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I've just discoved that in moving the big oak wardrobe, I have lost my place to photograph garments. I shall have to give this matter some though. Anyway, here is a pic, such as it is of my new Liberty lawn summer robe. I like, though I haven't worn it yet. Means I have something new for Christmas even if it isn't quite a dress.

Why did I feel I had to make one? Things this robe is that I couldn't buy
-lightweight and cotton but not transparent
-long to mid calf
-slightly swing cut.

I did not want a short robe, don't like them at any time. I don't want a see-through robe, I'm visiting my parents for goodness sake. Or a polyester satin one, ick. Or a heavy towelling one. The closest I found was a couple of waffle weave gowns but they would still take up more than their fair share of luggage space.

I'm feeling a bit more positive this morning. I have sorted the kitchen disaster, done the rough clothes assembly for packing and polished the shoes I mean to take. So now I shall make coffee and have a breather, then back to the packing and sorting. I think some of my grump last night was that on finishing work,  instead of my usual "oh goody I get to be at home" I felt more like "what, you mean I have to be at home again?" So perhaps it's just as well that I have places I need to go.

Hairography. Just something I have been thinking about. Nice to see we are not so far behind Glee here. We won't talk about the other shows...

So some nifty costuming news. I hope.

I bought some rare earth magnets :) I am just waiting to get them sent here andto hear back from the seller. I am going to rip out the velcro in my Mara shin guards and put magnets in instead. The velcro just shreds my hands trying to put the darmed things on. Didn't know what type to use so I got two sizes ;) Both are nice and thin so they should work well for this. Also I may put some in my Catwoman cowl to hold it to the catsuit :) I've been thinking of different traditional options but I am concerned for my hair as it tangles very quickly with hooks and eyes and buttons and snaps right at the nape.

I also found all the reference material for another project I would like to work on :) I shall be making a big reference file and sketches to work out what to do.

And I am about to pick up an article from my library I got via ILL. I ordered two so I don't know which one it is. I'm hoping the earlier article as I need it to track down some texts. The later one though is interesting.

And I found another scrap of my red silk. I can make more leaves from that and save the rest of the cabbage for another project. I hope.

I also decided I would just use my red sateen for the skirt lining of the Mina underskirt. It will be strong enough as the silk is very light. All 16m packs down into a shoebox! Just deciding if I want to turn the hem or use the pinking shears :D I think i will save them for the taffeta francaise as i am not sure of where to get them sharpened. they do seem of reasonable quality though. I htink they were just cheap as they were from an emporium :)

I have been thinking about transporting it to Geedon next year but I think I can use a garment bag on my flight so I'll probably use that. I will have access to an iron I am sure when I get there :) I did the same for my Ever After dress both times I traveled with it.

Yesterday I finished the hand part of one mitten. It involved lots of goldwork and a bit of satin stitch on red velvet (over padding). Below are some pics. By the way - embroidery on velvet is a massive pain in the butt. Even if it is a beautiful german cotton velvet.



Here we have: bits of satin stitch (over felt padding and over some padding stitches), gold passing thread brick stitched with coloured (green) thread, silver passing thread couched down, gold and silver passing thread raised laid work, elizabethan twist, smooth silver purl, gold pearl purl sewn down with green thread and gold spangles.

The use of green thread to brick stitch passing thread and to couch the pearl purl still strikes me as strange, but it's definitely what was used in the original and it does create an interesting effect.






same thing, from an angle.

The whole thing actually took a surprisingly short time. The pattern transfer was a pain, but I just used a different method which allowed me to transfer the pattern onto the second one in under an hour and a half (much, much less time than for the first one).

Just pinned and put on the stand. And the cat helping.

i really think I'll have enough silk left over to do something interesting.


Oh did you knwo if you pleat a solid red fabric for long enough you start to see stripes on the fabric? Well I did.. it was the light reflecting off the fabric and leaving those "sun" marks on my eye ;) The clue was when the "sub bleached" marks moved about. I was fairly freaked that the silk I used had faded over time...

