ATTIFET! Part Deux

Earlier this week I went on a pilgrimage to Janesville in order that I might acquire some additional materials, for Etsy shop merchandise as well as to finish off my attifet.

I found some nice ivory chiffon at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, which was awesome. I also found THE perfect lace. I wanted something simple, but everything else I'd seen looked like it was made from cotton thread and I wanted something a little more upscale.

I cut the chiffon to exactly 1 yard square and hemmed all the edges.  That was a joy.  There was spray starch involved.  Also, were you aware that chiffon is the World's Most Perfect Dog Hair Magnet?  It totally is.  Especially when it's ivory chiffon and you have black dogs with tons of really long hair.  That's your Fun Fact for the day.

Then I went through the laborious process of pinning the lace all way the way around, and mitering all the edges.  I lined up the bottom of the lace to just cover the hem stitching, and then machine stitched the lace on.  The texture of the lace hides the stitches that hold it on, and the lace itself hides the hem stitches, so it looks altogether quite seamless.

The machine did get a little wonky in several parts as I was sewing the lace on.  There were spots where the lace slipped up and the hem stitches showed, which also made the lace edge uneven.  So I had to pick out the stitches in those spots and set everything to rights.  That was a little time consuming.  Eh.

Once that was all done, I lined up one corner of the chiffon veil with the pointed brim of the hat and pinned it in place about 1/2" from the edge.  Then I pinned it down along the brim on both sides, down to where the brim meets the rest of the hat.  I hand stitched the veil in place, with a tiny stitch through the lace.  I fed the needle down in between the two layers of the brim and poked it back up about an inch from the previous stitch, rinse, repeat.  That made it so that the veil is securely attached, but there aren't any stitches showing on the inside of  the brim.  Nice and neat.

And so, without further ado, the long-awaited and much fabled attifet!

So that's done.  I bought a little extra lace, and pinned it on the front of the brim, but I didn't like the way it looked...too busy.  I thought about putting some pearl beading on there, but decided against that as well.  I'm just going to leave it plain.  This outfit isn't a noble's outfit.  It's more upper class/gentry, so I don't want things too ornamented.

I sewed a plastic hair comb to the inside of the hat to help hold it on, but I quickly realized that this particular piece of headgear is going to require some really specific hair treatment to stay on.  I'm not sure if that's just the nature of the beast, or if there is something I could have done to make it fit better.

I will be putting together another one of these in the not too distant future to list in my hopefully soon to be opened Etsy shop.

ATTIFET!

Firstly, allow me to apologize once again for not posting in 2935879384 years.  Holidays, busy, blah blah blah.  I haven't been doing much crafting of note anyway.  

As you may recall, the hat I made to wear with my green-gold surcoat was evil and had to die.  What I really wanted was an attifet, but I couldn't find a pattern for one ANYWHERE.  I have been able to find free instructions on how to make pretty much any hat from the Renaissance, but I couldn't find attifet instructions to save my life.

My friend Peggy was able to save the day, however.  She has an attifet pattern, and she was kind enough to lend it to me.  She has been very patient, because she gave it to me in June, I've seen her twice since then, and I've only just gotten to the finishing stage.  I did a mock-up right off the bat, and got the fashion fabric all cut out, but then I ended up putting it aside for various reasons and only just came back to it.

This pattern is pretty straight-forward in all honesty.  It only involves 3 pattern pieces...a large circle, a band (you cut two), and a triangle-ish piece which forms the brim (you cut two of these as well).  You stick some wire in the brim and there you have it.

Of COURSE I didn't take progress pictures because I never remember to take progress pictures because I am lame.  I did, however, take pictures of the hat once it was constructed:

    

Pretty snazzy, huh?  The last touch will be a square yard of some light, lovely fabric trimmed in lace fastened on to be a veil, like this:



I think I will also do something along the edge of the brim...maybe not lace; perhaps some pearls or something.

I have decided that, in order to keep myself busy and to try and make a little money during this period of "Funemployment", I'm going to start an Etsy shop.  I'm going try and sell some nice Elizabethan purses and pouches and hats and things.  Maybe some smocks and shirts.  I don't know if I'm going to get crazy enough to try actual garb...in any event, it'll have me doing something more productive that sitting on the couch, messing around on the laptop and watch Star Trek. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to the fabric store to supplement the supply of stuff I have on hand and start getting some stuff listed.  I'm hoping to have a handful of items by the end of the week.  Then we'll see what happens.

A different kind of craft...

I haven't been doing a great deal of crafting for the past couple of weeks because I've been rather busy preparing for something completely different.

See, eight years ago, in the spring of 2001 my music-majoring-ass was supposed to give a Senior Recital as the final requirement for attaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music.  But I didn't do it.

Eight.  Long.  Years.  Ago.  Dude.

I can't even tell you what a burden it has been to have this hanging over my head for the better part of a decade.  The feelings of failure, embarrassment, shame...it fucking sucked is what it did.

But then this past January something (don't know what) lit a fire under my ass and I decided I was tired of screwing around and I was just going to do it.  Despite the fact that I hadn't had a lesson in 7.5 years.  Despite the fact that I didn't have a regular teacher.  Despite the fact that I didn't even know if I could DO that shit anymore, I was going to do it.

Well, long story short...I did it.  This past Saturday, August 22 at 2 p.m. I gave my Senior Recital.  Approximately 50 minutes of music in 5 languages, from memory.  Prepared in 8 months, with no regular voice instruction.  It didn't turn out too badly, all things considered.


This is me, singing 'Come Scoglio' from Mozart's 'Cosi Fan Tutte'.  This is probably my favorite...definitely in my Top 2 for the day.

Ya'll, there were about 45 people at my recital.  FORTY-FIVE PEOPLE.  I figure around 3/4 of them drove an hour or more to get there.  Five dear friends from college drove up from their various homes for it.  A bunch of my theater people were there.  My grandmother came from Michigan.  Several people from my chorus were there, some of whom I didn't expect, which was wonderful.  My sister and my mom and my dad...it was AMAZING.  I am so fortunate in my family and friends. 

It's taken this long for me to just decompress and be able to wrap my head around what it is I have accomplished here.  Among the positive outcomes: the video camera we bought specifically for the event is fantastic.  As you can see, the video and sound quality is quite good for a $180 camera.  I also hired a local company to professionally record it for me...you can download all the tracks here, for free.  Not that I'm operating under the delusion that anybody'd want them, but several of my friends have requested copies of the performance and I figured it wouldn't hurt to post the link in a couple different places.

Another positive: I seem to have acquired myself a voice teacher.  I'm excited to start taking regular lessons again.

But I think the best part is...I am FREE FREE FREE to do whatever the hell I want to now when I get home from work!  Which means that soon the sewing machine will get dusted off to hem kilts and arisaids, and to make linen shirts, and HOPEFULLY a damn kirtle if that freaking Tudor pattern ever ships.  If it doesn't get here in another week or two, I think I'm going to have to execute Plan B.  I have yet to determine that that is, but I guess I better get thinking. 

In other crafting news, my friend Andrea (aka SpaceOddities) has convinced me to open an Etsy shop to sell some of the awesome stuff I make.  I'm still working on a concept, but it will involve crocheted things.  I love crocheting things.  In the meantime, you should go buy some of Andrea's stuff and read her blog because she's awesome and is also giving away free t-shirts with robots and screwed up engrish-french on them.  They are full of win.