Well dang. One thing that has been in the back of my mind for almost 2 years now was my friend, Sue Ham's, battle with cancer. She had a very rare form of leukemia, and I had even quit my job to stay with them for a short time to help out while she was out of the hospital. Today she left this world, and moved on to a much better one. I hope she finds the peace today that she has been searching for. My heart goes out to her husband, children, and grand children.
I'm about off to bed now...it's 10 o'clock and I'm whooped. The bonnet is still in the same state it was when I put it down last night, it only needs about 30 minutes worth of hand sewing but...I'm so sleepy. I hemmed the work dress skirt and after 4 unsuccessful tries I gauged the waist band. It got to be so frustrating! My toile is now completely fitted, patterned onto paper, scanned into the computer, and emailed to Katie! That was my last big task for the night. I might be driving a racehorse to the track in Boston after I work tomorrow. I normally don't work on the weekend, but the weekend girl has a wedding to go to. If I don't end up making the trip to Boston tomorrow I'll get the bodice cut out, and with the lining already cut I will hopefully get the basic bodice put together, and possibly get the waistband assembled. I'm still not 100% sure what style sleeves I'll be doing for this dress. I'm hoping to have the whole thing, minus closures, finished on Monday. Tuesday I will get the closures out of storage, along with my work petticoat fabric, and hopefully get photos up by Wednesday. Well I'm off to shower! Good night!
We're all making quite a bit of progess! Amanda has her skirt panels sewn together, Katie has hers sewn together and gauged at the top, my cording is done on the bonnet, and all I have left are two seams and putting the ties on. I'm currently pinning the hem in. I needed a big fast project to feel accomplished. And accomplished I feel, although I also feel distracted. Hopefully I can get myself to focus today! hugs to all!
We're all working hard on getting everything done. Both Amanda and Katie have finished their slat bonnets, and both are having computer trouble. Hence us all still waiting to see their loverly creations. I'm still cording...I have ten more rows to go, and can't wait to be finished with it! We're all also working on our work skirts currently, and planning our work petticoats and deciding sleeve styles for our bodices. We're all on facebook and I wanted to share a funny ramble that we had going this week. Please ignore the bad grammar!
Katie Hoffmann~ Got my bonnet cut :) I'm making progress!! Pinning it to the bed works great! **Hoping i don't cut my quilt** :
haha yup 10 weeks left. Provided we all get in gear and start catching up on our projects. This week we were supposed to be finishing work bodices. Week 5 ~ work petticoats Week 6 ~ collar, cuffs, and neckerchief Week 7 ~ additional drawers, and chemises Week 8 ~ nightgown... See More Week 9 ~ wrapper part 1 Week 10 ~ wrapper part 2 Week 11 ~ coat Week 12 ~ mattress tick and toiletry bag Week 13 ~ travel bag of your choice Week 14 ~ morning cap Blame Katie, she kept giving me ideas.
lol I missed some of the conversation.... i was busy!! lol... poor brat... you'll get over it. I'm handicapped remember!? lol. You'll b fine!! And my darling jenny, you ASKED ME for ideas!!! lol :) I love you tho!!
If it makes you feel better i bought new nail polish before we started this crazy project and i still havent had time to use it ---------- Sent from AT&T's Wireless network using Mobile Email
Okay...our sew along challenges have hit a couple snags. My excuse is that my husband is home after 2 months on the road, so I've been spending some time with him for a change. Katie broke her thumb and went to Colorado to see her sister graduate from college (congrats Mary!), Amanda had prom and her 18th birthday party. So although we've tried to stay on task...it hasn't exactly happened.
Amanda has her bonnet cut out, and will hopefully be completing it soon, and then moving on to her work dress skirt. Her bonnet is a micro-check lime green and white. I bought it and ended up passing it on to her...it's super pretty. Her work dress is a brown plaid, I think. Again it's some fabric I passed on to her, but I only owned it for a day before she snatched it up.
Katie has her fabrics picked out, and tonight is going to try a new way to cut her fabric. Poor thing has had 2 casts already, and a lot of pain. She has had major difficulties cutting, but we've been brain storming and hopefully we came up with a new solution that will work for her. Her bonnet is going to made from a white cotton with blue flowers, and her dress is a pretty green with a polka dotty print.
