i haven't abandoned you

I'm waiting for my new camera to arrive! My old one died and descriptions of folding and stitching are just no fun without pictures. It should be here by the end of the week and I'll be back with pictures of grommets in a row and gores being fitted. Yea.

day job

When I'm not in front of a sewing machine I can often be found behind a camera.

The Kent State Museum has a wonderful collection and this gown is just one of the beauties that will be shown during the upcoming Civil War exhibit. I can't wait to see everything installed!

the treadle cabinet arrives

The treadle cabinet is here. Solid 1905 goodness. I couldn't resist the temptation to make it into a bar.

The half empty pitcher of white sangria fueled the bar idea. It won't stay this way forever, just until the machine is cleaned and a new belt attached. In the meantime the bottles serve as decadent clutter prevention. Also, displaying them instead of just storing them in a kitchen helped turn the apartment where I've been for the past year into my home.

problem solved

I received an email suggesting I use a hook to pull a strip of fabric through the layers to add heft for the grommets. Why didn't I think of that? I have a tool for turning sewn tubes of fabric right side out that worked perfectly for this job too. First, I cut a bias strip of coutil, which is sort of the twill tape suggestion on steroids, and pressed it along the center back curve to help guide it to the correct shape.

You can see I doubled the coutil. That may be overkill, but I figured two layers of coutil couldn't hurt since the linen is so light. I hooked one end of the strip on the tool and pulled it through. The pull ring was just small enough to fit between the stitching already done on the back panel.

The groove at the edge of the coutil is where I'll stitch the other channel. Grommets this weekend? I think yes.

channels sewn

I finally managed to get the channels for the bones sewn. I sewed 3/8 inch channels on both sides of the seam using a mystery foot that came with my machine as a measuring guide. Does anyone know what this foot is designed for?

Normally I grade all seam allowances but this time I didn't because I'm using them as bones casings. The seam allowances are 1/2 inch wide and the channels are 3/8 so the bones will sit between 4 layers of fabric. Here's a backlit picture that clearly shows the construction.

The narrow horizontal shadow near the top is the waist tape and the wider vertical shadow is the center front where the busk will be. I made one silly mistake when sewing the channels. I sewed the channels along the center back and realized I forgot to insert another layer of fabric so the grommets have something to grab on to. The linen is so light I'm afraid they'll just fall out without a little more bulk, but now I have very little room to maneuver fabric in that last panel. Has anyone else done this? Any suggestions as to how to solve it?