A New Winter Project.....

I have always had my eye on this early 1900 display case since we have been here in Colorado~ so when the Mercantile in town called me to say they were sadly going out of business, I jumped at the opportunity to get it. Its HUGE, a bit over 8' wide! And so heavy.....I don't exactly have the perfect place for it anymore, as I am kind of a furniture hoard....but I managed to squeeze it into the gallery, and have all sorts of great things planned for it.....first thing being, a nice stripping of the horrid paint!

It is solid oak, and under the hastily applied black paint, is a layer of tan, under that, a layer of white, and under that, a hideous school bus yellow! YUK! I wonder what store could have possibly painted over the beautiful oak, in favor of that color????? In any case, this will certainly be an all winter project, as I am using a non toxic stripper, and lots of elbow grease. :)
My mind is racing with all sorts of pretties that I can fill it with~and when I look at it, I find myself dreaming of all the things it has held over the years....... I wonder how many children stood wishing for something that was inside?

International Quilt Festival, Houston 2010

Got home yesterday from the festival, it was entirely too much for my mind to comprehend. My Mother flew down from Wa state to go with me, and from my house we drove drown. Spent Sat and Sunday at the show

This is a picture of a smidgey of the vendor booths, before they opened on Sat. I took this picture from a little bubble window above the floor~ Saturday there were so many people, I saw all sorts of new things on Sunday, that I didn't see the day before cause if a booth had a hoard of folks in it, I kept going! All day Mom and I felt like a fish swimming upstream, always seemed like we were going against the flow of people. It was definitely an experience I will always remember. Sunday was perfect~ Id say a quarter of the amount of people than Sat. The isles were numbered up to 1600 I think....with everything under the sun available. I was disappointed a little, for me... as I am a traditionalist, and was looking for 100% natural silk and linen threads and fabrics, and there just weren't too many, matter of fact, of all the vendors there, I could count on my ONE hand, ones that had yardage, never did find anyone with linen thread. If I had to sum of the show in one word, it would be "Technology" ... ok, maybe two words, the other being. ..." bling" I have never seen so many rhinestones and sparklies on a quilt before in my life! I had no idea that was the 'in' thing now a days....and I saw only one booth with hand quilting frames....everything I saw was computer aided quilting and sewing....technology technology!

I have also never seen such tall buildings this close ever in my life! I am behind the times, I know, and it doesn't bother me a bit :)

It was a pleasure viewing the quilts, so many wonderful ones, and getting to meet friends and fellow quilt makers. I bought a wonderful early block print fabric as a souvenir, and brought home my quilt, now hanging once again up on the wall behind me. I have missed it.

Off to Houston....

I am off to Houston early tomorrow morning to pick up my Baltimore Album quilt, 'History's Humble Servant' from the International Quilt Festival show. It was a finalist, but didn't win anything~ that's OK with me, I am happy with it, and I have been missing it these months it has been gone and my wall has been standing empty. Am looking foreword to seeing the Baltimore exhibit too, but wont be able to take any pics of it for you, as it is one of the listed exhibits not allowing pictures to be taken. Mom is here from Washington and going down with me, just the two of us...so we can wander and wander till our legs give out, without anyone saying....'can we go yet, can we go yet???'

If U want somthin' done, do it yourself.......

That's what my parents always told me growing up, and what I tell my own children still. I guess if I had a saying I live by, it would be that. I find it much easier to do or make for myself, instead of trying to find from others, or depend on others for~ and especially so when it comes to dolly things! When I started making reproduction doll size corsets and stays, I grew so tired of trying to find supplies at the right scale, that I just eventually gave in and made my own. Little brass rings are very hard to find in the right scale for stitching over to make lacing eyelets up the back of a set of stays....who on earth would use hunky klunky metal grommets....iiiiiick! Above the the back closing of Marguarite's bodies, boning channels are stitched, and I have lightly marked with a pen where I want the eyelets to go~ just one side tho. After I get the first side done, I use it as a guide for the other side, so no need for marking.

Making the metal rings are very simple~ all you need is a pair of flush cut wire cutters and flat pliers (can find in jewelry supply), a mandrel to wrap your wire around (size of the mandrel or rod, will be the finished size of your eyelet holes), and wire. I used brass wire, cause it doesn't rust, and is nice and stiff. Use a heavier gauge for larger rings~ Marguarite's are small size, so I am using 24g.

Just take a length of wire, and wrap it around your mandrel~ you can use a pencil, wooden dowel, knitting needles...those are great cause they come in a variety of sizes....
Keep the wire as tight to the rod as possible, and try not to twist it.

