Yeah, two weeks. That's another long story) So off my inept self went. I was able to bead only what was needed, but nothing beyond that. It took me forever, I have never sewn or beaded anything before. Then I got married and put the dress away. I only had a small amount of regret for not being able to finish the embroidery and beading.


Seven years and loads of sewing and beading experience later, I decided to pick it up again. 

This is the dress before I beaded anything on it. Photo taken in late March, 2005

My Work In Progress. I really would like to fill the whole bodice with pretty pretty silver beads.
Photo taken today, January 31, 2012.

 I am quite happy with how it turned out. I had no set pattern to follow and it was so much fun to do. I cannot wait to finish both these dresses.


I am thinking of beading the black 1910s Tea Gown with black beads and crystals. What do you think?

Dressing Downton, Sewing Downton

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I fell head over heels in love with Downton Abbey. I watched it for the clothes at first, then got sucked in by the drama less than two second later. To celebrate my obsession with this show, I have decided to sew up some Edwardian pieces (also, garments that can be styled as such) I am so excited!


To prepare for all this sewing, I downloaded several patterns from Sense and Sensibility Patterns. I spent the better part of the weekend printing everything out and taping the first pattern I'm going to work on. I decided to work on the 1910s Tea Gown Pattern first. I am going to do it in black fabrics: black lace, black italian satin, black chiffon etc. Kind of fitting since Downtown Abbey started with a tragedy and a memorial (I also have mostly black fabric in my large stash that I have to get rid of before I justify buying any more fabric *cough*)

And of course, I have been collecting pots of inspiration from different places. The possibilities for embellishment and construction are endless. Here's hoping I come up with something fairly cohesive that is also fairly historically accurate.

NOTE: I was on a right-click-save binge, so all the images (except the one from Sense and Sensibility Patterns) are of semi-unknown origin. If you want credit for these pictures or want me to take them down, let me know, 'kay?

I shall call you HIPPIEDOOM!

Image from www.panilisnewska.com

I bought 4.8 meters of Lecien's "My Folklore" quilting cotton on a whim a couple of weeks ago and I knew I had to make some kind of maxi dress with it. The fabric is a strange brownish eggplant with a blue and yellow flower motif and a really sweet looking border. I was also set on trying my hand at making a Gunne Sax-esque dress I've been drooling over at Etsy for the past couple of days.

Image from etsy.com

Image from etsy.com

Image from etsy.com

Image from etsy.com

The whole dress is self-drafted, but heavily based on the Weisn Dirndl from Burdastyle. I love the princess armhole, the pleated looking skirt and the slightly puffed sleeves.

I made the princess armhole bodice from my basic sloper and added sleeves. I eliminated the button down at the front and put a zipper at the back. I embellished the front bodice with cotton lace, bias piping and bias tape before I sewed the pieces together. The bodice I drafted was a little too short, so I added a "belt" so the waistline would sit right at my waist instead of above it (I felt that a too-high waist made my own waist look bigger). I also pleated the skirt, rather than gather it.

And after about three days of sewing (about an hour a day, it was so hot in my sewing room),  voila!

HIPPIEDOOM!

I love this dress, the skirt has great swish and I feel pretty wearing it. The bodice fits me perfectly and my waist looks smaller than usual. Wearing it reminds me of my younger days as a Goth (though I am still a Goth, I'm hardly what you would call "young") when I used to wear long skirts even in tropical weather. This is definitely a wear-again for me, but now that I'm older, I'll wait for cooler weather.

Lyra, all of nineteen years old in 1999.

Cotton/Silk Embroidered Blouse for Mom: DONE!

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The Details


MATERIALS: 4 yards (yes, you read that right) 60 width Cotton/Silk (70/30), 1 pack of cream colored bias tape, five spools of white thread (four for the serger, one for the machine) and half a yard of cream colored cotton twill tape.


DURATION: May 5 to June 7, 2011. Embroidery from May 5 to June 2. Sewing took a total of two days, June 6 to 7. 


PATTERN: Self-drafted according to Mom's measurements.


CONSTRUCTION: I really enjoyed making this blouse. The planning, embroidery, modifying the design and sewing was so much fun. 


The front bodice is doubled, so the embroidery is protected from skin and friction. 


I did change a lot of things from the original design. It was supposed to be a tunic with set in sleeves, but it ended up being a raglan peasant top instead. 


On to the horror stories: a bit of fabric got caught in the knife of my edger (eek) and there was a big hole next to the right arm-scythe and while I was doing the embroidery, Connor ate a melon popsicle and left an orange stain on the neckline. (DOOOOOOOOOM) So I cut away the offending parts and made the blouse raglan sleeved. Mom liked this silhouette better than the original so I'm relieved. 


I also originally cut the sleeves to be quarter sleeves, but mom changed her mind and wanted long sleeves instead. I cut more leftover fabric and connected it to the existing hem. I covered the unsightly seams with bias tape and hereby declare it a design feature. 


On to the next project! YAHOO!

Almost DONE!

The embroidery for Mom's summer tunic is almost DONE! I can't wait to see this thing on an actual body (before summer ends too) I do miss the sound of my industrial machine. While I am enjoying doing all this hand embroidery, I also want to get some actual sewing done. I have so many projects in line and I want to finish them all before the 20th of June (my birthday). I just want CLOTHES, demmet! 

Cotton Silk Blend (70/30) from Fabric Warehouse in Natural, DMC Rayon Floss in different colors, my largest embroidery hoop and size 26 DMC Tapestry needles.

This is why I'm taking a while. Try doing some hand-embroidery with this cheeky monkey on your back. Hee.


In other news, I really need to do something about my hair. Hmm.

Mom's Embroidered Summer Tunic

The embroidery bug bit me recently and I have also been thinking of what to give my mom for mother's day. So I decided on making a nice summery tunic for her. She had hinted several times that she wanted several tunics to wear now that the temperature has risen in this country. And because I currently want to embroider until my fingers fall off, this tunic is the perfect excuse to kill two birds with one stone.

It's FAAAAR from perfect, but I'm quite happy with it.

I am using a cotton/silk (70/30) blend fabric and DMC Rayon Embroidery Floss. I WISH I could use 100% silk on this project. Sadly. it's not available in this country and this project was planned on such short notice that I wasn't able to order pure silk embroidery floss ahead of time. Perhaps for another embroidery project, we'll see.  

I have no idea where this came from...

...but I suddenly developed a MAD MAD MAD obsession with Nautical Dresses. Looks like I'm gonna be paying a visit to my favorite seamstress this weekend with navy fabric and red and white trim.


I seem to have some kind of sewing curse on me as of late. Anytime I try to sew or embroider for myself, something ALWAYS comes up. If I try to draw or paint or even read (YAYHUNGERGAMES) I am for the most part, undisturbed. Fortunately, I have the same good luck when I'm sewing something for a client or a friend. It's (whatever it is) just not in favor of me making my own clothes right now. The white surplice dress I blogged about a billion years ago is still very much unfinished (the front and back are done, but the side seams are not sewn together and a zipper has not been installed) and I fear it's going to stay that way until Christmas. (Please no.)


As always, I shall prevail. Somewhat.

HOTTIE!

I apologize for being kinda incoherent. Too much chocolate and sailor-y/nautical goodness, I guess. :)


PS All of these pictures are from my hard drive. I have no idea where I got these from anymore (I was on a right-click-save spreee) If any of these pictures are yours email me at lyra_kristine *at* yahoo *dot* com or comment on this blog so I can take it down or give you credit. Thanks!