Alrighty! The next Brisvegas ACG event I'm going to be able to get stuck into is going to be the Regency event in September/October some time, and I'm generally looking forward to it. I am constantly stumped however by my lack of knowledge about this particular era's garments of course - I get the idea of how they're supposed to look as a general rule, but what the pattern should look like and all that is more of a dilemma. But I believe there are some nice patterns online somewhere I should be able to procure to help my cause.

As a start, I've picked up the Simplicity Stays/Chemise pattern, so I should be able to get into drafting that once I've tidied my disaster of an office. Next of course, I'm going to have to do some intense research as to styles, patterns, etc, and naturally I'm going to have to sit down and watch every single Jane Austen movie I can get my hands on and then some for inspiration.

I've got the Gwynneth Paltrow Emma on my shelf, but other than that I'm fairly deficient in Ms Austen's works. I'd really like to get a hold of Becoming Jane, because Anne Hathaway is absolutely and increasingly charming in everything she does - and the dresses are pretty from what I've seen. Obviously I'm going to have to pick up copies of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice etc somewhere along the line.

Then I'll hit the fabric shops (The most fun part, naturally!). It's rather liberating to note that now I have a car I can say, "I'm going to East Coast Fabrics on Saturday morning!" and know that I'm not going to be stalled horribly because I can't be bothered walking for an hour to get to the place. And now Spotlight is no longer barred to me either :D

Ah, fun times these will be. Well, I'd best be off and having dinner.

~ Bec
//Morgandea

Awesome - I picked up the Timothy Dalton version of Jane Eyre today, so I'll have to sit down and watch that some time soon. Maybe tomorrow.

... I kinda want to watch it now though.

Wow.

I just sat through the William Hurt/Anna PaquinCharlotte Gainsbourg Jane Eyre, and I'd like that 110 minutes of my life back please. Oh wow - I didn't expect something to be so bad. The characterisations were off, the editing was forgettable, just the way they'd tried to piece the movie together didn't work. I mean, it is hard to cut down a book into a 2 hour movie, but this wasn't done well. For the time alotted they focused too much on her childhood - and the tragic reveal of Mr Rochester's past comes right at the end of the film and yeah. I have to go watch the recent BBC miniseries to get it out of my brain. William Hurt was a very average Rochester. The movie seemed so much longer than it actually was.

It was funny - I couldn't help but feel that the latest BBC version took a lot of stuff from this movie (locations, dialogue etc). After finishing the movie, if the BBC version stole anything, it was all put together in a much better way.

On the flip side though, I love Anna Paquin Charlotte Gainsbourg's outfits as Jane. I'd really like to do her black governess outfit if nothing else.

Really, really average movie though. On that note, can someone tell me where I can find the Timothy Dalton version?

Knitting Cupcakes

Check these out - they're so cute..!

Oh yeah - Now that my Buttercup riding dress is dry, I grabbed another bit of white fabric again and rubbed it vigorously against the red fabric. Didn't see any noticible residue come off onto the white fabric, so all might be well then. I'll finish it one of these days, really I will... ;P

Huh, I think I just snagged myself a scarf commission.

My work friend Aleshia and I were talking via the email as we do, and we got onto the cold weather, and I commented how I was probably going to drag out my Doctor Who scarf because it is by far the most effective at keeping me warm out of all my many scarves, and she mentioned that she'd have to get me to make one so I went along with it.

Turns out she was generally serious, so I'm going to wear my Doctor Who scarf tomorrow, and we're going to go look at wool before Wednesday drinks. Huzzah.

I guess I did want to get started in the world of peddling off my crafty stuff for cashy money, so now is as good a time as any to start. Which reminds me - I absolutely must get my doll pattern sorted out. I've got so many ideas.

On another topic, I've decided that I probably can't afford to go to Sydney Supanova (again) this year. But I am going to try to get down there later in the year because I definitely want to visit last_chael and co. That gives me a bit of time to save up some extra money, and then I don't have to worry about all the money I would spend at Nova and accomodation and making new costumes, yadayadayada...

Of course, I will miss fun things like catching up with all the people who come to Brisnova, and I'll miss hanging about for the Cool Shite podcast, which is always so much fun even if no one ever knows or cares who I am, and even though my brain is running out of my ears due to exhaustion. And of course I'll miss seeing Morena Baccarin *sad face*

Ah well. I'll get down for Sydnova one year, I swear! Really I will...

