The Chevron Dress - Part 1

 I'm sure you all remember me talking about making new dresses, right?  Okay, good.  This is the Chevron dress, not quite the right name for it yet, but I'm working on that.  It came about from the delighted discovery of two curtains (I do love curtains) at Goodwill for around $3 each.They were reds, purple, and yellows in bold cavalier stripes and it was love at first sight.  Initially I envisioned them as a steampunk ensemble, however I am madly in love with what they are becoming.  I used the same pattern for this, Vogue 8286 (circa 1992), as I have been playing with lately with my other dresses.  None of which are done yet!  Ugh.

Anyway, I fussed with this one for a long time in my head.  At first it was a vertically striped ensemble with a gathered skirt (I do love some fluff!) and then, in a stroke of epiphany, I came up with chevrons! Just for the bodice, perhaps?  Skirt?  Both?  The possibilities were boggling.  I just went at it, 'never mind the maneuvers' as was said of Lord Nelson.  Sometimes you must needs dive in with guns blazing in order to put aside your fears of something new, of mistakes.  I was so afraid of making a mistake with this fabric that it was holding me up from actually playing with it.  I believe this is a common fear among stitchers for we treasure our fabric so.

What came together amidst a flurry of newspaper patterns and straight pins was a mind boggling confection.  And I must say, I am terribly pleased with it so far.

Quite by accident, the skirt "Vees" away from the body and towards the bodice, creating an "x" at the waistline.

Delicate purple pocket lining!

Jaunty yellow zipper!

And, voila!  The (almost) finished product.  It is languishing with the demands of school-work and reading for Theatre History, but I have since fixed my dress form and popped the Chevron confection on Ophelia to tempt me while I read.  The last thing I am fussing with are sleeves.  I would very much like short, set in sleeves with black turned-up accent along the hem.  So far I have made eight versions of sleeves and gained no insight.  I took the pile in to my Costume Design professor and asked his advice.  Apparently the hole for your arm (the armseye) must be as close to the actual joint as possible in order to achieve the greatest range of motion for the limb.  Rather counter-intuitive for me, but once I played with pattern pieces, made more sense.  A closer sleeve will pull less of the bodice fabric away from the center back seam (one of my problems) and allow the armseye seam/sleeve to do most of the moving.  Huzzah!  

Right now this dear little dress has a muslin sleeve waiting patiently for me to fix it.  Then hem it up, pop some yummy black lace along the bottom for added interest and wear until dead! Heehee.

Wedding Fodder...

or..."The Dress, The Hair, The Ring, and The Man"

Old friends ask me, "When are you getting married?"  It's become so old hat to reply, "When I'm done with school." that I don't really think about something two years+ away.  Until I found these pictures, courtesy of Tumblr, and began dreaming.

The ring is a family heirloom from his side.  It was custom designed by Great grandfather and has been handed down from father to son for four generations now.  When the couple reaches their 25th wedding anniversary the ring is tucked away (in the original box!), to await the romance of the next generation, and a new ring procured.  I'm thinking something gothy?  Steampunk?  Or just plain lovely.

My grand scheme is to make my dress, probably as a senior project for school, and go from there.  I have struggled with what silhouette I want and then I found this fun purple (made from a tent!) frock.

I love the neckline, not terribly keen on the sleeves, but that's okay.  I also adore the button sash.  I'm such a sucker for button details...

Then I stumbled on this photograph and fell madly in love with the hair idea.  By the time I actually get hitched my hair is going to be so long.  I'm thinking peonies, or something equally sumptuous.  Or just a crown of autumn leaves.  We are getting married in October after all. 

Oh, yes, the most important part.  My honey-bunny.  Couldn't do this without him!

Status Quo

Well, Cornish is back in action and despite it only being three days back, it feels like a whole week or so.  I am enjoying the majority of my classes as most of them require me to perform duties directly related to my intended major!  Such fun.  Studio is one of these.  In Studio we design a hypothetical play from reading it and gaining first impressions to sketching up designs for lights, costumes, and sets.  We basically do every aspect of production except the actual physical building.  It's a way for us as young designers to hone our skills, have a little practice at working together as a team, and to test our talents.

