Rendevous Revelry

This weekend is the Yukon Sourdough Rendevous, and boy do Yukoners know how to party!  I'm not really surprised by this after 8 months living here, but it's always a fun lesson to relearn.

Fabric for my 19th century ensemble: Lace for a bolero, cream bedsheet (later swapped out for a rose-printed cotton sheet) for the dress under-layer, and sheer burgundy for the dress over-layer.

So a friend and I went to the Mascarade party on Friday night, and I found out on Thursday night that I needed to dress up for this.  Not just a pretty dress, but in costume, in typical Klondike-era garb.  After digging around on google and pinterest, I worked out a relatively simple design for a 19th century dress.  Oh, I had so much inspiration, so many ideas, so much motivation!

I really do love how the skirt looked with the sheer burgundy fabric looked over the rose-printed cotton.

Eh, it didn't work out.  The skirt was so unflattering, my camera refused point blank to take a picture of me wearing it. In hindsight (considering my inclination to post pictures no matter how bad they look), that was probably kind of it.

I did, however, manage to finish the bolero!  I love this lace.  Molly sent it to me after one of her giveaway's back in November, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since.  It wasn't that large, just a narrow piece cut along one salvage.  When I pulled it out of the cupboard on Thursday, I realized it was just long enough to be a long-sleeved bolero, and then I was off.

I unfortunately didn't take any pictures during the construction, but it was easy to do.  [WARNING: ATTEMPT AT DESCRIBING THE PROCESS AHEAD. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK]  I trimmed up the bottom cut edge to even it up.  Then I simply drapped the piece over my shoulders and played around with some pins until I got the top and the bottom edges lined up to my likings.  Since the lower edge went across my back and the upper edge had to curve from my sides and around my neck, the upper edge needed to be longer than the lower edge.  When laid flat on my table, this created a natural taper from the body to the wrist.  I pinned down this taper, evened up both sleeves, (carefully) tried it on, then sewed down the sleeves using a zigzag stitch.  After a quick trim around the wrist, my frothy little bolero was done!

Sadly, this and the picture above are the only shots I have of it right now.  But I adore this bolero and will be wearing it again, so I'll try to get some better pictures of it later (it's currently at my friend's place along with the rest of my outfit from the party).

And of course, since it was Mardi Gras themed, I had to make myself a mask!  Actually, I made two, but one died tragically in an incident I really don't want to talk about.  This one was thrown together last minute, but I actually like it better than the first!

It's basically just a piece of craft foam, cut to size, with a bunch of gems stuck on it in a pretty pattern.  The feather plume was originally glued-on-and-then-ripped-off of the original mask.  I'm glad I had the forethought to glue a piece of foam to the back of the plume, because cripes did those feathers get dye all over everything they touched, and I danced and sweated like crazy in this thing.  No multicoloured forehead for me!

The party was only one event in this weekend-long festival; there were all sorts of fun events on!  My personal favourites were the chainsaw chucking contest, the one-dog pull (where a dog was harnessed to a sleigh loaded with hundreds of pounds of dogfood, and the dog who pulled it the fastest won), the hockey tournament (which my boyfriend's team won!), and the maple taffy.  Okay, so the maple taffy is a long-standing tradition at Rendevous, where a bunch of french geniuses prepared the hot taffy while everyone stands around drooling, and then pours strips of it on a snow-covered table to cool.  The taffy is then rolled onto a stick and you fight the crowds to get your paws on the sticky, gooey icy-warm treat.  And if you're me, you proceed to get it in your hair and all over your phone (but it's totally worth it).

So all in all, it was a fantastic weekend, and I'm glad I was in town for the festival!  The only down side is the resulting state of my sewing room:

Thank goodness there's a door to this room that I can close.

All Tied Up in Grey

I love this cardigan. If I could get away with wearing it every single day, I would. Between the comfort and the style, I never ever want to take it off!