Today I bought a cook book called Cookies and Cupcakes (a womans weekly book). I was so inspired this evening - I was going to cook cupcakes, and I was going to flavour them with strawberry juice instead of boring vanilla essence. I didn't know if it would work or not, but I figured it would be fun to have a bash.

But I had a bad evening though, and all inspiration left me. I'll make cupcakes another day - for now, I'm chilling with a glass of wine and the recent memory of a very comfortable hug.

Tomorrow my plan will be to make my usual Slice. Good thing I can make that in my sleep, inspiration or no.

Sad though - it was such a great cup cake idea I had, and I could picture them being awesome, and awesomely tasty. Still, nothing stopping me from making them another day.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Hi hi folks,

Not much to say today - so far, so good on my plan to do some little fashion sketches each day - I've been filling an A5 page a day, so that's nice. I even have one design that would almost be catwalk high fashion sort of thing - still too wearable though ;P Involves feathers and beading - some sort of cupid thing gone horribly wrong. Speaking of which though, I'll need to do some sketches before I go out this evening.

One of my plans is to wash Buttercup today - hopefully I can wash out the excess dye and finish her off nice and proper. Yay.

Anywho...

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

edit: Well Buttercup is now in the wash, and I've decided something.

I've decided that since I've resolved that I won't get my Victorian done any time soon, my next project will be to redraft my doll pattern, as I have a whole bunch of doll-projects that I need to start work on, both new ones and old, backlogged projects.

Speaking of which, last_chael - do you still have that other doll pattern you borrowed a while back? I honestly can't remember. @__@

edit: Alright, Buttercup is now hanging up to dry. I grabbed some white polycotton I had on hand and rubbed it against the red of the buttercup dress for a few seconds and I did get some red appearing on the white... Gnnnnn... :( It was slight, but it's just as much red as what I'd get with the unwashed fabric. *sniffles* Maybe it won't be so annoying when dry...

Here's me being realistic again - I've decided that I'm not going to have time to finish my Victorian dress any time soon, and I'm fine with that.

I think Cat? noted the other day that it's been a while since she had been able to sew something just because she wanted to (as apposed to for an event or something), and I have to agree...

On that note, I'm not going to push myself to finish Victorian yet - I want to enjoy costuming. I want to do other bits of sewing that aren't costuming at the same time. I don't want to be stressing out because I haven't got everything done that I wanted to get done.

So I guess that means the next thing I have to look forward to is Regency? I can't remember. But I can have a grand old time researching and looking for fabric in the interim. YAY.

I better start stocking up on Jane Austen DVDs...

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

I had a thought on the train today as I was sketching some sketches. I decided I was going to try and do a couple of fashion sketches everyday.

One of my strengths is supposed to be my artistic talent, so I figure I should get back to honing that. You never know, one day I might be able to put together a half decent portfolio of designs if I can keep it up.

So I've bought myself another little art book to sketch in (not that I need an excuse to by stationery), and so that's the plan. Sort of inspired by everyone elses 101 things in 1001 days lists, but without the specific deadline and task list numbers...

Just a few sketches every day.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Oh man - this is familiar.

I was giving costume assistance again this evening - Cap'n and I both thought it would take a shorter period of time - It was a seemingly simple task after all. Boy were we wrong. So it's now 3:00 am and I still have to finish hemming my skirt before I throw it in the wash when it becomes a slightly more decent hour as it is covered in cat hair. *flails*

I did however get the zip into my Susan skirt though, and I've hemmed at least up the split of the skirt. I've just got to do the base hem now. God willing I have time to quickly whip up a new Obi for my Inara costume - it's a rectangly shape so that shouldn't be too taxing.

So my plan? I'm going to go have a quick shower, I'm going to grab a book and pen and make a list of everything I need to do when I wake up again in only a few short hours time, with their relative times.

Well, I'd best be off and getting at least a tiny bit of sleep.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Hi there folks :)

Finally got to my weekly Wednesday, pre-guinness Lincraft run - so I got to grab my fabric for my pirate costume :D It's going to be so great. I've got a bright red for the skirt, a fairly bright blue for the vest, muslin for the pirate shirt, and various threads to go with. I also picked up an invisable zip to see if I can fasten at least part of the Susan skirt with that (with maybe some snaps up the top or something).

