I use a lot of thread, and whenever I finish a spool of thread Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust plays in my head.
And another one down…
And another one down…
And another one bites the dust!
Last week, thanks mainly to the pleated 1883 in every way skirt, I used up four full 150 metre spools of thread, two full 100 yard spools, and a further two partly-full 100 yard spools.
I’m really sick of Queen!
So, after I posted about pleating my plaid 1880s skirt, an awesome friend crunched some number and figured out that if I counted the thread I used in the skirt in imperial rather than metric I would have used 1883 feet of thread in the skirt, which, since it is circa 1883, is just perfect. How fantastic is that?
Metres & metres of stitching in the pleats
Most of the thread usage in the skirt went into the pleats, but after I had sewn them all, and attached the bottom portion of the pleats to the skirt base, I had to do the hardest part: drape the overskirt.
I suck at draping overskirts. I don’t know why. Mine just never look right! I do better when they are separate pieces, but after scrutinizing the inspiration skirt from the Met, and considering how much fabric I had left to play with, I decided to sew it as one skirt. I’m still not sure that was the right decision.
First I had to make my pieces of pleating big enough. Remember, I had a 5.4 metre long, 12″ wide length to work with, so I sewed it into three shorter 36″ wide lengths – one each for each side, and a further fall for the back. Luckily piecing was really easy with this plaid, and the pleats and topstitching held it even more.
Piecing on the stripe 4th from the right
For the apron overskirt, I arranged the pleats running around the body, so they sort of fall in a fan from the centre front points. I did lots and lots of pinning and and re-pining and basting to get everything where I wanted it to be.
Draping the overskirt
The pleats falling open over the hips
When I was reasonably happy, I sewed everything down to get it to stay. I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to press it the next time I display it, but it looked rather good at AetherCon.
The 1883 skirt – side view
The 1883 skirt, front view
What do you think? Too controlled and pannier-y? Too symmetrical? Should I incorporate another fabric to give more fullness to my overskirt? Or is it just right?
The 1883 skirt in the wind
Doesn’t my model look fabulous in the ensemble though?
Thank you all for entering the giveaway! I had so much fun reading your comments and getting lots of fabulous party ideas.
I had not so much fun sorting out the entries from comments (silly WordPress doesn’t # comments) and then fun again using a random cat number generator to pick one (spread them out on the floor and wait for Fiss to hack up something on one of them – OK, not really, I just used the internet) to select the winner, who is….(drumroll here):
Karen of MidWestNutmeg. Karen asked for chocolate (kiwifruit, though I might stick in some hokey pokey too) and suggested:
a vintage style tea, only with cocoa and cider for the nice cool fall weather here in New England!
Congratulations Karen! I’ll be contacting you for shipping info.
I’ll be doing another giveaway soon with sewing stuff like vintage patterns and fabric and notions (and more chocolate or licorice – because chocolate and licorice are always good!), so keep an eye out all you sewists!
And, for your entertainment and edification, the last photograph I took on my trip home to Hawaii:
Menehune are the Hawaiian version of leprechauns or elves – smaller than humans, sometimes mischievous, sometimes helpful, famous for building complicated heiau (temples) or stone fishponds in a night.
And while real menehune may be hobbit sized, that doesn’t mean that imagining every good looking builder or airport support staff that passes by in a malo (loincloth) doesn’t improve your mood vastly as you wait four hours for your flight. 😉
