Tokohana!

The new CD/DVD from Nagi Yanagi came today, with the song from the Cross Road spot. After the past year, I cannot stop saying "Kotonoha", instead of "Tokohana", and I can even read the words now! I got the version with the DVD, but unfortunately though unsurprisingly I guess, the Cross Road video was not on it.

This was the last piece of my last outstanding order from Amazon Japan, and it was pretty cool getting it on the release day. I also picked up a new copy of the Voices of a Distant Star soundtrack for the "archives", so I would have a new one to backup my old second-hand copy. Somehow I had missed the Radio Version CD of Voices of a Distant Star, so next time I get an order together on there, I'll have to pick that up. Amazon US has it available to order, but in a "order now, we'll cancel in a couple months" sort of way it looks like to me.

 In sewing news, well, there's not much news. Despite back to back long weekends, there hasn't been much sewing to speak of. I did have to use up the latest round of vouchers and with no plan in place to pick fabrics by, I ended up with a couple pieces that I figured would magically turn into something later.

First is a bit of another pima cotton print. There's always something in this section if you don't know what else to buy.

Second, I went to my favorite section and after some indecision, I went with a longer piece of this lace. They had some really nice things that I might have bought had I not already picked up the pima cotton print, but at that point, I didn't have enough vouchers for very much of them. It's one thing to go crazy with a plan, but having no plan, I went with the more "practical" choice.

And just to show I haven't been totally slack, I did fill up the freezer with a batch of sauce. This time, I got out the smaller jars for the single size too (only one half piece of sausage per for that). The cat makes it a pain to make noodles anymore, but at least there's good homemade sauce. Just add Detroit cheese (aka Romano) and I can overlook the noodles from a box.

Oops

This post is supposed to be about my test of the Yui pattern, but whatever I thought I was doing, I was not basting the pieces together right. I decided to quit while I was behind and will cut some new pieces out later.

In the meantime, it's time to start prepping a new batch of fabric for pillowcases. We're supposed to visit the Shriner's hospital next month, and I don't want to show up empty handed. Joann's has the 20% off your total purchase coupon this weekend, so it was a good time to buy a whole pile. This coupon works on regular and sale items. Their regular 40-50-60% off coupons normally specify "one regularly priced item" which means you can't use it on sale items (and get less of a discount) and you only get one cut of fabric. This way, between the sale prices and the coupon, I was able to get the 50% off ten or twelve kinds of fabric at once.

Fictional Garments

The latest round of vouchers expire at the end of the month, so I have to get back to work and plan what to get with them. I have a general idea what I want to do, but am still sketching and thinking. First pass, it looks like it will have some cross-over with both the Akari dress and the (Not) Chanel Misato jacket. How much that holds up though, I wouldn't want to bet on.

A new line, sort of

A new center front

Something in this direction, but not exactly

Unfortunately a mostly whole bolt of 44" muslin was lost last night when I went to tighten a light bulb and it exploded, throwing glass everywhere. The muslin was standing upright next to the lamp and as I was cleaning a million pieces of glass, I decided to skip not finding all them in the folds of the fabric until... Oh no, only 10 bolts left! Well, Joann's has a 60% off one fabric coupon at the end of the month if I can hold out that long.

Thread Tails

That's about it for this round of pillowcases! I ended up with 27, instead of 30 as I expected. I could swear I lost some bands since I remember having an equal number of bands and body pieces. But I wouldn't trust my memory on that.

One was lost to a seam gone "slightly" off line, and one was lost to the dreaded hitting a pin with the serger knife. No damage to the knives though, thank goodness. Now I have about 100 thread tails to tuck in and then turn them out for a final pressing before sending them off.

With the holiday coming up, I'm hoping to get back to the Akari project. I've also just started working on the katakana, but if they go as fast as the hiragana, I'll need to start finding my next textbook.