So gardens have this great quality of getting on with doing stuff in between one's intervention. Unlike sewing, which only happens when you do it, even if one wishes for the sewing fairies to visit. As an example, while I wasn't paying much attention and the sky was doing my watering for me (we are going back a couple weeks here)

This


turned into this:



Which is now taller than me!

I was saying to mrsbrown that my vegetable growing is as much, if not more about learning how food plants grow as about growing food. This particular example has made much sense of the expression "bean stalk" = tall. Also the story of Jack and the bean stalk has new overtones! There are six plants in this skinny pyramid. Rather excitingly, they are supposed to grow purple beans which turn green when cooked. If they make the beans there will be pictures! The flowers and stalks are purple so that is a good start.

Hooray! Cunning skirt plan is working really well. Having some interesting pleat discoveries as well. I am more convinced than ever that the pleats are mounted to a supportive layer because of this :)

Hmmm, I keep changing my mind on what to use as I would like it to be hidden but strong. So my cotton sateen is out ;) But it will make for a very pretty set of underwear for it :) And with my pinking shears I will have lots of pretty ruffles :)

I think a firm calico will work. I might have to hunt out some black, the original may have a pale colour as there are a few peeks of something light in the afore linked photos.
I will need it asap as I want to sew the pleats up sooner rather than later so I can use all those pins again :)

Recent movies I loved. Zombieland and Julie & Julia.

I just saw J&J today and was completely inpired by it and connected a great deal with both women. Especially Julia at the Cordon Bleau.

Zombieland was just good fun with just the level of inappropriate humour to be funny without being too crass. Yeah, in a zombie movie ;) Agreed it is not quite up there with Saun of the Dead but it really was a lot of fun.

always have. These are the two I have. Both are grown from cuttings which I am quite proud of, even though this is notoriously easy to do with fuschias.

My favourite white dancer, cutting kindly given by friend J. I had always admired it at her place.



and this baby pink one. I claimed a cutting from someone's front fence, actually mama did. It was happily growing in full north sun so I though I would see how it does for me. I'd like a sun tolerant one. My dancer needs fairly full shade or it burns. These flowers are tiny! but very cute. They are only about a third the height of the dancers and so petite.



I managed half a day in the office yesterday. Was TIRED in the evening. Had cheese, bikkies and fruit for dinner. Cooking did so not happening. Neither did going out. Reading sexy vampire/werewolf book did, what fun.

Off to the office shortly, bit less sore today so hopefully that goes better. Besides with a forecast of 39, work can pay for the airconditioning.

I have a problem with the annual work ritual of kris kringle. It involves buying $15 worth of crap, unnecessary and usually unwanted stuff for someone who could easily buy a $15 item if they really needed it (hence the unnecessary part).

No, I don't have a problem spending $15 on a gift for someone, but I have a problem with doing it as a part of consummerist social ritual of giving meaningless presents and pretending that it is part of the Xmas spirit. I especially don't like it when these presents are drawn from the specially promoted kris kringle stock of just about any store you pass - comprising such useful items as a pin cushion to represent your boss, pocket mirrors that compliment or insult you and similar unneccessary crap that is only good for five seconds of amusement.

In order to ameliorate my disgust with the ritual I bought my present from the Oxfam shop. It exceeded the $15 limit, but if the money helps keep some third world woman out of prostitution or enables some child to have a proper meal, then at least some good may come from the whole silly exercise.

So it takes an hour to pleat each panel because I am being anal and measuring the height I am pinning at as well as the depth of each pleat. Basically this is so that when I come to hand sew each pleat in place (oy!) I can just sew where there is a pin.

I have two panels so far, four or five to go. I want to do another panel but my back is not going to let me so better stop now rather than do something permanent ;) Oh and I haven't ironed the pleats down yet either. Saving that all up for one go. I'll probably pin the hem at the same time. It looks like the hem was hand sewn, so hooray ;) Oh man and I wind up with only 17 pleats per 150cm wide panel. There would have been more except I decided the 3cm wide pleats looked better than 1". It winds up the same width though.

