Autumn Zebra

When you make a corset, you often put a "tape" around the waist to help prevent stretching. The tape must obviously be the most unstretchy thing you can find, and then even though you have already made sure at least one layer of the corset is as stretchless as you can get, this makes sure of it. Because obviously if you do it up and it stretches, it kind of defeats the point, and you might not be able to do it up any further to compensate. To give an idea of how little stretch you want, say you have a waist when reduced of 70cm. 1% stretch would be 0.7cm. Since you might have a waist reduction of 7cm, this is 10% of the reduction. Quite a lot. The waist-tape also gives added strength to the area under the most strain. I was looking for some appropriate tapes for this purpose, and I am not sure if these are right but this is what I found: The natural coloured one might be cotton, while the other two are synthetic but not too horrendous. They do not seem to stretch. You can jus...

Well, this probably isn't much of an exciting post, but I thought I should write something before the weekend. Yesterday I bought some stuff for better doing the embroidery around the hem of the wedding dress. I bought, a thimble: It is the smallest size available, probably because I will be wearing it on the 4th finger of my right hand, as that is the one that always ends up getting the BLUNT end of the needle jabbed into it, which is sore and kind of gross. I assume from the name that thimble are supposed to be really worn on the thumb, but I've never had any need for that. It was only $2.30, so that is pretty good I think. I also got some embroidery hoops as the one I have is tiny. The smaller one here was more expensive and is much better quality I think because the wood is a lot smoother and harder, whereas the larger one is kind of... furry-ish. Kind of like balsa wood. I think I would recommend people with the same choice to just buy the more expensive ones, but I got o...

No posts for 5 days! And none today either! I did a lot of thinking but unfortunately that doesn't get translated from my head onto the computer. There might be something later in the week - or maybe not until the weekend! There are lots of things in progress but they all take a long time so nothing is finished and I don't feel like writing partial entries as progress reports. That seems boring.

You know what, I discovered today that someone not only read one of my blog entries, but also thought about it and disagreed with it! They must really have read it in order to disagree. To see this disagreement, go to Comically Sans' post Just Fold It , although she doesn't say exactly where and how she disagrees. I can't remember a thing I wrote (about the Spring 2007 Dior collection) so I can't speculate without going back and reading it again. Plus there is the discrepancy between what I thought and what actually got typed. Clearly the message here is that I should not write crap, in case someone reads it (not saying I am definitely writing crap, but I might be). I agree that it is a bit more like (Wearable) Art than fashion, and I can't remember if I said it, but I think that most of my criticisms of it stem from the fact that although it is great art, it is supposed to be fashion. Theoretically. But, you know, who cares. If you didn't look at it yet, you s...

A post about actually making things!! My inspiration for making this hat came from this one, although whence it came I am no longer sure. And the reason for looking at this hat in the first place was due to the custom of oczepiny in Polish weddings where the bride swaps here wreath of flowers or whatever for the hat. Unfortunately no one seems to provide pictures of such a hat. (I don't think we'll be doing it anyway actually.) I made up a simple pattern consisting of a rectangle with two curved corners, and a curved piece somewhat like the shape of a back of a head. I measured my head a bit first to work out the approximate sizes. Then I made it up a couple of times in old sheet material, changing the curve a little bit and so on to try and get a good fitting hat. Unfortunately, this was really hard. This was the original shape of the back piece. I'm not sure if changing the curve really made much difference to the problems I had, but it meant the length of the curve was ...

Someone I know who just started reading my blog said that it was really interesting, although she had only browsed it so far. I think that second comment is probably the explanation for the first ;) Some other friends read it regularly. I find that amazing. Who would have thought? Of course, I read theirs regularly too so I suppose it makes sense. Anyway, the person who said it was really interesting just made their first skirt (awwww) so that is pretty awesome and congratulations to them. I haven't seen it yet, but they are going to wear it on Friday so it can't be too bad. If you can, and would, wear it, it is a success I feel. So anyone else who is too afraid to sew, you should just give it a go . The patterns tend to provide a few instructions, and there are some good general sewing books around, even on Trademe or Ebay and in second-hand shops (cos it doesn't really matter how old it is). The books won't help much though until you give it a go and discover what yo...

