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Dress Diary:

Aug 6 2009

I've decided to make effigy stays, based on the pattern in Tudor Tailor, to wear under my c1670 Venetian gown. While not Italian and dated slightly later than my dress, I think they will work well. Bess mentioned in her Showcase write up that she used it as her gown's pattern base, something I'm planning on doing as well. I think it seems logical to use the effigy stays for the actual stays as well.

Okay the pattern is blown up on the computer and printed... off to have toile fun.

Aug 7 2009
I just tried on my effigy stays toile and I LOVE them. I forgot to take pics of the fitting (bad blogger!) so you'll just have to trust me when I say it's a really nice shape.

I made the toile out of two layers of old sheets with temporary lacing strips and steel boning held on with masking tape. It is pretty ghetto looking but it told me what I needed to know.

I need to make a few tweaks but not too many. Mostly I need to fix a neckline that is too high, shoulder straps that are too long and adjust the back panel to better fit my small-bust-to-big-hip-ratio. I'm going to go ahead and cut out the real thing based on my new tweaks. (Aren't you proud of me Katherine - it's close enough so I'm cutting fabric!)

Also I prefer back lacing stays to I changed my stays accordingly. The front is seamed (not cut on the fold) and I put a bit more curve in the center front to echo the more natural shaping I'm seeing in some of the 1560-1570 Venetian gowns. I used my Diderot stays as a guide.

The Tudor Tailor book now officially rocks.

Aug 8 2009

The stays in progress. I used a heavy raspberry cotton twill that I have loads of (yes, you've seen it here before in interlinings etc). Because I'm not feeling particularly particular about these stays (never am the first time I make a new style), I cheated and used a sharpie marker to transfer the marks for the tabs etc. Turns out the fabric is so dark you don't really notice the marks anyway unless you are really looking for them.

I have some leftover baby pink bias tape from the Candy Stays that I'm going to use on these stays so I decided to sew the channels with baby pink thread as well. Contrasting thread seems to be period correct and it makes sewing, especially at night, so much easier on the eyes. Besides, it's purrdy! I've keeping the boning layout simple, following the Tudor Tailor pattern and the Arnold effigy stays article in Costume as my guide.

Aug 9 2009

Well I'm bummed. I ran out of reed about 1/3 of the way into boning it. Those little bundles from Silly Sisters don't go very far!

I looked up both Silly Sisters & Reconstructing History and dude the shipping is really high! $8 for the reed, $7 for the shipping. *chokes* I could probably pick up Silly Sister reed in person (since they are in Fredericksburg) but I suspect that will be a pain and frankly the RH reed is nicer. Also SS has 33.3 yds for $8.50, while RH has 83yds for $8, making RH the better deal. I even thought of having Mom order her stays boning from RH so we could split the shipping but RH has is set up so that one item (any item!) is $7, two items is $12. Three items is $15. So some reed and some steel boning and I'm now paying more in shipping than for my purchases. That just doesn't go down well with me.

I know shipping is expensive and going flat rate priority is easiest for a small business but it just rubs me the wrong way to pay the same amount for shipping as for my item. To make me feel even worse, if I'd known about these shipping prices I could have bought the reed shipping free at either Fort Fred or CosCon a few months ago!

So now I'm wondering what to do. I can:
1. Break down and pay double thanks to shipping costs for the RH reed.
2. Try to arrange picking up the more expensive reed from Silly Sisters.
3. Ditch the reed and bone with steel. (I'd have to order that too.)
4. Resew all the channels to use cable ties.
5. Take matches to the whole project and drink a very dry martini while watching it burn.

Honestly right now #5 sounds the most appealing but I know I'm just a little emotional at the moment so I'm not going to make a decision tonight. *shakes fist at sky* I knew this project was going along too well.

Aug 10 2009
Thanks for your advice and support on the reed issue last night. I love my Pin Posse - you guys are the best!

After msmcknittington mentioned buying reed on ebay, I searched there but without any luck (her seller didn't have any listed and the rest was all $8 shipping). Then I decided to look on Etsy, before I tried e-mailing the Ebay lady, and sure enough I found a listing for exactly what RH was advertising for $8 TOTAL, including shipping. *does the happy dance* I love Etsy!!! Don't know why I didn't think of looking there before.

I had a nice little conversation with the seller this morning. She is a basket maker and it just starting to sell supplies. She has lots of sizes and shapes available, just needs to get the listings up. So I now have 1lb of ¼" flat-oval reed winging it's way to me, hopefully it won't take too long to get here.

Aug 15 2009

My reed came yesterday and it is perfect. Apparently I was her first supplies customer and I suspect she will raise the rates on her shipping after my order. Just FYI. :-D

I couldn't wait to get started so I spent some time last night boning my effigy stays. Been working today like a house elf trimming boning and working eyelets.

I really want to be finished with the reed. It's cool stuff but it really rips my hands up. And since there is no point in pampering myself with a nice manicure/pampering until the stays are done I'm trying to get through the process quickly.

I have 4 more eyelets to go and the straps to stitch on then I can try it on to double check the fit. Hopefully the fit will be brilliant and I won't have to ripout any seams and fuss with more boning. It's not impossible but I'm not holding my breath or anything!

Aug 16 2009

All the eyelets are done and I've tried it on to double check the fit. See I have crappy pics as proof! The fit is fabulous and so far I'm very impressed with the reed. It's lightweight and very comfortable while giving a good amount of support and shaping. I think I may be a reed convert!

The tabs seem a little long so I trimmed those down an inch in the front, ½" in the back. I suspect that I'm going to have to trim down the straps/back to fit the bodice so I'm holding off on doing the binding until I'm past the toile stage with the Venetian. For now the edges have been basted so the reed doesn't come out. Wasn't that fun to feed through my sewing machine! :P

Oct 16 2009

I worked on my effigy stays tonight. I came home from my vacation in Napa with the top of my stay bound (all but about 3"). I worked on the binding a little bit while in Napa but most of it was thanks to my 2 hour delay in SanFran airport and not feeling sleepy on the 4 hour fight home. I didn't want to risk my favorite scissors so I played it safe by pre-cutting and knotting thread and only bringing a handful of pins. It worked just fine.

So tonight I finished up the top and started on the bottom. The wretched things have tabs (love the comfort of tabs, hate binding them!) but luckily they are large so it shouldn't be too bad.

Oh and the baby pink bias tape with the plum twill = really cute! Pics soon...

I'm now going to try and go to bed, despite my body still being firmly on West Coast time. *sigh*

Oct 16 2009

My stays are finished! Yay for mindless handwork when you aren't feeling well. :> Purple isn't really my color (yay for using The Stash (TM)) but I don't mind this shade too much, especially with the pink binding...