I'm also taking a lighting class, a Theatre History class, 3D design, and Scenic Painting (which is awesomely messy) on top of being the ASM for the school's production of Pride and Prejudice.  All in all very satisfying and very busy.

So I leave you with this lovely dress.  Alas, I have misplaced the show this was from, but it's made from a tent and I'm in love with the neckline silhouette as a possibility for my wedding dress.

More later!

Cheers,

Anna

A ramble through Anna's brain...

Steampunk University is tomorrow and as you can see, I'm all set!  Since Nate is off to PAX (Penny Arcade for you out-of-towners) and my play ends tonight, I needed something to top off my weekend sans hubby.  

I was going to ramble on about quilts or new dressers or new projects but for some odd reason my computer won't upload new pictures the day of upload.  It's like it can't see them at all.  When I open the photo viewer they are there, safe and sound, but should I desire to put them on the interwebs for you fine people, something some where throws a hissy fit and denies me out of spite.

Tonight I take pictures of the costumes I put together for Bertie and I hope some of them turn out nicely. I need them for a portfolio I put together at the end of the year so I am rather excited.

In other news I sliced open my poor little ring finger.  You can almost make out the bandage (left hand). I was cutting up some bread for lunch and despite all my training in how to use knives or perhaps it got stuck, the knife slipped and sliced a small gouge into my poor little finger.  It's fine, just a cut.  Yes I have been keeping it hyper clean, no I'm not going to get one insignificant stitch.  It'll heal and I will have another kitchen battle scar to prove my culinary worth.  

So it's on to sipping coffee today and some sewing, oh and movies!  Netflix brought me goodies yesterday.  Wall-E, Gaslight, and Showgirls.  I know, odd collection but would you expect anything less from me?  No, you shouldn't.

On Homeschool...

I read a lot of blogs each day, and a good portion of them are what I have affectionately named "Mama Blogs"  Women who write passionately about family, homeschool, and being a parent among other things. One such is Miss James, (BLEUBIRD - Homeschooling) a lovely mama of three rascals who has recently made the choice (along with her older two) to begin homeschooling.  Some ignorant person made comments on her blog that raised my ire and I wanted to write a post about my experience as a homeschooled child.

While there were parts that could have been improved, my experience was fabulous overall.  My dad began homeschooling me somewhere in the neighborhood of 5th grade, so what?  1990 something?  I had started out in the public school system and had done okay for a while until I began needing more help with mathematics, etc.  My parents told me later that I would periodically burst into tears at dinner after a long day.  I was only in 2nd grade.  I'm not a stupid person, I just needed a helper to show me the way.  Once I had a grasp of that I was fine to continue on my own until I had a question.  I just needed extra attention, something the public school cannot provide as readily as homeschooling.  For 3rd grade, my parents ordered curriculum and we gave it a try.  Perhaps the most boring drivel I have ever forayed into.  It was like having the rigor of public school at home and I bucked it, hard.  Frustrated but not dismayed, I went back to school for 4th grade and my dad wisely read everything he could find on the subject of homeschooling.  In 1996 there wasn't a whole lot, and not a lot of blogs to find practical help either.  But we made progress.  The concept of "unschooling" was introduced and we embraced it fully for 5th grade, and I never went back.

People hear I was homeschooled and the immediately conjure up an image of some Amish child sitting straight-backed by the fire reading the Bible or something.  The assume we are devoid of human contact, that  we have no friends or an understanding of how cable-tv educated society works.  I gently tell them they are wrong.  SOME families are like that.  NOT ALL OF THEM.  We were different.  Not only was the man of the household at home educating the children, but we were of the artistic bent and didn't stick to memorizing bible verses all day.  We went to the grocery store and learned how to purchase food, how to make decisions on what was least expensive.  We went to the bank, post office, we interacted with society on a level, I think, many of my peers learn after college.  We were polite, well spoken, intelligent, and respectful because not only had we been taught to do these things, but we had seen how we were treated when we acted in such a manner.  Many people marvelled at how well behaved the three of us kids were.  We quietly occupied ourselves at restaurants, office visits, etc.  We took "activity bags" with us that we ourselves packed so we could have a selection of things to play with.
It isn't something that is isolated.  Rather we were exposed to so much more, treated as little adults sometimes, and I believe, learned more than our peers.  Now we are a little odd to our peers, I'll grant you that, but if you met us today, I don't think you would find us anything other than normal, pleasant people.  We have our quirks, we're artists and that's just the way it is, but they're not unsociable quirks.