My bonnet fabric is a semi-sheer pastel plaid made from green, white, purple, blue, and orange. My dress is orange with yellow flowers. I'm hand stitching the cords into the bonnet, and have the skirt panels sewn together.
Hopefully I'll get more accomplished today, but I have to go to storage to get my corset, and draft a new pattern. I think I've lost weight again, so a new toile is necessary. I'm also scanning my patterns and emailing them to Amanda and Katie so they can have a general pattern to work off of, and tweak for themselves. We're lucky that we're all about the same size!
On a random note, here are a couple pictures of some of the things I have accomplished. For more images check out my etsy account, I'm too lazy to upload a bunch of photos today. Love, Jenny
We all finished our aprons by last night! We all get gold stars for finishing the project! I'm so proud of the girls because they have a lot going on in their everyday lives, and sometimes it can be hard to fit sewing in to the schedule. This week starts the sun bonnet week. Choice of slatted or corded, so hopefully there will be some interesting differences in them. I didn't get to the shop to get into my fabric stash before it closed. So instead this weekend I am working on finishing all my half worked projects that I have in my room. There are close to ten petticoats of various sizes that need hems and waistbands, the white voile, a child's dress that needs sleeves set in, men's drawers, and possibly a couple women's drawers as well. I'll keep you updated on all of our projects, and hopefully get photos up soon! love to all!
Okay so some how my apron ended up being the length of a skirt, so I cut a bunch off, and then thought that it was too short. It's okay...but not perfect. Again, I'm glad this is for the loaner gear. I never got around to picking out new fabric because it's been too nice to sew during the day. We're supposed to have thunder storms tomorrow, so hopefully I can get down to the shop and find new fabric for my second apron. I've made my final decisions on what it's going to be. Right in the middle of the project is when I should have decided, right? LOL Anyways it's going to have slash pockets, because I just learned of them! I haven't found photo documentation online yet, but once I do I will post a picture.
Last I heard from Amanda she was almost done hemming the bottom of her apron, but still needed to attach and hem the bib portion. If she doesn't get that done, at least she will still have an apron!
Katie has her apron cut out, but got moving on making a tunic for her son for this weekend. I'm confident she will get it all done, as we have done lots of last minute sewing and she has Friday off work.
2 days left until the next project, and I can't wait!!!
Here we are...2 days into the sew-along challenge and we have updates!
Katie has been quite busy working on modern projects, a frock to wear at her sister's graduation, and she's finished a clothes pin bag for her new line! Kudos for her rocking it old school and saving energy! In terms of her apron, she has chosen the fabric, a reddish plaid, and decided on the style. A pocketed half apron that closes on the side.
Amanda has found her apron, which was started a few months ago and laid aside. It is a yellow and off white vertical stripe. It will be a pinner style closing at the side with two buttons. She needs to attach the bib portion, and hem both that and the bottom half. After that buttons and holes will be all that is left.
For myself, i have sewn my apron by hand. It is hemmed, and gathered, just waiting for the waist band to be attached. For some reason I lost all interest in it once it reached this point. I went to move on to my second apron, only to find out I don't have enough of the fabric I had chosen. Back to the storage container it will go, and I will most likely pick another. In the interim I have been working on adjusting the white voile I made last fall. I made it in a week for my sister to wear to a ball. It was 2 inches too long in the bodice, and several inches too short in the skirt. I've adjusted both, and am working on re-hemming it currently. After the hem is set I will reset the bodice to the skirt. I know that is working backwards, but one must work with what motivation they have. I'm truly hoping to finish these both in a day or so, and also work on a couple petticoats. Goodnight my lovelies!
Katie Hoffmann ~ Got my bonnet cut :) I'm making progress!! Pinning it to the bed works great! **Hoping i don't cut my quilt** :
Week 5 ~ work petticoats
Week 6 ~ collar, cuffs, and neckerchief
Week 7 ~ additional drawers, and chemises
Week 8 ~ nightgown... See More
Week 9 ~ wrapper part 1
Week 10 ~ wrapper part 2
Week 11 ~ coat
Week 12 ~ mattress tick and toiletry bag
Week 13 ~ travel bag of your choice
Week 14 ~ morning cap
Blame Katie, she kept giving me ideas.
Katie Hoffmann
Katie Hoffmann