Baby Got Back
I've been a busy bee. Realization set in that my dress's debut was a mere 10 days away!!!! Then, realization set in that I'd like to let my dress hang/settle with the skirts attached for about a week before I do the hemming. Thus, a-cartridge-pleating and a-skirt-attaching I went. I've got the multiple punctures to prove it. And yes, I own a thimble. But it pinches my chubby little fingers so....
Now my dress has 7 days to hang so that i can hem it a week from now and go to the faire two days later. Cutting it close? Maybe. But i can work on the sleeves/flagfan in the meantime.
I used semptress's felting-the-pleats method. I think it may have worked a little too well! This is a pic (form the side) of me trying to get a sense of the poofiness before I was finished attaching the skirts. That butt is shelfy, yes? I was worried, honestly. But I stuck it out and finished. Once I had the whole dress on and laced, it wasn't quite this bad. But this is a funny picture:
And, drumroll......Ta-DAH! Here is my dress with skirts:
front
back
I am undecided. I can go back and cut off about an inch of felt pretty easily and I assume that would lessen the butt-shelf by about an inch, too. But, it may settle and be unnecesary. And honestly, i'm a bad judge of whether my butt looks too big or not. I personally think it ALWAYS looks too big.
I'm asking for a vote. Big Butt, or smaller but still big butt?
OOOOH! and please note that the lengthof the skirt is not too short as I anticipated. This is cuz i folded over as little as i could get away with before cartridge pleating it. Its actually almost exactly the right length when i wear my brown leather cloggy shoes, which are the best renfest shoes i currently own. Hehe, I love when things are easy. As long as the settling doesn't change this too terribly much, i'll be able to just slap a guard on the bottom and go my merry little way...
In other news, the jewelry bits I ordered from ebay came today. I plan to use them as ouches on my girdle. THey were a might bit brassy when they arrived, so i took to antiquing them with some black acyrlic glaze I had on hand from painting christmas ornaments. It actually stuck to them, which amazed me. In this pic, the one on the left is antiqued, and the right is not. Its a little hard to tell a huge diff in the pic, but in person i promise it makes a world of difference. The difference between cheap looking and pretty cool. hehe.
ouches
Now my dress has 7 days to hang so that i can hem it a week from now and go to the faire two days later. Cutting it close? Maybe. But i can work on the sleeves/flagfan in the meantime.
I used semptress's felting-the-pleats method. I think it may have worked a little too well! This is a pic (form the side) of me trying to get a sense of the poofiness before I was finished attaching the skirts. That butt is shelfy, yes? I was worried, honestly. But I stuck it out and finished. Once I had the whole dress on and laced, it wasn't quite this bad. But this is a funny picture:
And, drumroll......Ta-DAH! Here is my dress with skirts:
front
back
I am undecided. I can go back and cut off about an inch of felt pretty easily and I assume that would lessen the butt-shelf by about an inch, too. But, it may settle and be unnecesary. And honestly, i'm a bad judge of whether my butt looks too big or not. I personally think it ALWAYS looks too big.
I'm asking for a vote. Big Butt, or smaller but still big butt?
OOOOH! and please note that the lengthof the skirt is not too short as I anticipated. This is cuz i folded over as little as i could get away with before cartridge pleating it. Its actually almost exactly the right length when i wear my brown leather cloggy shoes, which are the best renfest shoes i currently own. Hehe, I love when things are easy. As long as the settling doesn't change this too terribly much, i'll be able to just slap a guard on the bottom and go my merry little way...
In other news, the jewelry bits I ordered from ebay came today. I plan to use them as ouches on my girdle. THey were a might bit brassy when they arrived, so i took to antiquing them with some black acyrlic glaze I had on hand from painting christmas ornaments. It actually stuck to them, which amazed me. In this pic, the one on the left is antiqued, and the right is not. Its a little hard to tell a huge diff in the pic, but in person i promise it makes a world of difference. The difference between cheap looking and pretty cool. hehe.
ouches
10 Comments:
I like the bigger poof. The flounce looks to be lots of fun!
