Year in Review: outings

This hasn’t been the greatest year for outings.  A lot has been happening in my little groups’ lives: work, school, health, family…and that has definitely slowed us down.

But we did get out a little bit. And I did my best to wear things that didn’t get used in the past while.

In May we got out to the old fort.

And I helped out at the old Jail.

In July, Lottie and I made it out for some tea.

Then nothing until October.  Lottie and I took our annual train ride.

And I was Queen Victoria for Halloween.

And finally, the girls and I got together for a Christmas party.

Shirley wound a skein of wool into a ball.

Lottie added a few more rows to her Canadian Cloud.

Perhaps after our winter break, things will pick up again.  I sure hope so!  But even though our outings were few and far between, they were still quite fun!

Year in Review: Dresses worn this year

When you make these dresses, you sure hope you get some use out of them.  Because of some cancelled outings, I didn’t wear as many as I would have liked but some did get used.

In May, my 1861 Senora dress went to the old fort.

And 1845 Atessa went to Kildonan Cemetary and Church.

My 1903 skirt and blousewaist went to Dalnavert Museum at the end of May.

In July, my medieval costume was worn at the Cook’s Creek Medieval Festival.

1909 Olive made an appearance as a movie extra in August.

And the last outing was in October for the annual train robbery.  I wore an 1895 walking outfit.

6 out of 20 worn this year.  Hopefully, next year, there wont be so many cancelled trips so more of my children can get out and play.

 

Last years goals

Last year I posted my non-resolution goals.  I use the word non-resolution because New Year’s Resolutions have a negative connotation to me…things that cause me stress and then later disappointment.  Goals are things to strive for.  If you achieve them-GREAT, if not, oh well, try again next year.  Even a slight amount of progress towards a goal is a win.  Slight progress on a resolution feels like a loss to me.  Yes, yes, semantics….tomato-tomahto.

Anyway one goal was to reduce the stuff in my house because the amount is overwhelming.  I have been pretty good about ditching old clothes that don’t fit or I don’t like any more.  In terms of my blog topics, I have reduced my UFO pile.  My Olive dress is the best example of that!

I had hoped to start/finish the corset and pink and blue dress but that is a no.  But I did at least decide on what the purple fabric Lottie picked up for me in the States would be.

In terms of my knitting hoard, I have managed to finish a few projects and I did unravel one that I have no desire to finish.  The unraveling started in the past few weeks. Two things happened. My last born moved out so now I have a holding ground (his old room) for things that I have gone through and want to keep but need to store until I clean out their new storage place.  The second thing is my hours at work got cut in half. I have been starting to reduce stuff during this new spare time.  (It doesn’t take effect until January but I have to use up some vacation time first.)

So not a blazing success but progress and that is a win.

Now as I look around at some of my Christmas crap that I have put up, I realize there are some that I just don’t love any more and I think they are hitting a box for donation…perhaps today.

Where was I?

In my last post I shared the photos of my completed Olive Dress.  What I didn’t tell you was where I was when those photos were taken.  I was actually an unpaid extra in a movie about the 1919 General strike in Winnipeg that became a very prominent event in the history of Canada. 30 thousand workers from many classes and ethnic groups came together and marched and basically shut down the whole city.  The strike was so effective that the Canadian government (for fear that there would be sympathetic strikes across the country) became involved and the leaders were arrested.

The scenes I and the other extras were involved in were the street marches and the rush of deputized RCMP’s on horseback who were sent in to break up the strike. This resulted in several injuries and one death.

Three perks to the event…

1. New life experience to add to my memories.  Not a bucket list thing but pretty cool non the less.  I wonder if this film will ever move beyond film festivals to a venue I might actually see it.
2. I found a person that might actually buy some of my costumes off of me.  I have about 3 that I’m not really in love with anymore and if I made something that I liked better, I’d be happy to part with them.
3. I actually got offered a job.  It is to work as a casual seamstress in the costume department.  The deal is that if a production requires more costumes than the costume department can crank out, they will call on casuals to step in an help out.  The money could be quite good, and according the person I spoke to, they always need help.  Since I’ve never sewed for other people, this is a daunting thought!  I’m curious enough to want to ask more questions but scared enough to believe that I wont go for it.

I wish I had some more photos to share with you but something went screwy with my camera and I lost all my photos.

Done!

Nothing like a dead line to get a UFO to the finish line.  1909 Olive dress is done.  Finally.  I only conceived of the idea and bought the fabric 2 years ago!  It had its first trip out last Thursday.  There are a couple of things I hope to tweek eventually but for now it is done and wearable.

 

One of the things I want to fix on this dress is the decorative buttons on the bodice.  They need to move up a bit.  I have to remember to smooth down the bodice over the “girls” after I lift my arms.  Other than that, I am happy with how it turned out. It was pretty comfy.

 

 

 

Bodice done

It is done.

I may opt to move the buttons on the stomach up but I will wait and see what it looks like with the skirt.

And after I iron it.

Motivation has found me

I’m back to working on my dress, Olive.  There was a lengthy lull in the progress but in the past two weeks I got the Dorset buttons done, the sleeves are on, the undersleeves are made, the closure is started and one sleeve is fully decorated.  I feel good about this.  At this rate, I may get it done on time to wear next month!

 

Dorset buttons take two.

I am still having computer issues so this is being done on my phone. In order to avoid aggravating my carpel tunnel, I am going to make this short and sweet. 

I wanted Dorset buttons for my Edwardian dress but couldn’t find rings in the size I wanted. I settled for huge ones and made several buttons. Of course I have since found a different size. A better size so I am making these up instead. What to do with the huge ones? Here they are side by side.

Can’t get off the couch

I did plan on getting into my sewing room and whipping up the over sleeve on my next dress project but couldn’t get my butt off the couch.  I’m not sick…just lazy.  But I did work on the dress.

I want to use Dorset buttons on the dress and I have 12 that I made a year or two ago.  Unfortunately I have 12 and need 16.  I was unable to find more of the same sized rings so I had to buy 16 more of a slightly larger size.   This weekend I started making new buttons. (3 done)

Definitely bigger than I want but usable.

I also bought the cording I will need to go with it.  So some progress was had.

Finally started

Olive is officially on her way!  I bought the lining, closures and thread I needed to get started.

The bodice is well and truly started.  The original pattern has gathers at the waist but I did big pleats instead to try and match the inspiration.

And I want to use the Dorset buttons I made ages ago!  (Alas, I will need to make more) but I think they will work out well.

Its hard to get started but once I have, it is easier to keep going (unless I leave the country of course.)