idyllicchick

Pleating and Poufing

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Sharon

The final thing I had to do to prepare my wedding dress for its debut at my class reunion was to pouf the overlayed black train. After cutting off the bottom of the pink part of the dress to make the halter top, I was left with yards of sheer fabric that fell to the ground, pooling around my ankles. I had spent some time speaking with my friend Penny about bustling the train (Penny was the Bustler of the Train at my wedding, even though the train wasn’t particularly designed to be bustled. That woman can work absolute magic with a piece of cloth and a safety pin.), but after listening to her advice and watching a couple of videos on YouTube, I realized that the fabric in question is too drapey to bustle properly. As I write this I just now realize that I could have tried to starch it, but it is far too late in the game to do that now. So I poufed.

First I pleated each side of the train. I did this in the same way that one would if she were making a bustle. Simple pleats up each side of the fabric with the key being that the pleats face up for maximum pouf. Crumbcatcher pleats, if you will.

Then I wasn’t sure whether to pleat the remainder of the train, or to gather it into traditional rousching. So I used one technique on each half of the train,pinning things in place without sewing it down permanently. After polling a couple of friends on which looked better, we came to the conclusion that because the fabric is so dark, the two techniques were equal in appearance. So I went with the easier technique: rousching it on the sewing machine.

I simply sewed a few well placed lines of straight stitch with the longest stitch length, and scrunched up all of that fabric into one place. I tried my best to make it even around the dress, but it ended up a bit longer in the back. I’m pretty OK with that, and I can always tighten it up later if I choose, though I rarely go back to fine tune a project after I feel like I’ve completed it.

After that I cropped off the crenolin that I wore with my wedding dress and called it done! Look for pictures of the finished product this weekend!

Posted in scissors | Leave a comment

Cutting Up

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Sharon

So I did it. I slugged back a couple of ciders and I cut my wedding dress. And it wasn’t that bad. I thought it might even feel good, but it didn’t. In the end, it was just fabric. I always knew that logically, but it wasn’t until I took the shears to it that it just felt like fabric to me.

So I cut the bodice of my dress at the top from about the third grommet down on the corset back, around to where the black overlays the pink on the front of the dress.

I cut off a lot less than I needed to at first, then whittled my way down to what needed to be removed. I then cut out three layers from the halter top pattern that I made – two in the pink silk, one from the black organza. I only had two sleeves worth of organza, so I had to scrimp on that, but I had tons of pink silk to work with because I hacked off the bottom of the dress for fabric! After cutting the bodice, it was easy to cut off the wedding dress to the length that I wanted. And oh my, does that silk cut like butter! Sooooo smooth and sultry. I might be working with this fabric again in the near future!

I sewed together one side of the halter top and turned it right side out. Because the bodice is multi-layered, I turned down the inside and outside layers of the fabric and sandwiched the new halter piece in between. I pinned it, ironed it, and sewed it up. It didn’t look too bad! So I repeated everything on the other side.

There are definitely a couple of wonky places, but I don’t think it’s too bad for an amateur. I’ve sewn so many costumes that I’ve learned to not give a crap about little boo-boos. I can also hope for a pretty dark ‘party atmosphere’ at the reunion dinner.

Posted in scissors | 1 Comment

THE Shoes

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Sharon

I’ve been so on edge lately about the Wedding Dress Remake™ (Yes, I did cut the bodice for the halter top. No, I have not actually sewn anything yet.) that I kind of forgot about accessorizing. When I sat down to make the big list of things that I need to do before we leave on our mini-vacation, I realized that I’ll need shoes. I mean I knew I’d need shoes – I’ve posted a few possibilities on Pinterest, and I’ve been keeping my eye out for some on the occasional thrift store visit – but I had forgotten that if I needed to order them, I’d need to have some leeway for shipping time in there.

