Wow, thank you for all of the encouragement on my last post - weekly writings seems to be a hit, or least something worth continuing!
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| Weekly Writings for November 4th through the 8th, and a little beyond. |
This second weekly writings was meant to be last week's, but since it just needed pictures, I decided to finish it off this morning. I'll be skipping ahead a week in the next installment, so stay tuned...Also, for the time being, I plan to only record weekdays, giving myself weekends off to catch up on editing, life, and, of course, more studio work. So, without further ado, let's dive in -
Monday, November 4th
Continued the weekend work in the costume studio. By this point in the semester, I'm used to spending Mondays and Wednesdays in the costume studio, and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in textiles. Ask anyone in either studio, and they probably know me - I basically live between the two studios and have since I've come to Kent - it's the running joke here. I don't often mind it though, and I take pride in being considered the "studio mom." I swear I spend half of my time working on my own projects, and the other half either chatting, offering my critique/opinion, or assisting the newcomers.
I'll also throw in that I dragged a friend to see the Fall musical, Hair, with me on Saturday and it was definitely the best I've seen at Kent so far - congrats to the cast and crew!
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| KSU's production of Hair, directed by Terri Kent in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the May 4th Massacre Photograph by: Kent State University's School of Theatre and Dance |
Back to sewing: Despite making some progress on my 1860s dress over the weekend, in a brief panic of only having four days until I leave for the domestic symposium, I decided to switch gears. Regency working class here I come! Going back to my comfort zone, I patterned a new short gown based off a few examples in my pinterest board:19th Century Short Gowns.
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| I've always been drawn to working class fashions - and the bold mixing of colors, patterns, and prints. (Image via: Pinterest) |
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| Inspiration for the bodice pieces. (Image via: Pinterest) |
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| Inspiration for the sleeves and skirt. (Image via: Pinterest) |
I made a mock up, corrected my pattern, and will be using a turkey red, striped reproduction fabric that I picked up at Zinck's Fabric Outlet. I'd also like to make a new, checked apron too if there's time, but, per usual, this may be too ambitious...
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| Short gown mock up sans sleeves. The waistline was raised by 1" in the corrected pattern. |
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| Apron fabric (left), short gown fabric (right) |
Lastly, I had fun practicing with diamond netting on the pinnable sewing tables. Tomorrow in my dimensional class I'll probably begin the final netting sample.
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| My first attempt at diamond netting - definitely needs more practice! |
Tuesday, November 5th
Today in the textile studio, I continued practicing netting techniques, including increasing, decreasing, and changing threads:
I also began a circular net:
Then, I took a break to darn a sweater for an art history professor. There were seven holes, so it took a while. Here's a helpful diagram for the next time you need to darn something:
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| Diagram for darning holes from "How to Mend Your Knits" (Image source: MarthaStewart.com) |
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| More overshot sampling in progress. Pattern weft: hand-dyed 2-ply wool yarn Structural weft: 10/2 cotton yarn |
Wednesday, November 6th
Back in the costume studio. Aside from my regular class work and few chapters of reading, I began to put together my short gown.
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| Fashion fabric is a reproduction cotton print, lining of cotton muslin. |
Mostly finished the apron:
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| The apron is hemmed, gauged, and ready to be attached to the band! |
And finished the night with the college late night skate, a weekly event that runs from 10:30pm to midnight. We all need our hobbies, right?
Thursday, November 7th
For dimensional, I finished my first circular net in class, and began the final sample (this time for a grade) which will need to be completed over the weekend.
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| Netting samples: 2 circular (left and middle), 1 square (right) |
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| Circular netting sample |
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| Detail of circular net |
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| The sample collapsed |
For advanced studio, I finally finished sampling! In total, the sample warp was 150", and I ended up with eight color studies.
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| This final sample was actually woven to trade with another art student. Paige picked two textured yarns, which had an interesting effect on the pattern. |
After my ice skating lesson, I removed the completed samples and gelled the edges in preparation for Fridays' critique.
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| Ready to remove samples - and that's a wrap! |
Friday, November 8th
Today's the big day - packing for the weekend and then studio in the morning. Several of us had critique in the afternoon. I received some good feedback and direction for my final project.
Drove home to NY to see the Mom and the dog. Looking forward to the 2019 Domestic Symposium this weekend - stay tuned for the post on this event!
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