Sempstress

New Demo: The Secret of the Single Layer Corset

Somewhere in the Victorian era, people started coming up with ideas for making corsets more comfortable to wear. Gigglishiously ironical though that may sound, some great innovations came out of it. One of my favs is the single layer corset – no lining, no interlining, just a base layer of fabric and some boning. If you do outdoor events in the summer, it’s a trick worth adapting. (“It’s period! It’s just not quite your period, dear rennie…” says the voice of evil. Heh. ;)  )

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Tags: Corsetry, Edwardian, Rennie, Victorian

Minor Tech Update

I’m all Mac, all the time, except sometimes at one of the works where there’s a PC on my desk. (And, often, the PC gets shoved back so I can put my Air on the desk and work. My poor little first-version-2008-never-seen-anything-like-it-Air has a better set of debugging tools, starting with a flipping command line.) But I’ve been noticing one thing about the PC that I really like: it’s got a bigger monitor. Doing graphics on a 13″ screen is … painful. I didn’t even realize how painful until I started doing them on a 19″ screen. Noodle on this: all of the eBooks so far have been done on that small little screen… Yikes! Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Apple, Mac

Tolkien-Inspired Wedding Dress

I’m a very lucky girl. You know why? Because I’ve had some absolutely amazing clients in my life. (Don’t get me wrong – I’ve had the other kind, too. I just try not to focus on those.) I’ve just had the most life-affirming September/October I can remember. I had not just one, but three fantastically amazing clients who were all surprisingly ok with the fact that they were all happening at once. One of these clients was Leah, who shall hereafter be known as the Calmest Bride Ever(tm). Seriously, brides are the reason I try to stay away from bridal work. ;) But I somehow got one who was sure she wanted me to do her dress, was able to articulate what she wanted perfectly, and then said, “You’re a pro; I completely trust you to do whatever you think is best.” Wow. Like I said: I’m a very lucky girl.

And now the wedding has actually happened, and I can finally post the pictures! Tee hee hee! :)  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Middle Ages, Tolkien, Wedding

New Demo: Inserting a Two-Part Busk

The first steel, front-fastening busk was invented in 1829. (Waugh, 79) They’re nifty little beasties, especially at the end of the day when you would really, sincerely like to be OUT of your ding-dang corset. I’ve hear rumors that they can be used to get into a pre-tightened corset, as well, but I’ve tried, and I’m clearly missing a clue or two there. :/ The clue I do have is in how to insert the little buggers. Interested? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1800s, Corsetry, Fantasy, Modern, Sewing, Steampunk, Victorian

How close to the edge of my bias should I sew?

Thank my crazy-fabulous students over at the college for this one – they’ve got a knack for asking those incredibly important, basic questions that you stop thinking about after a while. Things like, “What’s the best way to cut so I don’t get these weird edges?” or “How close to the edge of this should I sew?” I remember asking my mom forever ago: How close should I be to the edge of my bias tape? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bias Tape, Sewing

New Demo: Drafting Hand Points on Sleeves

Oh, the medieval romance of the sleeve with the little pointsy-doo that falls gracefully over your hand… So lovely. The problem is that half the time something goes wrong and you end up with a sleeve that looks like it’s flipping you off – the point doesn’t follow your hand (unless you put a loop on it), it doesn’t lie smoothly, it wrinkles at the wrist… It can look so sweet, but it can go soooooo wrong. Here’s a drafting trick I picked up in a Bridal Couture class a few years back.

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Tags: Medieval, Patterning, Sleeves, Tolkien

Twitter?! What the what?

Yeah, right, so the girl who can’t be friends with FaceBook signed up with a twitter account. Really. What? Why? Because sometimes I get lonely when I’m out in the garage sewing and I want to talk about what I’m doing, but “Only 12 more bias strips to go! Whee!” hardly seems blog-able…. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: twitter

Regency Corset Finished

Hi, there, ho, there, everybody… Gosh I love being out of bed before 7.30! It makes me feel like I can take on the world! In a championship napping contest, that is. But the interwebs was totally not cooperating last night, and I wanted to share finished pics of the regency corset before I head off to work!. :) Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1800s, Corsetry, Regency

New Demo: Blind-hemming with a Single Layer of Fabric

Sometimes, you need to hem something so it won’t show through from the front. In a perfect world, you’re working with two layers of fabric. But what happens if, oh, I dunno, you’ve got yourself a crazy corset that’s mostly lined, except for the gussets? Then you need to know how to blind-hem with only a single layer of fabric. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Hand Sewing, Hems, Stitches

Regency Corset Under Construction

Regency corsets, I’ve decided, are shockingly complexticated little beasties. I mean, they look all simple and they represent a time when, officially, corsets were somewhat démodé (except for how pretty much everyone was still wearing them). The pattern is easy enough. The construction is easy enough. There’s one central wooden busk and all of 14 pieces of bone in this thing. And yet…. I do believe that this is the most subtle and sophisticated setup of light-weight stiffening techniques I’ve ever seen. I’m a little in awe…. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1800s, Boning, Construction, Cording, Corsetry, Quilting, Regency