And for one of the first times in my life, I didn’t want to pay $50 plus shipping for a pair of shoes. I feel like I have plenty of shoes, and if I need to buy a pair for this outfit, then that’s the only outfit I’ll be wearing those shoes with. Seemed like kind of a waste. Plus I want to put that extra fifty bucks towards a new hair cut. So I hit the thrift stores, hard. I couldn’t find The Shoes. I went to Payless, but even Christian Siriano couldn’t help me. I went to Plato’s Closet for the first time, wading through thousands of black pumps that all looked exactly the same.

After all of that I had time for one more stop on my way home. I popped into the Salvation Army, a place where I very rarely shop because they just don’t seem to have much of anything any more. But they had black shoes. A lot of them. I tried on two pairs, but one was way too big. The second pair were nice shoes. Suede, barely worn. They fit well, and met my general specifications. But they didn’t strike me as being THE shoes. I liked them, they were nice, but I wasn’t convinced.

I decided to buy them anyway because they were inexpensive and I knew I could use them as a decent fall-back shoe. The lady at the check-out squeeeed aloud and congratulated me on such a good find. Coincidentally, she was dressed in the same style that I see myself in at the party I’ll be wearing these shoes to: Fun, retro, quirky. I confessed to her that I wasn’t sure if these were really THE shoes. She smiled, leaned over the counter, and whispered to me in a conspiratorial way, ‘These are barely worn, leather Naturalizers, and they are two-forty-nine. These are THE shoes!’

And so they are!

Posted in scissors | Leave a comment

50 By 50 #41-50–Fun and Fabulous!

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Sharon

I’m finishing up my 50 By 50 list with some miscellaneous items that I’m pretty damn excited about.

41. Watch all of the Academy Award winning best films. Chris and I started doing this a couple of years ago, but have only made it back to the late 80’s so far. Really enjoying most of these films, and I’m looking forward to some of the early films!

42. Watch all of the Morgan Spurlock top 50 documentaries. I loved Morgan Spurlock’s 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die on Current TV. I’ve seen many of the ones that made his list, and now I want to see the rest of them as well!

43. Get a WV tattoo. I have the design. I have the artist. I just need the tattoo!

44. Get a tattoo with my brother. And I haven’t spoken to him about this at all. I guess they don’t need to be matching tattoos, but a similar theme would be nice. Maybe traditional Mom tattoos?

45. Do something fun and cool with Sophia. Probably not tattoo related. Our niece Sophia is nearly ten years old. It’s time to begin the indoctrination.

46. Swim with manatees. I’ve lived in Florida for 23 years and have never done this!

47. Go to 3 musical concerts. Just because I don’t do this nearly often enough.

48. Build a clogging board. Dance more. I’ve started going to clogging class again and am really enjoying it. But I want to learn how to free form clog so that I can dance at folk festivals and other gatherings. Craig has already agreed to help me build a clogging board after my mini-vacation at the end of this month. After that is done I will be on my way!

49. Play an instrument or sing in 7 YouTube videos or performances. I’m added ‘Or make a cooking show’ to this one. Seven is only one per year, and I think I can at least do that!

50. Have a big wedding anniversary party. There are so many wonderful people in my life that I didn’t know when I got married. People that really should have been there. So I want to have a big anniversary party (Tenth, maybe?) at the same place where our wedding was, and again, invite everyone that I know!

So that’s it! Today is my 43rd birthday, and I’m ready to start working on my list! Do you have a XX by XX list? Leave a link to it in the comments!

Posted in rock | 1 Comment

50 By 50 #34-40: Miscellaneous

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Sharon

33. Digitalize all of the family slides, put them on DVD and send them to dad and Hank. -Last May when I home visiting my dad, I scanned in all of the family slides that dad had given me. When I declared the project complete and ready to burn to DVD, he pulled out another boxful of them! So I’m halfway done.

34. Put up a bat house on the property.When we moved out here to the Satellite of Love, I asked my dad to make me a couple of bat house. Which he did! But I’ve never put them up. I know there’s a certain time of the year to do it, and they need to be facing a certain direction and such. I need to figure those things out and put it on the calendar.

