2017 Review

This year, it was like I decided to SEW ALL THE THINGS.

Costumes
In 2016 I did very little costuming but I got back to it in 2017. Firstly, I finished off Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. The skirt and shirt were mostly done last year but this year I finished them off and added the choker, scarf, chemise, hair bow and handbag-disguised-as-a-book.

I actually made 3 chemises this year, but only one that was worth photographing.

The eternal Assassin's Creed project continues. This year I made the belt for my costume and cast all the resin pieces for AC II and Brotherhood. This included a second version of my AC II buckle because I wasn't happy with the paint job on the first. I also took my Dad's doublet apart and remade it because it didn't fit properly and neither of us were happy with it.

I've got leatherworking classes booked for early next year and I bought a Dremel last week to encourage me to stop putting off sanding the resin. I'm partly excited and partly ready for it to be over.

I made an 1830s dress, that I adore, for the Jane Austen festival. To go with it I made a corded petticoat and a bonnet. It was very nice to get back to some historical sewing after having spent 18 months or so focusing on videogame outfits and everyday wear.

In the week before Jafa I made a regency ballgown and evening spencer for a friend.

First photo by Steven Shaw

I also made a couple of regency petticoats and new stays – I will get the regency silhouette right eventually. (I mean, I won't; I'm not built that way, but I will get it as right as I can.)

I made a new Victorian corset as part of a workshop. I was very happy to finally get a corset that fits properly and I very much liked sewing with silk and hope to use it more (the muffled whimpering you can hear is my bank account).

Real Clothes
My Bioshock-induced 1940s habit is still going strong. I bought a couple of antique 1940s patterns not long ago; I haven't made them up yet, but I did use the collar and sleeve of one for the light purple dress. The write-up for the dark dress is here.

I had a foray into the fifties with the lovely Butterick 6018. I also made a slip, based on an original I own.

The slip turned out so well I made a summer dress from the same pattern. Also in summer wear, I made a dress and swimming togs with the au courant halter neckline.

I've worn this black knit skirt, McCalls 6608, so much it feels like I've had it forever, not just a year. I also made another maxi-dress. The fabric was beautiful but a bit cheap and nasty; I'm almost surprised it's survived being worn nearly every week since I made it.

Learning
I made a shirt and pants as part of some sewing classes I took this year. Learning how to adjust patterns properly has made a huge difference to how comfortable my clothes can be. With the 1830s dress and the 1950s dresses particularly, I noticed that I was able to fix fitting issues I would normally have just put up with.

This year I've started to focus more on my sewing-adjacent skills, like make-up and photography. I had my first studio photoshoot (not counting the family portrait when I was 3). Since attending a photography workshop at Gamma.Con, Mum and I are putting a bit more thought into the photos we take for the blog and are leaving the house to find different settings – you can expect a vicarious tour through Canberra over the next year.

Events
I had an excellent year of going to costuming events. Having friends to go with makes them so much better. First was the Jane Austen Festival, then Gamma.Con. We've got plans for more outings next year, and the preparatory sewing bees are already underway.

At Jafa: I made all the dresses and hats in this picture.

At Gamma.Con I won the sewing section of the Cosplay competition with my Elizabeth outfit. Elizabeth also got a first place in the Canberra Show and my Assassin won non-professional champion. My 2018 entry form is already on its way but I was saddened to see that there were no historical or costume categories. I had to enter in 'Other'.

Last year I thought I would aim to do a bit more sewing in 2017. I definitely managed it! In 2018 I might do a bit less. Although I've been enjoying it so much I don't want to stop.

Waterwear

The performance wear (leotard) sewing class I did last year was very valuable. The dress pattern I developed as a result of it is one of my favourites. But the (nicely fitted) swimming togs I actually made during the course are not quite my thing. So with a beach holiday on the horizon I took out the pattern again to make some togs that were a bit more me.

I am loving the halter neckline that is around at the moment. So I used the pattern off a dress in my wardrobe for the neckline and combined it with the leotard body pattern from the performance class. I also put a tear-drop shaped cutout in the back – because who puts a back in swimming togs? (The shape ended up being more round once it was stretched out for wearing but it still looks fine.)

I find one piece leotards to be uncomfortable and inconvenient so I made it as a two-piece with what the internet tells me is called a 'tankini'.

The big learning exercise for this project was putting in a built-in bra – method courtesy of google and guesswork. The lining fabric (this can be the same as the main fabric but I didn't have enough left) is cut using the same pattern as the outside then shaped marginally thinner towards the bottom edge that will sit just under the bust. This is sewn to an elastic band. I sewed the whole thing up at this point and worked out the cup placement while wearing it. Sewing the cups in afterwards was awkward, so I suspect there is a better way, but I wasn't sure how to do the placement without being able to reproduce the stretch that would be in the fabric when the garment is worn.

The cups are chlorine resistant but I couldn't find any proper swimsuit lining so I just used stretch lining. Given that I've been swimming once in the last ten years I'm not really expecting these to suffer from over-wear. The main fabric is chlorine-proof, left over from the performance-wear course. I looked for some woven chlorine-resistant fabric to make board shorts but I couldn't find a shop that stocked it. Some shops didn't even know what it was.

I was happy with how the swimsuit turned out. As with the dress I made with the same neckline, the neck band itself is not quite right but not wrong enough to be a problem. Unfortunately the weekend at the coast turned out to be overcast and not enticing for swimming. I'll have to hope that another swimming opportunity arises in the next decade so I can try them out.

Halt! Who goes wear?

There's a particular kind of halter neckline that is 'in' at the moment that I really like. (Someone tell me if there's a more specific name for it – 'sleeveless raglan' just confuses people.) It's popularity, however, does not appear to have crossed into the commercial patternmaking world (leastways, not since the 70s. Again, if you know something please tell me.)

I've bought a few dresses and tops in this style but not as many as I would like. Then I found some lovely red and black paisley chiffon that I thought would work well for one. I gave up looking for a pattern and pulled a dress out of my wardrobe and took a pattern from it.

Side note: I bought this dress in New Zealand in the couple of hours we had to kill before catching the plane home. New Zealand had a completely different set of dress shops from what we have in Australia which took me by surprise. This puts me in the position of having my most favourite clothing chain closed down and my second most favourite is in another country.

Really, most of the pattern is pretty straight forward. The only difficulty comes from the neck band. I don't think I was able to get the shape quite right by tracing an already made up dress but it will do. The finished product does feel a little tight at the front while sitting a little too loose at the back, but I'm not sure how to change that.

Before jumping in with my nice (and expensive) chiffon I decided to make a mock-up from something cheap but with the intention of being able to wear it too. I found the perfect fabric on the Spotlight sale table. It's awful! So synthetic it feels like plastic and it has a camouflage print with gold specks so it's all shiny. I was very pleased with it – and only $3 a metre.

The dress was cut and sewed quite quickly. I think something went wrong when I was making the skirt patterns as I ended up with one front, two side fronts, two side backs and two backs but the front and sides were enough to get around me. I wondered if I had just traced a side panel twice but the original dress definitely has all those panels. Still, after leaving out the back panels I've got a dress that fits and that's what matters.