This link will take you to pictures of the Christian Dior spring 2007 Couture collection, by John Galliano. (If you were wondering how that works, fashion houses have to hire new designers when the original, founder designer dies, in order to keep going. But then if you're not sure who's dead and who isn't, and if the hired head designer changes, it can be hard for a casual observer to actually know who designed stuff. Pictures in magazines are sometimes attributed to "Dior" for instance, rather than "John Galliano for Dior".) It is pretty awesome, and crazy, and pretty awesome. The " runway review " that you can also get to from that page is idiotic, for instance, saying the designs are "delicate". Umm, no. No way are they delicate. About as delicate as an elephant I say. They are large, heavy, heavily constructed items in bright colours that try and smack you in the head with a mallet. I think they are too stiff and out-there to b...

You should go here and look at the giant plug-hole-type thingy they have in these dams. Remember the other day how I said I like dams? Giant cement funnels bypassing dams are also liked.

I don't really have a lot to say about the Chinese New Year thing that was this weekend, although the Japanese sword and weapons demonstration Mum and G were in went well I thought. G and I got some food when we were down there from the stalls, and it was pretty expensive for the amount you got, although it was nice. For example, $5 for some rice with a few spoons of curry from one place. I really wanted a lantern that looked like pikachu, the pokemon, that I saw some people with, but they didn't have any by the time I got to go and buy one, so got this one instead. You put a candle in it and it looks pretty and you hope that somehow it doesn't end up burning the paper. I think it's cute and kind of freaky, and now it hangs from the curtain rail in my sewing room :) There was kind of a surreal moment before we went out (more surreal than a giant pink head with blue ears, even) where G and I were each whipping a practice sword out of its bag and replacing it with a woode...

On the Dilbert Blog today, Scott Adams wrote about being easily amused and the (strange) things he likes and prompts readers to list their things they like. So I thought I would try and think of some things I like, that are a little more unexpected and odd, not things like cats, fashion, or other things that many other people actually understand. You should add yours in the comments (because I told you so). Read the linked Dilbert Blog for more information. insects - but not ugly ones - especially weta, beetles, cicadas, stick insects fabric, of course - esp. the feel of natural fabrics leaves rows of short lines or dots (eg. quilting stitches, African body decoration) series of smaller and smaller things that fit inside each other the sound water makes high and extremely high magnification photographs of pretty much anything colours names of people moving mechanical things other things not that mechanical- pipes , machinery, cables , dams and control gates , electricity pylons Tha...

My latest arrival from Trademe - 30m of medium-weight Vilene interlining. For $21 plus $3 postage. So that should last a wee while at least. It is actually less thick and sturdy than I thought, but I could use two layers in things needing more stiffening. I knew you'd be fascinated. Oh yeah, for some reason it also came with a few lollies. How weird. But good. But definitely weird too. It came from Wholesale Textiles, who also have a shop I think. Hopefully they will sell more rolls of cheap stuff I want lots of.

I haven't written any sewing posts recently, although I have some pictures taken ready to go. Yesterday we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and we had barbeques and Chinese New Years and stuff, and today I have Patternmaking class. And most of my vegetable plants are dying - I don't have enough time to looka fter them and write blogs and make cool things adn everything :( For a truly exciting post, I have decided to show you the large courgette on its way to turning into a marrow I got out of the garden the other day. This is the second one I have picked. It doesn't look like any will ever be ready simultaneously unless they really get their act together. Plus the other plants just don't look like they are making any effort, and one is dying. Two-to-three days before I picked this it was pretty much normal courgette size, but I didn't want to cook anything with it at that stage. Now it is a bit bigger, not too much bigger though. Standard kitchen scissors for...