But yes, I'm quite keen to get started on my Pirate outfit. xD The colours just look so nice sitting together that I'm quite keen to see them put together as the costume. Oh yes, it shall be awesome.

If I'm lucky, I might even have time to make some drawers and a chemise to go with - now that would be awesome.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Ahh, I ran out of evening :(

I gave Luke/Zerebin a hand with his Jack costume tonight - The eppaulettes took longer than anticipated, although that is because I insisted that the 50 yr old leather/vinyl/whatever attaching the things at the back was going to be flimsy and fragile due to being so damn old, and I ended up replacing them with some drill. As much as I love handsewing... It just takes too long when you've got other things to do...

Ah, that's all good. If I was doing Romana I'd be freaking out right now.

In other news, I can't for the life of me figure out where I put the documentation for my sewing machine - I'm pretty certain I have a manual around here somewhere for it... I have absolutely no notion of how to create button holes via the machine. Augh. I'm sure it's all very simple when you know how, but I'm so confused as to how it's supposed to work. I'm just going to have to think of another way of fastening my Susan skirt.

...

Ahem. So I've sewn on the waistband for my susan skirt - still not sure how I'm going to fix the closure, but I'll figure something out. Of course, I just had to throw on the corset whilst I had the skirt pinned together on me (although do I need an excuse?), and It seems to be coming together pretty well. If I'm feeling conservative, I could always forgo the fluffy wig and wear this outfit and still look fabulous. ;)

Anywho, bed time.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Hi there folks,

I know I've been talking a lot about getting my Romana costume done for Brisnova, but I've decided that I'm not going to have enough time to finish it without having a few late nights. If I did get it finished, I wouldn't have time to fix up my Susan costume (by far the most complete costume of the two) amongst other things.

I'll get Romana done eventually - but for now I'll feel better leaving it alone. This way I can spend tonight putting the waist band on my susan skirt, cutting and sewing the susan shirt, cutting out my pirate shirt pattern, maybe even working out the details for my pirate skirt. I'll have time to revisit my Inara obi-thing. I'll have time to sit and play around with ways to do make-up for Susan and Inara, and I'll be able to do my usual thing on Sunday where I just wander around fairly casually dressed, buying stuff and taking photos. Wahey.

Man... I burnt my pallet on a Sausage Sizzle sausage yesterday - It actually hurts to eat now, so I know I did a bit o' damage. On the plus side though, that does put me off buying cookies from coles today because I know they'll cause me undue anguish and pain. Heh. I guess it will heal up by the end of the week...

Anywho kids, I should wander back down the road to work.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Irk.

Well, I've gotten over 50% of my jacket done. I hate to say it, but I think it looked better when I did the mockup. I'd forgotten how heavy the fabric was. When I got fabric for this, I got two lots of it - the first lot I got was the perfect colour, a decent weight, but there wasn't much of it. Maybe enough for the jacket and the pants, but maybe not. The second lot that I'm using for the trial run there was heaps of, but the colour isn't perfect, and it's a thick suiting fabric (which also means it's fraying like my crappy can-can skirt did).

So far I'm not overjoyed with the results, but I've got to keep in mind that it doesn't have sleeves or a collar yet, and that it's unironed. Whilst I'm not pleased with it currently, ironing will make it look at least 20% better.

The weight of the suiting fabric has me a little concerned... It's certainly not going to flow like the costume should. Ideally, I'd like wool - but my chances of finding wool in the right colour are pretty slim... This is an experiment though, so it doesn't have to be perfect the first time around I guess.

I do think I'm going to have to skip tomorrow Tuesday night's ACG meeting - I've just got too much left to do.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Argh, how frustrating.

I was just going to sew the pattern for Romana together as is, and just deal with the fact that the shoulders aren't going to fit properly, but I can't. I stitched the mockup together like that and it made me realise just how much I'm going to hate the jacket if I don't fix the shoulders. There's a good reason why I don't wear this sort of jacket often...

If I don't fix it, it will still be wearable I suppose, but it will literally drive me insane. *sob*

So goal for today - get the jacket finished. The shirt won't take me long, and neither should the pants, even though I have to modify them. But the most important thing today is the Jacket. Argh, I hate this jacket.

