Homestretch for the Ionar

Well, 2012 has been full of surprises and I have managed to pretty much not sew anything all year. Between my pregnancy, extra time at work to train someone for my position for maternity leave, and a case of severely swollen hands and feet (no joke, I had hulk feet), oh and another move, I never even managed to make myself maternity clothes or a baby blanket for the newly arrived Megan Elizabeth who made her appearance 10/17/2012.

That being said, I am happy to say that in spite of a new born who seems to make her awake time exactly when I sit down to get anything done, I have completed the hand work on the Ionar I started forever ago. Here are some pics. In keeping with tradition, my newest camera has gone missing so I have to post cruddy camera phone pics. Sigh... I think I know where to find the camera this time though. Looking forward to 2013, and sewing again. There is a fantasy fair in April and I am thinking of either a Queen of Hearts with Megan as a hedgehog, or me as Little Bo Peep and Megan as a lamb...

 

The Back

 

 

Right Side

 

Left Side

 

Now to prep the lining, put together my sewing area and put it all together!

 

Ionar Progress and Something Modern for Me

The basic construction of the ionar that I am working on is coming along nicely. The embroidery, since I am doing completely by hand will be the long haul on this project. I sit in the evenings and needle away, here's some in progress pictures.

Sleeves, not lined as of yet but the fringe has been sewn into the seams and I did a tiny topstitch in order to ensure that the fringe lays flat instead of trying to pop up.

The pattern for the embroidery.

Embroidery progress, I'll be chipping away at this everynight until it's all ready to go. I love watching a picture come together out of thread and work.

Since the Ionar is mostly down to hand work I've started a project for myself as well, probably only take me a day or so. I'm so used to historical and vintage sewing projects that making something more modern is kind of weird, but being pregnant I don't want to work on any of my historical projects because I won't really be able to fit them. And I have to confess I hate buying maternity clothes, they are expensive and the fact that I know I'll only be wearing them for a few months makes it that much harder. So I went to my local fabric store yesterday and bought a pattern and some comfy feeling fabric with the plans to make a few things. Here is the project I started today.

Starting with the long dress then will probably also make one of the shirts. Guess I'll see how it goes.



Irish Ionar Project

I've actually been working on a few projects however I managed to lose my second camera and the camera function on my phone stopped working. It was almost as if the universe conspired against my posting to my blog. I have been working on a really fun project though that I really wanted to post about so I used my new phone to take some less than perfect pictures. Hopefully my new and third camera will show up any day as well.

I have been working on a new 16th century Irish Ionar, based on several drawings and the Ionar that I made for Daniel 2 seasons ago.

Here is the Ionar I made for Daniel



A couple of drawings of Irish approx 16th Century.

I have already cut all of the pieces and have been working on the handwork for the main body, but here are some pics of the steps for some of the meat of the rest of the Ionar that I am working on

Nice clean sewing area

Ironing out the skirting prior to pleating.

Lovely knife pleats. Pleats used to scare the heck out of me, now I just love to pleat.

And with fringe basted on.

I also did the sleeves today but did not take pictures yet. With the skirting ready, once the body is done being embroidered I can easily attach the skirting then lining. More to come as I move forward and once I get my actual camera. :)

2011 The Year of Chaos

2011 has ended and 2012 has officially begun.

2011 Was my year of Chaos. I started by expecting to Move in February so I boxed up my sewing and set it aside with dreams of my new huge sewing room. My move ended up being pushed back to the first of April. So I got very little costuming done. Then my move turned out to be a disaster. The big day arrived, I was packed and ready to go and as we started bringing our things over, I found that the previous occupiers had not finished moving out. So they cleared one room at a time as I moved my things in. My new sewing room ended up being the room where everything ended up.

 It took over a month to clear out and start setting up, then I learned that the half of the room where I wanted to put my sewing machines... well the outlets didn't work. So I rearranged, got cords, etc. During this time I was at least able to complete my 16th century stays, although I lost weight so I gave them to an awesome friend. I managed to have about 3 really good days of sewing with friends in the new work room and they were amazing.

Then the new crisis came. I wont go into too many details but basically I ended up moving again. And it was another messy cruddy move.

But now I am settled in my new place, which I love. And I have set up a little sewing area. I have already started on a 1910's corset with plans of a 1912 gown to follow. I also am sewing a 1940's skirt for myself for work.

I have big plans for 2012, and several unfinished projects that need to be completed.

Now all I have to do is find my camera....

Completed 16th Century Stays

I really wanted to document the making of this, however moving and then losing my camera made that difficult. So, here it is. Silk outer and bias binding, Linen lining, canvas interlining, plastic boning, wooden busk.

These came together very well. I even hand sewed the eyelets. I wish I had gone ahead and followed the pattern for the tabs, because they are more far apart than I would like. But overall it was a good and useful experience.

I intend to make 18th century stays with the same fabrics, only the lighter as the body, and the trim and stomacher out of the darker.

Now that I have a work room and am mostly settled in the new house I can make more and post more.

New Camera = New Posts on the way

In February I went to Florida on a business trip and ended up sacrificing my digital camera to the Atlantic Ocean. After that I moved and have not really worked on anything sewing related. However, I have now bought a new digital camera and am anxiously awaiting its arrival this Friday so that I can begin to show my new work room, new scary industrial sewing machine, and projects of course. So, stay tuned, I am hoping to have an actual sewing related post up this weekend. 

Pulp Fashion at the Legion of Honor -Review-

This past weekend I was able to get together with a few of my fellow costumer friends and view the

 "Pulp Fashion" Exhibit at The Legion of Honor in San Francisco. We were not permitted to take pictures of the exhibit, so I am only posting a couple of pictures from their publicity photos.

Here is the link to the exhibit for any who are interested in seeing it.

http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/pulp-fashion-art-isabelle-de-borchgrave

On to the review:

This exhibit was interesting and wonderful. First, all of the fashion is made of paper. My first thought at seeing the various gowns represented was "wow, I can't even do this with fabric..." The textiles are painted and even the lace was made of thin wispy paper and there were ruffs cut from cardboard. Layers of paint were used  to achieve depth and to create the patterns on some of the painted textiles. There were some pieces where we all huddled closely to the gown and had to examine parts to make sure it was really paper.

Second, there was a huge variety of time periods represented. Most of the gowns represented are fairly well known gowns that I've only been able to experience through portraits, fashion plates, and in some cases pretty pictures from other collections. Some of my absolute favorites from both 16th century and 19th century were there looking splendid. Being able to see a 3-D representation of the gowns in life size was really interesting even not being made of actual fabric they still brought inspiration and ideas for how to create some of the styles. There were also accessories including hats, shoes, hair pieces, and jewelry all made from paper.

Granted of course being made of paper there are aspects that were not brought to life and some of the ensembles had carefully crafted jewels of paper and some just had jewels painted on. The same can be said for some of the trims, some were carefully constructed out of separate pieces and some were more like cut out pictures added to the gown. As a lovely extra treat, on the walls were some authentic textile samples as well as a few pieces of 16 century lace which added some flavor and additional interest to the rest of the exhibit 

Overall it made for a lovely outing, the Legion of Honor itself is amazing even the cafe had good food. If you have the time I would recommend a day trip to San Francisco and The Legion of Honor.