In the weekend before Waitangi Day, I spent a lot of time trying to get the pattern right for a Polish jacket I am making for G, based on those worn in the 17th Century, I think. It is a zupan. Or a kontusz. It is hard to decide as it has elements of both, so it kind of depends on when the pattern was from. But I say it is a zupan - an under jacket rather than an over one, because the sleeves are closed and the neckline high. But many jackets of that type are also labeled kontusz, so who really knows. I had already made the pattern and made and modified the mock-up a couple of times, and I did several more mock-ups and alterations and eventually I think it is mostly right!! If I had started off with the pattern as it is now I would probably have tried to make it better, but I think it is good enough and both of us are sick of it. The problems came that I had to scale up a pattern from a picture on the computer which was not the right size and proportions for Gary anyway. This picture: ...

On Tuesday evening we had the first class of the Patternmaking course. In this class we drafted a basic skirt block for ourselves. This looks something like this (but the paper would be lying flat. I also drew on the lines in on the computer because the pencil didn't show up): Then we traced around it. We are going to convert it into an A-line skirt block next week. I have to admit that it was rather slow, and not just because I have done pretty much exactly the same thing before. It's just not really that difficult to draw some lines of a certain length at right-angles to other lines, with detailed instructions, after having seen the instructions gone through in each detail. But it was still fun and I was pretty excited. I could have drafted the A-Line block too if I'd had another 5 minutes, but she decided to end the class 20 minutes early to not over-tax anyone. About half the class took twice as long as the other half, and I suppose these were the ones that might be ove...

Apparently this weekend is the Chinese New Year Celebrations in Dunedin, on Saturday evening. Presumably Chinese New Year is somewhere around this date. G and my Mum are part of the Japanese sword and other weapons demonstration at it. If you are confused already, they have stalls and various different Oriental cultural demonstrations to entertain the crowd and so on. The sword people are on at 2145, but times have been known to be, ummm, variable . Also this weekend there may or may not be the Gypsy fair in the oval. Not entirely sure about that one yet. So, for the Chinese New Year, to make it more fun, I clearly need to dress up some how or wear some new clothes. Luckily I have a pattern for a Chinese style top or dress and some gold Chinese brocade material sitting at home. So I could whip that up by Saturday. Never mind that I wouldn't have the opportunity to fit it properly and that Chinese brocade frays horribly and shifts all over the place when you try and lay it out and p...

Yesterday I went to my Certificate in Fashion orientation thingy-whatsit which was a couple of hours where they gave us a handbook of general information and basically went through it, and introduced the teachers of the course. We all went round as well and said our names and what we were hoping to get out of the course, or something, theoretically. Practically everyone said the exact same thing, "Hi, my name is ******, I'm doing the course full-time and I'll probably do the Bachelor's degree next year." So that was pretty exciting as you can well imagine. I said a little more, but this is a more detailed introduction and explanation. It starts with something I more or less actually said. I'm doing this course part-time 2 classes a week while working full-time as well, so it will take me quite a while to finish it, about 2 years. The purpose of doing the course, for me, is to get an idea of whether I like it and whether I want to continue on in this direction;...

There are a lot of flowers and cool plants in our garden, and pretty much all of them were there when we moved in. The garden was pretty over-grown and still is, but there are all sorts of things that just pop-up by themselves. These particular flowers have just flowered recently. Last year, there seemed to be only one, whereas this year there are about half a dozen to a dozwn scattered through one area of the garden, growing amongst the giant daisies. I think they might be day lilies because each flower is only good for a day or two, and before that has not yet opened properly and afterwards is starting to die. But there are many flowers on a stem, and the next one opens when the previous one is finished. I wasn't sure there would be enough light for good pictures as it was late afternoon and overcast, but then I thought maybe it might be good because there wouldn't be too much of that excessive contrast you get when it is sunny around here. So you can see what the buds look l...

Finally, my modem and instructions arrived from ihug. After being marked undeliverable by the courier company because ihug didn't provide room for me to fill in the company name and the floor of the building in their delivery address, I rang and provided them with the information and they delivered it on Friday afternoon. You have to get the modem signed for, and it is delivered during normal work hours, so if you work you have to have it delivered to your workplace pretty much. But that worked out fine in the end. When we tried to set it up, neither that modem nor the one I borrowed off Dad would connect to the internet. Why is that? Not sure, but we think there is a filter/splitter already in the wall or something, so using the filter we were sent by plugging that in as you are supposed to and then plugging the modem into that presumably meant the signal was being double split and stuffing things up. We had to test the connection by plugging the modem into the wall directly and s...

