Costume Update

So remember the outfit I was making for my mother? Well, since I last wrote about it, the hong kong seams for the skirt has been completed (from start to finish for each seam (including cutting out bias tape) it was ~45 mins!), and the skirt stitched together. It wants a "skirt belt", and some hemming by hand, which I'm putting off until I can no longer feel like I'm wasting time by not being at the machine.

That was completed by Saturday morning. Also on Saturday, I made the vest.



Previously, all that was completed was the cashmere was cut out. I also had to cut out the lining (98% silk, 2% lycra -- what a dumbass I am!), and throw it all together. The collar is not lying as flat as I would like, and I totally set in the collar upside down twice in a row. Because I was feeling like the vest was going far too easily, I decided to up the difficulty level by throwing in some little welt pockets.

So I pulled out my Stitch Bible and discovered that the instructions were cryptic. (These were written by me, mind you) So to the internets I went, only to find more cryptic instructions that were more difficult.

So after staring at my demo piece and staring at such phrases as "...attach the pocket front to the front..." (<-- I suck), I mostly figured it out. Sadly, I mostly figured it out AFTER completing one and realizing why it sucked.



But they're not that bad, and they're only 2" long anyways.

I also have the most adorable buttons for it!



So I finished that Saturday as well and began the corset on Sunday.

Pictures from Yesterday

A random, orange jelly bean in my storage container of craisins (wtf?).



Stirring my three or four chopped clementines with an equal amount of oj.



My "marmalade"!



The amount of apples that I cut up, probably about 9 apples.



Three jars of applesauce!



And a shot of the banana cake, a.k.a. my breakfast this morning. It had sliced almonds inside, granola on top, and drizzled with simple syrup when it came out of the oven. NOM.

House Cleaning

Mister and I are not what one might call experts in keeping house. We're both fairly ADD, lazy, and after all, it's our own mess! But we've been eating out (or ordering pizza) for average one meal a day for a week or two. This is Not Acceptable to either of us.

Yesterday, Mister pinpointed that the kitchen being a mess was part of the problem, and cleaning it would solve many things (not the least giving us a clean kitchen). So with a will, he set to work.

Myself, feeling very discouraged by the kitchen, decided that it was time for me to tackle the Pile 'o Laundry, both clean and dirty, that was our bedroom. After four hours of work, we emerged victorious with a nearly clean kitchen and a nearly neat bedroom. It being 1am, we figured it was bedtime -- so we read until 4am. :-P

This morning, I woke up feeling like I wanted to do something. Heavens forbid that I work on the project of massive amounts of work, so I decided to tackle the pile of fruit that was growing sadder and sadder by the day.

The pear was a complete loss. Rotted clear through.

But the bananas became banana bread. The apples are becoming applesauce. The clementines are becoming marmalade. I consider this productive! It's amazing what a clean kitchen makes you want to do!

(There will be pics, but as I'm still in the process of making these, I'll post later.)

Hong Kong Seams

It's now time for Sewing Lessons with Dea! R, this is for you. :-P

As I work on the outfit for my mother, I will post progress reports. This is a beautiful hunter green (the pictures make the color wonky) cashmere knit of a light-weight woolen texture. Since this fabric is so gorgeous, I have to style it to the best of my ability. One of the tricks to make professional quality clothing is the nature of the stitches. You can have a bare-bones stitch, or you can bind off the rough edges in a number of ways. French seams, serging, or Hong Kong seams are all valid options. I chose to do Hong Kong seams here.

What you need for Hong Kong seams are 1/2" seam allowance on your fabric, bias tape, and an iron. I made my bias tape out of a funky stash fabric to add a nice contrast (this will not be visible when wearing).

The only images missing are drawing many diagonal lines on three yards of fabric.

Bias tape, after being stitched, prior to being cut.

Bias tape, after being cut.

Bias tape and outfit piece, sewn right sides together, and pressed open.

Folding the bias tape back over itself to the edge of the nice fabric, and pinning in place.

Folding the pinned bias tape over the edge of the nice fabric, and re-pinning. The rough edge of the nice fabric is now encased in bias tape.