But now that I am pleating I need to decide on how to do the supportive layer that acts as a lining and support for the handsewing. I suspect the thread between each stitch runs between support layer and silk as well so that there is no chance of snag. I just need to decide on fabric type and colour to use ;) And how to actually sew the layers together. It may just be spread over the table and packed away each day rather than work out some way to pin it all to my large frame.
I took a screen cap ages ago that shows the lining/support layer. I need to find it again.

So far today I have managed to pattern a fairly difficult bit of a costume for next year, find all the parts for pressies for two friends and pleat a panel of silk.

Very happy wth the silk it looks super pretty and now to hunt out my old petticoat and get that pleated up as it will save me a lot of work with cutting fabric ;) I mean I don't have to cut into the 11m and risk making a mistake ;)

I figured some of you all ouldn't mind being kept abreast of the latest happenings in sickie land ;)

I have been taken off my disease modifying drug. This has upsides and downsides:
No more immunospuression for a while so no more massive infectiosn of the sort that have been so rampant this year. No more having to avoid contact with people for worry of getting sick.
Well acually still a little of both as my immunes system is effed up and too busy trying to kill off those really nasty self tissues ;)
I can drink again! Woot! Six years or more of having to teetotale or near enough to keep my liver happy is over! Not that I was ever a big drinker but now I can make my way through that list of cocktailes I want to try sooner :)
Maybe no more hair loss?
Hopefully my skin will heal again and I won't have to worry about more scars :)


But the down side is I will have less control ove my RA. I can already feel it affecting my large joints and ribs again. So I may have to go back on it again if I have a real big flare.
Given I was put on Leflunomide because methotrexate wasn't working and only had side effects this is pretty much to be expected.

I am also having my adrenal and renal systems checked over some more- more tests and another specialist. My long term prednisone use has made my cortisol levels go way down. Tthis means low ability to cope with stress, amongst other issues.
I do have a bit of cortisone in my body from the steroids I take but it is a matter of finding out if the various levels wind up making up for that or not. I suspect not. Also to see if other adrenal fuctions are ok.

While I would love to get some more projects out of the way I won't. I had high hopes of getting my 1837, 906 and reinette dresses sorted before the end of the year but that seems really unlikely. I need to recover.

Those radishes I posted about oh say 4 weeks ago? Well I have eaten one of the two rows over three meals.
( here is meal #1 )

well, more a small snack than a meal, combined with some free-range feral mint and plain yoghurt . They are very mild french radishes. Next time I buy seed I will get a stronger flavoured variety. I have lots of these left though. I'm a bit wierded out but how much of them grows above the ground. Wonder if they are meant to do that?

Be not a'feared. I didn't take pics of the other two meals.

I've been to see Mr Chiro again. So inevitably I feel worse now than before. I'm having a trial sit while posting this. Must get up soon though.

My brother's best mate got married recently. The newly-weds had plans to go to Canada and teach over there for a while. They almost got there too, but when they went for their physical's, V got diagnosed with malignant lung cancer. They may have caught it early, but she will still have to have one of her lobes removed. She never smoked. She's 26.

Yes. Sometimes life does suck.

Great big honking hugs to all my friends both here, other side fot he country and other side of the world :)

I wish I could spend more (or any) time with all of you.

I finally cut the silk for my gown. It used 7m of fabric because of the huge sleeves ;) And this means that I finally settled on a sleeve pattern. I'm happy enough with it but it is not as pretty as my older one.

I am so glad to have found this silk. It is perfect as I keep finding similar shades of maroon from this area on men and women.

Now I need some lining and interlining ;) But first to tidy and make things easier to get to work on. Also I need to finish a project forsomeone else so I can finally get that out of the way. It is the single trickiest item I have ever made and that includes the Leia with all that casting! OK so it's more tricky and fiddly and annoying than hard. And totally fabric too.

Now for the end of year list ;)

It's not wuite the end of the year but I am stuck at home not at a lovely SCA picnic as I have blisters on the bottom, top and sides of my feet. yes, it was self inflicted. I wore shoes. I mean I should have seen it coming ;) A foot bath full of Dettol is about to commence.


