Chainmaile!

STILL having huge issues with the collar. Every time I think I've figured it out, it doesn't work. Back to the drawing board.

In the meantime, I'm about to start tacking the splits. AND .... I've begun the chainmaile! It's taking less time than I thought. And, today, Matt decided that he needed something to do while watching TV and asked if he could close some of the rings.


See, I start out with a bunch of machine-cut rings that are slightly open from the cutting process. Then I close the rings, so they look like this:

You may be wondering what the mime is doing there. Well, all that black junk is powder from the rings. When I have all the chains done, I'm going to wipe them all off with a damp cloth to remove as much of that powder as possible. But, so that our fingers don't get stained, we're wearing latex gloves.



Then I open 25 rings, like this:










Then I make chains that are 50 rings long (but not made of 50 rings, each chain is actually 75 rings.) I start out with attaching two rings to one ring, then putting on two more rings. Then I attach two of those rings to another open ring, then add two more. And voila - a chain!

Because these chains are so light, they really remind me of the chains of beer can tabs that my grandfather used to having lying around the farm in Michigan. There might still be some around somewhere, too. I'll have to look next time I'm up there.

Of course, the tough part is going to be putting them all together to make the shirt, but this is flying by much faster than the maile we made for Matt. Hmm, that might have to be my next post!

Velvet Galore!

I received my final four yards of red velvet from fabric.com yesterday, so today I set about finishing laying out the pattern for the overdress. Because of the way that the pattern is laid out, even though I didn't have enough material left for the final piece due to length, I now have enough velvet to clothe an army of midgets. I've got it all cut out, and now I'm putting it together, but the big question is ... where are all the splits on Susan's dress? Because I'm sewing the seams that will be split with a large stitch right now. Later I'll figure out how high the splits are, then rip the seams and fold and sew the edges.

You can see the splits in the above photo.

I think it's probably split either just on the side front seams, or the side front and the side back seams. I doubt it's every seam, otherwise the dress would hang differently off of Anna Popplewell. But, I'm not sure. I think for now I'll go with the side front and side back seam theory so that I can test it out later without too much ripping.

So, now the main bits of the dress are assembled. The next step is to attach the yoke and the sleeves, and then to create the splits in the dress.




You can see, however, that there is a bit of puckering in the bodice due to the velvet being a bitch to work with. Normally, I'd rip that out and resew it, but the entire bodice is going to be covered with chainmaile and leather corset, so I didn't bother. It's actually not as bad as it looks in this picture, it's just the way that I pinned the back to keep the dress tight against the dummy. The only puckering is just on the seam right on the bustline. But still, it's killing me. Heck, I spent a half hour trying to line up the center back correctly. I can't stand having these small imperfections, but the truth is, no one is going to know. Well, except for you guys.

Also, I'd like to point out that I didn't white balance my camera before taking these pictures. The velvet is NOT that orange, I promise!