Are you going to Scarborough Faire...

...Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

So, for my birthday, I headed off with my sister and almost brother-in-law to Scarborough Faire and spent a wonderful day wandering around and taking in all the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and even some tastes! Among other fun things we heard Tartanic--a rocken' bagpipes and drums group with the most enthusiastic drummer I've ever seen,

We watched the beautiful hawks, falcons, owls, eagles, and buzzard of Last Chance Forever,

Heard a carillon played, and almost lost our hearing!

Watched the hilariously staged and cheesey joust--really, balsa wood lances? A Knight's Tale was better!

And enjoyed the lovely landscaping at the faire.

Some favorite memories of the day are:

* Playing with the Music of the Spheres wind chimes and standing with my head under the bass ones--as Jordan said, "Ear candy!"

* Eating a pretzel from one of the wandering pretzel men with pretzel's on a stick

* Hanging out with my rock star sister!

* The journal shop where Mary and Jordan bought my birthday present--a lovely leather journal with handmade paper pages. Yes, there will be a picture in the near future!

* Watching all the people in garb go by--getting ideas, and sharing a day with people who love a good faire as much as I do.

* Getting to do a tinny bit of court dancing--not as much as I would have liked, but it was more than I've gotten to do for the last three years!

* All the pretties at the faire. Boy, I could totally drop a couple of thousand there if left to my own devices...

* Walking around in garb all day. The corset *mostly* behaved itself, the new fathingale worked well, and I didn't die of heat. Win!

Notice that I was all patriotic for Memorial Day!

A trip down memory lane, and a last bit of faire sewing!

I was doing some cleaning and sorting this week, and I found this:

Kirsten was one of my best friends as a child. I spent hours and hours treking across the backyard in a 'covered wagon' (our wagon, fun noodles, and yetengi) and sewing her cloths. Some of those early efforts were truely special. Like this one-such colors!

Or these pants made from the pant leg from an old pair of sweat pants-

What was I thinking?

Here's an early knitted vest attempt-proof that I had (and still have!) a lot to learn!

A few of my efforts got a bit better-

As awful as some of those cloths were, they brought back good memories of afternoons spent sewing and learning a few important principles of garment construction that I put to good use today. I'm so thankful that my mom put up with my sewing messes and gave me those scraps to turn into garments with some slightly skewed stitches and lots of imagination.

For some reason our cats have fallen in love with my farthingale--they flop on it and fight each other through it at every available opportunity. Not sure why it's the cat toy of the century... That Mal-mal...

In preparation for the faire on Monday, I've just about finished the corset!

While watching Thor last night I whipped down the top bias binding, and today I'm putting an extra I'm-really-paranoid-about-boning-escaping line of stitching in by hand. I can't wait to get my whole outfit together! Of course, there will be more parking lot dressing, but there are some things that are just worth it.

Parting shot--my bridesmaid shoes! I feel like such a poser in them, but there is a certian charm to wearing cool people shoes in a cool color!

St. Patrick's Shindig and more Corsets

Beth and I had a mini ‘shindig’ for St. Paddies day on Friday. We had Irish coffee, watched Waking Ned Devine, and made butter tarts. We sure know how to party hard let me tell you… There may have even been some KNITTING and CROSS STITCHING going on!

I’ve been continuing my dabbling at corset making in spare moments over the last few days, and pretty much decided what boning I’m going to buy. I’ll use white steel boning and spring for lacing strips for the front edges. I can’t wait to see the whole ensemble! After I had sewed a line of stay stitching across the bottom of my boned-tabbed corset, I made a cardboard strip the size I wanted my channels and marked out the stitching lines. Then began the rather tedious process of actually stitching said channels. Once I finished that, I began to very carefully bind off the edges with bias tape, and I cut the tabs as I went to reduce fraying. Again, very fiddly. I think the channels are a little larger than I had anticipated, but I guess that is a good thing as the boning will have some depth to it. Now I just need to slip the boning in and bind off the top edge, set the eyelets, and lace ‘er up!

With that corset pretty much finished, I’m coming back to the tabbed corset next. This one is made rather similarly—after hand stitching the binding around most of the tabs, I sewed the bottom edge of the corset shut before marking out the channels. I had to bind both pieces of fabric because I am in idiot who missed the “leave a ½ seam allowance on the bottom edge” bit of the instructions. That made the whole channel process a little more interesting. After sewing these channels I will just need to put in the boning, bind off the top edge, set the eyelets, and squish in!

In non-corsety news, I’m plugging away at the log cabin baby blanket for little John, and while I’m still charmed by the simplicity of garter stitch and the colors, I’m starting to feel the “get it finished” itch. Hopefully it will become unbearable about the time I cast off the last strip. I'll post a pic when the internet isn't being annoying.

Oh the things I am learning about making corsets...

Note: I started this about a week ago and just now have had time to finish it.

I thought I’d post some pictures of the work I’ve been doing on my corset. This weekend I was mainly working on a bodice pattern that I am modifying/drafting, but here are the pictures of the corset.

Here is the pattern I drafted:

Here is the long shot of the quick knock up:

Here’s a closer look at the mid-part complete with bamboo boning-

On having Beth lace me up in it, I found that it was not tight enough, bamboo is REALLY POKEY, when I wear it I look like I’m wearing a bum roll—unfortunately it’s only my hips, and that it’s oddly supportive and kinda comfortable. When I make the ‘real thing,’ I’m going to shorten the corset body and take a lot more time sewing the channels! I was in a hurry there because I wanted to take advantage of an afternoon off.

Later…

I have since decided to change this to a front lacing corset for the obvious advantage that I can lace myself up. I want to make a boned and un-boned tabbed version to compare comfort and function. I’ve edged the tabs for the un-bonded tab corset, and I’m deciding what width and kind of boning I’m going to use so I can sew the channels. I can’t wait for Faire! Later I’ll post some pictures of the other Faire projects I've been playing with.

Of Corsets and sleep

My two consuming passions this weekend were to a) sleep, and b) research and start work on a corset. The sleep thing is easily understandable, but the reasoning behind the corset thing is that I’m going to be attending Faire in a few weeks, and then will be a bridesmaid in my sister’s wedding. For someone with ‘lumpiness’ issues like me, a corset is an obvious solution! I found a lady who will make custom ones on eBay that looks promising (and reasonably priced!), and I also drafted a corset pattern for myself on Saturday afternoon. I cut out a ‘trial’ fabric piece out of nasty cheap chetengi, and was pleasantly surprised! I want to try using green bamboo as a stiffener, and if that one works well, I’ll make a shell to bring home and stiffen with a great idea I found on-line: heavy duty zip ties! Of course a third option would be to buy a corset at Faire, but they aren't cheap. Of course I understand about being handmade, steel boned, and lovingly assembled, but that doesn't make it much easier to fork over a wad! I think I’ll see how my version pans out, and then go from there. At the very least, I can now say that not only did I draft my own farthingale pattern, but I can do corsets up too!

Speaking of Faire, I have a hankering to try an authentic knotted hair net. I have lots of black floss, so I just need to see if I can find some suitable elastic for a base. So many ideas…so little time!