It's from McCall's 6408, a pattern I would've completely passed on by if not for Stacie from Stacie Thinks She Can. Seriously, it's getting ridiculous how much we keep copying enabling each other, and I don't see it ending anytime soon, especially considering that I've ordered a copy of Colette's Peony purely because of this. (And also maybe this, because I need a version in wool tweed, yes I do.)

But anyways, she made a gorgeous polka dot version here, and then offered the same fabric up in a giveaway (isn't she sweet?). I wanted her cardi as soon as I saw it (looks so much nicer than the envelope versions, that's for sure), and when I won the fabric (eeeee!!), I knew I'd have to copy emulate her. But then there were a few mailing issues, not the least of which was me giving the wrong address, and the fabric only just arrived this week.

Ahem, whoops. And like Stacie, I'm way too impatient to wait for the fabric to get here before I made this, so voila! Tied cardi in grey.

I've never had so many compliments on a something I've worn nor so many people asking where I bought the garment in my entire history of wearing clothes. My Mom, who hates most of the clothes I wear (and sometimes make), has ordered a version in black. I will add pockets to hers, and in my next one. Because there will be a next one. This cardigan is ridiculously easy to make and ridiculously easy to wear. No buttons, no zippers, no interfacing, just simple seams, and built in belt, and a bit of easing in sleeves.

Speaking of, these are probably the nicest sleeves I've ever eased. The medium-weight knit probably helped with that. This fabric was a dream to work with. Don't ask for details, I can't remember what it was, but it's the weight of yoga pants and holds its weight without stretching or losing shape. Was originally going to make sweat pants out of them, but this is so much better.

Of course, just because I found it easy to make doesn't mean I didn't have problems. I (stupidly) attached both ties to the inside of the cardigan. Instead of sandwiching the tie between the front and back piece on the side like I should've, I...well, you can see below. No, don't ask me why, I don't know.

Sorry for the dark photo. Yes, that's the tie sewn to the inside seam, hanging inside the garment and definitely not popping out on the right side of the garment through the side seam. Yes, I did it on both sides. I don't know.

Luckily it was easy to fix by spending some careful time with my seam ripper. Yank the stitches and zig-zag seam finish along the tie, stick the tie through the hole, and re-stitch the seam closed with the tie sandwiched properly through the seam.

Fixed!

A lot of the reviews on PR noted that the size fits big, and that the sleeves are wonky. Based on my measurements, I should've cut at least a large, probably an extra-large. Based on tissue measurements, especially across the back and shoulders, I cut size small. Yes, 3 sizes smaller. I wanted a fitted look through the top and drappy looseness at the bottom, not baggy all over. And I didn't want most of the back to be pulled around to the front like it shows on the envelope picture.

While I'm mostly pleased with the results, I should've given a bit more room in the back. There wasn't as much stretch in this knit as I was accounting for, and you can see how tight it looks from the back. HOWEVER in my defense, this picture was taken on my first day wearing it, and I've since learned to loosen up the ties a bit. This dispels the worse of the chub-hugging. I suspect that working with a stretchier knit would also help reduce this, but I'll add some more width along the centre of the back anyways, especially for a bit more bum room.

The only other thing I did was sew the sleeves at 1/4" instead of 5/8", since they were a little too snug. Could probably widen them a tiny bit more, even if I do like the snug sleeve.

Isn't the cream stitching on the grey fabric lovely? I made sure to topstitch where I could.

Oh, and just because they suggest using clear elastic to stabilize the shoulder seam, doesn't mean you can't improvise with regular 1/8" elastic! This makes the shoulder seam gather a tiny bit when unworn, but sits nicely when wearing it. Which is a bit of a shame, actually, because the light gathers on the shoulder are pretty (see photo of set in sleeve above). Will have to remember that.

Thanks Stacie for making me notice this pattern! I think I may need a polka dot version of it, and then we'll just have to be Spotted Cardi Twins.

But I guess I should make my Mom's first.

If I have to.

I guess.

:)

P.S. Look what else Stacie included in my wandering fabric package! I love lace, I do. Thanks!