After spending 1.5 hours last night searching the entire house for the battery charger to charge the batteries for the digital camera, I didn't find it, and today we bought a new one. Thank goodness. Now I can start taking pictures again of everything. Then all I need is a digital SLR someday.... If we're lucky, the courier will deliver my stuff from ihug today and I can have internet at home by the weekend!! Otherwise it won't be until at least Monday. The sooner it's done the sooner... umm, something. I also bought this album at lunch time, Holy Wood by Marilyn Manson ( Amazon link ) Mine has a slip cover over it which is plain on the front and some weird picture on the back. It is also R18. Although I really like my other Marilyn Manson album and it is one of my favourite CDs I have and I really wanted to get another one, I didn't really want to buy any of them because (other than the fact that the newest available at the shop was from 2000 and none were cheaper ...

It is nearly time to start my Fashioin Certificate course! I got my ID card for the polytech on Monday, and this coming Monday is the orientation morning for the course. Then the first class is on Tuesday evening. There isn't really much more to report at this stage. I didn't actually enrol for the second semester of papers at the beginning of the year, because I wasn't entirely sure how, so I hope I remember to add them in later. I really want to buy this material on Trademe, because it would be great for Victorian dresses, but I shouldn't because of all the rest of everything I have bought recently. We really need some kind of budget so I know how much I have to spend on everything.

And what do we have today? Two victorian dresses from the Antique and Vintage Dress Gallery website. Cocoa Dress First we have the cocoa dress, main page found here . This doesn't look like "cocoa" to me, but whatever. The key cool things on this dress I think are: the lace trim - good idea to trim a Victorian bodice you might be making that is looking plain... those cool bits over the hips that look like they might be joined onto the bodice. Unfortunately we don't have a straight-on front view to see what they look like from that perspective the interesting pull-through puff sleeve tops the funny folded pleat-like add-ons around the bottom of the skirt. I think it's a bow box-pleat or something We also get to see what one type of Victorian buttons look like, which is useful. Interlude Looking at antique clothes in auctions seems to be useful for two main reasons. One, most other sources of information seem to only give a very general average of what was worn in ...

Just looking at my clustrMaps thingy here, and I see there is a "10+" size dot on what looks to be South Korea. I find that fascinating. South Korea, hmmm? If there is a Korean person looking at my blog, I'd just like to tell them that I love Korean food. Well, at least the stuff I've had. I don't know anything else about Korea. It's always tricky with " ethnic " food out of context - is it really like the Koreans, for example, eat it? The Korean restaurants we have in Dunedin are run by Korean people I think, and Korean people seem to eat there, so that is a good sign for authenticity. For all you Dunedin people, you should go have some Korean some time. So should anyone else who has a Korean restaurant lying around and hasn't been there before. If you are a Korean cuisine newby, be warned that, as far as I know, the reason they sell sacks full of chilli flakes in the Asian food shops is so that Koreans can cook their national dishes. Some of t...

Once again, Traci has outdone you all with a wonderful comment. She made the excellent point, "WANT THIS COAT". You can see this comment attached to one of the earlier posts. The coat in question which she links to is this one: found here at the auction site I was talking about, where there are more pictures. I think she is completely right, I also want this coat, and I thought I should share it with everyone else. It is just so awesome and bright and colourful and happy, and I think it would make anyone happy just looking at it. Even if you don't really like yellow. So now I intend to make one some day, maybe. I will keep an eye out for suitable yellow material, and if I find it I will know I am supposed to make the coat. I am not sure about the white embroidery detail yet, I presume that will become clear to me if I am destined to make it. Not only do I like the actual coat, I think it would probably actually suit me as well. Strangely, yellow is supposed to suit me, m...