35. Clean out my jewelry box and begin using it effectively. My jewelry box was another ‘Dad’ project. He made it for me, at my request, years ago. It’s very nice, and can help me be organized, but I only use it as a box right now. Time to clean it out and get rid of a lot of stuff that I’ve never worn.

36. Complete the slide show of our honeymoon photos. I began this six years ago. I got about halfway done three years ago. Time to finish it so that I can share the result with you!

37. Find the anniversary photo book. Update it, and keep it updated. One year for our anniversary I gave Chris a little photo album that documented major events of our lives together. I know now that a hard copy photo album isn’t practical for us, but it’s kind of nice to look at together. I haven’t updated it since I gave the gift, so I’d like to catch up on that.

38. Get back down to a size 10. Because I’m still going to want to wear that black and silver cheerleading skirt when I’m 50.

39. Start wearing sweater vests and handknit socks with garters. Style more. Accessorize better.

40. Get into the habit of backing up your computer every two weeks. Yes, I should have been doing this for year.

Posted in rock | 1 Comment

50 By 50 #27-32: Other Crafty Stuff

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Sharon

This is the last of the crafty lists, and I must admit that this is feeling a bit overwhelming. I know there are still seven years and three days for me to get all of these things worked into my life, but there are things building up on my Pinterest board as well! If you haven’t heard of Pinterest yet, you definitely need to click on over there and check it out! So much to do, so little time.
Ok, enough babble. Here we go!

27. Figure out the recipe for Chris’ ultimate mustache wax. We have the supplies to do this, we just need to play around with it to figure out the consistency that Chris likes the best. Not too waxy, not too greasy.

28. Enter a craft in the county fair. Alachua County fair or Preston County fair, it matters not!

29. Make salsa from ingredients that I grew in my yard. I’m considering the tomato and pepper (And basil! Lots and lots of basil!) hay bale garden that I grew this summer a total success and am looking forward to trying to grow onions and garlic this winter!

30. Grow spinnable cotton. Lord knows I’ve got the flat expanse of burning hot yard for it.

31. Either get the big loom working or pass it on to someone who will. Oh I do love having a loom! But I’ve never used it. I got it for a steal of a deal, but need to repair the brake on it, and I’m not exactly sure how to do that. I know Ginger will help me, so I’ll schedule some time with her to take a look at it.

32. Join the local handweaver’s guild. I’ve got to send my $20 in soon so that I can attend the cotton spinning workshop.

Posted in rock, scissors | Leave a comment

50 By 50 #23-26: Knitting

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Sharon

What a surprisingly short knitting list!

23. Complete all knitting WIPs including Epic Sweater the First. I’ve kind of been working on this one all year. The only new projects I’ve started this calendar year have been socks, and I think I’ve only done one or two pairs of brand new ones. Everything else I’ve knitted has come out of the WIP (Works in Progress) drawer. One sweater I pulled out this past weekend only needed the ends to be woven in! So I plan to continue on this track until I’m down to not a damn old thing before I begin any new things.

24. Plan Epic Sweater the Second. Which will be one of these: Linkie. I do have the pattern book already, which is the first major hurdle since it is a rare one.

25. Knit an epic lace shawl. A wedding ring shawl perhaps? That’s a super fine full sized shawl that can be pulled through one’s wedding ring. Crazy talk.

26. Design the disjointed cabled sweater. It wasn’t long ago that I fell in love with this sweater that a friend linked to:

I *must* figure out how to make this! MUST! Sometime within the next seven years.

Posted in rock, scissors | 3 Comments

50 By 50 #18-22: Spinning

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Sharon

More crafty things for the list! I’m thinking the spinny stuff should come before the knitting stuff, even though there is crossover, of course.