I would like to homeschool my children in the future.  I would like to give them experiences and opportunities they might not have had if they were put into an (arguably) broken system.  My fervent prayer is that I can be able to take the time to educate them myself and to nurture who they were born to be, allowing that spirit to have the freedom to manifest itself given time, love, and patience.

What are your thoughts?  What do you see homeschooling as?

Wardrobe Quickie

Not that kind of quickie my dears! Heehee.  I am too sleepy to upload the new pictures from my camera just now so an outfit post will have to do.  I have been experimenting with my wardrobe, learning about basics and how to "mix and match" (for lack of a better term).  Clothing used to be something I threw on without thinking much beyond "is it clean?" and "what's the weather like?".  It was ungainly and rather awkward.  There were things I liked, I just didn't have the moxie to mix them together in a cohesive manner.  With guidance and encouragement from good friends, I am working to exhaust my wardrobe as well as add staples, mainly handmade dresses (they're ridiculously easy to toss on!) rather than purchase new items.

shirt : West Seattle St Faire

belt : absconded from a friend

skirt : exhilaration 

petticoat : salvaged from the side of the road

tights : Urban Outfitters

Deets: vintage owl necklace.  Probably used to have a swingy body, but I kind of like just using the head.

sweater : salvaged from theatre, by H&M

blouse : from Sonya

belt : absconded from Jocelyn

skirt : thrifted

shoes : by not rated, thrifted

lace top : thrifted and modded

skirt : made by and from Sonya

ballet flats : thrifted by H&M

I have been embracing skirt wearing now that I sneak boxer briefs under all of them in the summer and tights for the rest of the year.  Boxer Briefs are a woman's best friend!  Particularly when absconded from the darling boy (don't worry, they were a: clean, b: unused, and c: SUPER COMFY)

I have two petticoats that I wear under my skirts for added fluff without being overly Lolita, as well as being warmer for the colder months.  *ahem* Seattle's rainy season...Lol.

Anyway, there are a few things I have played with lately.  More to come. 

Patterns for later...

At Sonya's wise encouragement, I picked up these sweet patterns during one of my many scourings.

These are some of my favourites.  So darling!

I love the little rompers/ bubble suits!  Pad those out with adorably ungainly little diapers, so cute.

Stitching up a Storm

I've been busy!  Not only stagemanaging two different shows (whew!) but sewing many new goodies.  First up is a dress.

This dress, to be precise.  Found at Value Village for the astonishingly low price of 69 cents!  I was in love.  Top it off with a yummy flannel sheet for $2.99 and I was set.  A dress for $3.69?  Can't beat that. It was several sizes too small in the bust as most everything is these days.  I'm still not quite at terms with that.  When did I end up with such a large bust?  I know when, I'm just not okay with it.  Going from a 36" to 41" is not okay in my book.  *sigh*  Anyway.  This pattern is cut out at a size 10, (36" bust) so I knocked out a muslin just to see how woefully smaller it was than me, and it really wasn't that bad.  An inch or two here and there and I was back on track.  

First off I played around with tracing the original pattern onto newspaper and adding a couple inches here and there when I realised it looked exactly like my Sloper project from Spring Semester.  A sloper is a basic body fitting garment that you draft from your measurements and can alter easily to suit other projects.  Out came Slopey and into the trash went the molested pattern.  A little tweaking and it was ready to go!

I cut out all my new pieces (revamped the skirt a bit too) and blithely proceeded to stitch it all together.  The skirt went like a docile sheep, pockets included, but the bodice was rather a troublesome creature.  Had I bothered to pause in my onslaught and use a ruler to measure things out, it would have been perfect the first time.  I am headstrong and don't do that sort of thing often enough.  It came out too big even after fussing the front darts into perfect place.  I'll dart it again, I thought, along the underarm.  After pinning that into place it didn't look right at all.  I let the concoction sit a few days until Sonya could come over.  She took one look at it and said, "Oh honey, you just need to take in the side seams."

