Adventures in Dying: Part 1

I had a length of off white linen that had gotten turned a bit pink after washing with a length of red linen (which had already been washed several times before) so I thought I'd try dying it. I really wanted a hunter green linen but they didn't have any when I bought the linen so I picked up an appropriate box of dye from JoAnns and went to work.

Linen before. The camera didn't pick up the pink tint well.

Vat of dye! I didn't really have a good place to dye my fabric and I think this bucket was a bit small. I'll have to try someplace larger next time.

Fabric drying. Hunter green-check Perfect dye job-no check

I got a whole bunch of lighter streaks from the dye not penetrating into the lump of fabric. Probably from using a too small bucket.

I also did something really dumb and tried bleaching my bucket on the other side of the sink where my fabric was rinsing. *facepalm* So there are a few orangish bleach spots where I dripped into the other side of the sink.... :(

I want to try and fix the streaking. Do you think if I dye it again, the color will even out? Or will it just make everything proportionally darker? I may try dying it in the sink since the fabric fit in there much better than the bucket. I'm planning on using this for a petticoat for my red peasant Renaissance dress, so I think it's ok if it's not perfect, but I would like it to be better.

Costume College: Haul

I do have some pictures of Sunday (not of me, of course) but this is my blog so I'm skipping right to the fun shopping post and we'll come back to Sunday. I went to the LA garment district Thursday for a few hours and again on Monday for more than a few hours. Here's what I got:

Yummies! I had two partners in crime *coughenablerscough* to help me navigate the garment district, determine fabric content, and to tell me that yes, I did really need to buy that other fabric I just saw. The total damage: 32 yds.

50s style print mystery fabric $2/yd destined for a 50s dress

Another mystery fabric also destined for a 50s dress $1/yd. I now have a handy burn test chart so I can light stuff on fire and tell what it is. :)

Green and Pink Plaid Silk/Silk blend for a secret project for next year's Costume College $8/yd

White and blue rayon for 40s things $4/yd

Fabulous 40s style tropical print rayon $4/yd also for 40s things.

Buttons! I don't know about where you are, but where I live buttons are pricey! I can easily spend $4 for 3 tacky plastic ones and I got all of these for under $25. They're all metal except for the pink ones which are glass. I got all of these from a seller at the Costume College Marketplace.

Close ups! Top: rose and strawberries. Bottom: western, basket weave, pink flower glass.

My other big item is this 1950s petticoat (or crinoline) which I made in a class at Costume College. I only got the first two layers of tulle on during the class and I've been sewing like crazy the last two days and fighting with yards and yards of tulle to get this thing finished. This was so not a UFO that I wanted hanging around until next year!

Really, it's crazy huge! I've set my old one on the left for size comparison. Wow it was a lot of work but I love wearing it. I just don't think I'll be making one for a loooooong while.

If you get a chance to go to the LA garment district, take it! Good deals are to be found but a guide is very helpful. Nothing is marked as to fabric content and, unfortunately, some of the vendors are dishonest or just don't know what they're talking about.

A Blackberry Fix

I picked up some lovely purple corduroy on sale for $4/yd. The color is appropriately called blackberry. I snagged 3 1/3 yds but now I'm kind of at a loss of what to do with it. I really want to sew with it right away because I can't wait to wear it and it even fits in my winter color palette.

A 1940s style fitted jacket.

Another Beignet.

Another rendition of this 1940s dress.

I've also been pondering trying to use it for this 1930s pattern. I don't have enough for both the skirt and the cape unless I shorten the cape quite a bit. I do have enough for the top and the cape lining but I'm not sure how that would look.

Which idea do you like? If this was in your stash, what would you make?

Fall Fabrics

So let's look at my current fall fabric selections!

Yummy grey and black houndstooth for the 1940s style suit.

A black, grey and blue wool blend for the 1950s style jumper.

And the brown twill for my circle skirt which I think I finally decided upon an embellishment for. I picked the easier (and coincidentally more period) option. Guess you'll have to wait and see what it is. The twill didn't photograph well on it's own, but this shot with my new scrapbooking paper turned out ok. I'm actually currently scrapbooking all of my me made pieces with some awesome 50s style paper.

And my latest Renaissance dress shopping haul. The clear plastic tubing is for the hoop skirt. The guy at Home Depot was a bit flustered when I told him I was going to use this for a dress. I also picked up some great glass pearls (not at Home Depot. lol) and some wire cutters. I'm so excited because my dress is almost to the wearable stage and then I can focus on the details and not stress because at least I'll have something to wear. For those of you in Ohio, I'm planning on going to the Ren Fest on pirates weekend so do stop me and say hi if you are there too. I'll be the one in the red dress. ;)

Sewing Projects for the New Year: Fabrics

Thanks for the comments on my Sewing Projects for the New Year post! Yesterday, I went fabric shopping as I'm going to the mall with one of my girl friends today and I wanted to make sure a good hunk of my Christmas money was spent on sewing stuff! I opted to get fabric and notions for #1 Wearing History's Smooth Sailing pattern pants and shirt and #3 Vintage McCall dress that I've dubbed the Faux Button Dress.

Here are my goodies for the shirt. I just fell in love with this cute bumble bee and apple print. I love the colors! I picked out white daisy buttons, red rick rack and some white for contrast on the collar, sleeves and tops of the pockets.

Love it! Polka dots too! My husband is not so crazy about prints, but he hates prints. As a graphic designer, he's more into texture. And he lacks fabrical vision. But I know it will be too cute! I've never put in a button before but I'll figure it out.

I found some lovely navy linen to make the Wearing History pants! Woot! I had some difficulty with finding this. I found some nice navy suitings for $24.99 a yard. That was not going to happen for my first pair of pants. I wasn't too excited about any of the denim available either. But then I found this lovely linen for $8/yd plus 30% off! And linen was on the list of approved fabrics! If these turn out great, I might go for a cordoroy pair, but I did want to start with a blue pair and I'd like brown cordoroy.

Here's all of my stuff for the Faux Button Dress! I found a lovely forest green fleece. This was also a difficult pick. There were not fabric suggestions on the pattern. Gah! Anyways, this dress may be a complete fail, but onward I go! I also picked up an awl, coverable buttons and plastic rings to make Casey's covered buttons.

See all of my lovelies! (Although I just noticed that there is only 5 buttons in that pack.... guess I'm going to go get some more.)

I love the color! I was going to go for navy with this dress but I fell for this one at the store.

I also got a gift card to Barnes and Nobles! I bought this sewing book. It looks super cute. I love the author's whimsical, girly style and fabric selections. She designed three basic patterns- a skirt, a dress/tunic top, and a jacket- and makes quite a few different garments from each one. I'm hoping working with this book will help stimulate my creativity and ability to "see beyond the pattern".

I adore this fun, funky so-called "Mod Jacket".

This jacket so reminds me of a jacket of one of my friends I've been drooling over. Hers is made of a tapestry type fabric with a fur collar and cuff. Another pattern in the book has fur collar and cuffs so I may get creative.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for New Year's with my family in Kentucky and then a week in Palm Coast, FL. Blogging maybe spotty for a while. I'm going to try and write some posts before I leave and post them during the week. There is supposed to be internet at the hotel, but one never knows. Well, Happy New Year all!