A day of ups and downs

[janestarz]

Yesterday was a day of ups and downs. My stepmother celebrated her birthday, and I got to see my family again. Uncle Hans and Aunt Femmie live across the country (which is a two hour drive by car), and I never speak to either of my brothers - and let's not even go into Werner and Anette, who are step-family from Germany.
It was raining rather badly when we went there so we put on rain suits and heroically arrived dripping wet. I got to put my recumbent bicyle into the garage so it wouldn't get stolen and it could drip dry.

I was really happy that people were very interested in my bike, and many of them came down to have a peeksie. As soon as Raphael saw the bike he went into "Whoa" mode and started checking out the gears. He had a sportsy BMX when he was younger, but now he's all into cars as he's a car mechanic. Raphael, Werner, Jos and my father all sat down in the seat and the only person that was dismissive about the bike was my uncle Hans, who said it wasn't for him. I'm used to that kind of statement from my father... and I didn't expect it from him as he and my aunt are very fond of cycling.
Everyone was interested and that was a really good feeling. I offered my father to have a ride some day when the weather would be clearer, and I believe he'd happily take me up on that offer.

I also spent a lot of time sewing the skirts to Marianne's new dress. After my plea for help on the advanced_sewing community, I decided to do the historical method. I spent a good 8-10 hours handsewing on the dress, only to try it on and decide to rip it all off again and do it differently.
I guess what irks me most about it is that we've watched Harry Potter and the half-blood prince and because of having to redo the skirts, I really didn't 'watch' it, but I 'heard' it. My eyes were so tired they had trouble focusing on the monitor whenever I did look up from my pinning. *deep sigh*

I'll try and get a partlet and some sleeves done, but I really need to try out the dress over my bodys and I'm a bit reluctant to strap myself into them, since it's such a hassle. I'll probably make a mock-up partlet first so I can see how the pattern from the Tudor Tailor works for me.
In any case, a dress-diary will be forthcoming probably tomorrow.

Comments

[absintheskiss.livejournal.com]

So which method for the skirts have you gone for? I would have tried the waistband method first, but without feeling the wool for myself it would have been tricky to know what to suggest.

Mind you I am a horrible cheat for larping and would have been very naughty and did the skirts and bodice as seperate items.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

I tried the historic method, with cartridge pleating everything to a waistband, but that made my waist bulge 5 cm each way. Now I just divided & conquered, like with the blue linen dress. It looks better.

I dislike seperate bodice and skirt, since the bodice sometimes flips up or moves when you raise your arms, and skirts are always fighting over whether they should go over or under the bodice once the bodice starts moving around. *sigh*