Monday, April 16, 2012

A Look at an Edwardian Lingerie Dress and Some Other Random Pictures

I've been out of the sewing room for over five days, and boy does it feel weird! I never thought sewing would be such a big part of my life; I'm pretty sure the last time I did an activity almost every day for such a long period of time was play piano, and that was waaaaay back in high school. The reasons for the sewing hiatus were mostly good ones, though: my dear friends Ryan and Jeanine, of our-Hunger-Games-photo-shoot-fame, got married on Saturday. I must say, I don't think I've teared up so many times in one day for a very long time -- all the speeches were poignant and heartfelt without being too sappy, and maybe it's the teacher in me, but I just don't have a lot of patience for drawn-out talking without a clear point, so these toasts were all really excellent. Anyway, since this was our very own fake Katpee getting married, I went so far as to draw them a personalized card, instead of just picking up some generic greeting card from Target.

The inside of the card says "Haymitch applauds your kiss and finds it worthy of the sponsors' parachutes. Happy Hunger Games Wedding!" I know, teens killing each other is a terrible theme for a wedding card. So sue me.

Besides the wedding, I've also been having some bizarre pain/extreme soreness in my dominant (right) shoulder, so I've been doing a lot of sitting around on the couch reading the LOTR Appendices instead of wrestling with the iron and hand-cranking through the multi-layered parts of my latest sewing project. Since I don't have any of my sewing to show, have some photos of an authentic Edwardian-ish-era lingerie dress with lots of pintucks and lace insertion! I took these at an antique mall in historic Orange, where I also found some other sewing goodies that I'll be sharing later.

Apologies about the lighting and quality...I was using my iPhone in a basement.


Pintucks in the skirt portion.

Closeup of the lace chevrons and the pintucks.

With flash, but you can see how silky the material was and the sleeve cuff's details.

I'm hoping to get my hands on a nice blouse pattern from the VPLL 1912 project so that I can work on my own lace-inserting and pintucking, but that's going to need to wait for after this weekend's wedding and the Ren Faire the following weekend. And just in case you're wondering, I wore my not-so-little LBD to the wedding this past weekend, but managed to get no good pictures of me wearing it. So instead, have a picture of me at IKEA wearing my IKEA hippos dress. I was a little surprised that no one said anything about my dress; I think I felt slightly (and inexplicably) offended that nobody, not even the employees, found it comment-worthy that I was wearing a dress sprinkled with extremely IKEA-y hippos all over it, in IKEA.  Come on, people, I'm a walking advertisement for your textiles section! 

IKEA red Barnslig hippo dress
It was actually my husband's suggestion that I take a picture with this couch. People, this is why I love that man.

10 comments:

  1. Having just sent a had-made card off for a good friend's wedding, I have to say, yours wins. It's great, questionable references included...

    That's a stunning antique dress---can't wait to see what you do with lace insertion (I must admit, I've been petting my lace a lot lately...)

    As for Ikea fabrics---I've never bought any mostly because there are NEVER ANY EMPLOYEES anywhere near the textiles section every single time I've been in Ikea---so I can only conclude that none of them ever actually *see* the textiles to comment on them.

    I always feel a little awkward wearing clothes made out of Fabricland fabrics when I go there... sort of like "Will I feel like too much of a fangirl?"

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    1. Ha, yes, that has been my experience at Ikea too! It's like the fabric section is the embarrassing stepchild of the furniture and they like to pretend it doesn't exist...

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    2. Tanit-Isis, I wish I had lace to pet! I have a couple of tiny rolls, but I'm still waiting for something spectacular and worthy of the fiddliness of insertion. And at US IKEAs, they've switched it over to cut-your-own-fabric instead of waiting for an employee. Which means YOU CAN WRITE DOWN WHATEVER NUMBER YOU WANT on your yardage tag. I will even confess to having gone home with 2.25 yards instead of the 2 I wrote down. Anyway, I am a huge fan of IKEA, so I feel mostly okay (albeit a tiny bit silly) wearing their fabrics into the store.

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  2. I love that you match the couch!! I wish you had a picture of you laying on it, it would be crazy, but fun.

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    1. I will try to go again and lie down on the down, just for you! It may not be anytime soon, but just you wait!!

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  3. Good pics even with a phone! Thanks for sharing!

    It's amazing how obilvious people are! I've seen people completely miss the film crews I'm with when we are filming in a public place. One of my favorite times was when we had actors dressed as cops in a courthouse lobby, and strangers would walk up and ask for directions from the actors (hanging with the crew) when the real officers in the correct color uniform were closer to them.

    I bet if you wore a hat with your dress, people would comment (that's when I get noticed most - in a hat). I love your hippo dress!

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    1. Hahaha oh people. That is awesome, about the cops, though. God forbid that there should be a fire and they look to actors dressed up as firemen with a prop firetruck.

      Good idea re: the hat! I've been getting into hats lately, but then I feel a little odd thinking about wearing one since it seems that people don't really wear them anymore.

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  4. Love, love, love your ikea hippo dress. Taking a break from sewing, although it can seem dreadful at the time, actually recharges me. If I don't sew all week, by the weekend, I'm so eager to get sewing but if I spend my nights during the week sewing, I'm usually exhausted and needing a break by the weekend.

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  5. HA! The Hunger Games card is BRILLIANT.

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  6. Love the card and the hippo dress!

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