I glanced at my dress form and mentally smacked my palm to my forehead.  That was exactly what I needed, and precisely one of the many reasons I adore working with Sonya.  

Miraculously, the waist and the lower edge of the bodice matched up without any major fussing.  That was another thing I forgot to measure.  A crucial place for fabric to be the same size!  

I also cut out a neck facing (a little bit of fabric to finish off the neckline and make it lie flat and nice) basted that down, and then hand stitched it into place.  It turned out quite nicely.  I haven't decided how to finish the arms yet.  If I want to bias bind them or fuss up a sleeve. 

So for now, it is sitting happily, and I have a new dress pattern that fits me.   It's also yummy flannel, did I mention that?  Soooo soft!

Up next is a shirt dress, because I don't have one and I enjoy how they look.  And a couple of blouses because I have oodles of tee shirts, but not any everyday blouses.

Yesterday I found this lovely.  I squealed and did a happy dance complete with clapping.  Why?  It's a lovely pattern and all, but why?  Because, my dears, it's not only in my size (AHHHHH!!!!!) but it's UNCUT.  That's right.  You heard me.  UNCUT.  I'm still kind of pinching myself.  Even though that's not the best part.  Guess how much it cost?

Yep.  $0.69 cents.

It retails at JoAnn's for something on the order of $16-$20.

Also, I need to do a post on the children's clothing patterns I am collecting.  No babies on the horizon for a while, but I can snap up cute patterns for them in the mean time.  Also, whoever Lily is, she had an awesome Grandma.  There were scores of patterns marked "Lily" from little girl up to a prom dress.  I'm sorry that Grandma probably passed away, but happy that Lily got to be so loved.

Sorry for the picture heavy post (well, not really) but I've been lacking in maintaining bloggy posting lately.  More on stitching later.  I've got a muslin to fuss over!

Love, Anna

The Passing of a Generation

It's been a while!  Goodness.  I've been busy with life and work, as well as things that I've been making. I enjoyed the production meeting for Cornish's production of Pride and Prejudice in the fall.  Lots of wonderful ideas.

My family said good-bye to my paternal grandfather on Father's Day.  It seems odd to be happy for someone to pass away.  While I miss my grandpa, I am happy to know he is without pain or suffering and dancing up a storm with my grandma who went before him.  I know they are both happy now and that thought comforts me. His memorial service was last Sunday and it was a beautiful celebration of family.  We ate good food, told stories, and passed out some of his treasures to his children to be cherished and used.  How odd that generations should pass so close to each other.  I just don't think about how you will loose a generation fairly close to each other.  I lost my maternal grandfather in 2009, and now my paternal grandfather in 2011.  I have one step-grandmother left.  It's sad to think of the generation lost with their wisdom and stories.  Makes me wish I had asked them more questions, had them tell me more stories.  Lessons, wisdom passed from the old to the young.

Tumblr

Quick, shameless plug for my other bloggy escapade.  Sonya and I are playing with keeping a Tumblr because we keep finding things which inspire both of us and have too many to share.  

Find us at Pretty Pretty Man Girl

Crafting Tuesday

Seems I find things on Tuesdays.  Today I had coffee with Sonya and her husband Aaron who is recovering from a stroke only a month ago.  It's astounding to watch the progress he has made.  It makes me smile as I watch him stiffly walk about, cane in hand, knowing how marvellous that simple function must be.  I paused today to be grateful for a fully functioning body.  I can move my arms, legs, and have no trouble talking.  I look forward to celebrating with Aaron on his accomplishments and spending time with that wonderful family.

After coffee, I strolled down Broadway to the Value Village on 11th.  I really shouldn't tell anyone this, because the amount of crafting loot that can be found there is rather staggering.  Patterns for $0.69!  Goodwill charges $1!  But I mustn't hoard the wealth of supplies. 

I found some fabric.  This purple plaid was only $2 and came with what I assume to be it's original tags. I think I'll steam them off for safe-keeping.  It's currently destined to become a skirt!

This sweet miniature rocking chair came home with me too.  I couldn't pass it up.  Something about the red colour, and the woven seat bottom just spoke to me.  Besides, my dollies need a place to sit, right?  Right.  I quite thought so myself.

