Beauty Is Pain

The first finished Camicia. Ignore the exhausted look on my face and the bra strap. I won’t be wearing a bra and a corset, at least mine, does not have straps.

My husband and kids think a dining room table is for eating.  Not during a sewing project.

My fabric for the dresses. Eight yards each of cranberry and blue. That’s starting Sunday.

An iron is your friend. Really. I don’t know how much spray starch I used, or how many times I ironed that thing.  One down, one camicia to go.

Okay, the first one is done. I just bias taped the sleeves and neckline and it even covers my tattoo! I love it and I have pictures of the process I will post tomorrow. I feel so good about it and I am so happy about it. It’s silly, but it’s just such an accomplishment for me. It looks finished, it is finished. It’s sewn the way I want it, almost. Okay, the truth is I tried to flat fell the seams. First rule of cotton lawn, French seams. It will make the next one go much faster tomorrow for the last one. I feel like I’m one step closer to getting this all done, and thank goodness for that.

Truths

1. 11 yards makes two camicia’s when you’re sewing gussets in one to get around a rather largish petticoat.

2. Washing 11 yards of cotton lawn is not fun and ironing it is even less fun. Especially when there is a Pan-Kitty rolling around on the fabric getting black kitty fur on the stuff you just washed and making it necessary to re-iron what you already ironed.

3. A chatty three year old who wants to do it all with you is no fun when you are cutting our said eleven yeards of fabric.

4.  Getting your camicia’s cut out, and labeled (the gussets only go on the bottom of the blue dress) is a mighty satisfying feeling.

I am dreading stuffing Lady Madge.

I have a humiliating, embarrassing and dang funny admission to make and I need to come clean, because I’m staring oddly and it’s being noticed. I’m a writer. I write romance and I’m multi published. I don’t write normal romance, I write naughty romance that requires a pseudo and no, I will never tell, especially after what I am about to say here.

I go to the Michigan Renaissance Faire several times a summer. Let me tell you, men in armour, damsels in booby dresses, or less, leather, it’s the perfect and I mean PERFECT place to take mental notes for characters. I am always seeing someone that is so neat that I need to add them to a book. In fact last years German Jouster ended up as a bouncer in a bar as a secondary character. Now, of course these people are nothing like the characters in my book. Ever. I take someone I see for a moment, I take a part of who they seem to be, and I run with it. Gas station attendants, people walking dogs, folks at races, they’re all fair game. I derive what my characters look like from people I meet every day. While our characters have no relation to anyone living or dead, how many men in the old bodice rippers look like Fabio (ick). Writers take people they see, melt them into a new metal and present them to the world. Now, on to the admission.

One of the leader types at the rehearsal the other day just so happens to be my Rick Frazier from Conjure. No that’s not the whole title, told you I’m not advertising. Just in looks alone, and only in my head, the actual Rick Fraizer ended up being very different from the guy from the Ren Group, but he was my starting point for sure. Not only that, but another person in the group, long time cast member, is in a book I’m working on. Again, there is no resemblance when I get done with them, no one would recognize themselves at all. I tend to use people in real life as colorful secondary characters anyway. I also don’t sit and imagine the person when I’m writing love scenes. I have already morphed real life into two different people with two different reactions and they belong together. I would no more imagine myself with one of my characters than I would have an affair. It’s not me. It’s more like looking in a mental window, than being part of it, which sounds creepy, now that I’ve written it out, but it’s actually pretty clinical when I’m writing it. It’s not when I’m done, but the first draft does not exactly have me panting and drooling on my keyboard.

I’ll never tell this person, I would not want them to think of me as some pervert, some people are offended by what I write and I accept that. I mostly think it’s the funniest thing in the universe and hope I’ve not just humiliated someone to death, but I figure I should make my admission and go on my merry way, laughing inside till my stomach aches that Rick started out as someone who I now see frequently.

I finished my second set of drawers and I have to say, I did a better job on these than I did on my wedding dress. Which is sad, but shows how far I’ve come in fifteen years. I flat felled all of the seams, self cased it (if I were to do it again, I would put a separate casing on it) and tied them with a ribbon. It’s some very light muslin and for a size fourteen it takes less than two yards, they come about halfway down my thighs and no, you will not be seeing me modeling them anytime soon. One pair I did a narrow hem on with my narrow hem foot, but it hates the flat felled seams, so I bound the edge of the other pair, did a narrow seam, ironed it and did another. These things are going to be next to my body and get a lot of abuse, they need to be pretty darn comfy.

Obviously, the photo function of the blog is working now, so I can take step by step pictures and post them. Today I will post my forbidden petticoat. It has the only metallic trim on it. I just thought it was pretty and it was in my stash, so I was a bad girl. My dress will cover it, and it won’t be a problem. Sort of like a push up bra and a red thong, only I will know it’s there

Aside from my order to Fire Moutain Gems next week, for the garnet chips for my hat and necklaces with crosses on them. The only thing I have left to order is a little attachment for my sewing machine called a binder foot. It puts on bias binding in one step. We’re talking hours here when it comes to binding one of the camicia’s and other things in life I actually sew for me.

