Wow… July. My last post was July. How many months ago is that, even? I’m not sure I want to know.
The good news is that I’ve still been sewing in that time, to the point where I’ve actually finished a few things, including ripping an op-shop dress apart and turning it into a miniskirt that any Sailor senshi would be proud to fight evil in, and finally finding something to do with that chartreuse silk satin seersucker (try saying that three times fast), which was make that sucker (ha) into a cool-as-a-cucumber summer cami pretending to be that elusive beast the going-out-top. Not that I get out much in summer. I’m just fooling myself into thinking I need something in case I did, and then wearing it around in non-going-out contexts with sneakers because I’m desperate to look like I don’t take myself seriously. Seriously.
I haven’t managed photos in either of them because I’m lazy, and because I got sidetracked with other creative interests. Insert shameless plug for new Tumblr! Check out my geek art!
So I wouldn’t have anything to report, but then I joined the Melbourne Opera chorus on a whim, and they did a thing on Saturday involving the O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, which is fun, and I enjoyed breaking out the misheard lyrics video on Youtube and having a merry chortle. The dress code was gowns for ladies. As usual. The forecast was cold and rainy. Most of my gowns are backless. Bad combo? Wrong. Excellent combo. Why? Excuse to make new gown. With sleeves. And maybe even a back. But perhaps not a front.
The inspiration was mostly Gucci…
With a dash of Ralph Lauren…
…And a whole heap of dressing gown.
First step, I ripped apart the Green Soprano Gown, salvaging roughly 5m of relatively undamaged silk satin. Then I had a play:
I liked this idea a lot. So then I had a think. I wanted a really relaxed, draped look, so my normal method of mathsing out a pattern and then testing with a billion toiles wasn’t going to really work. I’d enjoyed draping on the form so much that I thought I’d give moulage a go.
First I made a fitted back lining, then started draping the other parts onto it. Kind of in a robe a l’anglaise-y sort of way… shh.
I backstitched the back panel on over the gathered front, then turned in the neckline and point a rabbatre-d it. Then came a long debate over what to do with the side skirt seams, which was resolved by putting it on, pinning them where they looked right and sewing them down. It was liberating after having been pretty strict with myself about sticking to patterns for the past couple of years.
The only sad thing was cutting the back hem. I loved the look of a big long train, but past experiences of people stepping on them have taught me they’re not a good thing. Cue anecdote about having the back of the Atonement dress stepped on just before the bows at a Mozart Requiem in 2012. All the snaps at the back came undone and I had to hold it together to preserve the innocence of the first violins. Not good. (That link will also show you the gown that I ripped apart to get the fabric for this one)
It was still sad to cut away that swathe of silk though. So very sad.
The sleeves I wasn’t game to drape, so I just patterned them like usual. They’re a straight-up French sleeve, with tucks on the inner elbow for bendage. Finishing involved three rolled hems, a twill waist tape, one hook and eye and a discreet tack to keep the split in the skirt from flapping too far open. I still need to make a proper sash for it, but for all intents and purposes it’s pretty much done. It goes on like a dressing gown. Funnily enough. It sure looks like one. So I struck some vaguely film noir poses and had a little fun:
You can’t think little old me responsible for that grisly murder, can you?
Dammit, Johnny, fix me a scotch already.
It’s got me addicted to moulage now (seriously, the whole process was so organic and fun, and a helluva lot quicker then draft, toile, redraft, toile). I’m thinking of doing more while I have the time, and filling in some of the gaps in my audition/day-performance wardrobe… Stay tuned. But not too tuned. In case I don’t post for another six months again, you know?
The Sewprano 