SITE UPDATES

la la boring!

I’ve filed my 1830s day dress away into my Victorian costume gallery, I’ve created individual listings for my 18th century stays and pocket hoops on my 18th century costume gallery page (1760s dress soon to be added as soon as I have final pictures), and I’ve finally decided (after creating, deleting, and then recreating) individual blogs for my 1910s corset and 1875 parasol (which means I lost some of your comments, but I’m on an organizing kick — don’t stop me!).

Also, there are new listings on the Real Women’s Clothing directory. Don’t ask why. Just go look.

COMMENTARY

getting organized

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night trying to get all my sewing stuff organized. A friend gave me the idea to get plastic bins for each project that I’m currently working on, then to put all the fabric/patterns/notes/etc. into each bin — easy to pull out and put away, making it easy to work on multiple projects at once (which you know *I* would never do!)

This burst of organizational fever sent me off into other directions too, like my fabric stash. I have all my fabric in a big plastic bin (I know, I know, but at least I drilled holes in the top!) in the closet. I have swatches of all of my fabric taped to a manila folder, but I never bothered to write down the measurements of anything, so I got out the yardstick and wrote down dimensions for all my fabric. I have one bin that I use just for scraps, and can I just say that I’m REALLY REALLY BAD at throwing away scraps? I forced myself to throw away some of the ones that I REALLY won’t use, but I still have all of these weird bits and pieces left over from projects that I worry that I just might want some day!

Now that I’m feeling organized, I’m ready to get started on new projects, but that’s making me think about all the GEAR that I don’t have. I just ordered a bunch of things I need from Clotilde (like replacement rotary cutter blades and marking paper), but now I’m wondering about some of the gear that I don’t have. Has anyone used any of the following, and are they at all useful and/or worth the money?

Perfect Pleaters: seems like a good idea, although I don’t like that the return on the pleats is always 3/8″ — does seem really useful for pintucks etc.

Hem markers: Do they really work, and how close to the floor do they mark (ie can you mark a hem that’s 1″ off the ground)?

Hem pressing thingamabob: useful or superfluous?

Tailor’s ham: I admit it, I don’t have one. Do I need one?

Any other gadgets that you love that I might not know about?

COMMENTARY

got some extra cash?

Check out these items coming up for auction by the Charles A. Whitaker Auction Co. (in PA). Some really interesting items in there, like the drop-front 1810s gown, the apricot-colored 1850s flounced ballgown, and the 1880s brocade day dress. Looks like they’ll be adding new items up to March 14th, so keep this site bookmarked!