I got my A-OK from my costume director and the assistant costume director. I am filling Lady Madge tonight and starting the skirts after the Camicia’s, which should keep me busy till Friday. The costume director even commented on my blog. She claims she does not breath fire, but many do, so you never know.

Nancy bought herself a gathering foot for her sewing machine for Mother’s Day. One that will do knife pleats. Did you know most Italian skirts were knife pleated? I am so happy I have that.

I did the other pair of drawers today and I have to say, I could make money making drawers in 1586. Too bad it’s 2008. Except for that whole hot shower thing.

Your sewing machine has a manual. This manual contains valuable information for getting crap done. Relying on the memory of your mom’s sewing forty years ago is not a replacement for said manual.

I shall now commit that to memory. If you don’t have your manual, then poke around the internet. Most of them are out there somewhere. My mom’s is out there and she bought her Singer in 1968. I love and covet that machine.

My first pair of drawers are done and, if I do say so myself, wow! Okay, I’m not wearing them on a daily basis, but I flat felled the seams on them and used my narrow hem on the hem and the top of the casing. I even installed the button holes without managing to close up the entire top of my drawers. Yes, I’ve done that before. I have lots of photos and as soon as Gene fixes this I will post how to make Italian Drawers, for those special moments.

I do need to run the ribbon through the top, but we’re talking things I can do while watching TV, so later.

It’s not really sewing, unless you have a friend to help you.

My lines aren’t perfect, but they’re not horrible either. I fixed it on the blue petticoat and it looks smashing. No one should be seeing this on a regular basis anyway. It goes under the camicia and under the dress.

It’s done. It’s not perfect, but I’m still pretty happy. I used French Seams on it and then I laid out three lines of wide bias tape on the inside to hold the hemp. I was not happy. It looked okay, but it didn’t have the width I wanted and there was no way in God’s green earth, it was going to help hold out that burgandy skirt and get a breeze under it. I happened to have four yards of cottton belting hanging around in the stash. Hmmmm, would that not only be a tad decorative, with the proper beading accents, of course, and hold those skirts out? Just maybe.

I ran the belting (Cotton. If you try this avoid that nasty nylon like the black plague) around the skirt using a zig-zag stitch on both sides. It held out. Okay then. Off to JoAnn’s to get six more yards. I ran them over the hemp and it stands out nicely. It is not, however, as even as I would like. Since hardly a soul will see this, except the very last row as I lift my skirt to walk through ground gunk, I’m not going to freak. I am going to mark my blue petticoat much better, so a fabric marker is also in my future.

I feel like I got something done. I have not placed the hooks and eyes yet, I’m losing weight as I train for the marathon and that’s gonna change.

They i-nayed the gold. I had a feeling. I turned it in for all blue, which may still get rejected, but it’s on sale and I bought a load of it, so I can return it. The wardrobe mistress was at a family party and I’m all about family, so GO HER! She can yell next week. Hope my camicia fabric comes in. I have a nifty new ruffling foot for my sewing machine and I will NEVER HAVE TO HAND GATHER AGAIN!!! MUHUHAHAHAHA!!! Wanna know another reason I don’t do English clothing? I do NOT cartridge pleat. I knife pleat. This thing will do all levels of knife pleating.

I finished my petticoats!! Trim and all and yes, I used trim above my station, but no one should see them, so I’m pretending it isn’t there. It’s stash man. Gotta use the stash. Gene said he should have the photos working tonight, which means you can see what I’m doing and maybe this will be of some help to someone. Who knows.

I designed a Venetian hat. Thank goodness, a hat is required.

I got my trim! It’s gorgeous. No fancy stuff on it, just pretty and no shiny’s. Just perfect for my character. I got it from Colontir Trim. He is fast, nice and his descriptions are spot on. He’s also cheap. Same trim I paid a buck for was three at a local store.

Character stuff. I really have someone coming together in my mind and ways to approach people starting to take off. Roses to ladies for their rose gardens (flowers between the boobs), talking to single guys and having them buy a rose and a song for the lady of their choice. Married, or dating couples. Just ten second sound bites that let them know who I am. I’m also going to play someone desperate to get married. Shouldn’t be too hard, just think back to ‘84 (we won’t go there). Problem? I want to marry far above my station and I’m too old to bear children back in the fifteen eighty’s. I’d forty four, that’s practically dead! Should be a hoot and a half. I can do funny. Ask someone if their a Lord? Married already? Willing to take me on as the sixth wife? Only if the wife is into it too. I am not pissing off some crazy woman.

I can talk about my virtures, my voice, my…I’ll think of something. I can just be a tad pushy and desperate about it all. That could make it very funny.

I get to order my trim today and the fabric for due camicia’s. Like that? I wrote it in Italian. I’m getting somewhere with it. I can keep up a plausible accent for hours. My children think I’ve been replaced by an alien and my three year old can sing, “Bocca, bocca bella.”