As soon as I get past the "stupid pattern pieces that don't fit argh" stage, and to the "yay sewing along the dotted lines" stage, I'm sure I'll be back to loving the jacket. Until then however...

Ah well, one day I'll be pushing designs across a big polished wood desk for Abi to send of to her team of dilligent seamstresses to have them create them for me... *dreams* And then we'll go to lunch in Paris. Yes. *dreams some more*

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

edit: Alright, I've managed to get the jacket top almost working. It still doesn't fit properly, but it's certainly less annoying than it was. Let's see if I can finish this without running out of fabric to do mock-ups with.

edit: I'm pretty much done with my jacket mockup now. After I finish my glass of wine and have a shower, I'm going to recut one of the panel patterns (need to put the pocket higher), and then I'll get to work on the real jacket. Yay! Ack, I still have to work on the collar pieces, but I'm sure I can figure that out later. Getting there, I am :)

Ugh,

I'm feeling disheartened RE my Romana costume... As always I've gotten myself stumped on the sleeves - I just don't know how to make it fit properly, and I don't really have the time to actually care about it. I just want the jacket to be done already.

...

Ah, left my lj post from last night. Whoops. Anywho. Romana issues aside, I pulled out my Simplicity "poet" shirt pattern (using it for Romana and Pirate) and it looks to be the simplist pattern ever. Urge to skip straight to the shirt rising, of course - still need to get muslin though. I do have the silk I got for the Romana shirt, but I don't want to ruin it. Gnnnn. But I am going to use muslin for the pirate shirt in any case as I prefer the look in that regard. I might do the pirate shirt first, use that for this Romana version, and use the silk for the second time around...

Going car hunting today, that shall be fun. With luck we'll find something.

Also got my dad to start watching Firefly last night. Huzzah. I think he likes it, but then what's not to like?

Well - guess I should sign off and get to car hunting.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Hi ho folks,

Tonight I'm going to be drafting up the top pieces of my Romana jacket - yaaay. Is kind of annoying, I really want to get Romana done, but right now all I feel like doing is cutting out my "poet shirt" pattern to make my Pirate shirt with. Good thing I'm out of muslin I guess.

I really mean to leave my pirate costume til last, because I have an extra week for that one, but I keep having ideas about what I want to do with it. Good thing that the shirt will be the most complicated part. All the rest will be a cinch.

Getting dinner ready at the moment.

Ooh, my grandmother introduced me to this stuff - Waterfords Green Tea - it's soooo nice.

Well, back to cooking, and then to sewing.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

edit: Managed to get a mockup of the jacket top cut out, yay - for a while I was actually worried that the size 12 on the pattern was actually too small, but thankfully that was just a first impressions thing. So far, so good with the drafting - I've no idea how I'm going to do the pockets when I come to them... because they aren't set into the side seam, and I don't want to just tack them on the front of the jacket because that's not how they go either. I guess google will tell me how to do it.

On another note - I have to learn how to do button holes quick smart. Sooo many button holes...

Evening folks,

Today I went into Lincraft before heading into the pub (this seems to be becoming a habit for me actually) to get a few various costume items. Today I grabbed some stella interlock for my Romana scarf, some black, strechy lacey material for my Susan top (I've given up for the moment trying to emulate the Paul Kidby artwork), and a sheer silk fabric to make my Romana shirt out of. I've never worked with silk before, so that will be interesting.

Because I had a bit of time on my hands when I left work, I meandered into Valley Girl and found some brown boots which although they aren't perfect, I decided were adequate enough for my Romana costume and cost at least a quarter of the price to the ones I had been looking at. YAY. Now I just have to make the costume.

I might snap off some pictures of the iteme later - currently the computer room is being taken up by packing and preparations for Lisette to go to London (news to me). Tomorrow maybe.

Anywho kids, later!

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea

Hi again folks,

I managed to get most of my Susan skirt done this evening - the fact that it's floor length really does improve the effect. I was going to get it almost complete bar hemming, but then I realised I had disposed of my last black zip somewhere along the lines and ended up sewing the back up completely. I've left one of the side/front seams open though as the skirt will have a split in it, and I figured it would be easier to fasten the skirt where there isn't any gathering.

Anywho, here are some photos, lightened so you can actually see what little detail there is.



Now I just have to figure out how to fasten it, sew on a waist band and hem it. Fun times await.

~ Rebecca
//Morgandea