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Jacobean Jacket - Pattern

3/30/2020

It's been ages since I worked on my Modern Elizabethan project! Since I've got time and want to use up fabric, let me make a jacket next! The jacket will probably be the most multi-era part of the outfit: I should be able to wear it with modern clothes and just be "quirky" rather than being outright "in costume". Plus, it's not really Elizabethan: it's Jacobean (a few decades after Elizabeth's death, when fashions were shifting from pointy and vertical to round and horizontal.

Modern Elizabethan Project:
Elizabethan Inspiration
Blackwork Ruffle
Blackwork Partlet
Elizabethan Stays - first try
A Better Pair of Bodies

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Observations on Blogging

3/27/2020

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I started this blog in January 2017, and it's now March 2020. I blogged steadily for much of that time, putting out two posts a week for years. More recently, I stopped posting, and now begin again. Here are some of my thoughts and observations about the process!

I like blogging. I enjoy writing, teaching, sharing thoughts, and synthesizing information.

I enjoy having a record of my past work and a place for my research.
Though I pay a lot of attention to my output, I pay very little attention to my blog's analytics. It doesn't matter to me how many people read this, or how the trends change over time. My friends and family look at it, and they are the ones who matter to me.
It's always fun to get a comment!
Despite generally ignoring my analytics, I do look at them occasionally. My most popular blog posts, for years, have consistently been Hemming with Horsehair Braid and the Ahsoka Tano Costume diary. The first one makes sense because it's a tutorial, but the second confuses me: my Ahsoka Tano costume was a one-off. Maybe my SEO for those posts was amazingly good.
Someone spams my posts with ads for kilts. I... don't know why. I just delete them.
My Portfolio has gotten too big. Part of the problem is that I don't have a clear vision for that section of the site: should it show everything I've ever done? Only my favorites? Should it be a nice gallery or a navigable pictorial Table of Contents? How should I organize it?
Choosing tags makes me realize library science is hard. The "Project Diary" tag seems too broad, since most posts are project diaries of some sort. I think I need to re-categorize. Same goes for the Tutorial section of the site... what's the difference between a tutorial and me simply showing you what I'm doing?

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Simplicity 8499 - Cotton

3/26/2020

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This pattern from 1988 is for a simple, breezy top. I have made it twice from cotton voile. I like to wear it un-tucked and un-belted, because it elongates my short torso. The cut-on sleeves are loose under the arm, perfect for summer. The box pleats pulling it in at the waist give it some style. It takes only a yard and a half of material, and five pieces: front, back, collar, and two facings.

MAKE #1

The first make was a test garment, using light-colored floral cotton voile from my stash. I made it according to the pattern, then made a simple alteration to the pattern for the next time: I tapered the back seam inward to act as another dart. It was sweet and easy, and I liked it, but the color washed me out. Eventually, I gave it to the Goodwill Thrift Store.

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A Pussycat Bow Blouse (McCall's 9319)

3/20/2020

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I started this shirt last year, then put it away for... reasons. Now I have time, and it's a lovely sheer cotton that I'll want to wear soon, so I take it out to finish it. Because of the time gap, there's some discrepancy in my methods; for instance, I started the thing with French seams everywhere, but finished with normal darts, and I was originally recording my time, but didn't at the end. Oh well!

PUSSYCAT BOWS

The large bow at the blouse's neck, known in French as a lavallière, is also intriguingly known as a pussy bow or pussycat bow. I don't know the reason for the cat reference, which is only as recent as the last century! I have always liked them, since I grew up seeing them on Miss Brahms of Are You Being Served.

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More Silk Scarves

3/18/2020

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NOTE: This project involves non-medical use of isopropyl alcohol. I did this in February, before the spread of Covid 19. Now I have time to blog about it, but now I am also saving my alcohol for potentially vital uses! May people be sensible and God be merciful--may we soon see a decline in Coronavirus cases worldwide! Only then will I indulge in further play with alcohol as a solvent.

After having so much fun dyeing and doodling on my silk habutai scarf (September of last year), I decided to make a bunch more, and see if they're salable. I had money in my business account from the custom sewing and alterations I did the last few years, so why not use it for prototypes? I ordered the following scarves from Dharma Trading Company:
          12 Silk Satin, 12 mm, 17"x17"
          12 Silk Charmeuse, 19.5 mm, 22"x22"
          12 Crepe de Chine, 12 mm, 25"x25"
          12 Flat Crepe, 8 mm, 22"x22"

How did I decide which ones to order? I went for the ones that were discounted. I figured why shell out when I don't yet know what I like? I also got a quart of Synthrapol, a detergent that gets excess ink out of scarves after dyeing. My total for this order was $271.12.

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A sudden unfurling of time...

3/17/2020

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This blog has been quiet lately, as I have not had much time for either sewing or writing in a while. Plus, winter always gets me down, and I find it hard to get excited about things when all I want to do is sleep. But, today my life took a detour: my job is closing its doors for the next few weeks to help curtail Coronavirus spread, which means the next few weeks are a vast vista of unscheduled time for me! Wow.

I am determined not to let this time go to waste. I have unfinished sewing projects, blogging ideas, a garden I'm putting in, letters unwritten, et cetera. Oh, and while I'm unemployed, I need to find new income sources. So here's my tentative schedule for all the time that's opening in front of me:

MORNING: Gardening, while it's still cool and quiet outside. Use that time to talk a little to God. Try to listen more than I speak.
MORNING: Important phone calls, because if I don't make them, I'll procrastinate them.
NOON: Lunch
AFTERNOON: Sewing/art -- no computer
EVENING: computer stuff: blogging, research, et cetera

I do not promise regular posting, but you will certainly see an uptick in posts while I am "sheltering in place"!

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Jacobean Jacket - Pattern

Observations on Blogging

Simplicity 8499 - Cotton

MAKE #1

A Pussycat Bow Blouse (McCall's 9319)

PUSSYCAT BOWS

More Silk Scarves

A sudden unfurling of time...

Karen Roy

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