"No one knocks off Old Tony"

Looks like we'll get 23 pillowcases out of the pile of fabric. I spent some time this weekend ripping bands and body lengths out of the yardage and prepping them for construction. I ironed the bands into the folded over shape and got about ten tags on. There are exactly enough tags left for the remaining bands too. Given that the pillowcases are made by just three passes on the serger, they should be done in plenty of time for Thanksgiving.

Pardon my pencilmanship.

Also this week, I finally went ahead and bought a couple books on the Japanese language. So far, I have learned 37 of the 46 basic hiragana. A through ya, plus the wa, so I could write the title above. I've been looking at all these things I couldn't read before and now I can make a few things out, but mostly can read character-???-character-character-???-character. Some I can puzzle out from the hints, Wheel of Fortune style. Some, like Ho-Shi-No-Ko-E and the above, I now know enough to recognize that much. There's a lot more where that came from, but at least it's a start!

Mass Production Pillowcases, Holiday Edition

Thanks to another deal, I was able to lay in this new supply of fabric for pillowcases for the Shriner's hospital. Depending on how much the fabric shrinks in pre-washing, I should be able to get up to 25 pillowcases out of it. With Thanksgiving being way at the end of the month, that gives me three weekends to finish them, even if I don't get as much time for them during the weekdays.

Odd Ends

Time for another round of pillowcases, so there's a new pile of fabric to be prepped.

I also found the appropriate sized separating zipper, so I will try that out. The jacket front pieces will need some adjustment to account for the halves of this. I think the "underneath" side front piece will need the most doing, but it shouldn't be too bad. It's getting about time to start moving the pattern pieces from just fitting to taking into account the actual construction of the garment. I should have looked for short zippers for the cuffs of the Misato jacket, which is what this zipper is for.

Going to the archives to see WWSKD?

Now comes the scary part! I tried to avoid it, but really I knew it was what had to be done. That shiny fabric peeking out of the paper is the dreaded silk charmeuse. If you're worried about your project looking like hell, silk charmeuse can help make it a reality! This will be the jacket lining, and I bought enough yardage to make it up at least twice.

The End of the Roll

I've been meaning to make a new bodice test on the Akari with the new pattern pieces and finally I got around to cutting the parts out.

This time, I made sure to cut two pieces each for the whole way round. Of course, this time I have left and right back specific pattern pieces, so it was easier to remember.

And I found this! This is what the center of a bolt of fabric looks like!

Yeah, I know how "interesting" this actually is...

New Fabric Choice

Was this the right call? I don't know, but I think I will feel more and more like yes until I try to actually use it. Then who knows! There were some other contenders, primarily some black cashmere, but I went with this. I saw some nice red wool crepe, but decided not to go red, too close the "real" thing. There was some nice Valentino wool fabric, with a nice pattern woven into it (all black) but like some of the nice silk houndstooth I saw, I couldn't get comfortable with how it would all lay out and look in the end.

I got this raw silk and in the store, I thought the plaidishness wasn't obvious enough to really be a factor in the garment. Looking at this picture, I'm not sure, but it may be the ol' trick of looking at something too close up and out context. Either way, I got enough that I should be able to make the jacket twice, assuming as always that something stupid will happen with the first.

Butter

I got into the ol' treasure chest looking for pattern pieces again. Here's the 4 ply silk crepe that was bought and ended up being set aside for the Akari.

I found a slip pattern piece for the Grace Kelly that I'll try copying and cutting up for the tier bases. Then I was reminded why I should hang these things and not roll them up. Cheesus Crust it would not stop rolling itself back up! Finally it sort of gave it up and a hole was added so it could go on a hook.

What's that?

Oh yeah, behind one door, there's a roll of silk mikado. Behind this door...

Not from the bridal section

Some day I will think of a project suitable for this treasure!

Not this weekend again

I cut some sections of 10" wide for Tier 2 and then tried to decide if I should go to 15 or 20 inches for Tier 3. I thought that two 15" sections (adding a Tier 4) might make a good overall length, but for now, I just made 20" sections, figuring I can move it up higher under Tier 2 to simulate the shorter section. Then everything got all busy and now it looks like it will be Monday before I have a chance to roll n ruffle these.

