Elizabethan progress

[madamemodiste]

I want to apologize for the lack of progress photos. By the time I take photos, upload them to the computer, adjust the size and color, then upload them to the server so I can post them online...a half hour has gone by. These days I need every minute I can get!

Anyway...next time I plant to make something large in velvet, please point to this series of posts, and say, "For the love of sewing, Kat, don't do it!" I just don't have a knack for working with the stuff.


In Which I Botch It All Up:

OK, so last we left off I had gotten the sleeves made and set. Good. Next...overskirt! So I cut all this out weeks ago, so I pull the pieces back out and get to work. Oh -I may or may not have posted about how I somehow cut the front pieces so the nap was not going in the same direction for both? Yeah, I had to cut a new right front piece. OK, done. So now I have to sew this small triangle piece to the front at the lower CB to make it a square. Not sure why they don't have you cut it that way to begin with, but that's a complaint for another day. So I put them in, and the next step is to sew the fronts to the backs. Except I forgot about the back pieces. Like...*poof* I stupidly sewed the two fronts together. I didn't realize until I got to the cartridge pleating instructions and it said to cut a piece of gingham 122" long. 122"?? My overskirt isn't 122"! Then I vaguely remembered cutting out two large pieces of velvet 48 3/4" x 43 1/4" several weeks ago...then the image of me going, "Wow, look at this large piece of velvet. What's this doing here? Huh, well, I'll use it to cut out the sleeve poufs!" Then I cut two left poufs instead of a right and a left and had to cut another one. Yeah, I accidentally used one of the back panels to do the sleeve poufs.

*sigh*

So I cut new back panels and TRY to get them so the nap matches the front pieces, but I was only successful on the right side. At this point, I don't care anymore and go to bed.

Next: cartridge pleating *OR* In Which Kat Loses Her Mind

Comments

[ghost-ofa-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh no, it seems like a lot is not going all that well on this project. With some projects you really have to keep focussed because it's so easy to mess it up. It happened to me too....several times actually. And ahum....I have a big velvet project planned too. I think I will have to keep my head together when working on it. At the moment I'm really stressed, so it's probably not the right time to start with it. But I want to whish all the luck with this project and I am sending you good sewing thoughts! I'm really curious how it's all coming together, because I really loved the photos you've posted before.

[degracieuse.livejournal.com]

Inhale, count to ten, hold your breath, exhale count to ten, repeat 3 times, the curl on the sofa with a cup of tea and pet the cats, look out at garden and ponder about what it will look like at wintertime completely covered in calming,pure, white snow.... then shrug your shoulders,sigh, and try again. Sometimes costuming throws you a bent needle ;)

[standgale.livejournal.com]

well, apparently in the past they weren't nearly as fussy about matching the nap of fabrics as we are now because fabric was so expensive it just wasn't worth it. so.. you could always just say "it's authentic" (although, if anyone actually commented on it to you, you are probably justified in politely slapping them for their rudeness.)
I hope it goes better after you have a rest and let your brain get itself in order. If you don't give it time though, I find things just continue to go wrong.

[chloeandrudy.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to make something out of velveteen and am glad I chose that kind of velvet.
It's very frustrating when you spend a lot of time on something and it's either fighting you the whole way, or no matter what you do, it still looks like crap. Or at least not to your expectations. And we all know we all have high expectations. :)