Progress and Projects

So I have been working on the stays its just that I am making very slow progress. I had decided to sew the boning channels by hand, with back-stitch as is supposedly most accurate, but it is taking forever! I was hoping these stays would be done by now but instead I am just barely finished sewing the front piece! So I have decided to give in and finish them using machine stitching. Its a shame since I have spent a lot of time already hand stitching them but I have decided since these stays are made out of an anachronistic fabric (polyester faux silk moire) that I might as well use the sewing machine.

One day I will make a completely accurate pair of stays but until then I am going to go with a happy medium of machine and hand sewing. I plan to finish sewing the channels on my machine and then hand whip stitch the pieces together as it would have been done centuries ago. Then I will bind the stays (in pink!) and begin sewing the eyelets down the center back. All of these steps will also be done by hand, so in the end the stays will be about 40% accurate perhaps? At least the shape will be accurate and I will have a little more hand sewing experience. I have never made 100% accurate costumes/clothing so even going this far will be a big step forward for me.

Stays so far, still in pieces but with rows and rows of hand stitched channels on the front!

thousands of hand stitches!

As usual I cannot keep focused on just one project at a time and have been jumping all over the place. I have been editing a few of my existing hats I made years ago by re-trimming or just adding hat elastics for ease of wear. I have a few hats I have designed for myself as additions to my hat wardrobe but have yet to start them! I need to finish the stays so I can focus on hats for a few days!

I moved my record player downstairs to my workroom/office so I could get more use out of it!

an 18th century style hat I think could look great with 40's and 50's dresses when perched at just the right angle, I just added the flowers more vintage look

The last photo is of a pair of vintage cluster style earrings I made this week using some clever findings I picked up at Hobby Lobby, but more on those tomorrow!