Anyway I updated my site as you know and in doing so I went back the last three years and added them. Oops, I did not realise it was so long since I updated that part of the site ;)

In doing so I realised how much I actually have done this year. I tend to focus on what I didn't succeed with rather than what I did. And considering how really sick I was most of the year (might be seeing yet another specialist or two about it *headdesk*) it's quite a lot.

Finished:
Slave Leia, recreation, fibreglass and resin costume
Heuke, historical, 1560s regional cloak for women (also added all the guards to the wool Cleves dress to finish it)
Surcoat and kirtle, 1560s Cologne inspired
Catwoman, recreation, Batman Returns, Mark II
Mara Jade, recreation,
Jem, recreation, cartoon classic
Admiral Daala, recreation, grey uniform
Austen girls, historic, inspired regency dresses
Lizzy dress, inspired historical, striped regency dress

Unfinished, planned to finish next year:
Mystique
Reinette
1837 cotton dress
1860s velveteen dress
Spanish 1600 ensemble
Mina red dress (I got to the point of crap not enough fabric then holy crap yes I do! So yes I can)
Light blue francaise (yay for pinking sheers, now to mark up the smocking...
c1500 Cologne wool dress
c1520s Swiss dress in wool.
Hannibal dress, working on the beading again. Mwhaha, now that could be a fun twist ;) The base costume is a slave girl costume...
Padme fireside ensemble.
1906 day dress

So those are the plans for costumes to finish. Though I'[m sure I have mo

A few talks and online ponderings recently have clarified a few things.

I am a freak.

No really. Aside from the obvious ;)

I used to be a fan. I'm not any more. Not of anything. I also don't collect. I used to but I don't now. This is going somewhere to do with costuming ;)

My fandoms are now likes and loves. I love Wicked but I did not use my savings this year on a trip to Melbourne to see it. Once I would have- and have, for Phantom. Though once I would have had the funds to do so and be able to make them up in a month or so. So I'll wait until it comes here.


So likewise I don't collect costumes I make them. I don't make them so I can have them I make them for the making. Even if my life were different and I could buy the parts I need for a costume I wouldn't. I have asked for help when I physically could not (or should not) do part of a costume and I am very thankful for those who have been able to do so :) For all of them.

But I have noticed that the recreation costuming side trends towards a collecting mindset. It's fine! But it's very different.

I think it's pretty obvious I don't go out there in my costumes for people to go Ooh and ahh look at the sexy. That would be patently ridiculous *looks at icon*. I go out there because costume is not meant to be static. It comes alive when worn, it's supposed to be on the human body.
Costume museums have this same trouble. How to display historic garments that allow us to glimpse the past. The added issue of not destroying the garments in the process just makes it that much harder.

If I had a local friend who could take photos of my costumes I might be more inclined to finish a few other projects and not take them out into public as they so cause offense.

But then my deadly sin is pride. Oh yeah the more people try to knock me down the more likely I am to get up and do again. My competition is within myself. I have enough insecurities to keep myself down, and they are a lot worse than anything anyone can dish out at me- perhaps less crude more cruel. If I can get over mine I can get over theirs.

I suspect though my self reliance has made things difficult. I suspect people think I don't want to work with others. It's not true. It's just difficult because those same circumstances that have lead me to be self reliant lead it to being difficult to work with someone else's time line/get to and from their place. And anyone who knows me, really knows me, also understands that I do not ask if I think I am going to be a burden and make people work around my schedule.


So yeah. Freak. I do stuff for quite the most uncommon reason (go me and my weird ass Cleves gear when I could be in pretty dresses) and then to actually make it as well?

Oh and just because I know subtext is everything and can be really misapplied: no I do not think it makes me a better person! It makes me a costumer who wants to do everything and anything.

Zombie Galinda. It has to be done.


That is all.

1. It is really easy to get to Eliza's on the train
2. don't bother going there until jan 6th, they are closed for maintenance.