Clara Rockmore & Jascha Heifetz: Hebrew Melody

A beautiful and haunting song on theremin, violin & piano.
Hebrew Melody

Pillow Case: Done!

I made this on Monday.  It was amazing, simple and brilliant.

 I found the directions here:

Then, I did it again with a student as her first-ever project.  Perfect!

Kickin' it Old-School in the Lower East Side

Check out this corset shop!  I found it on Yelp!  I will be visiting on my next trip to the city!  (because who could resist a whole bunch of secret bra and corset boxes with a ladder?  A ladder!!)  This is Orchard Corset Center.  Dreamy.

Thread & Bobbin Poesy

I purchased Thread & Bobbin about 2 years ago when I got back into regular sewing (as opposed to just corset sewing, which is on-going, but is a somewhat different skill-set.)

The projects are cute and can be made up from scraps.  I started this flower ages ago and just completed it this am.  I added some decorative stitches to the petals, but am not pleased with how that looks as it made the flower unduly complicated-looking and stiff.   If I were to made this flower again, I’d leave off the decorative stitching (the book does not call for it) and get it done in an hour instead of 1.5 years, but that’s just the thing: I’m somewhat underwhelmed by this poesy and have been all along.   When I lined all the assembled parts up, I shoved it in a bag instead of completing it.

I sometimes can improve on a project by added structure or stitches, but this flower is what it is.  The petals are tightly curved and proved difficult in getting each one shaped near to the last, which adds to the organic feel, but subtracts from the precision I’m currently looking for in my work.  And that, my friends, it the real reason it got shoved in a bag.  Looking at the pictures, I'm beginning to like it as an accessory.

Project: Done.

Without Over-thinking this,...

Now that voting is finished at Foundations Revealed, I’m going to review my process on this corset.  I don’t usually do that, as I’m often just happy that I completed something.

This is different because what I’m looking for this year is significant growth in several different directions.  I’m looking to be more organized going into this year’s work, as my lack of organization and overwhelm is at a point where it’s hindering me.

I’ve started setting drafting goals, meaning, I write down, in words and preliminary sketch, what the purpose of the draft is.  This keeps me guided when I start setting lines down and gives me a clear record for the piece when it’s completed and I want to make it again.  Procrastination is no longer an option.

Each day involves chores, creative work, (ie: some recognizable out-put) self care and a clean-up period.

To that end, I just spent 2-3 days cleaning my studio and organizing projects.  I can only have 3 current projects out at a time.

One of my current, new projects is a wall quilt using paper piecing, a very precise method of lining shapes up for stitching.  One of the ladies I work with showed this to me about a year ago.  It’s nearly magical in it’s result, and I can’t wait to get started because I think that this piecing method will give me greater control over the corsets.

In a nutshell: 

Organization, Cleanliness, Limited Items in visual que, Discipline, Time Allowances for self-care, chores, & clean-Up, Procrastination under control by increments, Completed Projects.

Aesthetics Goals: Precision in Piecing, specific goals for pattern drafting, more complicated, sculptural structures while maintaining smoothness.

Here's some serious musical high to get started:

 "You thought that we were fast before

But we're going faster and faster and faster and faster
We got time we're doing fine Mach 8 accelerationThe sky is clear don't interfereWith aspirations of this nation
I'll shoot new cities into spaceDrag you at the new space racesFast as dead line can flowAnd look around, we leave no traces"            

                          - Hypersonic, Jane's Addiction

At Long Last: A Corset

Vintage Lace: Shattered

Soooooo, I lashed her to the dress form today for the first time, and the lace got caught in the cross-fire. Most of this lace has held up to gentle handling but this is in the back, and I must have wrestled too hard with her.  Now what??
I really, really love this lace.  (Except for the fragility.)  It must be just over 100 years old.

Cross Marking w/ Masking Tape

 I finally found a way to mark grommets that keeps them from going all wonky.  I was able to set 14 in about 1/2 hour today, start to finish.  The punch distressed the silk to some extent, which in turn, distressed me.  It's not too bad, just a noticeable pull in the fabric.  There must be a way to combat that.  Perhaps that's the role of the second grommet bone placement, which I didn't add to this corset.  Live and learn.  Also, note that I used a pressing rag for both marking and for fray checking to cover my work.  Never carry a Q-tip full of fray check across the work!

