textileowl

So, tomorrow is U-ren! It should be fun and not nearly as wet as the past two years. My sewing has been finished for two weeks and I really just want to go home and start packing up our food in our brand new Tiffin from Fifth Ave Gallery and Framing. It will be nice to just play and watch the performances without worrying about how things are going. We helped out with a crisis already this week, retrieving new shields when a purchased one proved to be unworthy.

Next on the sewing project list are two relatively small projects.

My homemade quilt from my great-grandma Granny has seen quite a few years, having recieved it for Christmas 1992, I believe. Yes, it had to be, Bud got one as well and he was just a baby. All of us cousins recieved them that year. Well, there is a particular cotton flannel plaid that she used that deteriorated faster than the others and now I have gaping holes in my favorite couch throw. I have a flannel to replace the panels that have torn. It requires taking apart the entire quilt, putting in the new panels, adding new batting and ties and then stitching it all up again. For as easy as it ishould be, it's still quite scary to go ahead and rip into my quilt. I'll have pictures of the before and after up when I've actually worked up the nerve to do so, maybe next Saturday.

My littlest brother (he'll be 10!) declared he wanted a black cloak with red stripes the first year he came to faire. That was four years ago. I've bought the black twill and skull flannel lining and red trim (bias tape for the edges) and I even have relatively recent measurements- though judging from new photos, he's gotten taller Again!.  This, again, should be easypeasy. I just haven't had time to work on it until now. I should have it ready for his birthday in June, which means I need it ready for Bud's graduation party, which is the end of May and will probably be the next time I'm going home other than next Monday.

After those are finished, I currently have 3 more in-depth projects.

Late 18th century zone front polonaise. It's blue linen with printed flowers, not really period but it's beautiful, with cream petticoats. I need stays for it, as the new Effigy styled ones aren't round enough to fake the shape. I ordered <i> Corsets and Crinolines</i> for $35 off of the used books at Amazon, so that should show up on Monday or Tuesday and I can start figuring out what is really different between the two shapes. I can't see the difference in photos so I'm going to have to take the flat pattens for both and compare them. Also, I'm currently working on a pocket embroidery in crewel. It's my design based in Art Nouveau, terribly period I know but it's been so much fun and I'm not even done with all the greens in it.!

Jeff and I would like to go to Bristol Renaissance Festival this year. It's a beautiful faire and we've wanted to go for years. Of course, I want to wear Penelope's garb. Unfortunately, I am not the same shape I was three years ago. So the blue velvet is getting a remake. I'll have pictures of the redesign up when I can connect my phone to the computer.  It's going to suck to pull it apart but hopefully I wil be much happier with it in the end.

The third project is currently very nebulous. I'm thinking bustle era, but haven't done much more than look at pretty pictures. This will be a from scratch project as I don't have any Victorian undergarments or anything. So yay! I'm rather excited about it as well.