Costume Academy 2013

It's that time again! Costume Academy is coming up on March 9. It's always a fun day--I get to hang out with my fellow costumers and geek out all day over costumey techniques. I always get inspired (if not a little too ambitious!) after Costume Academy each year.

This year I'm teaching two basic sewing classes:

Zippers 101 (back by popular demand!)
Sewing By Hand: Taking It To the Next Level (buttonholes, blind catch stitch, and more)
I'll also be there with my millinery supplies in the Vendor Room.

For more information, please go to the GBACG webpage here. Hope to see you there!

Brunswick Part 2

Started working on the petticoat this week. Easy peasy, I thought, I'll just cut two lengths out and sew them together leaving openings at..the sides?...and at the back? I couldn't decide on what direction to go so I consulted the very fabulous Costume in Detal by Nancy Bradfield to see how they did it "back in the old days." If you haven't seen this book, it's well worth every penny because it's packed with pages of drawings of actual garrments and some even have measurements! And inside construction detail! Basically I could do no wrong with any combination of openings so I'm going with side openings that hopefully later will also double as pocket openings when I actually make my 18th century pockets. They are on the list!

Here's a really mediocre photo, taken in a hotel room while traveling for work. No pressing has been done at this point, just lots of hand stitching:

Handsewing is pretty good way to make the time fly, let me tell you. I just zipped along with a backstitch about 1/2" in from the selvedge* beginning about 8 inches down from the top edge. My stitches on the first side look pretty good. The second side not so much--I was getting tired and the light was fading so they went a little wonky in places. Makes you realize how important daylight must have been to candle-era seamstresses, seriously. The openings (shown on the left) were just rolled twice and stitched down. Voila! Still have to do the pleating along the top edge, put the twill tape on, and get myself a nice hem but I'm feeling accomplished nontheless.

*Okay, technically, if you are going to wash a garment you should trim off the selvedge edge in case it does some bizarre shrinking action. This isn't going to get washed AND I didn't want to make a mess while traveling so the selvedge, fringey bits and all, got to stay.

Oh yes, June was a busy month!

And I can't believe it's July already!

The photo above is of a fascinator I made for myself to wear to Maker Faire. It was completely spontaneous, came out of a sewing night with my sewing buddies when I was playing around and not at all in the mood for any serious sewing (obviously!)....Made me realize how necessary sewing goof-off time is. :)

I've also been busy working on, a series of articles on millinery for BurdaStyle.com! Lucky Chris, he gets a very cool top hat out of it when I finish articles 3 & 4... http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/katie-vardijan-on-millinery-101-introduction-to-millinery

Brunswick, part 1

Spent the whole weekend at a fabulous workshop where we learned how to create an 18th century dress called a Brunswick. The workshop was put on by Burnley & Trowbridge and taught by Janea Whitacre from Williamsburg--a rare opportunity for us West Coasters to geek out on the 18th century with someone who is a master of her craft! This is the first time I've EVER made anything this huge entirely by hand. It was also the first time I've ever draped an 18th century gown completely from scratch and I admit it took a bit of concentration on my part to wrap my head around the period draping techniques but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Am I finished? Nope, still have tons of sewing to do on the jacket and the petticoat hasn't even been started yet but my friends and I are planning lots of sewing dates to "get 'er done" in a timely fashion so that we can wear our new frocks asap. In my case, I hope to finish before Costume College!

Here's a quick photo of my pile of pieces right now. The fabric is this cheery blue mystery decorator fabric I've had in the stash for at least 7 years so it was time to put it to use. This is The Year of the Stash. after all. I'm doing a low neck and a shorter skirt so it looks a bit different from the above portrait. Yes, all sewn by hand. Did I mention this is all being sewn by HAND?