Along with the purple, I found a red fabric that appears to be taffeta perhaps.  It drapes like silk and is super yummy.  Despite having several large holes in it, I am content to use it and wear it to pieces.  Also coming home is a scrap of green leaf print that perhaps used to be a curtain.  It might be enough for a blouse, perhaps with some accent fabric to stretch it.

I finished my o w l s sweater today as well, so stay tuned for a photo shoot for that.   So far my summer is plugging along in a wonderful fashion!  I'm so excited to begin manipulating all the patterns I have found recently.  Until next time, keep crafting!

Love,

Anna

Goodies

Um.  I may have gone shopping...a huge handful of knitting needles as well as a STACK, something on the order of at least 12 or more, sewing patterns.  The best part?  They're ALL uncut.  UNCUT!  It's rather unprecedented.  On Tuesday Sonya and I are off to Capitol Hill Goodwill as part of our Artist Dates and will scour it within an inch of it's awesome life.

Other wonderful things have come to live with my little family.  One of which is a scarlet taffeta sofa purchased from a school chum and now well loved.  Even the Monster Babies approve.

Bunky: "Do you think it's big enough for us, Teeny?" 

Teeny: "...0 - o.......whoa....it's huge" 

I'm not sure how old it is, but it's certainly been around for a bit.  It's in need of repairs here and there.  I'm thinking of patching it with scraps of velvet or something plush and yummy to keep with the bohemian theme.  Also, I'm never, ever getting rid of this amazing piece of furniture.  I love it just that muchly. ^_^

Crafty Goodness!

I've been busy!

First up is this ruffle bustle skirt I whipped up from a fab tutorial over at The Noble Hare.  Super simple and very satisfying.  I plan on adding a little more length to this though, at 18" it's darling, but I worry that my knickers may show should I bend over too far!

Next up is my o w l s sweater designed by Kate Davies of the blog needled.  It's such a quick knit that I've knit this version three times!  Heehee.  First two incarnations had minor tweaking that needed to be done.  It's frogged again and back on the needles hopefully for the last time.  However now that the weather has turned sunny it may be a little while before I actually pick this up and knit on it.  It's knit in Malabrigo which is a kettle dyed squishy-soft merino wool.  I picked it up as a reward to myself for finishing my first year at Cornish.  after forking over $80 this sweater better come out perfect! ;)

I have a few other things in progress, a brides maid dress for a friend, starting to tweak my Sabriel costume, and dreaming up ideas for Steamcon in October!  So stay tuned.

Cheers,
Anna

Mother's Tea 2011

Mother's Tea was amazing!  Just as butterfly-inducing as any onstage performance, only I got to spend the day with classmates and friends.  For all the design changes that my outfit underwent, I'm very happy with the final product and presentation.  We're already thinking up ideas for next year!

Mother's Tea #1

For Mother's Tea I'm making a corset (fingers tightly crossed) out of yummy red silk with a black lace overlay.  This is the first mock-up of the corset pattern.  I've got the second one drafted up and it's patiently waiting for me to snip it out of muslin.  Alas I have other finals to attend to.

Under the corset is going a draped-front bustle business made out of a red velvet suit my Mum thrifted for me aeons ago (2004?) and it's finally finding a happy life in this outfit.  Nothing's been cut, mostly because I can't bear to ruin that delicious (and difficult to match) fabric, so if it becomes something else later it's ready to go.  I'm using crinoline (REALLY stiff tulle) to pouf out the back bustle part and make everything else fluffy.  There will be SO much fluffy going on it's kind of crazy.

More pictures forthcoming, so stay tuned!

It's been a while...

Last Saturday my darling Sonya and I stayed up until 2 am dying my hair a vibrant shade of purple.  I got home and rinsed it out and tinted the rest of me purple!  Live and learn I guess.  Never use Special Effects hair colour! :)  Spring break was spent being sick with what ever the darling boy had, some variety of chest cold complete with fever, phlegm, and hacking cough.  For the first time in five days I've made a cup of coffee and am off to work.  Probably shouldn't, but I need to make some cashy money.

Mother's Tea is the next big project we have coming up at Cornish.  We design, make/alter/find a costume and present it at the end of the semester.  I'm going as some form of a Steampunk inspired Can-Can girl!  It's going to be SUCH fun!  So stay tuned for the updates as to it's progress.