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Someone Else's SABLE: retro fabric and projects

10/31/2017

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Well, it's been over a week since I've posted!  My three regular readers must be in withdrawal!  ;)  In previous months, I've managed my blog by creating a long queue of posts (often written multiple posts in a single marathon session) which I schedule for upcoming Mondays and Thursdays.  Then I ignore my blog for a while and work on sewing and photographing things while the blog marches on without me.  I check in to see if people have commented.  What happened last week was that I ran out of scheduled posts at a time when I was too busy to make more, and hence the dry spell.  However, being busy with work is, as my Dad says, "the right kind of problem"! 

So what have I been up to?  Click Read More for an overview.  There will be no pictures or geekery today, though. 

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Ahsoka Tano Cosplay - dress construction

10/19/2017

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The Ahsoka Tano costume continues!  After all my pattern work, I cut out the pattern pieces in the red twill.  I have just enough
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My pattern weights are a collection of heavy finials, nuts, paperweights, and (in a pinch) butter knives.

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Butterick 5797 - Bustier

10/16/2017

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On August 21st, I wrote a list of Autumn sewing goals.  One of them was to make a bustier to wear under a particular shirt.  The shirt has a yoke made with embroidered net, which is pretty but shows my bra straps.  I have never had much luck with strapless bras (they fall around my waist when I breathe out!), so I thought a bustier would be better, since it would sit on my waist and have boning to hold itself up from there.

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Re-lining a Purse / National Handbag Day

10/10/2017

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A new client came to me with a favorite purse, now desperately in need of a new lining.  "My dad says I should get a new one, but I like this one," she said.  I am very much in favor of mending instead of buying new, especially when the item in question is good quality.  This purse is a sturdy leather job, with the leather all intact, though a bit dried out.  The lining though... what a wreck!  I said I could replace it, and she was delighted. 
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Sad, torn lining on a Hobo bag
"The original has pockets... if it's not too much trouble, I'd like at least one pocket," she said.  And "You don't have to replace the linings on the smaller side pockets, if you don't want.  They're not torn..."

It's funny: if someone has a list of requirements, I meet them, but if someone gives me a bare minimum and tells me that they're fine with "just" that, I always want to exceed their expectations.  I want them to be pleasantly surprised. 

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A "Wench" Top!

10/9/2017

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Recently, a friend asked me to help costume her for a masquerade ball she was planning to attend.  Her inspiration was white/gold/silver, with a historical look. 

So one day we went to The Bins to get raw materials, and another day we kluged together a top for her.  I also whipped up a pair of white satin pantaloons, so--what with top and bottom--she wouldn't be naked!  But we didn't have time to really complete the costume, so she took the materials and finished the project with string and safety pins on the night of the ball.  I think she did fabulous, don't you?  

I'm tagging this post "Alteration" because nothing was made from scratch; everything was Franken-sewn together from pre-existing garments.
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Eryn Rieple, ready for a ball!

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HSM 2017 October - Robe de style

10/2/2017

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Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Norman W. Wassman, 1956
Well it's officially been ages since I did a Historical Sew Monthly challenge, but the project I now contemplate qualifies for October's challenge: Out of Your Comfort Zone!  In this case, the new skill or technique I want to try relates to a foundation garment. 

Years ago I watched a movie set in Ireland, between the two World Wars.  The main character is a girl from an English family living in Ireland as landed gentry; her family has been there for generations and think of themselves as locals, but don't recognize their privilege or how their neighbors resent them.  Anyway, the clueless girl loves an Irishman who is dead set on getting the English out of Ireland.  He has feelings for her, but hates himself for them because he's supposed to hate "her kind". 
Meanwhile, she is loved by an English soldier.  Things get tragic.  Honestly, I didn't find it all that interesting, despite it having such dramatic elements.  Despite all the politics, love triangles, and bloodshed, the part I remember best was the rather odd garment worn by the young lady to a ball... a flat-chested boxy bodice with large skirt poofing out from the hips.  I thought it was very unflattering. 

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    Karen Roy

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