When you get a length of wire wrapped around the rod, slip it off, and then take your flush cutters and just snip a line up from one end to the other, and the rings will fall off as you continue on to the next. You'll end up with a pile of open ended rings like this

The next step is to 'finish' the rings off with your flat pliers. Mine also have round tips, as you can see above. If you look closely at the picture, the two rings on the left are the before ones, the two on the right are finished. I take and pinch them the rest of the way closed and then take and lay them on the flat surface of the pliers, and give them a good squish so they lay nice and flat and are not twisted at all. Once you have your rings, just lay them on the surface where you want them, and stitch over them all the way around to cover the brass, and they make a very nice reinforced and even eyelet hole.

After I got the eyelet holes done, I filled the boning channels on each side of the back opening, and am now ready for binding. I will stitch the final lacing eyelets after the binding is on, as they are just directly above it.

Wishing you all a Happy & Safe Hallowe'en~ May you be visited by many an enchanted spirit & take joy in each and every one!

17th c Pair of Bodies Progress!!

I have been progressing nicely on this pair of bodies. I am making every effort to be as period correct as possible, and in nearly every minute of stitching, I keep thinking to myself, its really no wonder why men were the staymakers! One really does need a lot of strength in their hands~ I have overly strong hands, and mine are really feeling this every step of the way. Got the back boning channels stitched, and decided to only make 3 on each side of the back opening~ Dorthea's had 4, but this is a scaled down version, and I just didn't like the bulky look of 4 channels. The wide one next to the opening is for the lacing holes.

So next step, once all the channels are stitched, is to fill with your boning material. Whalebone, splints and bents(type of stiff grass) were all used in the 17th c as boning/ stiffening materials. I have plenty of whalebone, and I really would have liked to have used it, but its so darn brittle, it just cannot be cut. Perhaps it wasn't like that 200 years ago when it was harvested, but it sure is now, so I will save that for something with 1/4" channels, something I wont have to cut it down for. A person could also use hemp or jute twine to bone their channels as well, I have used both in later period corsets and it works wonderfully....but I wanted a really rigid, period correct look, so I am using bamboo for Marguarite's bodies. Above I have already cut a hardwood center busk, and bones the 3 channels each side of it. I used the pliers to nip the ends off right at the edge of the material. I was going to work from the center out, like I normally do, but since I had to still stitch the lower edges of the boning channels going up the side of the front panel, and I needed to actually be able to get my hand around the material to stitch it, I switched and did the side sections next.

This really worked out well, and I stitched the channels as I filled them, so the little pieces wouldn't slip out. I used bamboo BBQ skewers, and split them with my x~acto knife to the right thickness, then whittled the edges until they were the perfect fit for the channels. On the side pieces, I cut them to the exact angles top and bottom, then slipped them in, and stitched the baseline below them. Here is a hint when using any type wood material for your boning. Trust me, this will save you much time and effort! Before you fill the channel, first pre-fit or stretch it with something smooth~ I used a metal rod that was the exact size of my channels. Insert the metal rod all the way up to the tip of the channel...and it wont be easy! You will have to wiggle and jiggle it to separate the 2 layers of lining from each other....twisting is actually best, I found. This acts like a glove stretcher, and once you pull it out and insert your boning material, it will slip right in like butter.

This is the main reason why, if you are using a fragile fabric like silk or velvet for the outer layer, you want to have a backing fabric for it, so your boning doesn't pierce it, or grab a thread and make a run or hole. The boning is placed between the 2 linings, not up against the outer fabric. See my rubber gloves~ I am forever changed and love sewing with them on~ they help my sewing hand grasp the needle easily, and I wore one on my other hand while doing the boning, to help grab the bodies better, and they also kept any dirt and oil on my hand from getting ground into the fabric. One really has to get physical when boning a corset like this. I wont lie, there was some swearing involved......

Here is the above bamboo stitched into its channel. If you have angled channels, it really does make a huge difference to take the time and cut the angles in the boning material as well, so the entire channel is filled. If you leave the top and bottom of the boning straight across, it will look "hokey"....this is why I don't like to use steel boning, because it is so hard to cut.

Front panel fully boned~ woo hoo!

Trim the boning right to the edge, the binding will cover this, and keep them from popping out.

Inside. Next step is to stitch the lacing holes at the back opening~ don't fill the back boning channels yet~ it is easier to needle the eyelet holes first, then add the stiffness last.

A MUST see!!!!

If you are anywhere in the vicinity of Oxfordshire, UK...you simply must make the trek to Witney Antiques to see their current exhibit, "Wrought with the Needle" ~ an exhibit of outstanding English embroideries from 1590~1750 (and get this, many are for sale if you have a few hundred grand in the bottom of your purse) You can see and read more about it here on their website~ www.witneyantiques.com . I ordered a catalogue thru the mail and it got across the pond to me here in the US in a woppin 3 days! Ohhhhh my goodness, it is an absolute treat for the eyes to behold, with wonderful closeup views of embroidered jackets and coifs, mirror surrounds, bead work....if you have at all the slightest interest in early Jacobean, Elizabethan, or Stuart embroidery, you simply must must must have this book