Stitching down what had been pinned. Notice the lovely Husqvarna loaner machine!

After removing the pins, and pressing flat -- here is the final edging for the outfit piece. No rough edges in sight!

After binding with bias tape the rough edges of two pieces that get sewn together, I've stitched together one actual seam and pressed it open. This is a finished Hong Kong Seam.

A close-up shot of the finished Hong Kong Seam.

So although this is a laborious process, the finished product is well worth it.

Awesome Protesters

Scallion Pancake-Omelet

After a stretch of eating out for a while, Mister and I made a pact to not eat out for the rest of the week. We have some nice Easter leftovers in the fridge (ate the ricotta, have NOW polished off all the ham, half of a rice pie, a fair amount of kielbasa, half a jar of horseradish and beets, a full paska bread...) and I'd been craving a ham omelet. However, surprise surprise, all those food blogs that I read have seeped into my brain and this little dish from Maangchi worked its way into my thoughts.

Since I'd noticed last week an abundance of chives growing wild by the train, I figured I'd scoop them up in lieu of the single plant I have out back. I wound up collecting a fair amount of chives, and a handful each of plantains and dandelion greens. Washed them all well, and concocted this delicious recipe:

Scallion Pancake-Omelet
Filling:

-- 2 c. of greens, roughly chopped
-- 1 c. of ham, diced

Batter

-- 1/2 c. water
-- 1/2 c. flour
-- dash of soy sauce
-- 1 tsp. sugar
-- 4 eggs

Sauce

-- 2 Tbs. soy sauce
-- 1 Tbs. rice vinegar
-- 1 tsp. sugar or honey
-- chopped onion (I used a little bit of the chives)
-- chopped green or red chili peppers (I used dried red pepper)
-- 1 tsp. roasted sesame seeds *optional

Heat frying pan. Prep filling and mix batter. When pan is hot, pour 3 Tbs. oil in. Throw the greens in, and the ham on top. As quickly as possibly, pour the batter over the entire thing. Tilt the pan around to cover all of the greens. After a couple of minutes, when the bottom is browned, flip the pancake. After a few more minutes, when the bottom is browned, flip the pancake again and cook for 1 min more before serving.



I served this with two potatoes worth of home fries and a drizzle of sauce on top.

Costuming

So I've been "commissioned" (a.k.a. volunteered) to make an outfit for my mother. As some of you know, my mom, sis and I are going to the Steampunk World's Fair! in PA at the end of this month. When discussing costuming for it, my mother kinda went "oh... well... y'know... I'll just wear anything... put me in whatever you want!" To which my sis and I went "oh dear".

So I'm making her a lovely two piece skirt and vest combo with a corset as well.

The preliminary sketch of what it'll look like (ignore the feet in the drawing):



In the midst of creating the pattern:







This was the first project that I used my chalk holder for, and I have to say that I'm pleased with it. Cutting out along a line is infinitely easier than cutting around the pattern. The fabric shifts, and the pattern shifts, and the act of cutting creates valleys and mountains in the fabric... just draw a line.



A shot of the mock-up of the vest. It fit my mother beautifully, with two changes needed: make the arm scythes a little bigger, and have it cover less of the chest, so as to show off the corset.



A shot of the mock-up of the corset. It needs an inch taken in at the top center (half an inch from each side) and larger seam allowances (as it currently has the edges extend beyond each other). It fit my mother much better than it does the dressmaker's form.

You'll have to take my word on it that the skirt is thrown together as well, as any shots of it involve it draped on a chair or something.

I have now put a call out to a friend to have sewing nights at her house, as my machine is unreliable and I KNOW it would love to eat my beautiful cashmere woolen.

After all this is done, I get to throw something together for myself! Yay! :-P

Also, for those who enjoy sewing, tailoring, or historical costuming, Vintage Sewing is a FABULOUS resource. They upload vintage sewing books, and the amount of detail that is gone into... I mostly worked with a book from the 40s for this project, called Modern Pattern Design by Harriet Pepin.