From the Depths of the Closet

I’ve been on a de-cluttering kick, and pulled this out of the back of my closet:

I made it in 2004 for my high school graduation. Yes, for some reason, we wore wedding gowns (tuxes for the guys) for the graduation ceremony. It’s a little too big for this dress form, but you get the general idea. The fit was actually pretty good despite the construction issues, believe it or not:

30821_537867052996_99267_n — I know better photos exist somewhere, but I don’t know of any digitized ones. The weathervane sticking out of my head is a nice touch.

I was way into medieval stuff and LOTR, so fell in love with McCall’s 3861 at first sight. Somewhere along the line I decided not to make sleeves, so this was the result.

I’m pretty sure I cut corners all over the place to finish it in time. Such as this basting (maybe?) on the shoulders.

Half the hem was only pinned in, not sewn. Actually, I have a really bad habit about this on dresses. The difference is, I now know about hem tape. My regency gown is still waiting on a hem, too.

Then, there are the splitting seams at the underarm.

And, there’s no hook above the zipper (not to mention oddness at the zipper base).

So, it can’t be donated as is, and probably shouldn’t be anyhow because of poor construction elsewhere. It is also far too small for me now, so can’t be remade (at least, not with my imagination). Any ideas for what to do with it?

If you know of anyone that could use it for a drama production or something, I’m more than willing to part with it!

Sewing Horrors, or Creatures from the Past

Posted in Sartorial

Costumes and I have an interesting relationship. I love the idea of them, but can’t seem to manage any sort of follow through. My sewing past is littered with half-finished costumes (Devil in a Blue Dress from a couple of years ago comes to mind). They become odd, unfinished creatures never to escape balled up stasis in dark corners.

I didn’t even bother starting one this year, and have no plans to dress up tonight. But, while searching the other day (unsuccessfully—where the heck did it go?) for a corset I made a few years ago, I came across one of my very first corsets that has somehow survived a few moves and purges.

I present to you Lulu’s Corset:

I don’t remember much about this corset, if it can be called that. I was 16, I think, when I made it, and going through a short phase of gaming mostly centered on trying to play Final Fantasy VII and the newly released Final Fantasy X. I decided that I wanted to be LuLu for Halloween that year.

Here’s Lulu (standing):

So, I started with the corset. The front is a textured woven of unknown fabric type. The back is pleather, which was also going to be the main fabric for the rest of the costume.

The lining is a rather nice menswear lining I found in my step-mom’s stash. There’s Ridgeline boning involved. And shoelaces. And hot glue to attach the grey ribbon, which says “Calvin Klein”—I really wonder how I got ahold of that.

And a cheap poly zipper closure.

In other words, what on Earth (or in Spira) was I thinking?

I’m not sure which pattern I used. If I had to venture a guess, I might say it’s a modified M4861 (the McCall’s “Renaissance” bodice/corset pattern), but I’m not sure that it was actually out back then. I might have (heavily) modified some other pattern of unknown origin, a strong possibility being the out of print Simplicity 5843 that I made (and finished!) the year before (the instructions for which I just found in a bag of ancient scraps), although that would be heavily modified, and I have no idea why I would add the side lacing to it.

Also, notice how it (sort of, in so much as it probably does anyone) fits? That’s current me modeling it. Either there is a whole lot of ease provided by the side lacing (possible, although it’s limited by the short shoelaces). Or, it never actually fit 16 y.o. me, seeing as I was about 40lbs lighter back then. Perhaps that is a clue as to why I never finished the costume. I vaguely recall working on the skirt, but whatever I accomplished there is lost to time (or possibly lurking in a dark corner of my parents’ closet, ready to attack at any moment).

I’d like to think that I’d make some better choices for construction now, but then again, it was a Halloween costume, so I suppose anything goes.

What horror stories do you have in your sewing past?

Maker of various fabric things

Posts tagged: Past projects

From the Depths of the Closet

Sewing Horrors, or Creatures from the Past