18. Spin and knit 20 hats from WV fleece. About a year and half ago I bought my first sheep fleece. It came from Preston County just like me and my spinning wheel. I’ve washed it, dyed it, and have carded most of it. I’ve spun some of it and don’t hate it, so I plan to make hats for my WV family from it.

19. Learn three more spinning drafting methods. At first I was listing these as separate items: Learn to long draw wool, get better at cotton spinning, learn to spin woolen style. I put them together in order to get more items onto my list!

20. Learn to spin on a great wheel. Hoping Ginger will help me out with this one. Hrm, I guess I could have included this with #19.

21. Investigate silk reeling and growing silk worms. ‘Investigate’ does not mean ‘do it’. I don’t even know what a damn mulberry tree looks like.

22. Plan and hold a spinning retreat. This is an idea that a couple of us came up with at Spin In last year. Even though Hanks no longer exists, it’s something that I’d like to see happen.

Posted in rock, scissors | 5 Comments

50 By 50 #12-17: Sewing

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Sharon

Of course my 50 By 50 list ended up being mostly crafty stuff. I’ve broken them down into categories for your convenience. Ok, really for my convenience.

12. Wear my wedding dress again. By this I mean to remake my wedding dress into something more wearable. And then wear it! I’ve already started pulling the dress apart and hope to have the remake done in time to wear the new dress to my high school reunion at the end of September.

13. Make a quilt for Jasmine. I still have her first baby blanket from the hospital when she was born, so I’ll put that inside with the batting.

14. Make 3 work shirts for Chris. By ‘work shirts’ I mean basic camp shirts with a pocket. I already have the pattern and the fabric for the first one.

15. Make 7 skirts. That’s only one skirt a year! I can totally do that and be better off for it. I found a great skirt recipe for recreating your favorite skirt that I hope to use the hell out of.

16. Get the serger working. Sew more. My dad shipped me my mom’s serger when she could no longer use it. She was cognitive enough at the time to insist that he send it to me, for which I am quite grateful. Unfortunately, I’m not showing that appreciation very well. My mom’s serger has sat in the sewing cabinet, unused, for six years. It probably still works, but I need to pull it out, make sure of that, and use it regularly.

17. Empty the mending basket. The always full mending basket. I hates it. Perhaps I shall set aside one day each month to work on the mending basket for at least one hour. I’d have it emptied within a few months, and would be able to easily maintain it. So how does the second Saturday of each month work for you? Great! We’ll start this weekend!

Posted in rock, scissors | 1 Comment

50 By 50 #4-11: Travel

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Sharon

Next up on the 50 By 50 list is travel! I attempted to limit myself to seven travel ideas since that would be one item per year between now and 2018, but I overshot it by one trip. Maybe Blogher will be in New Orleans one year.

4. Attend Blogher. And look, Blogher Handmade is the weekend of my birthday this year! But I won’t be going to that one. Blogher ‘12 is in New York, and I’d love to go to New York, so I may shoot for that one.

5. Visit Scotland again. Chris and I have been in agreement about this one since before we got home from Scotland the first time. We’ll spend some time in the north the next time so that we can check out some of the hard core archaeological sites.

6. Attend John C. Campbell Folk School or the Aurora Project or Augusta Heritage Center. Any of the three will do! John C. Campbell is more instructional than the other two, but the other two are in West Virginia. So I might have to double up on this one.

7. Go on a local-ish vacation with Chris where we don’t see anyone else that we know. We just want to have an inexpensive getaway where we don’t have to stay in someone’s guest room.

8. Visit New Orleans. I KNOW!

9. Go to DragonCon or Comi-Con with Rhea. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to a big con with Rhea?

10. Attend one of my high school reunions. And I’ll be doing that in four short weeks.

11. Visit Chicago. Simply put, there are a lot of people there that I want to spend time with, and I’ve never been. Using that logic I should probably slide Chattanooga in there as well. Chicago via Chattanooga? Woah! That totally works!

Where do you want to go within the next few years? Have you been there before?

Posted in rock | 4 Comments