After cutting three each of the 10 and 20 inch sections, I realized that makes about 3 yards of muslin for testing just that bit. I buy the whole 25 yard bolts, but still, Coupon Commotion is this week so I thought maybe I should add to the stash. Fortunately I got busy, since I looked in the other closet and found like 5 extra bolts and realized I either have to cut a lot more samples or I'll be in danger of getting on one of those hoarder shows. But in 2025, when I start on the Grace Kelly in earnest, I'll be totally happy to have that much!

Ribbon

So I ended up spending way more time than I thought I would working on a spare parts computer for someone. I did get to make one run at ruffling on ribbon, which went about as expected. The main thing I learned was, it works a lot better when you put the presser foot lever back down before you hit the gas. Tomorrow maybe we'll get the attachment back off and set up for regular feet again and try the hemmers.

Okay, I didn't want to have to say I accomplished nothing all weekend...

Construction

In order to make this carry over to the other project, rather than making the skirt section separate, I've been thinking about good ways to make it of a piece. The old make a bodice, pull a skirt over it and sew right sides together isn't going to get it here though. I've considered making the skirt attachable like the outer layer of the Grace Kelly, which would require matching up the openings on the back carefully to make them look like one piece. I'd have to think of an alternate closure method, since I wouldn't be able to have a common zipper.

But what I'm thinking about trying is the fact that while the bodice is corsetish, it's still underneath the skirt on the bottom. So I'll extend the bodice draft down into an underskirt section that the tiers can be built on. Below the ruffle line, I guess it can be made of something else, but I need to make some decisions about what each part is going to be made of. The top section will be 4 ply crepe, seeing as that's what I bought five yards of cause it was the same as the Grace Kelly. If I had been able to find more of the taffeta from the other dress, I probably wouldn't be making this one, so I can't assume just yet that I'll be able to get more of the same crepe either.

I have some other 4 ply crepe that I bought somewhere on clearance. I should try that out to see how it likes hanging 4 tiers of ruffles off it plus whatever I use to puff the layers. (Looking at pictures, I'm guessing it will be four tiers). Tier 1, probably Tier 2, will likely be attached to the part of the top that has the most underlying structure so the underskirt wouldn't have to support as much weight as what rests on the hips, bones, and all that, or so I think.

Hemming

It occurred to me that the tiers of this skirt, contrarily to the petticoats of the Grace Kelly, will be the outermost layer, and thus visible. My first thought it to use the scroll hemmer foot to make some narrow rolled hems on the sections, before they get ruffled onto the skirt base. I think I can go down to 1/16" hem with those, and if the silk thread for the real garment blends in like "they" claim, maybe that will be okay. Ideally though, I want something that can't be seen from the right side of the garment.

If the tiers are underlined with silk organza, like they probably will, then it becomes easier to turn up something light and stitch to the underlining. I haven't decided on the whole underlying structure of the skirt so I don't know how relatively stiff I want in the tiers. My first reaction is I want to keep these light and puff them up with layers underneath, but then since it's the visible layer, I think the smoother, more polished look of the underlined and somewhat controlled sections will look better in the end. I'm sure I'll think of ten ways to do it twice before I get around to having to do it for real in silk.

And the winner is...

The official selection to stand in for silk faille is silk mikado. I think it will be a nice choice, and anyway, I bought 17 yards of it. Before going to the store, I came up with that number somehow, and it turned out that was exactly what was on the roll, so I took it tube and all.

Due to an error, that purchase used up all my vouchers, but then the extra was refunded to me in store credit. I''ll use that to add to the taffeta stockpile when they get the specific one back in inventory.

Bones

Got two rolls of spiral steel boning and some tips in the mail and the only reasonably sized (for this) bolt cutters they had at the store. Now I can figure out what width of silk ribbon I want to use to make casings for the bones.

Other stuff

Here's the lace for the hem of the slip.

And the lace for the bodice. Does this look like the real thing? I'm going to say no, but I had to use the vouchers so I had to pick something from the store.