Kauri's Keep

Tonight I watered the poor lawn. I think all my phlox and three of my hostas are just gone. It's sad. I did not realize that as the sun changed position over the seasons I would end up with quite a bit of sun against one half of the front of the house. Now I know. Next year I'll fill in the other (shady) side with more hostas (the ones there are sooo happy), and I'll find something that likes more burninating sun for the other end.

I think tonight I'm going to take the first steps toward sewing a top hat. Or two. I really need to get off my duff if we're going to have cool stuff for the con I want to attend.

The one thing holding me back was thinking "What if we finally get lucky and I end up pregnant?" Well, even if that happens at this point, I won't be huge and miserable at that point. Maybe miserable, but probably able to fit anything that I sew right now. Totally good to travel, okay to do lots of walking, etc.

So there is no reason to put it off.

My poor grass. It's looking so sad. Better than lots in this town, but still suffering. I soaked it tonight and will do so again tomorrow, maybe as soon as tomorrow morning now that Pres Man is out of school for the Summer (W00T!). We celebrated at Umi tonight and it was delicious.

I am so, so proud of him. He's awesome. He volunteered to go help people he did not even know, for hours and hours, to move their belongings. He did not have to do that; I was careful not to volunteer him. That's just the kind of guy he is.

And now he has found Netflix's Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, which is the perfect way to end this evening.

My boots are here. They fit my feet, but not my legs. As I feared.

At least instead of feeling like a fat cow I instead feel like boots are not made for real legs. I guess that's something.

It's been a challenging few days. I went home from work sick on Friday morning and didn't feel human again until the next day. I missed D's flower-making party (for her daughter's wedding) and I teared up about that. I really hope that they had fun and got a lot done.

Saturday afternoon I perked up a bit and started working on Kiwi's costume. Putting the facing and trim on took a lot longer than I had hoped. Cut, pin, sew, press, pin, sew, press, hand-stitch....I also fixed the zipper where it had looked a little wonky.

During a break, I chatted with Koganei and, uh, got a little forceful about the necessity of having Kiwi meet me at a local bridal shop so we could acquire a petticoat. I had called them and found out that they were open until 5:30, and they had petticoats on hand (I specifically asked if they had petticoats for sale in their store). Kiwi was due in town around 5:00, so I figured that we would have time to grab a petticoat before they closed.

Koganei met me instead, since Kiwi had had a Very Bad Day and was not going to make it in time. We found out I had been given some bad information; the store only rented petticoats. If we wanted to buy one, they would have to order it (WTF? I'm wondering what the person on the phone thought I had asked). BUT, the rental was only $30 and Koganei paid it. So we departed triumphant.

Pres Man, Kiwi, Koganei, and I went to dinner at Denny's. After that, we were going to have the game, but Kiwi really needed to work on her project for Otakon and I really needed to work on the costume, so we watched HP 6 instead, since Koganei couldn't remember seeing that one. And then we played the party version of Star Trek Scene It. I didn't really play much; I was alternating between the dining room table and the spare room while sewing, but I did manage to get a couple of answers in.

By the end of the night I had finished the neckline, done lots of the interior handsewing, and we tried the dress on over the petticoat. It looked pretty awesome. I marked and cut the cuffs, I marked the top of the place where the "swoop" will go in the skirt, and I marked the hem line all the way around.

Now I need to put trim on the cuffs, cut the swoop, cut off the extra skirt length, add ribbon loops for straps, and finish that hem/add the trim. I'm sure it will take longer than it sounds like it will. But on the plus side, I found out that ironing the nylon trim was a lot easier than I had feared.

I had to lock up the petticoat because as soon as Pie saw it, he tried to eat the netting. Silly cat.

I'm trying to decide if I should go to knitting tonight or not. I kind of want to see how much I can get done on this costume.

I am kicking butt and taking names over here. I have a few pieces left to cut out but I'm not worried (anymore) about running out of fabric. It looks like I did a decent job of estimating the yardage! And figuring out my own layout.

I'm so hot, though. Why is cutting out patterns exhausting for me? Maybe because it's an unusual posture so I'm using different muscles. I hear now and then about people who have higher cutting tables and I am jealous. But I'm really just grateful to have a table, because this beats the snot out of cutting on the floor. Especially with my helper. He's been supervising me a bit, but mainly he's disappointed that all the action is happening on top of the table where he can't (legally) get at it. Poor kitty. :P

Tonight I listened to The Chamber of Secrets DVD while I was working. I'm considering putting in Prisoner of Azkaban. I may not finish that one tonight.

We tried a new restaurant tonight (I know! AGAIN!). Smashburger was okay, but not our new favorite or anything. Their iced tea was interesting though. It was good, but there was something different about it. I'm not sure what it was, but I liked it.

Back to the grind!

Tonight I did the pattern for the princess seamed bodice, cut the new pieces, and assembled the bodice. Again.

I have it pinned to the papertape dummy, and I think I'm happy with it. I have pinned in the places that need taken in, and it still looks okay. I will probably sew those seams and then go to bed. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be better to let the pins sit and look at it again tomorrow. My only worry is that Pie might notice the pins and help himself.