Just to remind self that on this particular Osborne Setter, the work goes in: Washer (concave-up), then, the work with grommets in it, face up.  One ends up working blind a bit, but going the other way smashes the grommet.  I hate having to test it 6x every time.  Wastes time and grommets.

Flossing I Dig

I made note of how it's supposed to be done.  It looks easy enough, but once the needle gets flying, it goes all over the place.  Best to count stitches.  When I count, I can tell which ones when I'm finished.
I love the flowers.  I had to leave the leaves off because there wasn't quite enough room.

Horribly Important

But I can't recall why.  I always snap pics during construction and think, "Oh, I'd like to remember that!" and then fail to notate why because I'm so busy sewing.

If I had to guess, I'd say I snapped this one to remind self to not cut the back this way again. I cut in two pieces instead of on the fold, and then had to remove stitches (the hot mess on the left side) to fix what that created.

Inter-Office Mail

My vintage leaves arrived today via inter-office mail:

Leaves, Maybe-ish

Snowing hard today.  Go to Postmaster anyway.  He’s kind of cute.  He says that the package was listed on a Pennsylvania manifest as sent out on the 14th.  And then it drops off the manifest.  No other information is available for the Vintage Black Leaves of Velvet.  

2nd order of velvet leaves is marked “Shipped.”  Maybe by Friday.  That gives me time to get the flossing complete and the beadwork lashed to the front.

Only two more bone casings to go.  As I completed the first side, a horrible bump on butt (Panel 5, lower edge) almost makes me quit.  But I promised self that I will not quit.  

It becomes apparent that the bump is being created not by the bone casing I just did, but by the bone casing I did previous to that, and can be fixed.  So, I remove part of the two previous bone casings, and re-position them.  Whew!  Saved that.

No Leaves At All

Obsessively, I hit "Tracking" in Etsy.  Strangely enough, there is a change.  A system glitch is my best guess.

Black Velvet Leaves Update: Status: In Transit.

Well, which is it?  Delivered or Traveling?  It can’t be both.  Either way, I don’t have them.  Vow to go to Postmaster in am.

No Leaves

Vintage velvet leaves ordered three weeks ago have not arrived and are marked “Sent 1/14/13.  Status: Delivered.  It looks as if I might not have any velvet leaves at all.

Have re-ordered less-expensive leaves, not vintage, but there really isn’t any time to get them unless the original order miraculously arrives.

Garter Supports, yes!

I got up this morning and decided that the triple garter supports from Lace Embrace Corset Calendar 2012 (July) were the way to go.  If you look at the picture closely, you can see the triple support tabs that blend down into a bow and a single garter.

I started out having a rough time turning such a small piece of silk, especially since the large end needs to be pushed through the small end first.

But eventually, after adding an embroidered star,  I ended up with this:

Which is lovely, except the machine slipped around the edge of the point, (computerized machines + tiny pieces + thickness of materials aren't always the best combination) which irked me, and now I only need 17 more of the silly things.  I think I'll try the next one on the treadle to see if I can make a cleaner run of it.
Three or four lousy stitches shouldn't bother me, but they shouldn't happen, either.  It's totally preventable.

Added: 2/4/2013
Note: Those Lost Garter Supports:
I made mention of garter supports in an older post and thought I'd mention that I eliminated garters at this point because with all of the beadwork, this is more of an external corset.  I had thought it might be sort of a burlesque corset, but it looks more like she'd be attending a 'fabulous soiree'.  There was enough going on here without them and the original pattern didn't seem to have any.

Clara Rockmore

Currently listening to...

A little obsessed with this tune.  Below is a much better version of it.  The violin against the theremin is dreamy and sad.

Salen, 1917

She's been sitting on the mannequin for a month, so it's time to do something about it.  I'd reached an impasse because I realized I wanted heavy boning but that to lay in the casings, I should have done that first, not as my next step.  Too late.  So here she rested while I thought about things.  I hauled her off the form today and snapped this:

I figure, if I'm about to totally wreck something, I may as well have a nice picture to reflect on where I'd been before things (might) turn sour.

Velvet Leaves

I ordered some beautiful black vintage velvet millinery leaves today.

Leaves

I fussed with all sorts of beads, crystals, threads and haberdashery today.  I'm thinking "Jack-in-the-Beanstalk".  A totally fairy-tale corset.  Maybe a cow.  (Just kidding.)  One thing is for sure, those green leaves just won't do.

Snow!

It snowed hard New Year's Eve.  We headed down the hill to have dinner at Smith's Restaurant.