I'm undecided on the extra big butt. It's not unflattering, but it might be a bit, as you say, "shelfy." How wide was your strip of felt? I think I'd let it settle for a few days, then try it on again and see. As you say, it's a simple matter to tone it down a bit. I'm disappointed by the lack of resemblence to a babboon's bum though....
The dress is stunning. I love the side-back lacing. You were right and I was wrong about cheating on that one....it was worth it! The whole thing is just gorgeous.
Oh hey....I just realized there's no buttpucker this time! Good job lady!
Although that does mean I'll have fewer opportunities to say "buttpucker." Guess I'd better say it a lot now in that case.
buttpucker buttpucker BUTTPUCKER
Thank you for the love, as they say. I think I'm gonna go with beth on this one. I shall leave the butt as-is for a while (a while being sometime before next wednesday), and chop a bit out if it doesn't simmer down. I swear to you it was baboonish the first time i tried it. Thus showing it has simmered down a bit already. Hopefully this downward trend will continue and give me less work. ;-)
Down with buttpuckers!
I am green with envy. That is a beautiful dress! Be sure and send Jennifer piccies for the Featured Attyre so we can all look. And e-mail Bella in August for the Showcase. Simply scrumptious! That earring worked really well as a brooch didn't it?
Firemountain Gems carries really nice glass pearls and they are cheap. You could use those to string a long necklace. It's what I did for my Venetian.
As for the buttpuckers, actually you want the poofy look. My poofy didn't go very well, I used linen for the pleat lining. Next time I will try felt and see if that doesn't give me the poof I want.
Great job!!
Lydia--thank you for the compliments! Its not quite done, but at least I think it will be finished in time for next weekend's fair (minus partlet, unless I get ambitious). And I will be sure to send pics out for Bella and Jen when I get in full getup--head included! You'll notice all my pics online are headless. Mostly cuz I sew at night and am not photo-worthy by then. ;-)
As for the felt padding--it works extremely well. If you want some major butt poof without bumroll action, I'd say that's the way to go. Check out Semptress's site for more info. On this one, I used a double layer, 3 inches wide of wool felt. It defintely gives poofage. And if you wanted even bigger, well, I'm sure it could be done!
I'll try the wool on the Elizabethan. Tho' I may wear a bumroll just because I haven't worn one yet. I'm glad I have a farthingale with the next dress. The lack of one was a wonderfully free sensation but you don't get the air movement under your skirts. Made it a bit hot.
That was me on that last post. i don't know how I ended up anonymous!
E--
Thanks for dropping by!
I remember you well from emails--sorry we lost touch for a while. I'm also very sorry that I couldn't get you more info on the fabric. The last time I dropped by the owner simply told me that his store didn't work with that supplier anymore. :-( Sad for both of us, cuz i'd love to see what else they had to offer.
No, I didn't line my skirt. The faire here in MD is from july-october. If you're at all familiar with MD, the humidity is GOD-AWFUL when its hot. I had fabric for a pretty pink lining, but I just couldn't bear to add another layer. ;-)The upside is that the reverse of the dress fabric is neatly woven and not ugly to get a peek of.
As for petticoats and the like, I have a roped petticoat on under the dress. The prob is that my dress fabric is so heavy that it smooshes it--i should have used a thicker rope. This is something I'll play with. I think a farthingale is probably a bit too much for venetian, but I might just try using a sturdier rope--or more of it.
Have you ever tried the roped idea? its nice cuz it keeps the skirt off your legs, adds flare to the skirt, but its flexible and easily packed up without getting all outta shape (mine's been squished in multiple sewing piles, and comes out fine every time). However, if your dress is really heavy, you'd probably want a sturdier rope. Or perhaps a good starching. Hmmmm...starching...mental note.
My butt really is "shelfy," isn't it? The problem is magnified by the sheen on the fabric. It makes it look even bigger. And since I'm already "fleshy", i tend to avoid butt magnification. I think I will end up cutting just a bit of the felt out that I used to pad the pleats and hopefully alleviate some shelfage. Otherwise, Sir Mixalot may come molest me.
Elizabeth--
I think you make a good point with the idea of changing lengths of the padding. I might have to keep this in mind for future gowns. I did find on this one, though, that my pads settled down a lot with hanging, so I actually don't mind the level of "back" i've got now! ;-)
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