Tomorrow I will attach the skirt section and hopefully that won't be too frustrating. It will doubtless need to be taken in as well, but that's not as scary as the bodice.

Today was a pretty good day. My legs are a little sore from working out, but other than that, I felt pretty good.

Tonight I had a short period where I felt like I loved everyone in the world. I've had that feeling before without Wellbutrin, so I cannot say that it's definitely the medicine, but it could be. Interesting.

I am having dry mouth, but if that's the extent of my side effects, that would be awesome. And it's resulting in me drinking more water, so that's great.

Wow. Tomorrow is Thursday already. Usually it seems like short weeks last extra long, but apparently not this time.

Last night I got a new pattern before the game. It's Burda 7880. I like it a lot, though I do not understand why they did not arrange the back of the skirt better before they took the picture for the pattern envelope. I have seen different versions of this pattern online and no one has exhibited the uneveness that the pattern shows. Also, no one has said anything about having to fix that. So I think it was just sloppy for that picture.

I had some trouble figuring out the pattern initially. I have only worked with McCall's, Simplicity, etc. Burda's are done somewhat differently. Their pattern layouts are on the actual pattern, not in the instructions. They do not begin separate sets of instructions for each piece; the steps are continuously numbered. They begin at "1" for the first step on the first piece all the way through to the last step on the last piece. That's different.

And they way they list the notions is also strange (to me). I could not figure out what they meant by ring tape, rings for slipping, and rings for sewing.

I think I have it now, though. They mean upholstery/curtain stuff! I think ring tape means the fabric tape you can get for curtains. It has little plastic rings sewn to it at regular intervals. The "rings for sewing" are unbroken plastic rings (a lot like knitting markers, and depending on which are cheaper that's the way I'll go) and "rings for slipping" are also curtain items. They are wire (or maybe plastic, but the ones I have found are wire) that has been bent into a circle, but the ends of the wires stick out a bit so that you can poke them into something and then thread it onto the ring. Kind of like a keyring loop (again, I might use that instead), if you're having trouble imagining it.

The ring tape and other two types of rings are for making the bustled part of the dress. You gather the top skirt in several places using the ring tape, you use a slip-on ring to keep that tape gathered, and then you sew on the unbroken rings to the underskirt and slip the other rings (that are already holding the gathers) onto those rings to hold the overskirt flounces in place.

I may end up doing it differently than that, because it seems like it would be very handy to be able to mix and match this overskirt with something else, and who wants to sew rings on the back of all their skirts?? Also, based on the pictures I found of the "rings for slipping" I think they might be pokey if I sat on them wrong. Ouch! Instead, I might use some strong tape on the underside of the bustled piece and just sew the gathered fabric to it where the rings would have been on the over/underskirt.

I'm seriously considering seeing if I have enough fabric in the copper/patina stuff that I already got to make this instead of the other pattern. You know what's funny? I always really like dark blues/blacks as a color scheme, and when I Googled the new pattern it seemed like nearly everyone had been doing it like that! So I will have to figure out something different. Maybe something in purples, since I have some of my great-grandmother's jewelry in gold/purple (including a very ostentatious purple and white cameo necklace with matching earrings). Or Bronze/Blue.

The upper trim is drafted. I'm pretty happy with it. I still have to measure the hem but once that is done I should be able to get the trim fabric.

I'm tempted to begin cutting the real fabric tonight yet, but I worry that I may be more tired than is good for that. After doing all this work to make sure I don't mess up the real thing, best not to take chances.

I Skyped with Mom tonight and that was awesome. I showed her the dress and got her input, which was "keep doing what you're doing."

Tonight I found my new favorite artist. Someone out there is making lullaby versions of all my favorite songs. And some of my non-favorites, but it's still awesome. Okay, a lot of it is just plain wrong, but it really appeals to me right now. I'm tempted to make my nephew a CD of all my favorites. Hee!

I think I may go to bed a little earlier than usual tonight. Maybe it's the lullaby music. :)

I'm awake and really "up" already, which is unusual for me on a Saturday. It's good, since I have lots to do, but I kind of don't trust myself to do things right for some reason. Like maybe I'm actually half asleep and don't realize it.

So I'm starting slow. I made a step-by-step list of everything I need to do, in order, so that I can hopefully not screw up if I slip into zombie mode.

I may also go shopping today; I think I need more tissue paper and a couple of other things.

OMG! My husband just walked in with a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast! PERFECT eggs! He's one of those people who can flip eggs without using a spatula. Amazing man.

So I guess I'll eat my breakfast and get to work. Whee!

I'm pretty proud of myself tonight. I have done quite a bit on the mockup. I am nearly ready to reassemble it.

It stormed here again tonight. We got more hail but it still wasn't much. At least we didn't have to water the grass today. :)

My ebay pattern arrived today and the missing page is there! I'm so pleased.

Back to the mock-up. Maybe I can get the bodice reassembled tonight. That would be awesome.

Here are links to the patterns I just got:

Tunic

PJs

Men's Coat

Motoring Ensemble

Ill Arwen

Elizabethan (kinda)

"Tudor"

Undergarments