I was motivated. I had deadlines! But I had all weekend to sew. And then, the storm came on Friday night, and knocked my power out for THREE whole days. Did I get anything done? No. There was also a heat index of 105 for most of the days, so it was hot and miserable. When Melanie came for her final dress fitting, we went to a friend's house in town who had electricity, and did the fitting there before returning home to hot darkness.
Melanie's dress did get finished after electricity returned on Monday night. Did the final bits of hemming and such late on Tuesday evening in the costume shop, with a friend helping so I could work on my own dress. I'd have a picture of Melanie in the dress, but sadly, she got very sick and couldn't make it on the 4th.

I started my own dress last week, but had a heck of a time trying to get the bodice fitted. I hate back closing gowns. I've come to the conclusion that I need to make another duct tape double for my corseted shape, and potentially remake my duct tape double of my stays shape too, since I've lost a lot of weight since I made it. My roommate helped me fit the bodice a little, and my friend from town came over and helped too.

I worked on my dress on July 3rd almost all day, and finally finished it at 2:30 in the morning of the 4th. Sort of. I didn't get hooks and eyes on, so my coworker sewed me up. I also never got a collar on it, and my one white scrap I brought for around my neck was given to another friend who didn't have one for the day either. And I decided to go with a regular skirt instead of flounced in the interest of time. I've got the flounces still cut out, and maybe I'll do them next time.

This isn't the greatest picture of the dress. This is from my tableaux vivants show on the 4th. Marc and I are singing a shape note song, in preparation for the Romeo & Juliet scene. This is also after I tripped on one of the blankets while trying to hang it up, and broke the thread in one of the sections of gauging in my skirt, which began to droop down until I shoved it up under the bodice and into place under my corset strings. Oh well.
All in all, I'm not that happy with it. The lack of something white around my neck bothers me, and I didn't have time to starch petticoats, so the 6 that I was wearing didn't help my silhouette at all. If I find motivation again, I'll work on it some more and fix it up better for next time. It'll need hooks and eyes anyway.

This unintentionally created blog (long story) will cover the mass amounts of sewing projects for work and fun. I suppose it was about time I made one, since everyone else in the costuming world has switched from LJ to blogspot. I'll be using LJ for mostly non-costuming things now. 

Current projects:
Mid 18th C shift for Anna for 4th of July (pinned and ready to sew)
1812 dress for Melanie for 4th of July (needs final fitting and sewing)
1840s/50s cotton print dress for work (cut out and fitted)
1850s flounced cotton lawn for 4th of July (cutting out)
1840s bonnet (trimmings pinned in place)
1840s/50s red sheer cotton voile gift dress (de-farbing)

Recently finished projects (since March):
17th C blue linen bodyes 
1630s English waistcoat
1850s knit Godeys opera hood for Gigi
1850s knit Godeys sortie caps
19th C knitted fingerless mitts

Current projects I've set aside:
17th C pink linen bodyes (cut out)
17th C burgundy wool bodyes (cut out, marked up) 1860s blue velvet jacket (finished- trimming now with white rabbit fur)
1870s purple changeable silk gown (finishing work)
1870s maroon silk taffeta gown (needs trim)
1780s golden silk taffeta polonaise (tacking on the pleated trim)


And will be cutting out more 1850s cotton and wool dresses shortly, and some 1730s/40s gowns and a bedgown too! Here's the bodice of the 1840s/50s laid out on my floor from about two weeks ago. Today, I started cutting out the blue cotton lawn, since I want to debut it for our big 4th of July celebration. I'll be finishing up Melanie's dress on Sunday night, and Anna's about shift then too.