Jenny La Fleur

Many thanks to suededsilk for posting the link to a fun article "A Perfect Sewing Weekend" from the Selfish Seamstress.

I love suededsilk's point that nobody is really "Mrs. Vogue", so why are our sewing expectations sometimes based on a perfect ideal like this? It's like expecting to be Martha Stewart when we entertain or Carrie Bradshaw when we go clothes shopping. It's not real life.

Having said that... I actually related to a lot of the steps in this story. Is that bad? :P

I don't do hems by hand (unless it's absolutely necessary!) but I am meticulous about dry ironing patterns, steam ironing the garment as it takes shape, marking hems with a yardstick and chalk as shown in the story (with the help of Mom or B or course). I even like to double check that the grain is correct after I wash yardage (which on most fabrics from Joann’s is just an exercise in frustration!) and have been known to pull threads to find the grain line, ironically I did it just today on both a toile and some linen. I have to admit I don't do that on every project now, preferring to tear fabric, but Mom made me do it on everything when I first started sewing. She made me do a lot of tedious things like that in the beginning.

I guess that is really where all of that came from. My Mom was trained in the same era as this story and much of that basic training she passed on to me. It's amazing how much of it survived the years and both of our "bad habits" now that I think about it. I forget sometimes how lucky I am that while many of my costuming skills are self taught (like draping and pattern making) I was given a solid foundation in basic garment sewing by a talented home ect major who had been taught by equally talented home ect teachers. Such things are handy skills to be able to pull out when I need them.

Umm... Maybe I should teach a class on this stuff sometime at CosCol... "Random Garment Sewing Basics from the Era of Mrs. Vogue". Hee.

*waves* Just checking in to say, yes I am still alive. In fact I'm lurking on LJ, admiring your new frocks & resolutions to not go mad making new things for CosCol. I'm just not commenting much.

Another thing I'm not really doing is costuming. I worked a bit more on the Charles dress then got frustrated and so moved on to the Pimpernel, then got frustrated and moved on to some modern skirts then got bored... My self diagnosis is that I am suffering from rampant CADD.

Like I mentioned on girliegirl32786's LJ, while a part of me is relieved that I don't have CosCol deadlines to contend with, the rest of me is wallowing in the sea of possibilities and half finished projects in the aftermath of CosCon. For some reason it's overwhelming and I'm finding inspiration hard to find.

Dear costuming fu - where are you?

I've come to the conclusion that this Charles dress is either going to kill me off or it's going to be one of the most amazing things I've ever made. I'm going for the later but this frock is fighting my every inch of the way.

Why is that? Why is it, as myladyswardrobe so eloquently put it, that some gowns practically make themselves, whereas others simply don't want to be made? I haven't figured out a rhyme or reason to it but it is some small consolation that I'm not the only sufferer and that makes me feel a tiny bit better.

So after pondering why this particular frock doesn't want to be friendly (no conclusion), I made a momentous decision... *drum roll* ... to just enjoy the process. Novel thought - that!

I'm not in a race, I'm not going to Costume College, I don't have a deadline so why all this scrambling?

Somehow I've gotten into the horrible rut of costuming in a rush. I've been so focused on events, "using up" the stash, holding off CADD, feeling guilty work on my stuff when I have commission work to do or just plain finishing projects that I've lost the joy of doing. Which is silly because honestly my favorite part isn't the dressing up (the fun of that is all about the friends who dress up with me!), it's the creating. So why am I raising such a fuss about this bodice not wanting to play nice and trying to figure out the shortest possible route to the end?

Costuming In A Rush (TM)

Sometimes I wonder at my absurd ability to complicate the simple and to create my own drama. *sigh*

All that to say I've been working on my Charles dress in little spurts of time, as work and headaches/brain wattage will allow this week. The frock is still playing dirty but my change in perspective has me enjoying the challenge a bit more. Hey I’m actually getting work done on it too!

Well I guess that is enough of a break from the toileing... back to work so I'll post pics next time!

I didn't mean to fall off the face of the LJ world! I knew October would be crazy but really it's been insane. Fun but insane.

Last weekend I was in Myrtle Beach for our annual Mary Kay Fall Retreat. It was great fun and I took some much needed time to get away and get quiet with God. It was cool, the MK speakers throughout the weekend reconfirmed some of the things He'd been speaking to me at the Women's Retreat a few weeks ago. I feel like I have some good preservative on my life now, a direction and purpose that I've been missing lately. I came back feeling very refreshed. Life has since hit but I'm slowly getting caught-up and moving things off my "pending list" which feels great.

Sadly in the midst of the madness, the thing that has totally fallen by the way-side is costuming. So no, you haven't been missing anything because I haven't been working on anything. My projects are so far down the list it's a little discouraging. I have 5 quilt signatures, a "gift" project, then 3 pending commissions, plus 3 half finished modern skirts I desperately need.

When I will have time for my costumes I don't know. I'll just have to make time because it's starting to drive me crazy. First on the list - new 18th century stays. I need to order the supplies though - that is on today's to do list!

I'm always listening to something while I sew, music, a sermon, an audio book. This week I've been "reading" Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. It was really good, both the book and the audio performance. Well researched, well written and quite gripping actually, even though I knew the end of the story. The interview with the author at the end was cool too, you can tell he has a passion for the subject.

( discoveries )

I sometimes forget how spoiled I am living were I do, so much American history happened in this area. People travel miles and miles to see these sights but I live here. I drive past major Civil War battlefields, Washington family homes and President's houses in the course of my daily life. After a while you stop seeing them. I've barely stratched the surface of the "major" sites let alone discovered the out of the way pieces of history to be found tucked away here and there.

I really need to be better about taking advantage of such things... especially since I don't want to live here forever. :>

sites of interest:
http://www.fordstheatre.org/
http://www.fordstheatre.org/visit/virtual-tour.htm (virtual tour, including artifacts)
http://civilwarstudies.org/OnlinePrograms/Thumbnails/Boothtour/start.htm http://www.civilwartraveler.com/EAST/MD/booth.html
http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln.html
http://www.historicportroyal.com/index.htm
http://www.co-opliving.com/coopliving/issues/2005/February%202005/Images/feb05%20down%20home.pdf

I just found a great quote - so true to so many things costuming inculded...

"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or portion is more readily seen."
- Leonardo da Vinci